The Red Sox announced that left-hander Brennan Bernardino has been recalled from Triple-A, with right-hander Brayan Bello optioned in a corresponding move.
The Sox started the season short-handed in the rotation, as all of Bello, Garrett Whitlock and James Paxton started the season on the injured list. That allowed Tanner Houck, who has worked as both a starter and a reliever in recent years, to get a rotation spot out of the gate. Bello and Whitlock returned from the IL recently, giving the club a difficult decision to make since Houck had gotten off to a decent start. Through four outings, he has struck out 25.6% of batters faced while walking 9.3% and getting ground balls on 58.9% of balls in play. Despite those strong peripherals, his 4.29 ERA is fairly average thanks to a 20% HR/FB rate.
Though that’s not exactly ace-level work, he’s still been arguably the club’s best starter this year. Chris Sale has an ERA of 8.00, Corey Kluber is at 8.50, Nick Pivetta at 4.58 and Whitlock at 6.19. Bello has only made two starts but is at 9.82. Although Houck has frequently moved from the rotation to the bullpen and back, it would have been difficult to bump him right now when he’s arguably been the club’s best starter this year. The club has been running out a six-man rotation recently but has multiple off-days coming up on the schedule, which would make it challenging to continue that. Today’s move provides a bit of clarity on the path forward, allowing Houck to hold that rotation spot for now and see if he can stretch his results over a larger sample.
As for Bello, he hasn’t got out to a great start this year, getting shut down in spring with forearm tightness and missing the beginning of the season. He returned recently but allowed eight earned runs over 7 1/3 innings in his first two starts. He’ll head down to Worcester to try to get into a groove again after the bumpy start to the campaign. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him back up in short order, as he posted a 2.34 WRA in the minors last year and was a fixture of top prospect lists before graduating last year.
Even if Bello succeeds in Worcester, there might be some crowding in the Boston rotation with Sale, Kluber, Pivetta, Whitlock and Houck having the five spots for now. In addition to that, Paxton is rehabbing in the minors, though his last outing was a disaster. He tossed 43 pitches while recording only two outs and allowed seven earned runs.
And there ya go, he’s out of the rotation just as I suspected. I’m guessing he didn’t get moved to the BP because they have literally only one lefty reliever right now, and Cora loves his L/R matchups.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Bello gets called up relatively soon due to an injury or pitching staff burnout.
Fever, he’ll be back when he shows he can handle it. He’s got the stuff and simply needs time to develop. Had the staff been solid with less pressure, we might have seen a different pitcher
dewey – I think the logjam in the rotation had something to do with the demotion. Bello will be back more out of necessity than anything else, let’s see what happens with Sale and Kluber over the next few days. Sale’s performance tonight was concerning to say the least.
FPG – I’m telling you it’s going to take two full months for Sale to settle in and look like his old self. Last outing we got a glimpse but his control was bad tonight. Poor placement of pitches,not hitting his spots. That will come with more work. Give sale another 5 starts and expect ups and downs. He’s been off three years which is double normal TJ surgery time-off.
I think the pitching is something to get excited about other than Kluber. Bello simply needs more work. He has the talent. This is the best young group of pitchers the Red Sox have had in a long time.
Agreed. I have no hopes of winning anything this year, but it is nice to see some young arms with potential. It’s been a while.
Think a lot of Sale’s issues are just a lack of not pitching hardly at all for 2+ years. He’s still throwing mid 90’s and has the wipeout slider much of the time, the command and “losing” the slider sometimes are what has happened this year multiple times, which can never remember happening before with him.
It’s different than the Kluber issue, which is plain toast. Upper 80’s FB now and everything he’s thrown has just been flat. I see no chance of him improving this year and hopefully, the team moving on before he costs them more games.
Have to give the team credit for developing relievers, tho they are pig headed and attempt way to long trying to force them into starters. I mean Crawford and Winkowski mainly here. Mata will be another soon. Hate to say it but Whitlock as well, tho a terrific reliever.
FOR ONCE!
Really smart move! Let Bello get his groove thing groovin, then bring him back in a couple months to bump out one of the old vets!
Too the easy way out.
Yeah we can’t have that. Should have made a tougher different more complicated decision like removing Houck or Whitlock out of the rotation and into the bullpen.
why?? the BP has not been the problem so far this year
Randy – I think Gary was being facetious.
Houck sealed his spot up with that gem last start. Whitlock is thankful that Bello blew up. Still not convinced that he’ll be in the rotation all year. But Houck looks fantastic, might end up being their highest war pitcher.
