Craig Kimbrel’s Red Sox career hasn’t gotten off to a particularly auspicious start, but manager John Farrell tells ESPN Boston’s Scott Lauber that the club still has “full trust” in its closer. While many fans might be panicking to some extent with Kimbrel having compiled a 5.00 ERA with a pair of homers allowed through his first nine innings of work, Lauber notes that Kimbrel encountered a similarly unproductive stretch to open last season before righting the ship and dominating over the season’s final five months. Kimbrel blames location of a few poorly placed fastballs to Chris Davis and Colby Rasmus for the pair of homers, noting that it’s early and that by season’s end, “…we’re going to be looking back at this and talking a little differently.”
More from the AL East…
- Though Rick Porcello’s $82.5MM contract extension with the Red Sox is often lumped in with other ill-fated signings in Boston, the Herald’s Evan Drellich writes that Porcello has quietly begun to make the deal look more palatable. Across Porcello’s past 11 starts (dating back to his activation from the DL last August), he’s posted a 3.51 ERA with the eighth-best K/9 rate among AL starters (9.51) and the sixth-lowest BB/9 rate (1.64). GM Mike Hazen spoke highly of Porcello’s perseverance through a difficult first half last season, and Porcello himself spoke to Drellich about mechanical adjustments he’s made and a lack of well-executed pitches during his struggles. A rival executive from an AL team said of Porcello’s deal that it’s “not the most club-friendly, but not terrible,” which isn’t exactly a glowing review but speaks to the possibility that Porcello could still make good on the contract. I’d also add that while Porcello’s 4.66 ERA this season is unsightly, he rates third among MLB starters in K%-BB% and is regarded much more favorably by metrics like xFIP (2.89) and SIERA (2.54).
- It remains unclear whether David Murphy will seek to join another organization after opting out of his deal with the Twins, but if he does, the Red Sox don’t have interest in bringing him back, WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports (Twitter link). Murphy spent the spring with Boston, but exercised his opt-out clause and was released just before the start of the season when he didn’t make the Opening Day roster.
- Following Chris Colabello’s 80-game suspension for a failed PED test, Jon Paul Morosi of MLB.com doesn’t expect the Blue Jays to “replace” the first baseman/outfielder in a traditional sense by acquiring another right-handed bat (links to Twitter). Rather, he notes that a contact-oriented, left-handed bat that can handle first base, outfield and DH is a more pressing need for the Blue Jays, who already have a very right-leaning lineup that is prone to strikeouts. Also impacting the Jays’ current roster construction, he tweets, is the fact that backstop Russell Martin is dealing with some lingering neck issues. Morosi further lists (link) the Cardinals as an eventual trade deadline partner given the presence of left-handed first basemen Matt Adams and Brandon Moss on their roster.
- For now, at least, the Blue Jays appear likely to bring third baseman Matt Dominguez onto the major league roster, as Sportsnet.ca’s Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi report (Twitter links). Toronto plans to option righty Drew Hutchison back down to clear an active roster spot, but needs to wait for him to clear optional assignment waivers since he has over three years of service. (That’s a revocable waiver placement that is typically a formality.) Manager John Gibbons suggested that the Jays prefer to have a right-handed hitter who can play third and first, which points to Dominguez. The 26-year-old hasn’t seen the majors since 2014, but has shown twenty-homer pop before and is off to a solid .311/.333/.475 start in his 66 Triple-A plate appearances on the year.
- Yahoo’s Jeff Passan chatted with Orioles closer Zach Britton about the struggles of Baltimore’s four once-vaunted pitching prospects under now-former pitching coach Rick Adair. Britton — along with Jake Arrieta, Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz — was at one point looked as a building block for the rotation in Baltimore. Instead, only Tillman has experienced success in the Orioles’ rotation (and probably not to the extent which many had hoped), though Matusz and especially Britton have been productive in relief roles. In Britton’s view, the Orioles’ pitching philosophies between the minors and Majors were contradictory. “They took away the individual approach to everything,” he explained to Passan. “Things we did extremely well in the minor leagues to get to the big leagues – we were told that just doesn’t work here.” Britton feels that Arrieta could have flourished in Baltimore under new pitching coach Dave Wallace and bullpen coach Dom Chiti but says his former teammate may have lost confidence in his abilities toward the end of his Baltimore tenure.
- Short-term injuries to Aaron Hicks and Alex Rodriguez have left the Yankees with some roster difficulties, writes River Ave. Blues’ Mike Axisa. With both players sidelined around five to six days, the Yankees are looking at playing with a two-man bench, which of course is hardly ideal. Axisa notes that the club does have some 40-man flexibility due to other more serious injuries, though, and opines that placing both Hicks and Rodriguez on the 15-day DL (even if it’s longer than needed) is preferable to simply playing short for a few days. Axisa runs down some bench options in the duo’s absence, including Nick Swisher, who is hitting well in Triple-A and will see his first outfield action tonight.
- Yankees’ minor-league righty James Kaprielian, the club’s first-round choice from 2015, has been shut down with elbow inflammation, the club announced (via Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal, on Twitter). He’ll hit the minor league DL and will be “treated conservatively” before he begins throwing again, per the club, which says there’s still no timetable for his return. Kaprielian, 22, was seen as a quick-to-the-majors arm, and he has impressed thus far in his professional career. Over 18 innings in three starts this year at the High-A level, he owns a 1.50 ERA with 22 strikeouts against just three walks and eight hits.
Blue Jays should sign Murphy. LH hitter who can play OF and DH. Unfortunately he can’t play first…
Murphy is currently with the Twins on a minor league deal. (I assume you are talking about David)
He opted out today
Woops, my bad. Just saw he opted out.
Anyone can play first.
