Brandon Glick
-
Posts
526 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Boston Red Sox Videos
2026 Boston Red Sox Top Prospects Ranking
Boston Red Sox Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits
Guides & Resources
2025 Boston Red Sox Draft Pick Tracker
News
2026 Boston Red Sox Draft Pick Tracker
Forums
Blogs
Events
Store
Downloads
Gallery
Everything posted by Brandon Glick
-
Garrett Crochet, Masataka Yoshida, and Aroldis Chapman played hero in Game 1 of the Wild Card Round, giving the Red Sox a tactical edge over the Yankees heading into Game 2. View full video
-
I need the Secret Council of Italians to recall Anthony Volpe to their HQ immediately
-
Sometimes when playoff rosters are announced, there's a surprise or two that gets the fans buzzing. The Red Sox have opened no such door for us this time around. Their Wild Card Round roster was just announced prior to Game 1 against the New York Yankees, and it's gone to chalk. PITCHERS (12): Brayan Bello, Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Crochet, Connelly Early, Kyle Harrison, Zack Kelly, Steven Matz, Justin Slaten, Payton Tolle, Greg Weissert, Garrett Whitlock, Justin Wilson CATCHERS (2): Carlos Narváez, Connor Wong INFIELDERS (4): Alex Bregman, David Hamilton, Nathaniel Lowe, Trevor Story OUTFIELDERS (4): Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, Rob Refsnyder, Masataka Yoshida INFIELDER/OUTFIELDERS (4): Nate Eaton, Romy Gonzalez, Ceddanne Rafaela, Nick Sogard The big name missing is Lucas Giolito, though it was already previously announced that he'd miss the series with an elbow issue. The fallout will be if a Game 3 is necessary, as the Red Sox will need to figure out who will start that contest. What do you think of the Red Sox's playoff roster? Are you surprised by any decisions made by Alex Cora and the front office? View full rumor
-
Sometimes when playoff rosters are announced, there's a surprise or two that gets the fans buzzing. The Red Sox have opened no such door for us this time around. Their Wild Card Round roster was just announced prior to Game 1 against the New York Yankees, and it's gone to chalk. PITCHERS (12): Brayan Bello, Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Crochet, Connelly Early, Kyle Harrison, Zack Kelly, Steven Matz, Justin Slaten, Payton Tolle, Greg Weissert, Garrett Whitlock, Justin Wilson CATCHERS (2): Carlos Narváez, Connor Wong INFIELDERS (4): Alex Bregman, David Hamilton, Nathaniel Lowe, Trevor Story OUTFIELDERS (4): Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, Rob Refsnyder, Masataka Yoshida INFIELDER/OUTFIELDERS (4): Nate Eaton, Romy Gonzalez, Ceddanne Rafaela, Nick Sogard The big name missing is Lucas Giolito, though it was already previously announced that he'd miss the series with an elbow issue. The fallout will be if a Game 3 is necessary, as the Red Sox will need to figure out who will start that contest. What do you think of the Red Sox's playoff roster? Are you surprised by any decisions made by Alex Cora and the front office? -
For the first time in four years, the playoffs tomorrow will include the Sox. How ya feeling? Can Crochet-Bello wrap this thing up in two? Is Aroldis Chapman gonna lock down a four-inning save just to piss off all Yankees fans everywhere?
-
There's a ton on the line today: With a Red Sox win: Sox clinch No. 5 seed, Guardians clinch Central, Tigers clinch No. 6 seed With a Red Sox loss: Sox clinch No. 6 seed, Tigers clinch No. 5 seed (with Guardians win) or Tigers clinch Central (with Guardians loss)
-
The Red Sox have made the playoffs for the first time since 2021, setting up a first-round clash with a divisional rival. View full video
-
The Red Sox have made the playoffs for the first time since 2021, setting up a first-round clash with a divisional rival.
-
This series matters for playoff seeding; the Red Sox's magic number remains at one, with the Tigers currently occupying the No. 6 seed behind them. Of course, Detroit is in absolute free fall over the last few weeks. Because the Tigers swept them earlier in the year, the Sox need to win two of three to lock in the No. 5 seed.
-
With the fifth seed practically in hand, which division rival do the Red Sox match up better with in the Wild Card Round: the Blue Jays or the Yankees? View full video
-
With the fifth seed practically in hand, which division rival do the Red Sox match up better with in the Wild Card Round: the Blue Jays or the Yankees?
-
By virtue of their 4-2 head-to-head record over the Astros this year, the Red Sox's magic number is down to 1! Clinch day!
