pitching

The Boston Red Six?

/ Sara / Leave a comment

On Friday, the Boston Red Sox
take on the Toronto Blue Jays to kick off the second half of the
season. On the hill for the Red Sox will be Clay Buchholz.

Many will remember Buchholz from his no-hitter in September 2007.
Others remember how bad his 2008 season was, as he was shipped off to
the minors.

In 2009, Buchholz has been dominating while playing for Triple-A
Pawtucket. But with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Tim Wakefield, Brad
Penny, and Dice-K, there was no room on the rotation.

When Dice-K went down, John Smoltz stepped up. So what do you do with the sixth man on the pitching roster?

If you’re Terry Francona, you should put him in the rotation. Does this mean that the Red Sox could have a six-man rotation?

It’s possible. If Buchholz proves that he has what it takes to pitch
at the major league level again, it will be difficult to take him out
of the rotation.

Early in the season, there was talk by the fans/media about Tim
Wakefield eventually landing in the bullpen, but he’s tied for the lead
league in wins (with Josh Beckett).

How about John Smoltz? If he’s locating his pitches, he’s great, which means he will stay on the roster.

How about Penny? There was the thought he might be traded, but
that’s not going to happen anymore. Lester and Beckett are certainly
not going anywhere. Maybe if Dice-K goes to rehab, they can throw him
in the ‘pen.

Then you look towards August and September. By then, Dice-K will hopefully be back in good form, leaving the Red Sox with seven quality starters. That is if everyone stays healthy.

As usual, the Red Sox have approached the season with their eyes on
October. Slipping in April and May and late-slump before the All-Star
break mean absolutely nothing at this point.

A few days rest will do the bullpen some good, and they should
bounce back from the issues they’ve had the past two weeks or so. Bay
and Youkilis are seemingly heating up again, and Papi seems to be
rejuvenated.

Josh Beckett and Jon Lester have improved their starts lately. They
seem to be the aces we expected at the beginning of the year.

Smoltz is looking good. Penny is looking good. Clay Buchholz can only add to the rotation.

As far as Wakefield is concerned, his first ever All-Star game
should only serve to motivate and inspire him to keep pitching well.

Would this six man rotation work for the Red Sox? It cuts down on
the number of starts, and thus, the number of possible wins. On the
other hand, would the extra rest make the starters more likely to win?

We might actually get to see the answer to that question.

The Red Sox don’t care if Josh Beckett only has the opportunity to win 15 more games instead of 20, and he doesn’t either.

No one will care if this method helps win a World Series. In fact,
if that happens, six-man rotations might become the new rule in
baseball.

Or maybe not.

The big question facing the Red Sox in the second half is a good
one; what do we do with our extra pitching? They basically have great
bargaining chips that won’t hurt the team if they go.

This would not be a bad move on the Red Sox part. This could put
them in prime position to make a great run in October, whether they use
five or six pitchers in their rotation.

Back In The Backstop: The Case For Tek

/ Sara / Leave a comment

Of the Red Sox active roster, the average age of the pitching staff
is 28. Take out the highest and lowest two ages to avoid any one larger
or smaller number significantly affecting the stats, and the age you
get is 26.7.

That’s a young staff, and with such a young staff,
we need, and everyone say it with me, a VETERAN catcher. I really think
Schilling said it best. The Sox need Tek so they can wean our lovely young pitching staff off the Captain and acclimate them to the “catcher of the future”.

pitchers.jpg

This may take some time. In the big leagues, Bowden, Buchholz, Masterson,
Lester, Delcarmen, and Paps have never had a different catcher. It has
always been Varitek. You are talking about a potential ace, several
potential starters, and a firecracker of a closer who have developed a
really close relationship with the Captain. Schilling also went on to
say that Varitek “knows some of us better than we know ourselves.”

Strong words. Now, we know the Sox have a standing offer on the table for Tek,
and we know it is not the $10-$12 million he would have gotten earlier,
however, I have to believe that for his pride’s sake alone (a Captain
needs a bit of pride to be a good leader!) they’re going to offer $2-$5
million over a year or two. I’d say two with an option for a third
year, because though he doesn’t need to be starting, you could have the
“catcher of the future” training under one of the greatest catchers of
all time.

Now what several people have suggested (and while I believe its none of our business, I think it might be true) is that Tek is waiting for his divorce to be finalized before agreeing to any deal. It makes logical sense from a financial stand-point.

You
know what else makes logical sense? A collective firing of the Prince
of Darkness (Boras) by all the Free Agents his greed has royally
screwed over this off season. Or the baseball owners pool their money
and have him “taken care of”.

Regardless, I think Tek will be
back in the backstop come spring training, with some new young guy
watching his every move, trying to learn. And who knows, maybe he’ll
have a comeback year. Call me crazy, but it could happen.

Red Sox Roll The Dice-K

/ Sara / 1 Comment

The lineups are out, and here’s how  the Red Sox pitching will break down:

1. Dice-K
    He’s a heart-attack inducing pitcher, and with the Ray’s tendency to run, that may cause a little trouble for the Sox. However, Dice-K has shut it down on the road, so giving him the first start in the Trop is probably the best call Tito can make.

2. Beckett
    He looked rusty, but not injured in his last start. And the game still went 12 innings, so even the high-powered, fast moving offense of the Angels couldn’t take that much advantage of the ace. This time he’ll be pitching on normal rest, so expect October Beckett (the 2007 version) to return.

3. Lester
    Jon Lester is a beast. He will get the ball at home, where he is absolutely stellar.

4. Wake
    His record doesn’t reflect how well he has really pitched this year. He’s going to give up a run or two, but in the regular season, the Sox had a hard time getting him the bats to back him up.

5. Dice-K (if necessary)
6. Beckett (if necessary)
7. Lester (if necessary)

I’m going to be honest, here. If I could split myself in two and have the neutral sports mind talk to the Boston sports fan, here’s how the conversation would have been:

Neutral: The Red Sox are in the postseason, which should be an accomplishment in and of itself considering the division they play in and the injuries they have sustained.

Fan: They’re going all the way!

Neutral: It is unlikely that they beat the Angels, but that would be a huge accomplishment for a team as banged up as they have been. Top that off with several inexperienced starters and the loss of Manny, it isn’t likely.

Fan: I just don’t want them to be out in the first round.

So that’s my internal conversation with myself. The Boston fan in me just refuses to give up and believes the Red Sox are going to repeat, but the rational part of my brain realizes that the Red Sox are the underdogs.

Who ever thought  that the Red Sox playing the (Devil) Rays would be the underdogs of the series?