By Ted Gay – @TedG63

When Brandon Phillps was signed by the Red Sox, I thought it was a no impact move.  I saw him at his best when he was with Cincinnati, and I believed he was a shadow of that player now.  It was sad. An old man, his skills deteriorated, playing in a dilapidated ballpark in a dying New England mill town.  It would end with him designated for assignment, reduced to going out on anything but his terms.

During the season I read posts touting Phillips’ prospects for returning to the show.  I scoffed. If he had anything left in the tank, he would be in the big leagues instead of AAA.   When the rosters expanded, and Phillips was not added I felt vindicated.

Then Phillips returned to the majors.  I thought he would emulate Royce Clayton when he joined the 2007 Sox; a washed-up veteran who was very popular and whose very presence in the dugout during the playoffs would help the team.  Clayton got his final six plate appearances with the Sox scoring a run without getting a hit. He did get a ring, a nice capper to the career of a good clubhouse guy.

Alex Spier, during his half inning in the NESN booth on Tuesday, said he expected Phillips to play on Wednesday.  When Alex Cora posted his spring training line up the next morning, it made sense that Phillips would get his last few at-bats in a National League stadium in a game that meant much more, and was taken far more seriously, by the Sox opponents.

The Red Sox started Hector Velasquez, better known in his hometown of Ciudad Obregon as the Mexican Pomeranz, who did Hector Velasquez things in the first inning digging the outgunned Sox a 2-0 hole.  In the bottom of the second, against Braves ace, Mike Foltynewicz Phillips worked a walk and went to third when Rafael Devers singled. Brock Holt grounded to Lucas Duda. Phillips ran halfway down the line and stopped.  Duda, not confident that throwing behind Phillips would get an out or save a run, stepped on first, as Phillips broke for home beating Duda’s throw. Lousy baserunning has bitten the Red Sox several times this season. Sox fans reacted to Phillips’ smart base running like they had tasted fine wine after years of living on bilge water.

In the eighth when the Red Sox, in a season where they have come back from the dead more than a soap opera heroine, Phillips hustled down the line to reach on an error in the middle of a six-run frame.   Then, after Brandon Workman, who proved his post-season bonafides by pitching the eighth inning of the 2013 World Series Game Six, destroyed them by yielding a Freddie Freeman bomb to relinquish the lead, Phillips, with Andrew Benintendi on board, hammered a pitch sending the ball deep into the left field bleachers, and finishing his swing by thrusting his chest out resembling Hulk Hogan hulking up.

I realized Brandon Phillips has to be on our postseason roster.  He will become another member of Cora’s swiss army knife bench, able to play three positions, exhibiting a high baseball IQ on the basepaths, the ability to hit with power and remain unruffled in pressure situations.  He has a .333 postseason batting average, higher than many other current Sox.

To make a spot Rafael Devers needs to be left off of the roster.  Yes, Devers has pop in his bat, but did you see how far Phillips hit that ball off the closer of a first place team in a must-win game for the Braves?  Outside of the possible exception of power hitting, Phillips is better at fielding, running, and hitting for average. I can see number 0 warming up at third base before Game 3 at Wrigley Field.

Putting Phillips on the roster will necessitate carrying 12 hurlers, giving them eight pitchers in the bullpen, which should be enough, even for the Sox.

Maybe, over the next three and a half weeks we will find out that this was Phillips’ last flourish, but, for now, in a dream season, Brandon Phillips has given us another reason to believe.

ICYMI:  BENNY & THE BETTS PODCAST  (EP. 78)

SOX SWEEP THE BRAVES!
WHERE DOES PHILLIPS FIT? 3B? 1B?
PITCHING MATCHUPS VS. HOUSTON
CAN THE YANKEES BEAT OAKLAND?

