It’s “expected” the Red Sox will activate right-handed knuckleballer Steven Wright on Tuesday, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com writes. Wright’s at the end of an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use. The Red Sox will need to clear a 40-man roster spot for Wright upon his return.
The 34-year-old Wright, a one-time All-Star, has mostly worked as a starter dating back to his 2013 debut. He has logged a 4.00 ERA/4.45 FIP with 6.91 K/9 and 3.18 BB/9 in 263 innings out of Boston’s rotation. Although the Red Sox may now need a starter after Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello and Eduardo Rodriguez, it won’t be Wright. They’ll likely use him as a reliever, per Cotillo, as Wright’s also coming back from 2018 left knee surgery.
The Red Sox’s bullpen ranks an impressive fourth in the majors in ERA, fifth in FIP and ninth in K/BB ratio, but Wright still may be able to help the unit. Neither left-handed hitters nor righties have enjoyed a ton of success at Wright’s expense. Lefties have hit .237/.316/.359 off Wright, while righties have posted a .252/.321/.407 line against him.
They desperately need the bullpen help… especially after tonight’s disaster!! It’s such a shame though that he won’t be eligible for the postseason — such a bonehead move getting popped for PEDs… he’s a knuckleball pitcher for God sakes!!! lol
So funny to see Red Sox fans complaining about one blown game after winning the WS last year…talk about entitled fans…
Easy there, nobody likes to watch their team’s bullpen blow a big lead.
What makes you think he’s a Red Sox fan. Nothing he said sounds like a fan of the team. . . Talk about making huge assumptions.
The three bullpen stats mentioned in the article are not nearly as relevant as Blown Saves and Save Percentage.
Red Sox have the 3rd-most Blown Saves in MLB, and their 52% Save Percentage is 2nd-worst in MLB. If not for their stellar OF defense, the bullpen numbers would be even worse. JBJ robbing Mancini of a game-winning homer immediately comes to mind.
Sox desperately need a legit closer, Giles would be ideal. But yeah, getting Wright back will provide a huge boost to the pen.
Blowing a 5-run 7th inning lead against a likely 100-loss team is most definitely cause for concern.
One blown save? The Sox lead the league with 15 blown saves this season. Not good.
As opposed to NY Yankee fans…. right?
What makes you think the Red Sox are making the postseason ?
papa,
Of course they will make the playoffs. Who the _ _ _ _ do you cheer for you Sox hater!
This isnt a lucky, magical 2018 here the Red Sox are barely playing .500 ball with a healthy team! Oh right Eovaldi has been hurt …. He’s overrated
Papa don’t preach.
Word
That wasn’t a lucky year that was one of the best in mlb history finished off with a WS title. Obviously matching the same win total as last year wouldn’t happen in back to back years. Have they really been healthy now? Martinez has been out with a bad back, Moreland on the dl a few times, Holt as well Nunez. Of course he’s hurt and Boston knew this when they signed him due to his prior history. Clearly after last playoff he is hero for Boston. What he did was similar to Wakefield going in years ago and giving the bullpen a much needed rest and we all know what happened that year too.
What’s with all the Red Sox hate are you a jealous Yankees or Jays fan patrolling a Sox room.
Im never jealous of the Red Sox what im saying is that everything went right for them last year and multiple players had career years the players they traded for at the deadline peaked and now things have more come back down to Earth … basically the ride is over you can feel it …. Just callin it like I see it
And whats with the hate comment ? Im voicing my opinion isnt what the comment section is about ? Maybe if you had a little more confidence and security in your team you’d scoff at my comments
Multiple players had career years? Such as who?
Mookie had finished runner-up for MVP 2 years prior and played in 22 more games that year.
JD Martinez had a better OPS in 2017.
Benintendi had better numbers in 2016.
Devers had much better numbers in 2017.
Xander batted 32 points higher in 2015.
Nunez had one of his worst seasons ever.
Moreland went down from the prior year while playing in 25 fewer games.
Both catchers had horrendous years, far below their career average.
