A Realistic View at 2021: Part III

[Key2Delock]

Schedule Watching

 

The Red Sox have 30 games left to play with 13 of the next 16 games against the Rays (7), White Sox (3) and Mariners (3), ten of which are on the road. Eleven of the final 14 games are against the struggling Orioles (6), Mets (2) and Nationals (3), closing with six games on the road at Baltimore and Washington. There are six games at home with Cleveland (3) and the Yankees (3).

 

The Red Sox have been fortunate to benefit from a weaker schedule in the second half of August while Oakland and Toronto (the other challengers for the second wild card spot) haven’t made up much ground on them.

 

Toronto started August going 6-1 and have gone 8-12 since then. They have 16 games in September against the A’s, Yankees and Rays and 12 against the Orioles and Twins and finish in October with three at home against the Orioles. Seattle has gone 14-12 in August. They finish with 16 games against the Astros, Red Sox and A’s and 15 against the Diamondbacks, Royals and Angels.

[Fan_since_Boggs]

We will soon have a replacement for M.Perez:

Bazardo (lat) transferred his rehab assignment to Triple-A Worcester on Sunday and gave up two runs on two hits and a walk over an inning of relief.

 

Bazardo moved his rehab program to the highest rung of the minors after his strained right lat checked out fine following two appearances in the rookie-level Florida Complex League. The 25-year-old faltered in Sunday's appearance, and the Red Sox may want to see the reliever find success over multiple outings at Worcester before he's reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/red-soxs-eduard-bazardo-pushes-rehab-to-triple-a/

[moonslav59]

We will soon have a replacement for M.Perez:

 

Brasier may be next.

[moonslav59]

What's up with Valdez & Rios? They both are not all that great, but they were doing better than this pen is doing, now.

[Fan_since_Boggs]

What's up with Valdez & Rios? They both are not all that great, but they were doing better than this pen is doing, now.

 

Agreed, I would rather have Valdez on the team than Perez. Maybe Valdez helps the Red Sox win today's game.

[moonslav59]

Here's a look at the OPS Against from some of our pen arms by month:

APR-MAY-JUN-JUL-AUG

.319-.966-.616-.525-.582 Whitlock

.351-.501-.606-.521-1.253 Barnes

.606-.498-.616-.856-.637 Ottavino

.993-.443-.358-.591-.892 Taylor

.796-.509-.720-.732-n/a DHern

.792-.820-.641-.886-.712 Sawamura

 

 

[dgalehouse]

Brasier may be next.

 

Brasier has a 19.29 ERA ( that is not a typo ) in five appearances at AAA. I don't know if he is ready to be of help.

[iortiz]

Sending Perez, Robles or Davis in the high leverage situations or late innings in games with a short lead is dumb by definition.

 

Cora managed the pen very bad yesterday and he was lucky we didn’t lose. Today he did the same and cost us the game.

 

Robles and Davis have to go. They are Andriese 2.0. This is on Bloom.

 

It had to be said and it was told.

[harmony]

Sending Perez, Robles or Davis in the high leverage situations or late innings in games with a short lead is dumb by definition.

 

Cora managed the pen very bad yesterday and he was lucky we didn’t lose. Today he did the same and cost us the game.

 

Robles and Davis have to go. They are Andriese 2.0. This is on Bloom.

 

It had to be said and it was told.

FWIW Matt Andriese has faced the minimum in two scoreless, hitless innings with the Seattle Mariners.

[cp176]

Sending Perez, Robles or Davis in the high leverage situations or late innings in games with a short lead is dumb by definition.

 

Cora managed the pen very bad yesterday and he was lucky we didn’t lose. Today he did the same and cost us the game.

 

Robles and Davis have to go. They are Andriese 2.0. This is on Bloom.

 

It had to be said and it was told.

 

Like everybody else, I like Cora. Players manager - etc. You think maybe he over coaches on occasion? It is not a really good idea to simply give away games at this point.

[moonslav59]

Brasier has a 19.29 ERA ( that is not a typo ) in five appearances at AAA. I don't know if he is ready to be of help.

 

Good point.

 

Probably Valdez and Rios are our best bets, but is Rios still out?