Also available on iTunes!https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/benny-and-the-betts-podcast/id1434494214

God bless you, Don Mattingly.  On Tuesday night Red Sox Nation turned their lonely eyes to you, and you did not fail to fail.  He left Tayron Guerrero in two batters too long to help the Sox take the lead.  Then, after the epic Craig Kimbrell crash that sent the Nation spinning like an out of control barrel going over a waterfall two seemingly innocuous Mattingly moves from an inning before circled to take cost the Marlins’ manager.  He pinch hit JT Riddle for catcher Bryan Holaday which pushed starting shortstop Miguel Rojas to first where the duo would combine to throw away the relay on an easy double play causing the Sox to avoid what would easily have been the worse loss of the season.  Mattingly who occupied first base for the Bronx Bombers during their longest streak without a World Series win since the Babe arrived in town, has always been a Boston good luck charm and should be considered for the Sox Hall of Fame. Thanks for another win Donnie Ballgame.

Yes, it was just the Marlins, but, after watching the level of panic in Boston when the Yankees took four against the Orioles, a team as historically bad as the Red Sox have been good, a win against the Marlins should rank with beating the ‘76 Reds.

It was the kind of completely stupid, unlikely, lucky win that pulls a team out of a malaise, and given the Boston offensive explosion Wednesday night, perhaps the Tampa Bay slump is over although the Bronx owning White Sox are up next.

On the offensive side of the ball, the only question is between good and better.  While Eduardo Nunez is good at third base will Rafael Devers and his threat of power be better in the playoffs? Which of their three starting catches should be playing? Mitch Moreland or Steve Pierce at first?  There doesn’t seem to be a wrong answer.

On the pitching side, there are now no good answers, and we doubt what we were once sure of.

Every Sox’s fan heart stopped when David Price took a liner off the wrist and was forced to leave Wednesday’s start.  If the Sox wish to show an overabundance of caution a ten-day DL stint may be in his future.   Yes, this will make the threat of the Yankees closing the gap greater, unless they have any more home games against the unbeatable White Sox, but it will be worth the risk. I am sure Price would be criticized by his dissenters, including this site’s webmaster Terry Cusham, but keep in mind, Terry’s great, great, great grandfather tweeted his displeasure with Abe Lincoln for disrespecting the actors by  leaving the theater too soon because of an “upper body injury.”

Chris Sale says his shoulder feels like Paul Bunyan’s which is great but scouting reports said Bunyan chokes in late-inning pressure situations so it would be better if he had a shoulder like a healthy Chris Sale.  The lefty has to be in midseason form for there to be another duck boat parade in November

After that, like Final Jeopardy, there’s nothing but questions. Rick Porcello needs a good start to right his ship. Hopefully, Pedro Martinez can help Nathan Eovaldi regain his form, although I question why Martinez, watching the game on TV, can see things that allude Dana Levangie.

Speaking of the Sox pitching coach, was his animated conversation on the mound with Craig Kimbrell Tuesday night a sign that there is something wrong with Kimbrell’s delivery and the stubborn closer refuses to adjust?  There are dozens of small adjustments in pitcher’s motion that can turn a lights-out closer to a batting practice bum.  Hopefully, LaVangie, Martinez or some other casual viewer can tinker with Kimbrell’s mechanics and turn him back into Mr. Automatic.  Kimbrell has as much to lose as the Sox. Every blown save brings down his market value.

The post-all-star break bullpen has been more disappointing than season two of Westworld. Everyone is calling for Dave Dombrowski to get another arm, but it has to be a good arm.  Plenty of teams would be ready to part with a reliever who would pitch just well enough to fail miserably in Boston. Finding a better pitcher than those who currently bleed runs from the Sox pen in the last three days August without a surfeit of prospects is unlikely.

Matt Barnes, Tyler Thornburg, Heath Hembree and Joe Kelly have all shown flashes of being “the guy,” but are more often “anybody but this guy.”  If the Red Sox win their fourth championship since 2004, putting them one behind the revered Patriots, the bullpen will have to play a major role.

How that will happen continues to remain a mystery.

Unless, somehow, during the playoffs, old Donnie Baseball will be in the other dugout.  No game is over when Mattingly is on the other side.

RED SOX TALK W/ TERRY, DAVE, & AUSTIN!

RED SOX BULLPEN IN FREE FALL!  DAVID PRICE INJURED!  WILL THE SOX MAKE A MOVE AT THE WAIVER DEADLINE?  GIO GONZALEZ?  STARLIN CASTRO?

Ball four, take your base!