Price had an ERA higher than his career average, and WHIP was the same as his career average.
Sale had just 12 wins, his fewest since 2014.
Porcello wasn’t even close to his Cy Young season.
Kimbrel had a down year.
So your “career year” theory is nonsensical.
You actually took the time to look all that up haha Sox are goin nowhere and theyre def not gettin by this Yankee machine … we’ll see how it unfolds
Figure the Rays will fall away, especially when they don’t make any real deadline moves to fix issues they have. not saying Boston will make the playoffs, since Indians, or another could show what they have and make them, then another like the Rays (Twins) could fall back to reality.
Never know with half the season left. Nothing is settled , close to it yet. AL East and playoff pictures are wide open still.
Understand why Wright will be used in BP, with that reconstructive surgery he had on the knee, same as Pedroia had it would be crazy to throw him back out there in long outings. Using him and eventually Johnson as long relief is probably how they will go when Eovaldi gets back.
You do realize the Sox are currently in a Wild Card spot despite virtually no contributions from Evo & Pearce, right? And both Mookie & Benny greatly under-performing. Not to mention the horrendous start to the season, which was management’s own doing with their ridiculous approach to ST.
There is every reason to believe they’ll have a Wild Card spot locked up by mid-September.
Pearce and Eovaldi have had up and down careers who had everything up in the second half. This regression and Eovaldi’s Injury is their normal career path.
You don’t understand the word ‘regression’, in baseball terms.
Pearce OPS+
’13 114
’14 157
’15 91
’16 136
’17 99
’18 140
’19 33
A mid 90’s number would be a appropriate for regression.
Thank you for the numbers on Pearce.
Injury is a normal career path for Evo? What?
And I didn’t even mention JD’s back problems, or the injury to Moreland – who, BTW, was leading the team in HR and other offensive categories.
GB86,
What’s your team??? Entitled wtf you talking about? Are you one of these people in the new world that accepts losing??
calling the red sox bull pen “impressive” take into accountability their blown saves? i’d be surprised if the average fan could name anyone in the red sox bull pen
Have to agree. I like Connor and usually agree with him, but this is a classic example of stats being misused. ERA for relievers can be very misleading. You can’t mix in mop-up numbers with performances when the game is on the line. And let’s not forget that allowing inherited runners to score doesn’t impact your ERA, but certainly can have a profound impact on the final score.
What are you talking about?
Red Sox numbers have been HORRIBLE in ‘mop up’ situations. Weber (5.12), Thornburg (7.71), Johnson (6.43), Taylor (5.59), to name a few. These guys rarely come into an important situation and they’ve all been terrible.
I’d go out on a limb and say Red Sox have had some of the worst ‘mop-up’ pitching in the league.
People just throw out guesses, and see what sticks.
I’m not sure what you’re getting at Denny. My point was that the bullpen ERA might appear acceptably low, but that’s because guys such as Barnes and Workman have had good performances in low leverage situations.
SOMEBODY is responsible for all those blown saves, they sure ain’t all because of Weber, Thorn, BJ and Taylor.
Sox need an experienced closer before trade deadline. Closer by committee is a
joke. Blown saves make no sense.
Yup, they tried the Closer By Committee back in 2003 and it was a colossal failure. Fortunately they acquired a real closer in Keith Foulke after that season, and then they immeidiately won the championship.
The Sox either need to win 12 or 11 games in the postseason to match last year’s success. It’s not about the regular season with this team. They are holding tryouts for the bullpen in nearly every game. They are not stressing about winning every game. Yes, the bullpen misses Kimbrel. It would be nice to have the clear-cut closer like Foulke, Papelbon, Uehara, Kimbrel, but that hasn’t happened yet. I am not confident that they will win it all this year, but to quote Francona down 3 games to zero, “We’re not done.” Blast your boombox at your own peril. Yell f-bombs after the 8th inning of a college world series game. See how it turns out for you. Nobody on the team is walking around with the swagger of a champion because that is bullspit. Go about your business and win.
Just get to the dance in September and see what happens….