SODOMOJO – Houck for me sealed his spot a long time ago. Just pure talent puts him at the head of the class. Add his pitbull mentality and you have a workhorse starter for the next decade.
I am hoping that Whitlock, Bello, and Houck are the Pedro, Schilling, Lowe of the future!
Then again, I am hoping that I win the lotter, too :p
DBH – Man those were the glory days for the Sox … making brilliant trades like Slocumb for Lowe and Tek, doing a trade and sign for the best pitcher (Pedro) in baseball, and going hard after one of the most clutch pitchers in MLB history (Schilling) until he agreed to a trade.
Just think … for Tek, Lowe, G38 and Pedro the Sox gave up only:
Heathcliff Slocumb
Mike Goss
Casey Fossum
Brandon Lyon
Jorge De La Rosa
Carl Pavano
Tony Armas Jr
That’s how you win championships, trade prospects for stars. Duquette, Theo and Dombrowski all did it and the results speak for themselves.
I feel many Sox fans don’t value what Duquette did.
Rob – You are 100% correct! Duquette was not well liked by the media and fans because he didn’t have the best personality, he was (wrongly) blamed for Rocket leaving Boston, he was (wrongly) blamed for Mo Money leaving Boston, and he was mocked by the fans and media for being one of the first to embrace analytics and hiring a statistician.
But in the end, most of the core of the 2004 championship team was built directly by Duquette … and also indirectly, as the only reason Ortiz signed with the Red Sox was because of Pedro.
Fever, the Pedro and the Varitek deals probably warrant a statue out in front of Fenway!
Rob – Agreed! Two magnificent deals, even though I personally knew Pavano. LOL!
FPG – How did you know Pavano?
Fans and the media didn’t like seeing all the prospects he traded away and felt he was a destroyer of franchises. Yet, most of his trades improved the team in 2016, 2017 and 2018 when they won the WS. He did have a few clunkers like trading Travis Shaw and Dubon for Tyler Thornburg, trading for Carson Smith, keeping Swihart and not firing Farrell after the 2016 season.
For all the prospects he traded away only a few made any impact. The list includes M. Margot, Y. Moncada, M. Kopech and Jalen Beeks. And for his time as GM I would grade his moves and signings a B to B+.
KD – He was a local guy, I worked with a relative.
Sadly he was a Yankee fan growing up.
Pavano grew up in my hometown he is a pompass a**. If you ever wanted to meet a family that was uppity and they thought they were better than you, this was it. He was perfect for the Yankees.
FPG!!! UGH!!! As a Mariner fan first, the fact that you just had to bring up one of the most lopsided & disastrous trades in M’s history, to stir up that memory hole that was supposed to stay buried forever…now I’m reaching for the Mylanta & Pepcid because of you. I don’t think the Mariners have made a trade with Red Sox since that historic swindle. I think that was the Bill Bavasi era as Mariners GM and he was thick as a brick. UGH!
Ignorant – Now hold up, that trade was revenge!
Because a year and a day before that trade (July 30, 1996) your Mariners robbed my Red Sox blind … and all you M’s fans still “Bragg” about it!
The Red Sox got just 2 1/2 years of Darren Bragg, and your Mariners got a DECADE of Jamie Moyer in his prime!!!
FPG – Damn I shouldn’t have opened my mouth. Good old Moyer. I would presume the Red Sox had no idea that Moyer’s best years were yet ahead of him at that point, Not sure if anyone did. Good old Moyer was a unicorn for sure, thnx for the history lesson FPG. Well played.
Didn’t Moyer dislike Boston for some reason?
You stole Jamie Moyer from us for Darren Bragg.
Ignorant – In all fairness to Duquette, Moyer was really bad in 1994-1995 and was having a bad 1996 season when he was traded. Then he turned things around really, really fast.
As far as bad Red Sox trades in my lifetime, Brady Anderson and Schilling for Mike Boddicker was pretty bad (although he pitched well) and Jeff Bagwell for Larry Andersen (who pitched very well in his 15 games) was definitely the worst.
milt – I don’t recall any personal issues, but southpaws in general didn’t like pitching in Fenway. That was before all the additions to Fenway that prevented the ball from carrying out to LF as much.
bring up one of the most lopsided & disastrous trades in M’s history,
=================================
That was one funny trade. I didn’t even know much about Tek or Lowe, but all I remember thinking is that “Slocumb if you have them” had a 36/34 K/W, and someone wants to trade for him?
It was like the Zambrano heist. When someone does nothing but walk guys, any return is usually good.
You nailed it Fevah!