That call is part of the game, a duality with strike three your out. Yet for Sox fans it’s a call we’ve all grown tired of hearing in the ninth.

Kimbrel isn’t doing his job. How bad is it? He’s allowed 26 hits and walks in just under 20 innings since July 2nd. He hasn’t had a one run save since July 2nd, and has only thrown four clean innings since June. I don’t believe ERA matters much to a closer since it can be inflated so easily. Since the All Star Break in mid July Kimbrel has a 1.54 WHIP compared to 0.89 in the first half of the season. When he falls behind in the count he hardly ever gets it back. Which has led to a 3.24 strikeout-to-walk ratio, a far cry from his elite nine in 2017. Why is all of this?

Well, Kimbrel thirty. He’s getting old for a long time closer. Why does that matter? Look at what Pedro Martinez has to say about turning thirty in his book. “For some people, turning 30 is a bigger milestone than for others. For pitchers, it marks the turning point in a career.”

This isn’t a hot take, just about everyone at the ballpark the other night saw it clearly when the Sox closer walked back to back hitters on pitches that weren’t even close to the zone. Kimbrel’s repertoire? A fastball that can’t quite touch a hundred anymore and a knuckle curve that when it works it’s works, but therein lies the problem.

It doesn’t work.

The knuckle curve is a deceptive pitch, can be thrown in the same movement as a fastball. Yet the deception means nothing when Kimbrel misses the zone as much as he has with it. Major League hitters, no matter how young or bad they might be can lay off a curve that never lines up with the zone at any point in its trajectory.

Of the thirteen knuckle curves I saw Kimbrel throw in game one against the Marlins, nine were balls more than a few inches outside the zone, including a wild pitch which led to runners advancing. To make matters worse, his velocity with both pitches are down from last year.

When you’re thirty your body just isn’t the same. Kimbrel is still a good pitcher, 37 saves in 53.0 innings is nothing to sneeze at. However, while it doesn’t touch his elite 2017 season, it’s better than the 2016 everyone seems to be comparing him to. The problem with that comparison? Kimbrel was injured that year and played through it, and then put up big numbers when he was fully healthy the following year. This year, under Coras coaching philosophy? I don’t think it’s due to injury again. Nor do I think it’s a case of overworking.

The genuine answer is that Kimbrel is getting old and might need to change the way he approaches pitching to hitters. Because trying to blow away the radar gun can only get you so far.

RED SOX TALK W/ TERRY, DAVE, & AUSTIN!

RED SOX BULLPEN IN FREE FALL! DAVID PRICE INJURED! WILL THE SOX MAKE A MOVE AT THE WAIVER DEADLINE? GIO GONZALEZ? STARLIN CASTRO?

]]> https://avidboston.com/2018/08/30/age-is-catching-up-to-kimbrel/feed/ 0 IMG_20180830_210507.jpg nordjoshua https://avidboston.com/2018/08/28/alex-cora-lowest-paid-salary-manager-mlb/ https://avidboston.com/2018/08/28/alex-cora-lowest-paid-salary-manager-mlb/#respond Tue, 28 Aug 2018 01:57:32 +0000 http://avidboston.com/?p=4828 By Terry Cushman – @cushmanMLB

To be “fair,” he is tied with Scott Servais of the Mariners, and Brian Snitker of the Braves.   All three make $800,000 each annually.

Bruce Bochy, Joe Maddon, and Mike Scioscia are tied at the top of the list for a whopping $6,000,000 each annually.  Terry Francona is not too far behind at $4,000,000.  Several sources reported these statistics today, most notably USA TODAY.

I’m not a “Cora guy.”   I still hate the fact Mookie Betts is our lead off hitter.  As well as the fact he often bats two scrap heap guys, Moreland and Pearce, in either the three or four hole.   My preference would be to have Betts and Martinez hit back to back in the three-four hole similar to how Manny and Papi did for both of the 04 and 07 championships.