[moonslav59]

Sending Perez, Robles or Davis in the high leverage situations or late innings in games with a short lead is dumb by definition.

 

Cora managed the pen very bad yesterday and he was lucky we didn’t lose. Today he did the same and cost us the game.

 

Robles and Davis have to go. They are Andriese 2.0. This is on Bloom.

 

It had to be said and it was told.

 

They got nobody else.

 

He gets criticized for using Ottavino as the closer, brining in Barnes, using Perez, Robles and Davis, but what else can he do?

 

He can't pitch Whitlock and Richards, everyday for 2 innings each, and there was a time he was bashed for bringing in Richards in high leverage situations, too. Maybe, he's hoping the next guy is the next Richards. He has no other options.

 

Now, even Taylor is a big gamble.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

There is no evidence that Bloom was not "allowed" by ownership to actually improve the pitching staff during this season.

 

Cora was given the roster. Like any other manager, he is not a wizard that can magically make bad pitchers good.

[Bellhorn04]

They got nobody else.

 

He gets criticized for using Ottavino as the closer, brining in Barnes, using Perez, Robles and Davis, but what else can he do?

 

He can't pitch Whitlock and Richards, everyday for 2 innings each, and there was a time he was bashed for bringing in Richards in high leverage situations, too. Maybe, he's hoping the next guy is the next Richards. He has no other options.

 

Now, even Taylor is a big gamble.

 

If Cora used Whitlock as much as fans would like, Garrett would be waiting for his second Tommy John surgery right now.

 

Cora is managing the pitching as best he can with what he's got.

[moonslav59]

If Cora used Whitlock as much as fans would like, Garrett would be waiting for his second Tommy John surgery right now.

 

Cora is managing the pitching as best he can with what he's got.

 

He's bringing in scrubs up by 3-4 runs, in hopes that he can save Whitlock for one run situations.

 

The problem is, bringing in anyone but Whitlock, quickly makes it a 1 run game... EVERY GAME!

 

You are right, we can't use him for 2-3 innings, every game. If we turn him into our closer, who can go 1 IP 3 out of 4 games, we lose the only set up guys worth a grain of salt (other than maybe Ottavino), so we'd never even be able to present Whitlock with save opportunities.

 

Cora has a lose-lose choice to make, every game.

 

Blaming Bloom and Henry makes way more sense than blaming Cora, but I still think Bloom has been a genius. He prevented what I thought might be a 2-3 year cliff. People should go back and look at least year's roster, and not just the 26 man one. The guy built an amazing team with a very limited budget and limits on trading prospects for short term gratification. Our pen was our strength for much of the year, but because they nearly all imploded at once, Bloom should be fed to the wolves for getting Robles and Davis wrong. For not foreseeing a total meltdown by our lights-out closer. For not knowing DHern would get hurt, among others, and just about everyone not named Garrett would implode at once.

 

Look, I get how the GM is always the ultimate "buck stops here" guys in an organization, but really? Bashing Bloom over Robles and Davis?

 

Had Bloom not gotten Whitlock in Rule 5 and Kike& Renfroe in free agency, we'd be talking about getting a high draft pick, next year. This year has been a miracle, yet many can't seem to appreciate it.

 

I'm not trying to sound holier than thou. I'm frustrated as hell, too. I wish we'd have chosen a better RP'er or two than the two we got, but RP'ers are hard to figure out. Even Kimbrel has struggled since the trade. Blaming the GM and manager are as old as baseball, itself, but that doesn't make it right in every case.

[Bellhorn04]

Kimbrel has gone from a 0.49 ERA with the Cubs to a 7.15 ERA with the White Sox!

[notin]

Kimbrel has gone from a 0.49 ERA with the Cubs to a 7.15 ERA with the White Sox!

 

 

Yep, another one who suddenly lost it when they banned Spider Tack...

[Bellhorn04]

Yep, another one who suddenly lost it when they banned Spider Tack...

 

Spider Tack enforcement started June 21, and his ERA was still 0.47 on August 1, so it may be something else.

[notin]

Spider Tack enforcement started June 21, and his ERA was still 0.47 on August 1, so it may be something else.