Technically trading Slocumb for Varitek and Lowe was trading FOR prospects.
Ketch – Yes you are 100% correct, Slocumb was definitely a veteran.
Whitlock needs to be in the bullpen. That’s where he belongs
Teach the kid how to pitch.
mlb – I think some of the new rules being tested this year aim to do just that, force teams to keep pitchers in the games longer by actually pitching instead of just throwing as hard as they can.
wasn’t this supposed to be a bridge year to see who works out?
What you see this year is *probably* for the most part what you see next year with the number of 2 year and option contracts on the books, combined with the free agent class lacking a ton of depth to it.
Unfortunately, the way the team is structured cost boston a legitimate shot at ohtani. They have the money. They have the roster needs at DH and SP. What they lack is the player respect and the playoff bound cast ohtani seeks. He wants meaningful baseball in October, and the supporting cast bloom assembled isn’t getting that done.
He won’t sign somewhere with the *hopes* that after a few years of fumbling around there *might* be prospects that get called up to make a difference.
Ohtani is great but not worth what it will cost to sign him. I would be more interested in him as an everyday player and not pitching. He is going to breakdown if he continues to do both.
Dooper – You are 100% correct. Ohtani is essentially going to get a contract that is the equivalent of two massive contracts, one for a star starting pitcher and another for a star hitter. That means if he gets injured, his team basically loses two highly paid star players at the same time. Kinda like when they used to sell the VCR/TV combos. If the VCR broke, you’d lose both the VCR and TV while it was being repaired.
I think it’s a moot point anyway, John Henry has made it very clear he wants to steer away from large longterm contracts. I can’t see him suddenly changing course, despite all the logical reasons why he should.
But man, whichever team signs Ohtani (with the exception of the Angels) will instantly see their ticket revenue and merchandise revenue and TV ratings go through the roof!
Fever – Agreed, Although I would love to see Ohtani and Yoshida playing together. My prediction is Ohtani signs with the Mariners or the SF Giants.
lamar – I think those two teams are definitely possibilities.
Ohtani will sign with the Yankees
Either you’re a Yankees fan or just haven’t been paying attention. The Yankees are already over the luxury tax and are paying
Judge $360 million,
Cole $324,
Stanton $325
Rodon $162
Now you think the Yankees are gonna pay $400+ million for Othani? And even if they were interested he stated he prefers the West Coast because it’s closer to his family in Japan. NY is 14 hours away from Japan while Seattle is 10 and SF 11 and LA 12 hrs.
Or option c. Completely aware but have seen Yankees make deals to always put them on top. Honestly, I thought Cole was enough and they signed Rendon and Judge.
Yeah, I’m not counting the Yankees out at all.
GASOXFAN…. lots of personal assumption there… He has played with Trout his entire Major League career and they have not sniffed the playoffs. Maybe he would like it w/the Sox because of Yoshida being here?
Dooper – I think Yoshida would DEFINITELY be a big factor if the Red Sox offer a contract comparable to any other top offer.
But I also agree with GASox, in that if the Red Sox miss the postseason again this year it’s likely Ohtani would be reluctant to sign with them unless the money was far greater than any other offer … and I just don’t see Henry outbidding every other team.
FPG – Step back a second. Read the tea leafs. The LA Dodgers cleared payroll for Ohtani, NYY will go as high as necessary for Ohtani, NYM will go as high as necessary for Ohtani. Boston isn’t in the hunt for Ohtani.
Yes, Boston can afford Ohtani but there is absolutely NO REASON for Ohtani to want Boston over the other offers even Boston matches the money.
If it’s first ballet HOF that’s his priority he can take the Yankees because the deck is always stacked for Yankees in the HOF. At least he would be one who deserved it!!
If it’s celebrity he can go hang out with Magic and movie stars while playing with Mookie, JD and Freeman. Heck, the real Red Sox players are more on the Dodgers than the Red Sox!!! If he want’s the Red Sox team mates he should sign with the Dodgers.
The Mets will throw money at him just to one up the Yankees. They have some pretty good players. Their talent level is probably greater than the Yankees.
Don’t forget about DD and Philly. He could play with Trea Turner and Harper and pitch with Nola and Wheeler. They can match the money.
Then, as a dark horse, there are the Cubs his second choice behind LAA. They are turning things around and nobody really understood why he wanted them originally. They have the money to sign Ohtani.
NO WAY Boston is legitimately in the hunt for Ohtani. That’s just Bloom’s marketing department feeding the public more bad information!!!