Despite my gripes, it’s almost offensive to me that Cora ranks at the very bottom of the pyramid in terms of salary.  Boston is notoriously the toughest market to manage in.   The media scrutiny is very intense.   The fan base is rabid.   He surely takes more criticism than any other manager in the game.  I mean, the previous manager got fired after winning back to back division titles…

The Red Sox currently have the highest payroll in the sport.   Wouldn’t it make sense to make a fair investment to a prospective manager who has the daunting task to deliever a World Series to a front office who has $242M invested into it’s team?   Why would you low ball him while simultaneously putting the weight of the world on his shoulders?

Cora helped guide the defending champion Houston Astros to a World Series in 2017 as their bench coach.  He had a big hand in putting the Puerto Rican WBC team together, which happened to reach the finals.   Aaron Boone has none of that on his resume.   Actually, literally nothing at all.   He makes $1,150,000.   If that isn’t a big enough kick in the nuts…   John Farrell was making $3,000,000 per year up until his merciful firing.

The Red Sox have the highest average ticket prices in all of MLB.   They also have the highest beer prices at $11 per cup.  So there is plenty of revenue to pay the manager what he’s actually worth.   Especially since he is on pace to shatter the previous franchise record in wins.   And possibly have a top four or five all time winningest season of any franchise period.   Pay the man!

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Well, that just happened.

The world’s greatest baseball team just got swept by the lowly Tampa Bay Rays.  A desperate Red Sox family looks for answers.

The Boston sports family is composed of three sons with different personalities.  One child is the diehard, who like John McClain, steps through the shattered glass of the Rays series, ignoring the pain in his feet, and confidently continued onwards.   The second is the wise-ass who always predicts and relishes in disaster, ready with doom and gloom prophecies (“Just like 1978, this is what happened in 2011, I told you they weren’t any good.”)  The youngest is the skeptic who after every loss reacts like someone stole his ice cream.

The die-hard looks at the Rays series and the Sox recent struggles as part of the ebb and flow of the season.  He insists every team goes through periods where they can’t hit, field or pitch and look like the Orioles. His belief is no team has been on the winning pace the Sox are currently on, and that is because such a pace is nearly impossible.  “The Sox were due a stretch like this, better now that in the playoffs,” he says. This die-hard keeps the faith. He believes this series was a bump in the road. “A day off and a couple of games against Miami and we’ll be back to an unstoppable juggernaut,” he promises.  (He always refers to the Sox as “we.”)

The second child has been waiting for this moment all season.  He spouted off a couple of times (when the Sox dropped a series to Chicago and when the Yankees took two of three in the Bronx), but he rarely had time to downplay the Sox’s accomplishments as they racked up series win after series win.   He is wise enough to know that most seasons the Red Sox won’t win the World Series and is the first to remind his family that he predicted that the moment Boston is eliminated. “I told you they couldn’t beat a good team,” he boasts. (He always refers to the Sox as “they.”)   If the Sox do win, he buys a cap and T-shirt to commemorate, goes to the parade, somehow ends up on TV cheering the duck boats and tells his friends he has never been happier to be wrong. He desires to be a sports radio host.

The third brother, the skeptic, waits as well, for the rug to be pulled out from under him.  He has been disappointed so many times before that at the first sign of trouble it triggers panic.   He wants to be like his older brother the die-hard, but at the first bump in the road he jumps from the bandwagon and hides in the brush hoping he doesn’t get hurt when the wagon crashes.

All three sons are needed to complete the family unit.  The stupid brave diehard inspires confidence during the dark times; the wise-ass stops us from getting too full of ourselves, the skeptic puts doubt in our minds to protect us from the day the wagon does crash.

The three sons reacted predictably to the Red Sox’s recent misfortune. The die-hard points to the six-game cushion and reminds his brothers that the best teams get swept at some point during the season; the wise-ass mocks the die-hard’s faith and continually harps on the recent failures of Rick Porcello, Nathan Eovaldi, and the bullpen, while the skeptic ignores them both while frantically insisting Alex Cora has to change his management technique and we need Chris Sale back today.

Always at one another’s throats, but joining together to cheer for that one hit, pitch or steal that will unite the family in joy.

ICYMI:  EPISODE 75 OF THE AVIDBOSTON PODCAST!