Tell that to Arod/Pablo
No, that kimbrel trade was toatz awesome cuz they haz tunz of depth and dont need those players. Red sox are awesome!!! Ignore their terrible rotation, adding Kimbrel is gonna be the difference maker.
He’s back, guys.
Hey Yankee fans who would the Braves have to part with in order to get Gary Sanchez ?
That would all depend on how Torrens comes back from his injury. As of right now I would say Newcombe might be enough. But if Torrens falls off a cliff it will definitely take more.
You don’t think they would want somebody that could help now maybe a deal involving Wisler plus more. I can’t see them doing prospect gor prospect. I would do that if I was Voppy though
Except that Wisler is bad… 5th starter at best. He gets nowhere near Sanchez
I agree the Yankees could use someone to help now but I just don’t see anyone in the current Braves rotation worth Sanchez. Cashman has been all about prospects the last couple of years and Newcombe would be a solid pickup. Just my two cents. I could see Wisler and Fried for Sanchez though. But I think that might be a bit too much for Coppy & Hart.
Part with Gary Sanchez!
How about the Lord God Almighty!
I don’t believe that anybody on the Braves roster is intriguing to the Yankees enough to consider anyone on the major or minor league level..
I think Teheran might get close, and maybe Inciarte… but ya thats about it. That Braves roster is complete trash
How about the Lord God Almighty!
I don’t believe that anybody on the Braves roster is intriguing to the Yankees enough to consider anyone on the major or minor league level..
The Braves have sunk too low for any potential trade talk between these two clubs.
A top 3 farm system in all of baseball but couldn’t find anybody to trade for a mlb ready catcher blocked at the mlb level on an aging team lol yeah right keep dreaming we don’t have anybody worthy
steelerbravenation
Well you better roll out that top 3 farm system to the Big’s quickly before your playing in front of fans that you have to pay to come to your games.
LOL…LOL
The Braves are a joke at any level.
I bet you hated the Montero trade too. Torrens has way more potential than Sanchez. He is good with the glove and the bat. Sanchez will be a 1st baseman in a couple of years where his bat might be enough. Trading him for a future TOR arm is a good move for the Yanks.
Well so far from a Yankee fans prospective the Montero for Pineda trade is a tricky one.
While its true that Montero didn’t make it in Seattle, and is kicking around in the minors/majors, Pineda’s value to the club is difficult to evaluate.
While he flashes terrific potential at times and looks every bit the part of a #2 starter, other times he shouldn’t even come out of the pen to start the first inning as he gets rocked. ore than this, he forces the Yankees to fashion their plans around his potential rather than year to year solid results.
Time will tell on this one.
Sanchez for Swanson is a great trade for both sides. Atlanta gets their future all star catcher and NY gets their next Derek Jeter.
All those Julio haters, Teheran is looking really good tonight and last outing while sick was not to bad either. Wish all his starts were at home.
Fb velo down, effectiveness down, he’s just bad
Kimbrel is overrated trash
speaking of porcello, 6+ shutout innings tonight
where is bigpapi4ever chiming in and talking Red Sox trash?
Kimbrel is the MVP of my Sox and I would only consider accepting Ted Williams in a trade for him.
he got banned
Stop inviting trolls man
Don’t really see a match with Jays and Cards. Adams isn’t worth much at all, and Cardinals really like Moss. Also consider the only thing I could see the Cardinals go after is help for the rotation or Bullpen, and Jays don’t exactly have enough quality depth to part with.
Terrible news for Kap. His huge velocity increase on his fastball likely caused the inflammation. Scouts had his fastball at 102mph recently, with unmatched movement late in the zone. Was on track to hit the top of the prospect charts by midseason. Easy top 10 prospect in baseball.
You must get a lot of pleasure writing posts like that. Nothing like indulging in a little sarcasm when someone gets hurt. Makes a body feel really good?
Reading those Britton comments about Arrieta really make my gut wrench. How dumb do you have to be to take a pitchers out pitch away from them just when they reach the highest level of competition? I can’t believe that guys who do this for a living would even think of that let alone do it! I can’t believe that Showalter would let Adair do that seeing the success that Pettite and Rivera had with the cutter. Must be some genius that I in my lowly fan state just can’t comprehend.
Sanchez has been in system for a while and couldn’t beat out Romine for back up spot. I would unload him for a solid starting prospect and another pen prospect. Also how about Chapman for Betts or Bohgarts? Kimbrel, chapman and Uehara could put their bullpen in a spot to maybe help out their sub par starting rotation.
Hold your horses there. Sanchez is still young. The Yankees are giving him this year in scranton to learn how to work with a pitching staff. Sanchez made some big strides last year – but let’s see if he can build on it.
Romine -there is a reason why he made the opening day roster. He provides some flexibility with the 25 man roster. He had an abysmal 2015 and went back to aaa. While at aaa he got a lot of reps at 1b and work his tail off on pitch recognition. They yanks have an aging roster and with bird out of the picture no real back up 1b.
Further – chapman is not getting you a young, every day, up-the-middle starter like boegarts or betts.
It’s early in the season, but I doubt very much that, even with the Yank’s older roster, that there are players in “need” of a day off. Play with the short bench. It’s not like Swisher offers versatility, or even a hope at improving the offense. Who’s to say he would even be the first choice to get called up.
Maybe Yanks are hoping to showcase Romine for a trade then bring Sanchez up? Was saying if Sanchez could nab you a solid starting prospect I would listen. The Betts and Bogarts comment was to get a rise from the Sox fans. Yankees need Chapman as much as the Sox do. Their lineup could do some damage if they could all pull together some sort of consistency. They could also use someone to light the fire under them. They have lacked some heart last few years as the Royals had last year. Watch Madden with the Cubs future years.