-
Garrett Crochet makes his final start of the regular season tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays, and there are some... odd implications to consider. If the Boston Red Sox do win, they could propel the New York Yankees into first place in the AL East, which would mean they'd have to travel back to Toronto for their expected No. 4 vs. No. 5 Wild Card Round matchup. If they lose, though, they could be leapfrogged by the Detroit Tigers or Cleveland Guardians for the No. 5 seed, meaning they'd have to travel to face whichever of those two teams wins the AL Central in the first round of the playoffs. Of course, the whole point right now is just to win as many as possible. Make the dance first, and worry about the opponent later. With Crochet on the mound, it feels like a pretty safe bet that the Red Sox will come out victorious tonight, just as they have in each of his last six starts. Except, Crochet hasn't been the same wholly dominant force he was earlier in the season. In his four September starts, he's rocking a 4.68 ERA over 25.0 innings, courtesy of the .221/.253/.505 batting line he's allowed to opposing hitters. For the first time all season, the southpaw is surrendering a wOBA over .300 this month (.320), mostly due to the fact that he's allowed one-third of his season total of home runs since September began. Now, calling him "mortal" is a relative term; most of the damage done to Crochet came during a seven-run outing against the white-hot Cleveland Guardians on Sept. 2. He followed that up with seven shutout innings against the Athletics, and then back-to-back quality starts against the Yankees and Rays. If he fires off another one against the Blue Jays tonight, he'll be up to a team-leading 22 on the year. However, for as great as he's been, Crochet has been susceptible to a blow-up outing here or there. He's allowed five or more earned runs in a start four times, all of which have come since June began. Funnily enough, the Red Sox have won three of those games, but that kind of run support isn't a guarantee in October (especially without Roman Anthony). In a prospective Wild Card Round matchup with the New York Yankees and Max Fried, Crochet needs to resemble his first-half self. Garrett Crochet (1st Half): 2.23 ERA, .210/.262/.310. 14 home runs, 31.2% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate, 2.46 FIP Garrett Crochet (September): 4.68 ERA, .221/.253/.505, eight home runs, 35.4% strikeout rate, 4.0% walk rate, 4.99 FIP Again, it's the home runs that stand out. Three of his four outings this month have yielded multi-home-run efforts by opposing lineups, including four by the Guardians in that aforementioned disaster. Most importantly, six of those eight home runs came at home, continuing an ugly tend for Crochet this season. Garrett Crochet HR/9 allowed at Fenway Park: 1.51 Garrett Crochet HR/9 allowed at all other stadiums: 0.75 Yes, he's allowing literally double the amount of home runs at home as he is on the road this season. That's part of the nature of being a left-handed pitcher at Fenway Park—right-handed batters have hit 13 home runs against Crochet in 295 plate appearances at Fenway, compared to just eight home runs in 345 plate appearances on the road. The Green Monster giveth, and the Green Monster taketh away. The good(?) news on this front is that, like his start in Toronto tonight, Crochet won't be pitching at home in the playoffs. At least not in the early rounds, anyway. He'll certainly pitch in Game 1 of the Wild Card Round, and then (should the Red Sox advance) in Game 1 and Game 5 in the ALDS. All of those starts, should they be necessary, would be on the road by virtue of the Red Sox holding the No. 5 seed. Considering that Crochet's ERA is 0.60 lower outside of Fenway (2.42 on the road, 3.02 at home), that's probably a boon for Boston. There's plenty of reasons for this statistical oddity -- a cutter-sweeper-heavy arsenal that runs inside on right-handed batters naturally induces more pulled balls to left field -- but it's too late in the season to introduce any "fixes". Crochet is under contract for a while; there's plenty of time for him to figure out how to pitch more effectively around the odd dimensions of Fenway. For now, Alex Cora and company have done the right thing by lining up his starts to take place outside of Boston. As for tonight's appearance, it's important that Crochet tangibly tries something to limit damage via the long ball. This is his final tune-up before his first-ever playoff start. Seeing as he remains elite in most other aspects of pitching (even during this relative slump), figuring out that one weak point could restore him to the impervious force he was earlier in the season. View full article
-