WHAT’S WRONG W/ MOOKIE?  WILL THE YANKS CATCH UP? PEDROIA COMEBACK?  GOOD OR BAD?  DID DOMBROWSKI BOTCH THE TRADE DEADLINE?

By Terry Cushman – @cushmanMLB

When the Red Sox were running up their win total for what was their best July in several years, if possibly ever, my primary concern was that President Dave Dombrowski might not pursue the July 31 non-waiver deadline as aggressively as he should.  After all, why shouldn’t he?   Isn’t Boston’s window for a World Series closing?

Being a “realist,”  I’m always watching for subtle issues which could eventually become bigger issues later on.  Anytime I raised concerns, people would say, “We have 70 wins already… we’re the best team in baseball!”   Being a 2011 collapse survivor, I laughed at how my fellow Sox fans could be so naive.  In fact, I’ve grown used to it.

As we near start of September, we baseball fans are getting a sense of which teams did well at the trade deadline, and which teams did not.   Lets look at how the Red Sox did:

Nathan Eovaldi

Nobody saw this deal coming.   Matt Harvey, Cole Hamels, Chris Archer, Kevin Gausman  and Mike Fiers in no particular order were names that were often connected to other teams in July.  Eovaldi’s name never came up at all anywhere, until he was traded to the Boston Red Sox on July 25th for Jaelyn Beeks in a one-for-one deal.

The reaction to this deal amongst the Boston landscape was mostly very positive.   And if I’m being completely honest, despite some mild skepticism, I embraced this trade with an open mind.   The former Yankee was fresh off Tommy John, had proven his durability earlier in the season, eats up innings, throws gas, and strikes guys out.

Eovaldi looked great in his first two starts.   Pitched eight scoreless innings in his debut outing against the Twins, followed by seven scoreless against his former Yankees.  However, in his following four starts since, he has failed to pitch more than five and 1/3 innings.  Not to mention giving up double digit hits in two of those, and 35 hits overall in that stretch.   So much for being an “innings eater,”  huh?

At the end of the day, Eovaldi is a career 4.21 ERA pitcher, and it’s been more of the same here in Boston.  He MIGHT still provide value from the bullpen in long relief.   Chris Sale, David Price, and Rick Porcello are all but guaranteed to be the 1-2-3 starters in the ALDS.   The abundance of caution the Boston front office is implementing with Sale seems to be an obvious indicator that there will a four man rotation during that opening round.   That spot could possibly go to Eduardo Rodriguez, Brian Johnson, or Eovaldi.

Logic would point to Rodriguez, but theres no guarantees he bounces back effectively, and if he does, are we still getting a pitcher who can’t pitch past the fifth?   If not, what makes him an upgrade over the latter two?    The Red Sox still have a depth issue.

Cole Hamels was my first choice.   He’s a proven veteran who is durable, and a former World Series  MVP.   Which sounds pretty good considering Price, Porcello, and Sale all have 24 years of combined MLB experience, but not one single win in the playoffs as a starting pitcher.   The Cubs only had to give up two low level pitching prospects, and pay $5M of Hamels’ remaining 2018 salary.   For comparison, Eduardo Nunez, who serves as a utility man, only costs the Red Sox $4M annually.   In five starts with the Cubs, Hamels is pitching to a 0.79 ERA.   This was easily a deal Dombrowski could have pursued, but he chose Eovaldi.

Mike Fiers was another candidate I considered to be very viable.  Granted, his season numbers with the Tigers weren’t drastically better than Eovaldi’s, but did seem somewhat more attractive given his larger sample size  of innings for the year.   Fiers is now part of a suddenly robust Oakland rotation, and is pitching to a 1.50 ERA.   What did Oakland give up for Fiers?   Cash considerations, or two players to be named later.  Dave Dombrowski could have had him for practically nothing, but he chose Eovaldi.

Is the Red Sox rotation better off after making this trade than they were last spring?   No.

Just for shits and giggles…  Mostly giggles…  Clay Buchholz has a 2.25 ERA in 13 starts with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Ian Kinsler

This was another trade that came out of nowhere.   With Dustin Pedroia on the disabled list, clearly Dombrowski made this deal with the mindset of improving his infield defense.  It was the second time he successfully traded for Kinsler.   Previously he managed to fleece the Texas Rangers to bring Kinsler to Detroit and rid himself of Prince Fielder’s terrible contract.