KD17 – The Dodgers DIDN”T clear payroll for Ohtani, the Dodgers tried clearing payroll to get under the luxury tax but came up short and are slightly over the luxury tax.
HOF ticket or not, the Yankees are out as well as the Mets and Philly. Why? Because Ohtani had made it perfectly clear he prefers the West Coast because it’s closer to his family in Japan. The reason I predicted Seattle (about a 10 hour flight) or SF (10.5 hrs to 11 hrs). The Mariners are an up and coming team and SF not only has the resources to land him but has a huge Asian community in SF.
Like Fever stated, any team signing Ohtani will instantly see their ticket revenue and merchandise revenue and TV ratings go through the roof!
Can you imagine the impact that would have with the SF Giants fan base and the Asian community. The Giants are struggling right now and the ballpark is always full.
KD – My last sentence agreed with you, I don’t see Henry outbidding all other teams even with their payroll flexibility.
I don’t see the Yankees going all in on him, they have too much tied up already in Cole/Rodon/Judge/Stanton.
Absolutely the Dodgers will go hard after him, and the Mets too.
Lamar – Great post!
I think he ends up in California. He didn’t seem to like Patriots Day weather. They have teams that will open their wallets enough for his liking.
GA, what are you talking about? This year is awesome! LMMFAO
Yes it is FenwayFanatic. Are you not approving of the way they’re sorting things out? You would have kept Bello in the rotation and sent someone else to the bullpen?
I think the could ruin Whitlock and maybe even Houck by moving to the pen. I would have a system where for 2 out of the five rotating starts there is a matchup like houck and paxton or sale and whitlock that pitch together to give the bullpen a break for the other 3 starts
Wow that’s outside of the box and a pretty good plan. Wonder if they ever think of doing that?
Gary – I think that would be impossible, because if Paxton or Sale are leading or trailing by 5 or more runs do you really want to use up Houck or Whitlock in mop-up duty?
and what was last year then?
Better to let Bello get innings as a starter at AAA then sitting in the bullpen in the majors
Could end up being your guys’ Matt Brash.
true
Makes sense for the short term. Bello is only 23 and he has been hurt. By the time he gets a few starts at Worcester under his belt it’s very possible, or even probable, that a current Red Sox starter will be hurt or ineffective, thus giving Bello another shot once he has some time to get his stuff together away from the bright lights.
I believe this is the consensus in Red Sox nation.
Wait. We’re all agreeing on this?
Somebody lock this topic! It’s broken!
DBH – Sorry but some of us think Bello would benefit more by facing ML batters as a reliever! Haha!
However we do all agree that when there’s a need for another starter, which will likely happen, Bello will be the first one to get the call.
Agreed on first call up. Can he play short?
Too soon? o,0
DBH – I’m sure Dalbec will work with Bello in Worcester, teaching him how to play shortstop.
Sycophant – Does Kluber ring a bell?
Kluber’s next on the chopping block
His stuff is nasty… just needs to work on location and executing pitches versus overthrowing. Have some patience…. he will be good.
Time to trade for Eduardo Rodriguez 😉
Yeah, no. Numerous Sox “fans” were lamenting not re-signing Wacha after one good start, then he got lit up his next 2 and no one mentions him anymore. We’ve all seen the E-Rod show in Boston before. Look like an ace one start and like batting practice the next.
king – A 4.03 ERA in his first 5 seasons with the Red Sox is pretty darn good, and he kept getting better to the point where he finished 6th in Cy voting the year before Covid.
He was also having a brilliant 2018 season until Cora injured ERod’s ankle, which became a major setback.
This year he’s been phenomenal with a 0.839 WHIP and 2.32 ERA in 5 starts. He will very likely be traded, and whichever team acquires him will be very happy.
You’re freakin ridiculous. How did Cora injure E-rod’s ankle in 2018? Did Cora somehow make the batter hit the slow grounder to 1B so he’d have to cover and collide with the batter?
king – I know you’re a newcomer to Red Sox Nation so I’ll be happy to explain it to you.
That year started with Hanley Ramirez as a DH/1B, he played 25 of his 44 games in the field – all at first base.
Cora inexplicably had a thing for Swihart, and believed he could play Swihart pretty much anywhere.
When it came time to get rid of a position player, Cora insisted on getting rid of Hanley because he believed Swihart was more valuable due to his supposed “versatility”. It was a classic example of Cora mistakenly thinking that any player can play anywhere.
On July 14, 2018 Cora made the horrendous decision to start Swihart at first base. It was the first and only time in his entire ML career that he played a complete game at first base.
