Peter Gammons appeared today on WEEI's Big Show, and addressed a few Red Sox-centric topics. Ethan Landy of WEEI has the transcript, which includes these highlights:
- Victor Martinez continues to struggle throwing out opposing base-stealers, leading Gammons to speculate that the Red Sox may eventually have to call up Mark Wagner or look outside the organization for a defensive catcher. Otherwise, teams will run wild on Boston all season.
- The Sox may also need to look into acquiring middle relief help at some point this year. Gammons says that the club doesn't have any obvious minor league arms that they could bring up to pitch in important situations, like they did with Daniel Bard last season.
- If David Ortiz continues to struggle, Gammons thinks the Sox will have to seriously consider releasing him: "I don’t think they are going to keep him here and sit him on the bench."
holy crap! is gammons really talking down on the red sox? dammmnnnnnnn!! the sky is falling the sky is falling!!
Yeah, it’s getting old watching teams run crazy on the Red Sox. The Rays already have 3 tonight against Beckett/Varitek in the 3rd inning – though V-Mart is no better.
True, the sox lack anything close to a defensive catcher, i cant wait to play the angels just to see how bad it REALLY is. I agree on Ortiz, the clock is ticking, he already has yet another strikeout. Its amazing, hes gone from mister clutch to broken clutch
I’m sure the Rays will give us a pretty clear picture of how bad it is. They did lead the majors in steals last year by a healthy margin.
The Red Sox have needed to get younger for awhile now. No doubt they are plenty good to compete for the playoffs but to win a WS Title, they need to get more consistent across the board
Ortiz is done
So they call up Mark Wagner to what, start and move Vmart to DH?
Maybe, especially if Papi has to be removed from DH spot in a few weeks..
Victor would mash as DH..
What’s a “Papi”?
Maybe, especially if Papi has to be removed from DH spot in a few weeks..
Victor would mash as DH..
Jesus, why is it considered complete lunacy for the Sox to bench Ortiz or at least platoon him until he gets his offense back? Their dimwit coach who everyone thinks is amazing needs to put egos aside and put Ortiz in his place. Lowell can hit and should play.
I’m also getting sick of hearing about how bad VMart is defensively and the fact the Sox perpetually need a catcher.
Its lunacy because nothing helps get offense back like seeing live in-game pitching. benching him accomplishes nothing, and tells him that the sox have quit on him. I think he will come around and be pounding the ball soon enough, ortiz haters. Id rather have him slump now than at the end of the season when the team is making a playoff run.
On a related note, did anyone see Beltre of all people being as consistent as he has been at this point in the season?!
The team is bigger than David Ortiz, contrary to what a lot of people believe. They aren’t just going to walk right into the playoffs, the AL is too competitive and they need to get the best performances out of their lineup every day. Ortiz is not giving it to them.
Ortiz is done. I think that when Dice-K is ready it might force the issue. It would probably be better for them (unless they REALLY need a third catcher) to have more pitching. The numbers for Beckett even indicated that he does better on more rest…so maybe they go crazy and goto a six man rotation? It could happen!…maybe.
Lowell can still hit some but probably not worth keeping around if you can get any value for him (which you can’t). He only should be DHing against lefty pitching and rarely taking the field when his hip can stand it.
I’d give Vmart more time to get his act together but who knows what the hell the deal is with not being able to throw to second (maybe its Pedroia’s height?). Tek seems to be adjusting very well SO FAR to limited playing time.
Hermida should be getting the job DHing against Right pitching.
The Red Sawx havent had a catcher who could throw out runners in years. Varitek was garbage behind the play (baht he cawls a great game!!) and Cleveland was already moving VMart to first for 50 games a year (he played 70 games at first last year) so its not like wunderkind Theo thought he was getting Johnny Bench in his prime. He knew exactly what he was getting..a slugger who was more suited to DHing than the tools of ignorance.
If VMart was actually hitting the move would be to cut loose Ortiz and get somebody who somewhat resembles a catcher.
Ortiz has been done for some time now. He needs his special Dominican protein shakes from Angel Presinal back. Also, going by the Jay Z lawsuit, Ortiz cheats at business as well!
Sorry but hearing about other teams “running wild” makes me think of Hulk Hogan. I can just picture him saying “Whatcha gonna do, brother, when the rest of the league is running wild on you?!?!”.
Seriously though, the Red Sox do need a catcher that can throw out runners although I don’t know what they can do. Youk gives flexibility in that he can play 1st or 3rd so they COULD put VMart at 1st, Youk at 3rd but where does that leave Beltre? Knocking off Ortiz solves it by putting VMart at DH.
I say cut your losses, thank Ortiz for his past service and cut him loose.
Ortiz just flat out has got to go, no time to wait for him to come around again and have that dead roster spot, especially with hall and his dead bat holding down yet another. Problem with catching, is that of the main 3 prospects, Wagner, Exposito and Federowicz, only Wagner is nearly ready and his bat will be a huge question mark as of right now. Sure, all 3 have outstanding arms, but can the sox take a guy that will hit less than .200 or so with little power behind the plate?
Couple of years from now and catcher probably won’t be a problem at all, but now, it’s just a grin and bear it IMO with martinez, unless stick either Dusty Brown, or Wagner who are not going to be able to hit MLB pitching very well more than likely from the start.
Ortiz does have to go, that is a given and maybe Hall also and Hulet given a chance.
Typical Gammons Interview:
Interviewer: “Peter, give me some insight on this year’s baseball season”
Peter: “The Red Sox or Yankees…all the way. ESPN and I are very northeast biased.”
Interviewer: “Huh…ok well, who do you see in the world series for each league?”
Peter: “The Red Sox…or the Yankees. Playing the Mets or Phillies”
Interviewer: “How about the Giants’ chances? They have a good rotation, right?”
Peter: “Nonsense…they’re not in the northeast.”
Interviewer: “Any insight on the Cardinals or the White Sox? Central champs for both?”
Peter: “I thought we are here to talk baseball?”
Interviewer: “We are.”
Peter: “But how does talking about the NL Central allow me to mention the Red Sox?”
Interviewer” “…”
Interesting… I know a team with way too many quality catchers that could probably provide some trade relief…
Mauer
Morales
Butera
Ramos
Great,you can have Ortiz back for free!!!
They should have severed themselves from Ortiz at the time of the Manny trade. HGH and roids made Ortiz what he was. Now that he doesn’t juice and has gotten older- he is a shell of his former self.
They should have severed themselves from Ortiz at the time of the Manny trade. HGH and roids made Ortiz what he was. Now that he doesn’t juice and has gotten older- he is a shell of his former self.
Man, Papi is not going to be a factor any longer. Trade him, dump him, give him a happy meal and a bus ticket but that dead bat has to go. Put Vmart in DH and move on. Wake up Theo !