One of my biggest gripes for much of the year was about the low productivity of the bottom half of Boston’s lineup.  The higher “need” on my wishlist was for an offensive upgrade.   Starlin Castro and Whit Merrifield were two names I personally coveted.  The latter of which also provides stellar defense, but both certainly could have provided the offensive spark the Sox needed, and still need.

Kinsler, who typically averages around 20 home runs annually has failed to go deep one single time thus far with the Sox.   As well as only two stolen bases despite hispreviously  high aptitude for doing so.   The former Ranger is only hitting .237 on the year, and has not provided any offensive upside.  In fact, Nunez has been a much stronger contributor.

We can debate whether or not the defense of Kinsler justifies the trade despite our struggling lineup.   But the cold hard truth is that his WAR since arriving in Boston is -0.1, and he’s not an impact player.    My concerns in this area are very much the same as they were earlier in the year.

Final Verdict:

The Oakland A’s and Chicago Cubs by far “won” the deadline with their respective moves.   Oakland acquired Fiers, Familia, and Rodney.   There’s no team in the American league I fear more than them.   I’m seriously rooting for them to win the AL West in favor of having to face either the Yankees or Astros in the five game ALDS.   The Sox have already lost four out of six to Oakland in 2018, and that was before they made their trades.

The Cubs acquired Hamels and Murphy, and seem to finally have some momentum on the rest of the National League Central.

The Yankees made a solid trade to get J.A. Happ.   Zach Britton has had his struggles out of their bullpen, but there is plenty of time to figure it out.

So finally, as far as the Red Sox are concerned, I will emphatically say they botched it.  They have gotten very little value from the trades they did make.   Literally the GM’s of every probable playoff team managed to out perform, and out maneuver Dave Dombrowski this summer..

To make matters worse, Jaelyn Beeks is settling in very nicely with the Tampa Bay Rays, which is where he will reside for the next six years.

ICYMI:  EPISODE 75 OF THE AVIDBOSTON PODCAST!

WHAT’S WRONG W/ MOOKIE?  WILL THE YANKS CATCH UP? PEDROIA COMEBACK?  GOOD OR BAD?  DID DOMBROWSKI BOTCH THE TRADE DEADLINE?

Playoffs is coming. There is no way its not. The Red Sox are currently on fire, and we all have to be excited about going back and proving ourselves. However, of the glaring weaknesses on our team, pitching has to stand out the most. Our bullpen is soft, with no real impact players outside of Kimbrel. Chris Sale is on the DL but will be back in time, and our rotation can be considered at times suspect. However we have one player who if he continues to play like he is right now, can be a dynamic impact player, and a huge necessity for our team. That player is the former social pariah known as David Price.

When you look deeply at our staff, Chris Sale is the dominant ace, but then Price follows not far behind. With the rotation of Sale, Price and Porcello this team is set to have a devastating playoff rotation. Place all debate about Price’s playoff performances aside, because this is a new and improved David Price. And I will explain why.

Since the all star break Price has put together a 1.09 ERA, good for the American league lead. He has also came in with a completely new mindset. I heard an interview with Price where he said words to the effect of “I have been trying to make adjustments to the hitters, but why? I need to get back to throwing my best stuff and making them adjust to me.” This is renewed confidence for a player who may not have wanted to even be in our uniform the last few seasons. “This is the pitcher Boston signed. For me to get back to that, it’s about time” Price has said.

With a new more exaggerated windup, Price is throwing the ball with improved mechanics. He already threw a plethora of fastballs, but it may be the changeup that is really pushing him back to his elite status. He threw his changeup infrequently in past months, for example April when he threw it 11%. That number is now up to 27%. With his backdoor cutter, now not solely being throw in on the hands, and above average fastball, Price is doing just want he wanted. He’s making players afraid again. Price has also started throwing from closer to first base, adding more action to his arm side. This a renewed man.