Garrett Crochet makes his final start of the regular season tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays, and there are some... odd implications to consider. If the Boston Red Sox do win, they could propel the New York Yankees into first place in the AL East, which would mean they'd have to travel back to Toronto for their expected No. 4 vs. No. 5 Wild Card Round matchup. If they lose, though, they could be leapfrogged by the Detroit Tigers or Cleveland Guardians for the No. 5 seed, meaning they'd have to travel to face whichever of those two teams wins the AL Central in the first round of the playoffs. Of course, the whole point right now is just to win as many as possible. Make the dance first, and worry about the opponent later. With Crochet on the mound, it feels like a pretty safe bet that the Red Sox will come out victorious tonight, just as they have in each of his last six starts. Except, Crochet hasn't been the same wholly dominant force he was earlier in the season. In his four September starts, he's rocking a 4.68 ERA over 25.0 innings, courtesy of the .221/.253/.505 batting line he's allowed to opposing hitters. For the first time all season, the southpaw is surrendering a wOBA over .300 this month (.320), mostly due to the fact that he's allowed one-third of his season total of home runs since September began. Now, calling him "mortal" is a relative term; most of the damage done to Crochet came during a seven-run outing against the white-hot Cleveland Guardians on Sept. 2. He followed that up with seven shutout innings against the Athletics, and then back-to-back quality starts against the Yankees and Rays. If he fires off another one against the Blue Jays tonight, he'll be up to a team-leading 22 on the year. However, for as great as he's been, Crochet has been susceptible to a blow-up outing here or there. He's allowed five or more earned runs in a start four times, all of which have come since June began. Funnily enough, the Red Sox have won three of those games, but that kind of run support isn't a guarantee in October (especially without Roman Anthony). In a prospective Wild Card Round matchup with the New York Yankees and Max Fried, Crochet needs to resemble his first-half self. Garrett Crochet (1st Half): 2.23 ERA, .210/.262/.310. 14 home runs, 31.2% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate, 2.46 FIP Garrett Crochet (September): 4.68 ERA, .221/.253/.505, eight home runs, 35.4% strikeout rate, 4.0% walk rate, 4.99 FIP Again, it's the home runs that stand out. Three of his four outings this month have yielded multi-home-run efforts by opposing lineups, including four by the Guardians in that aforementioned disaster. Most importantly, six of those eight home runs came at home, continuing an ugly tend for Crochet this season. Garrett Crochet HR/9 allowed at Fenway Park: 1.51 Garrett Crochet HR/9 allowed at all other stadiums: 0.75 Yes, he's allowing literally double the amount of home runs at home as he is on the road this season. That's part of the nature of being a left-handed pitcher at Fenway Park—right-handed batters have hit 13 home runs against Crochet in 295 plate appearances at Fenway, compared to just eight home runs in 345 plate appearances on the road. The Green Monster giveth, and the Green Monster taketh away. The good(?) news on this front is that, like his start in Toronto tonight, Crochet won't be pitching at home in the playoffs. At least not in the early rounds, anyway. He'll certainly pitch in Game 1 of the Wild Card Round, and then (should the Red Sox advance) in Game 1 and Game 5 in the ALDS. All of those starts, should they be necessary, would be on the road by virtue of the Red Sox holding the No. 5 seed. Considering that Crochet's ERA is 0.60 lower outside of Fenway (2.42 on the road, 3.02 at home), that's probably a boon for Boston. There's plenty of reasons for this statistical oddity -- a cutter-sweeper-heavy arsenal that runs inside on right-handed batters naturally induces more pulled balls to left field -- but it's too late in the season to introduce any "fixes". Crochet is under contract for a while; there's plenty of time for him to figure out how to pitch more effectively around the odd dimensions of Fenway. For now, Alex Cora and company have done the right thing by lining up his starts to take place outside of Boston. As for tonight's appearance, it's important that Crochet tangibly tries something to limit damage via the long ball. This is his final tune-up before his first-ever playoff start. Seeing as he remains elite in most other aspects of pitching (even during this relative slump), figuring out that one weak point could restore him to the impervious force he was earlier in the season. -
Here's a fun statistical nugget: if the Red Sox win by six tonight, they will have doubled the Jays' run differential on the season. Funny how this sport works sometimes.
-
I take full responsibility for the Red Sox's upcoming sweep of the Blue Jays
-
Yup, turns out today is actually Monday, and not Tuesday. I'll have to report this to the time keepers.
-
With six to play, the Sox are 5.0 games back in the division... and three upcoming against the Jays. Never say never?
-
What a well-timed sweep this would be...
-
Obviously, the goal is to win every possible game from here on out, but let's do a fun would you rather: 1) Win the No. 5 seed, which means you travel to NY to take on the Yankees in the Wild Card (and then, most likely, the Tigers in the ALDS) OR 2) Win the No. 6 seed, which means traveling to (probably) Seattle for Wild Card, and then Blue Jays in ALDS.