In the top of the 6th inning, with ERod cruising along (4 hits, 0 walks, 0 runs), there was an easy play at first base involving a simple short throw from Swihart to ERod covering the first base bag. Except Swihart totally botched it by throwing the ball BEHIND ERod. The putrid throw forced ERod to completely twist around, thus causing the ankle injury that resulted in ERod missing 7 weeks of the season.
When ERod came back in September, he wasn’t the same pitcher because of the lingering ankle injury. In his first four games back, he had an inflated 5.79 ERA. The Red Sox were forced to move him to the bullpen, and his outings were never more than 2 innings.
Afterward a tearful Cora, who was a rookie manager at the time, apologized for his stupidity that led to the ERod injury. Fortunately that 2018 team was loaded with star players, so they still managed to win the World Series that year. But Cora injuring ERod will never be forgotten by Red Sox Nation!
I gotta admit, that was a rather good explanation of said events.
I loved Hanley BTW
syco – Thanks, I always try to support my viewpoints with as much detail as possible.
Hanley was really beloved during the end of his tenure in Boston. I was at Winter Weekend in Foxwoods that year (2018) and the fans really showed him a lot of love, and he clearly enjoyed soaking it all in. If he didn’t have the shoulder issue, he probably would have put up some monster numbers.
FPG – You’ve taken some creative license in rewriting the E-Rod story. He sucks now, he suced back in 2018 and he will suck throughout time. It’s got to do with his inability to make his great stuff work for any prolonged period of time.
He sucked last year but you are willing to ignore the bad to suggest there is good because after a small sample size he’s having a Barnes-like first half. We all remember the greatness of Barnes for half a season. Many forgot about the massive stinkage of all his other years and then suddenly he reminded them in the second half. I bet E-Rod’s remaining starts in 2023 will compile a 4.5 or higher ERA and a 1.5 WHIP. That way it will come back to his standard season. An over 4.00 ERA which contrary to what you said does suck. And a 1.33 or higher WHIP because he simply can’t consistently throw strikes and get people out.
You don’t get to rewrite the E=Rod story while I’m around!!! hahaha
The SWIHART incident NEVER CHANGED the stench that was in E-Rods uniform. He missed time when he was on a hot streak (similar to the Barnes hot streak or any abbreviated hot streak by Kiki) BUT we could always count on E-Rod to have an even longer cold streak.
October – Check E-Rod’s numbers
GUARANTEED – An ERA over 4.00 and a WHIP over 1.33. A leopard doesn’t change it’s spots. He’s a AAA pitcher that looks great but doesn’t perform great consistently. He’s the stud at Football Showcases who outperforms everyone when there is no game on the line then fails miserably after he’s been hyped far beyond his skills. That’s E-ROD now and during his entire career!!! 🙂
What a colossal pile of BS. I was AT that game and saw firsthand what happened. 1) it was not a routine play at 1B as Swihart fielded the ball well off the bag and had a tough angle to hit the moving E-Rod with the throw. 2) the throw being slightly behind E-Rod was not the cause of the injury, the collision at the bag with Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was. Gurriel dove for the bag just as E-Rod was getting there clipping his legs. But as usual you childishly have to try to blame someone because you’re convinced you’re soooo much smarter than everyone else, when in reality you’re a clown who just likes to write long winded posts on online forums.
Good explanation?
“Cora insisted on getting rid of Hanley because he believed Swihart was more valuable due to his supposed”
Managers dont have that power, if Cora did have some say in it, it is still 100% the responsibility of the GM to make the decision. And any fault/credit would be the GM’s, not the manager’s.
Who was the GM? Dombrowski. If it were Bloom in that situation, where a personel decision was made that didn’t work out, the story wouldve been told completely different. So no its not a a ‘good explantion’.
kingken is 100% correct.
“easy play” No it wasn’t.
“twisting around caused the injury” No it didn’t.
mlb.com/news/eduardo-rodriguez-injures-ankle-at-fi…
Fever – Your hatred for Cora is rearing it’s ugly head again.
“Cora inexplicably had a thing for Swihart, and believed he could play Swihart pretty much anywhere.
When it came time to get rid of a position player, Cora insisted on getting rid of Hanley because he believed Swihart was more valuable due to his supposed “versatility”. It was a classic example of Cora mistakenly thinking that any player can play anywhere”
Cora didn’t have an inexplicable thing for Swihart. Swihart was a failure of the previous GM (Dombrowski) who should have traded him when he had a chance. By the time Cora was the manager they knew Swihart was a liability behind the plate and a player with no position. They were trying to find a position for him and to try and recoup his trade value. Unfortunately he had no trade value. As for Hanley, he was dead weight in 2018 and it was better to give Swihart a chance over a lifeless Hanley.