Price could be our most important and impactful player. Yes I know, “he should be” due to his massive contract, but the fact of the matter is, he simply has not been while in Boston. This year, he has returned to form of years past. If Price can perform in the playoffs like he is now, he truly could be the guy who puts us over the edge. We do not question Sale, or our lineup. But we have questioned Price in the past. David Price is elite, right now. Say that with me for emphasis and joy. DAVID PRICE IS ELITE and he could be the most important part of obtaining what we all want, another World Series title.

ICYMI: AVIDBOSTON PODCAST EPISODE 74!

SOX SPLIT W/ INDIANS! CAN PRICE FINALLY DOMINATE IN PLAYOFFS? BOGAERTS BEST SHORTSTOP IN AMERICAN LEAGUE?

The question you can’t avoid hearing if you listen to sports radio, which might just be the enemy of the people is if you are “all in” with this Red Sox team.

I have been “all in” since I was four years old.  Since Luis Aparicio fell going around third base, Carlton Fisk’s pole shot, Joe Morgan’s single to center,  Bucky Dent, Chico Walker replacing Yaz in left, Clemens’ first 20 K game, Dave Henderson’s two homers, Mookie Wilson’s one ground ball, Morgan Magic, Mo Vaughn at the Foxy Lady, Pedro on the bump at Yankee Stadium, Aaron Boone, Dave Roberts, Big Papi, the bloody sock,  D Lowe, “Folke has it and tosses to first,” JD Drew’s 70 million grand slam, Shipping Up to Boston, Carl Crawford, chicken and beer, Bobby V, our fucking city, Papi’s grand slam, Koji’s pickoff, Victorino’s double, Hanley, Pablo, Sale Days, JD and Mookie.

I expect, reader, that you too are a Red Sox fan who went “all in” years ago.  If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be wasting time reading a blog written by someone you don’t know and often disagree with.  We are “all in” deep during the best of times and the worst of times.

The first five months of this season has been some of the best times imaginable.  The concern all season has been that the bullpen will end this magical run with a few ill-advised pitches in the late innings of a deciding game.  That fear, while still in play, has been surpassed by the thought of the Sox trying to win three series without Chris Sale playing the role of Madison Bumgarner.

With a healthy Sale, if every team in the playoffs played to their potential, which seldom happens, the Red Sox would win the World Series.  Without Sale, the Sox are going to have to be perfect, and their opponents play below their talent level. It is not impossible. The only year the Red Sox had baseball’s best team and won the Series was in 2007, and they had to come back from being down 3-1 to the Indians.

As for the bullpen, the eternal talk radio question is who will pitch the seventh and eighth.  The Sports Hub’s Jim Murray refers to the bullpen as a wheel of gutless bums ironically unable to see the accurate measure of a gutless person is baseless name calling of someone you will never meet.  While the Sox bullpen has been shaky all season, there is no way you can be on pace to shatter your franchise win record with a bullpen filled with gutless bums.

If you are wondering who will be the seventh and eighth inning guys you have not been paying attention to Alex Cora.  He is going to rely on the numbers to decide who pitches when. If Matt Barnes is needed in the fifth, that’s where he will pitch.  If Barnes is in the bullpen and the numbers show Heath Hembree is best for the situation in the eighth Hembree is getting the ball.  It is a dangerous philosophy but also a gutsy one. Cora was brought in to make the hard decisions, and he was done it to great success.  Don’t expect him to change for the playoffs.

The biggest question is who will be in the bullpen.  Eduardo Rodriguez and Steven Wright are close to coming back.  If Sale returns as a starter either those two or Nathan Eovaldi could be relieving, and that changes the entire bullpen.  The most useless pitcher on a playoff roster is the Game 4 starter. Given the circumstances, he might not pitch, and if he does, it’s for five innings.  Would the Sox be better off having Brian Johnson pitch game four and keeping the more valuable arms in the pen? With a healthy Sale, the bullpen could have Eovaldi, Wright, and Rodriguez while Hembree and Joe Kelly find themselves on the wrong side of the playoff roster.

And what if Sale can’t come back 100 percent back but can pitch an inning or two a game? What a presence he would be at the back of the bullpen throwing everything he had into one inning.  Preferably Sale is a starter. Purposefully putting him in the bullpen is like not playing Tom Brady until the fourth quarter. But I would take a limited Chris Sale over anyone else we could put on the hill late in the game sans Kimbrell.