 

I know. But that label seems to get attached to numerous other pitchers who fell off a cliff even later, like Barnes…

[Hugh2]

There is no evidence that Bloom was not "allowed" by ownership to actually improve the pitching staff during this season.

 

Cora was given the roster. Like any other manager, he is not a wizard that can magically make bad pitchers good.

 

True, he easily could have been told "go improve the pitching staff" or "don't feel like you don't need to improve the pitching staff"

 

But we do know that ownership was trying to get under the cap this year. A team like Boston that hovers right around the cap gets under it to reset and go back over. With that in mind, no good G.M. is going to blow their load prematurely. He knows he's going to be able to spend big soon, and if he's a good G.M. he's going to wait for that window to spend assets. His only tool to improve the pitching staff would be to trade away the farm, and the farm system had been very weak until recently. Now the farm system is improved he will have more resources to make the moves some of us want to see within that window. That may be frustrating for that fan that demands instant gratification but it's good planning.

 

Also, the pitching staff this year has been good. Ok they haven't been that good but they've been MUCH better than they were last year and have been good enough. Despite some recent struggles the overall majority of losses during the last 6-8 weeks seem to be more on the offense than the pitching.

[Hugh2]

If Cora used Whitlock as much as fans would like, Garrett would be waiting for his second Tommy John surgery right now.

 

Cora is managing the pitching as best he can with what he's got.

 

Exactly. Fans evaluate games on a game-by-game basis. We reset after every single game. A good manager has to think about 162 games. Cora might of been able to save Whitlock for yesterday and we would have won that game, ok great, good manager who managed for Sunday better.....but in that world, we might end up losing on Saturday.

[moonslav59]

True, he easily could have been told "go improve the pitching staff" or "don't feel like you don't need to improve the pitching staff"

 

But we do know that ownership was trying to get under the cap this year. A team like Boston that hovers right around the cap gets under it to reset and go back over. With that in mind, no good G.M. is going to blow their load prematurely. He knows he's going to be able to spend big soon, and if he's a good G.M. he's going to wait for that window to spend assets. His only tool to improve the pitching staff would be to trade away the farm, and the farm system had been very weak until recently. Now the farm system is improved he will have more resources to make the moves some of us want to see within that window. That may be frustrating for that fan that demands instant gratification but it's good planning.

 

Also, the pitching staff this year has been good. Ok they haven't been that good but they've been MUCH better than they were last year and have been good enough. Despite some recent struggles the overall majority of losses during the last 6-8 weeks seem to be more on the offense than the pitching.

 

Well said.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Blaming the GM and manager are as old as baseball, itself, but that doesn't make it right in every case.

 

For fans, it's always easier to blame those guys, since they make strategic decisions using their heads (and not bodies). We all like to think we can do that too... because most of us know we can't perform on the field at any level close to the actual big leaguers.

 

Ultimately, it's always on the players -- wins and losses, clutch and choke... even Pedro in the 8th inning of Game 7 in the '03 ALCS.

[moonslav59]

For fans, it's always easier to blame those guys, since they make strategic decisions using their heads (and not bodies). We all like to think we can do that too... because most of us know we can't perform on the field at any level close to the actual big leaguers.

 

Ultimately, it's always on the players -- wins and losses, clutch and choke... even Pedro in the 8th inning of Game 7 in the '03 ALCS.

 

Indeed. I can understand the whys, and I share in the frustration.

 

I know sometimes people speak out of anger and lash out with statements that don't capture their whole position. I get that.

[dgalehouse]

Should be a fun series at the Trop. Try to enjoy it , folks. Don't be so uptight. It's not good for you. Enjoy the baseball.Don't take it personally if a guy makes an error , strikes out or hangs a breaking ball. Don't hate him. Those things happen. The Curse is over. The Sox have had a lot of success in recent years. Watch the games . Have a beer. Relax. Here today, gone tomorrow. Dig it while it's here.

[moonslav59]

Should be a fun series at the Trop. Try to enjoy it , folks. Don't be so uptight. It's not good for you. Enjoy the baseball.Don't take it personally if a guy makes an error , strikes out or hangs a breaking ball. Don't hate him. Those things happen. The Curse is over. The Sox have had a lot of success in recent years. Watch the games . Have a beer. Relax. Here today, gone tomorrow. Dig it while it's here.