The rest of your story is spot on.
Cora does not decide who stays and goes. So when FPG says “Cora insisted on getting rid of Hanley”. Thats just wrong. Its 100% Dombrowski’s decision not Cora’s.
KD – I fully expected a response from you, as I know how much you despise ERod! Haha!
Let’s just hope he doesn’t get traded to an ALE team.
king – You ever notice how when some people got nothing, they resort to immature insults?
I certainly notice.
The throw sucked and Swihart never played a complete game at first base again. In fact he started only 4 other games at first base in his entire career, all in 2018 during that little “experiment” with the Red Sox. Too bad you can’t deal with facts or reality, sucks to be you.
lamar – I’ll keep it respectful because you’ve been cool.
Dombrowski had nothing to do with Swihart.
Swihart was drafted by Theo, and made his ML debut with Cherington.
As for the reason why Hanley was let go instead of Swihart, it most definitely was because of Cora’s insistence. He would have kept benching Hanley if Dombrowski didn’t do what Cora wanted.
Here’s the proof:
bostonsportsjournal.com/2018/05/25/unique-dynamics…
It was surprising enough that earlier in the day, the Red Sox announced that they were designating Hanley Ramirez for assignment. In need of a roster spot to allow for the addition of Dustin Pedroia, it was believed that the team would, however reluctantly, DFA little-used Blake Swihart.
But what made the news even more surprising was Dombrowski’s revelation that he had intended to make another move — presumably involving Swihart — until Cora phoned him late Thursday morning and suggested that the Sox instead move on from Ramirez.
“He said, ‘This is something I recommend us doing,’ ” said Dombrowski. “And I said, ‘You sure?’ And he said, ‘yeah.’ And he went through some different reasons behind it and his thought process. What I asked him to do at that point was to make sure he went to the ballpark and meet with his coaching staff and be in a position where that was really what he wanted to do. When I got to the ballpark yesterday, (Cora) said ‘This is what we would like to do.’ So, we proceeded in that direction.”
Fever – While Dombroski didn’t draft Swihart he still had everything to do with him, And everything I said about Dom and Swihart still stands. He could have and should have traded him in 2016,2017 or 2018. Instead they held on to him until he had no value finally trading him in 2019. A little too late.
I love how you left out two major parts of the story.
#1 Dowbroski had already made the decision DFA a player and people assumed it would be Swihart.
#2 Why they chose Hanley over Swihart? – Which was Hanley’s role was going to diminish to a backup role and pinch hitting late in games. And Cora wanted to get Mitch Moreland more playing time which turned out to be the best and smart move to make. And they both agreed Hanley wouldn’t be happy in a reduced role coming off the bench. Plus for the organization it WAS a chance for the club to save $22 million by not having to pay his option.
Lamar – I totally agree with you, they held onto Swihart for too long and then Cora tried to re-build his value by experimenting with him at different positions. If memory serves me, wasn’t he injured for a long period of time which contributed to his slow development?
I don’t understand what you’re saying with the two major parts. Dombrowski was quoted as saying it was Cora’s decision to keep Swihart, are you stating Dombrowski lied?
BTW – I did include the link to the entire article, so obviously I wasn’t trying to hide anything.
Fever – Yes, he damn near broke his ankle jumping for a flyball against the green monster.
No, I am not saying he lied. That the decision wasn’t all Cora’s and why they came to that decision anyways.
Wasn’t saying you were trying to hide anything. You just didn’t give all the facts as to why Cora made the suggestion.
None of what you posted here change the fact that your take of what happened where E-Rod got injured was fantasy and not reality. Someone even posted a link with video of the play. Your initial take that he twisted the ankle reaching back for the throw is completely false and there for everyone to see in the video. Sucks to be you.
lamar – The subject wasn’t why Cora wanted to keep Swihart, it was whether Cora’s decision to play Swihart at first base contributed to ERod’s injury. I believe we all agree it did.
king – I’m not going to get into a pissing match about whether or not Swihart’s putrid throw is what started the chain of events that led to ERod’s injury.
ERod wouldn’t have been injured if a real first baseman had made a good throw. You’ve already demonstrated multiple times that you have issues with me, which renders your recollection of the events as completely irrelevant. I’ve read the accounts of the play, and seen the video numerous times in the past, that’s enough for me and any other non-biased person to come to a logical conclusion. Cora injured ERod.