Through a series of injuries, the Red Sox keep marching forward racking up wins.  Sunday’s loss to Tampa was the first missed Sale start that ended with an L and given the lack of offense the best Sale could have got them is a tie after nine.

Yes, the Red Sox have more questions than they did a month ago, but solving the game’s riddles is part of the joy of winning.  No Red Sox championship season has even been easy, why should this one be any different?

ICYMI:  AVIDBOSTON PODCAST EPISODE 73!

ARE THE SALE / DEVERS INJURIES LEGIT OR PHANTOM?  IS THE SOX BULLPEN BOUNCING BACK?  POSSIBLE PLAYOFF AUDITION FOR EOVALDI AGAINST CLEVELAND?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/firefarrell-podcast/id1273560196?mt=2

In 2007, two young players, one, Dustin Pedroia, who is about to be the MVP, and the other, Jacoby Ellsbury, who came up in September, took the centerfield job, and never relinquished it, were the centerpieces of a world championship team.  Long, illustrious careers lay ahead of them both.  Now, eleven years later, as their respective teams prepare for a five-game playoff war, neither is a factor.

Both players have succumbed to injuries through different circumstances.  Pedroia played every game like it was his last. Instead of resting to heal wounds Pedroia played through them, causing his performance to suffer.  Ellsbury pampered himself.He managed to play only 18 games at age 26 in 2010 and then, two years later, was limited to 74.  Pedroia played 124 more games in the three-year stretch.  Despite vastly different views on maintaining their health, both players found themselves on the sidelines.

Pedroia and Ellsbury should be cautionary tales for general managers who sign position players to a contract that runs past their 35th birthday. Only designated hitters such as Nelson Cruz are producing post 35.  Pitchers are a different animal. They participate in a minimal amount of innings a week which gives them the edge in durability.

In the American League, looking back at the last ten MVPs, nine of whom were position players, five of them, Pedroia, Joe Mauer, Josh Hamilton, and Miguel Cabrera (2) have seen their skills significantly decline, and John Donaldson’s may join them because of injuries.    In the National League Albert Pujols, Ryan Braun and Andrew McCutchen have seen their production drop off after winning the MVP while Buster Posey tilts on edge.

Five years ago Cabrera won the MVP, and perpetual candidate Mike Trout finished second.  The rest of the AL top 20 won’t be getting a vote this year because they are out of the game (Josh Hamilton, Derek Jeter, Prince Fielder) in the twilight of their careers (Adrian Beltre, Robinson Cano, Adam Jones and Edwin Encarnacion) or with their futures hanging in the balance (David Price and Yoenis Cespedes.) .  The top players in the AL have become obsolete over five seasons.

Eleven years ago, as Boston celebrated their second championship of the decade, exuberant fans pictured the young Ellsbury and Pedroia being Boston mainstays for 15 years.  Six years later, when the organization won their third title, it seemed that Ellsbury and Pedroia had years of league-leading production ahead of them, as proven by Brian Cashman who gave Ellsbury a seven-year contract.  While Pedroia’s numbers, after winning his second ring, gradually received, Ellsbury was a Bronx bust from day one. While both men hope to be in the opening day lineup next year history shows their days of being a top, or even everyday player, is over.

The 2018 Red Sox are the best team in baseball with a dynamic young group of players who could provide the team with a vibrant nucleus for years to come.  But those years pass quickly. A ten-year contract to any player over the age of 25 is destined to be a burden for the team at the end of the deal. And today’s MVP candidates could very well be also-rans in five years.

It seems like yesterday that Pedroia and Ellsbury were the future, now they are the past.  Enjoy the young Red Sox players now, because in ten years they will be the past too.

ICYMI: AVIDBOSTON PODCAST EPISODE 72!

WILL NUNEZ EDGE OUT DEVERS IN OCTOBER? SHOULD SOX STICK w/ LEON LONG TERM? HOW MUCH TROUBLE ARE THE YANKEES IN?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/firefarrell-podcast/id1273560196?mt=2