 

Words to live by.

[Bellhorn04]

Should be a fun series at the Trop. Try to enjoy it , folks. Don't be so uptight. It's not good for you. Enjoy the baseball.Don't take it personally if a guy makes an error , strikes out or hangs a breaking ball. Don't hate him. Those things happen. The Curse is over. The Sox have had a lot of success in recent years. Watch the games . Have a beer. Relax. Here today, gone tomorrow. Dig it while it's here.

 

And one more thing: stay the heck away from the Talksox game thread.

[notin]

There is no evidence that Bloom was not "allowed" by ownership to actually improve the pitching staff during this season.

 

Cora was given the roster. Like any other manager, he is not a wizard that can magically make bad pitchers good.

 

And just where can we get one such wizard?

[moonslav59]

And just where can we get one such wizard?

 

The closest one is Cash.

[Fan_since_Boggs]

Back to the debate on Bloom's failures at the deadline, Tomase nails it:

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/red-sox/chaim-bloom-added-bullpen-deadline-not-right-pieces

 

Clinging to a 5-3 lead and short arms, Red Sox manager Alex Cora needed the two newest members of his bullpen to deliver on Sunday afternoon in Cleveland. They failed. Trade deadline acquisitions Hansel Robles and Austin Davis instead combined to allow three runs, the latter taking a 7-5 loss that denied the Sox a sweep. The defeat continued an underwhelming run for the two relievers who represent the entirety of the pitching reinforcements acquired on July 30.

 

And that leads to a reasonable question. Considering all of the relievers that changed hands at the deadline, could Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom have done better to address what has emerged as the club's most pressing need with September looming?

 

The short answer is, yup, uh-huh, most definitely. Of the 24 relievers moved to contenders at the deadline, Robles ranks 23rd in ERA at 7.94, ahead of only Brewers right-hander John Curtiss, who threw four innings before blowing out his elbow. Davis ranks 17th at 5.11.

 

That hasn't stopped Cora from leaning on the newcomers out of necessity. Davis (12.1) ranks third and Robles (11.1) ninth in innings with their new club, Cora forced to summon each frequently since July 30. The Red Sox are 3-9 when Robles pitches and 3-8 when they use Davis. Each has only appeared once in a win decided by fewer than six runs.

 

So where else might Bloom have turned instead of getting Robles from the Twins and Davis from the Pirates?

 

Contrast their performances with that of A's left-hander Andrew Chafin, who has posted a 1.15 ERA in a league-high 15.2 innings since coming over from the Cubs for a pair of non-prospects. Or Astros righty Kendall Graveman, the former Mariners closer who was traded within the division and has posted a 1.50 ERA while walking just two in 12 innings. Or White Sox righty Ryan Tepera, who also left the Cubs to travel crosstown, where he has produced a 1.54 ERA and outpitched more ballyhooed arrival Craig Kimbrel.

 

Maybe they could've landed former Orioles righty Mychal Givens, who compiled a track record of success in the American League East from 2015-20. He instead went from the Rockies to the Reds, where he has posted a 1.54 ERA in 12 outings. The price to acquire him was two minor-league pitchers, one of whom Baseball America ranked 15th in the Cincinnati system.

 

The Pirates alone traded two other relievers who have outperformed Davis. The Braves acquired Pittsburgh closer Richard Rodriguez for young starter Bryse Wilson and injured minor league hurler Ricky DeVito, and Rodriguez has posted a 1.29 ERA in 14 games as a setup man for one of the hottest teams in the National League. If the Red Sox didn't want to pay a similar price as Wilson -- we're probably talking right-hander Tanner Houck -- that's understandable.

 

The same case can't be made against right-hander Clay Holmes, however. He went to the Yankees for nondescript minor league infielder Diego Castillo and utilityman Hoy Park, a return not that different from Michael Chavis, whom the Red Sox shipped out for Davis.

 

Holmes has responded by going 2-0 with a 1.74 ERA, 11 strikeouts, and only one walk in nine appearances. He debuted in a 14-0 loss to the Rays, and since then has only pitched in one game decided by more than two runs. The Yankees have won his last eight appearances.