-
The Boston Red Sox are barely clinging to their Wild Card spot with less than two weeks left in the regular season. Can the hold off the Guardians make the postseason for the first time since 2021?
-
The Boston Red Sox are barely clinging to their Wild Card spot with less than two weeks left in the regular season. Can the hold off the Guardians make the postseason for the first time since 2021? View full video
-
The final nine games are a gauntlet: Rays, Jays, and Tigers. If the Red Sox are going to make the playoffs, they're going to have to earn it.
-
10 games left, folks.
-
Red Sox Catchers Are Stepping Up When They're Needed Most
Brandon Glick posted an article in Red Sox
It's been a pretty tumultuous September for the Boston Red Sox, as they've lost series to the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees while slipping from the top Wild Card seed in the American League to the third. They still hold the second-best run differential in the Junior Circuit at +90 and a 2.5-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians for the final playoff spot in the AL, but this team is hardly making it easy. Still, they've won games when they've absolutely had to, like when they salvaged the finale of the Diamondbacks and Yankees series to avoid being swept. It might not be pretty, but the Red Sox still have the inside track on making the postseason. Part of that is thanks to steady contributions from regulars like Jarren Duran and some brilliant work by Garrett Crochet, Connelly Early, and Lucas Giolito in the rotation, but the truth is the Sox are staying afloat thanks to their suddenly-brilliant catching tandem. Since Sept 1. (13 games), among Red Sox players with at least 10 plate appearances, Carlos Narváez ranks second in OPS (.940), while his much-maligned backup, Connor Wong, ranks fourth (.938). Wong has actually been better in terms of wRC+ (160), ranking second behind only Nate Eaton (Narváez ranks fourth with a 152 wRC+). Narváez is hardly an unknown commodity around these parts, as Talk Sox has been singing the rookie backstop's praises all year long. He was mired in a nasty slump in July (54 wRC+) and August (64 wRC+), but he's seemingly rebounded and found his best form at the plate in September. Considering that he effectively became the catcher of the future after being acquired in a low-stakes deal following the team's decision to part with Kyle Teel in the Crochet blockbuster, it's pretty awe-inspiring how good Narváez has been. This most recent stretch is perhaps his most promising -- he's hitting .294/.351/.588 this month with a team-leading .294 ISO -- especially in the face of the adjustments he's had to make to recover from his months-long cold stretch. Wong, on the other hand, has not been anyone's favorite Red Sox player this year. He's been a mess at the plate (.204/.270/.255) and has been routinely floated as a DFA candidate if the team could ever find a more suitable backup catcher. However, that never came to pass, and now, Boston is reaping the benefits. In an admittedly small sample in September, the five-year MLB veteran is hitting .357/.438/.500 with a 12.5% walk rate. Yes, we're only talking about 16 plate appearances, but his two extra-base hits (both doubles) are already one-third of his total prior to September. Wherever his fence-clearing power has gone, Wong is starting to make this version of himself work in the batter's box. The fun news is that the batted ball metrics generally support the results. Both catchers' slash lines are being carried by unusually high BABIPs (.455 for Wong, .364 for Narváez), but that isn't totally a smoke-and-mirrors act. Wong's ground-ball rate is a comical 54.5% -- and it's been near that rate all year, hence his absentee home run pop -- but he's pulling the ball at a team-leading rate (54.5% as well), and he has yet to make soft contact this month. His 36.4% hard-hit rate is his highest in a month since April, and it helps that he's seeing 4.313 pitches per plate appearance, up from 3.93 in the first half. Sure, it'd be nice to see him elevate the ball once in a while, but a backup catcher playing average defense (-1 DRS in 419.0 innings this season) can get by as a hitter who works the count and gets on base. Narváez has been a tad more impressive down the stretch, despite pulling the ball just 25% of the time this month (last on the Red Sox). His 41.7% hard-hit rate ranks third on the team among all hitters with at least 10 PAs, and his 37.5% fly-ball rate is his best since June. Considering that he might be a Gold Glove finalist as a rookie (12 DRS behind the plate in 889.0 innings), it's hard to complain about the contributions coming from Narváez at the moment. With Roman Anthony out for the rest of the regular season, the Red Sox were always going to need their role players to step up in order to maintain their place in the American League hierarchy. The recent struggles of Alex Bregman, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Nathaniel Lowe aren't helping the cause, but unexpected rebounds from Wong and Narváez certainly are. Can they continue to produce like this in October? Barring a miraculous return from Anthony, the answer to that question could decide the team's postseason fate.