You dont want to “get into a pissing match” because you were completely wrong. ERod had twisted to grab throw, missed it, turned saw sliding player and hopped over him. When he landed he hurt his himself. It was a freak accident.
It wasnt “an easy play” and it certainly didnt happen when “he twisted”
A good throw wouldve put Rodriguez in more harms way.
Look again:
mlb.com/news/eduardo-rodriguez-injures-ankle-at-fi…
“B”’s are wild.
Why not just promote Drohan from Portland?
My wife thought Bello would be the savior of the Red Sox staff. Maybe next year.
We all know your wife doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
Someone fact check me on this… Sale 83 pitches 0 swings and misses?? Not good…
olm – It was indeed a disappointing performance for Sale, especially after his prior performance was so strong. Do you know he didn’t even have a strikeout tonight. He had 9 hits and a walk in 5 innings, that’s a 2.0 WHIP which is awful.
And yet another one-run loss, which as we all know is the manager’s fault when a team loses by one run. How bad is it when a .136-hitting Chang is pinch hit for by a .189-hitting Arroyo … comical. And with one out in the 9th and the tying run on second base, Casas hits for himself – no pinch hitter.
Also Turner showed his stupidity again, this time getting thrown out by a mile at 3B with nobody out.
On the bright side, Masa went 3-for-3 with a walk so he’s finally doing the Wade Boggs impersonation that I talked about so much before the season.
And Duran looked good again, ending the game with a hard line drive that was unfortunately right at the third baseman for the final out.
And yet another one-run loss, which as we all know is the manager’s fault when a team loses by one run. How bad is it when a .136-hitting Chang is pinch hit for by a .189-hitting Arroyo … comical. And with one out in the 9th and the tying run on second base, Casas hits for himself – no pinch hitter.
This loss isn’t on Cora this loss is on Sale and Turner. Sale for pathetic pitching performance 5 IP 9 H 1 BB O K and a whopping 2 swing strikes in 83 pitches. Unfortunately Sale is the one that should be going to the minors. And what the hell was Turner thinking for trying to take 3rd base?? It was just dumb base running by an established veteran.
As for pitching hitting for Chang, what better option were there? I didn’t see Story or Mondesi on the bench. Nope, the RS lost another 1 run game due to their lousy starting pitching. The RS had a 4-0 lead and any decent start from Sale and the Sox easily won this game.
lamar – I was watching the Yankee game last Saturday, and with the winning run in scoring position in the 9th inning the Yanks pinch hit with DJL … who of course won the game. THAT is how managerial strategy wins the close games. You leave at least one good hitter on the bench for crucial late-inning situations, and you don’t keep him on the bench for the whole game just because he was promised a day off.
I think one thing that everyone here agrees on, the Red Sox don’t have a deep lineup even though they’ve got only ONE guy on the IL (Mondesi doesn’t count, they knew he was injured when they acquired him).
It’s Cora’s choice to go with an 8-man pen instead of having an extra bench player.
It was Cora’s choice to not pinch hit McGuire, even though his hand was fine for hitting.
It was Cora’s choice to not pinch hit Ref, who was left on the bench.
And it was Cora’s choice to use FIVE guys in the game last night who are all batting less than .190
Sure Sale had a bad game, but 5 runs is not insurmountable. The ML median for runs per game is 4.52 so you can’t blame the loss on just the pitching.
Fever –
“lamar – I was watching the Yankee game last Saturday, and with the winning run in scoring position in the 9th inning the Yanks pinch hit with DJL … who of course won the game. THAT is how managerial strategy wins the close games. You leave at least one good hitter on the bench for crucial late-inning situations, and you don’t keep him on the bench for the whole game just because he was promised a day off.” – If Cora had a DJL on the bench they would have won the game too,
“‘I think one thing that everyone here agrees on, the Red Sox don’t have a deep lineup even though they’ve got only ONE guy on the IL (Mondesi doesn’t count, they knew he was injured when they acquired him).” – Mondesi is in fact the other guy
“It’s Cora’s choice to go with an 8-man pen instead of having an extra bench player.” – And why is that? You have 3 starters yet to throw for 6 innings and two starters that manage the feat once each.
“It was Cora’s choice to not pinch hit McGuire, even though his hand was fine for hitting”. – Says who? You? he was listed DTD for a reason.
“It was Cora’s choice to not pinch hit Ref, who was left on the bench.” – He brings in Ref, they tie the score and now it’s the top of 1oth and now you have to burn Arroyo to come in for Ref. So now you burned two players just to tie the game on the road. There is a reason Cora is the manager and were not.
“And it was Cora’s choice to use FIVE guys in the game last night who are all batting less than .190” – And what other options did he have? Ref wasn’t starting over Yoshida, Verdugo or Duran. Reese was DTD and wasn’t starting over Wong. So who else was gonna get the start? Again, Cora knows more than you do.
“Sure Sale had a bad game, but 5 runs is not insurmountable. The ML median for runs per game is 4.52 so you can’t blame the loss on just the pitching.” – This loss is ALL on pitching! The offense staked him to a 4-0 lead and by the 5th inning he not only tied up the game but gave up the lead.
Lamar – Actually, no Cora wouldn’t. He has a long history of refusing to bring in good hitters to pinch hit if he has already given the player a day off. Cora doesn’t care about winning in April, ever.
There’s an unwritten rule, fans don’t have the right to whine and moan about an injured player if it was public knowledge the player was injured when he was acquired. So Mondesi does not count as depth.
Cora has a well known reputation of pulling his starting pitchers early, especially in April because he wants them “well rested” for October. With proper pitching staff management, 7 relievers should be plenty. Twenty or so years ago a 10-man or 11-man pitching staff was the norm, and yet managers managed.
It was reported days ago that McGuire would be able to play yesterday. And guess what, he is starting tonight … which certainly means he could have pinch hit last night with the game on the line.
I knew that we were unlikely to get a repeat performance from his previous outing, but -0- K’s seems almost impossible for him. I’m wondering if he is tipping his pitches.
Hope E-Rod got his marriage straightened out, so he doesn’t have to miss a bunch of starts.
not following the red sox too closely, can somehow explain how they are managing to tread water with a rotation that shambolic and a line-up of devers and… not much else
Verdugo busting out Yoshida and turner getting hot and Jansen dominating
Bullpen has been above average and the offense is not just Devers. If you go by fangraphs an argument could be made that they have one of the better offenses in the AL. If the rotation settles down a bit then I doubt they’ll be competing for a playoff spot but they could play a spoiler role.
Dasit – There is more to this team than what meets the eyes. Even with a rotation that is shambolic there are positives from the rotation. Tanner Houck has been the best starter for our RS and even Whitlock has looked good at times. N. Pivetta’ 4.58 ERA but in each of 3 of his 4 starts he was 1 inning away from posting a quality start. Besides his clucker vs the Angels 5 IP 6ER he has thrown 15.2 innings and 4ER in his other starts. He does tend to give up too many walks. And our problem has been that Sale and Kluber both have been absolutely brutal to start the season.
While our offense does have some holes at the bottom. Our offense is better than most people expected it would be. Lead by Duvall’s ridiculous hot start before he was injured, .455 avg, .514 OBP 1.030 SLG 1.544 OPS, Verdugo’s .319 avg and .391 OBP, Devers 9 Hrs and 23 RBi, Turner’s .289 avg and .384 OBP, Yoshida finding his groove and starting to heat u, .400 avg .407 OBP .680 SLG 1.087 OPS over his last 25 abs and before that was hitting .294 over 35 abs and Reese McGuire’s surprisingly .361 avg and clutch hitting.
good stuff
thanks!
Dasit – And I forgot to mention our bullpen has been lights out of late and our closer Jansen has been spotless.
Give Sale 2 more outings like last night and he will break one of his hands acting like a spoiled toddler then spend the remainder of the season on the IL.
AC, take 4 solid innings from Sale. Get two innings from Kluber, then the pen every 6th day.
I don’t care about their egos–do they question the stupidity of the RS when they cash their checks.? Check your egos at the door boys and show what veterans are supposed to do!
@madmc44, after Sale having yet another melt down last night, I expect Bloom will begin looking for a bad deal swap somewhere
DBH – Why? Sale is just rusting from not pitching more than 16 games since 2019. And now add in the pitch clock which may or may not be part of the problem – but all of it is new territory for him. It may take another month or two before he gets right. As of right now he has no control or feel for his pitches.
I do believe that being rusty is a huge factor here. It is why I suggested moving him to the pen for a short while to give him time to work through it. Let him pitch an inning or 3 or days a week for a couple weeks.
Ort’s doing a nice job after Kluber’s gem.
It’s disgusting kenley had to be brought into the game after ort started the 9th with a 7 run lead. Time to abort ort.
Could you imagine being the top ranked arm in the Red Sox organization with nothing to prove in the minors anymore and being sent down to the minors rather than used in relief when Kaleb Ort exists on the team? What a confidence crusher.
Umm,,,I think they want him to stay stretched out so he can remain a starter if needed.