The Red Sox are going to have to “be creative” in the near future when it comes to drawing up a plan for their floundering rotation, manager Alex Cora said Sunday (via Chad Jennings of The Athletic; subscription required). The club has six days off in the next three weeks, which will enable it to skip certain starters, but there’s no denying Boston’s in trouble. The reigning world champions are what could be an insurmountable 7 1/2 games back of an American League wild-card spot, in part because their rotation has endured a Murphy’s Law year. Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez have arguably been the Red Sox’s best starters, but the former hasn’t been the dominant ace we’ve grown accustomed to watching, and the latter has been more good than great. Meantime, David Price is on the injured list (and went through a horrid stretch before hitting the shelf Aug. 8), former Cy Young winner Rick Porcello has been horrid, and the pre-trade deadline acquisition of Andrew Cashner has blown up in the team’s face.
Here’s more from the East Coast…
- Despite his ongoing struggles, the sizzling Mets aren’t considering demoting reliever Edwin Diaz to the minors, according to Andy Martino of SNY. The hyped offseason acquisition has surrendered at least one earned run in five of his past six outings, contributing to a horrendous 5.60 ERA in 45 innings on the season. That’s almost four runs higher than the 1.96 ERA the hard-throwing Diaz posted in his final season as a Mariner last year. Most of Diaz’s other numbers have also gone way downhill, though he has still struck out 14.6 batters per nine.
- The sprained right hand Rays outfielder Tommy Pham is “something he’s going to have to manage” through the end of the season, skipper Kevin Cash said Sunday (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). The Rays don’t expect Pham to land on the injured list, but it seems the sprain has negatively affected his production. He’s just 5 for 30 since suffering the injury, though Pham’s still batting a strong .266/.365/.440 with 16 home runs and 13 steals in 485 plate appearances on the season.
- Blue Jays executive vice president, business operations Andrew Miller has joined the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings as their chief operating officer, Adam Schefter of ESPN tweets. Miller had been with the Blue Jays since 2016. His familiarity with Jays president of baseball operations Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins dates back to their time in Cleveland’s front office. For more on the Vikings and the NFL, visit ProFootballRumors.com.
Other than that…The Red Sox are in FINE Shape… WOMP WOMP.
I heard Chris’s Jersey is on SALE…ahh?no? Nothing? ok, go Rays lol
Laugh all you want. Last year allows for a stinker although it wasn’t expected in 2019.
You’ve got your championships for sure, however another mark of a great franchise is consistency and that has alluded the Sox. Accepting it means that you enjoy “stinker” seasons so I guess we know where your head is at.
Closer to last than first it will be fun to see how your GM gets out of the situation with absolutely no farm system and money being stretched.
At some point it always blows up on Dave and his damage takes many seasons to’correct.
Sorry DD, Cashner has been basically a piece of trash, and everyone in the league seems to know it except you! Way way too many excuses, this team has been in a flux all year… period. Lose games against the bottom of the league and then just blow it off. Minors in a mess and so seems the majors! Sound familiar… Detroit, Miami?
Cashner has been basically a piece of trash, and everyone in the league seems to know it except you!
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Silly comment. Cashner did well with BA this year, and his career numbers are reasonable for a #5. I challenge you to find a single statistic that would predict this level of failure.
I see this all the time from the casual BB fans. An opinion completely without support.
“I challenge you to find a single statistic that would predict this level of failure.”
lol
Does having a qualified professional scout actually watch him pitch and evaluate his stuff count anymore?
Does having a qualified professional scout actually watch him pitch and evaluate his stuff count anymore?
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Forgive the professional skeptic in me, but I do not believe you are a professional scout.
But even professional scouts will have statistics to back up their claims. So back to my original question:
“I challenge you to find a single statistic that would predict this level of failure.”
Okay I’ll take a stab……how about 30 career games under .500 and a 4-15 record with over a 5+ ERA last year? And…no excuses that he pitched for the O’s…you asked for a single statistic and there are several that might have foretold that his early success this year was somewhat of an aberration and not his norm.
Really can’t say either that he’s an innings eater!
You are correct in the fact that he probably is a 5th guy in the rotation but you asked for stats……
Finally I can agree with rocky7. I can sleep easier tonight…
Okay, fair enough. But if you are going to quote career numbers, then it is worth mentioning a career ERA of 4.11. And it is fair to mention last year’s numbers, but then I would personally place more emphasis on this year’s numbers. If he had a 3.83 last year, and a 5.29, I’d be way more inclined to ignore him.
To me, the only consideration for such a short-term trade, are his short-term results. he had good results for 2019, good peripherals with a 2.28 K/W and 1.0 HR/9. As an ancillary benefit, he was hot as heck. He had a 1.41 ERA in his last 5 starts before the trade.
IRT your last sentence, that’s basically correct. I was hoping for a guy that could throw 6 innings with a 4.50, at a cheap price. The RS were too much of a gamble to throw real prospects at a guy like Wheeler.
Honestly, I’m pretty surprised that he is currently turning in the worst stretch of his career.
Joe….the Sox just demoted him to the bullpen as he’s running up a 8.01 ERA…come on man!….Give it up…it’s okay…your a fan and you have the right to your opinion!
It clearly did not work.
But my point is that there is nothing to suggest that it should not have worked. There are trades, like Diaz, where it is almost impossible to predict how badly they worked out.
He gambled on his deadline moves last year and rolled a seven. This year snake eyes.
Come on. Cashner for his cost and season to date at the time of acquisition was a good pick up. Yes he has not been good but if we knew what would happen with certainty all the time.. what fun would that be. I’m no fan of DD but this is not one of his losses
I don’t understand why Pham isn’t being placed on the IL. It’s not like his health or production will get better at this rate
Hard to figure out what is wrong with Diaz.He was great at the start of the season.Still has a 98 mph fastball.maybe he just can’t pitch in a big city market.
I’m pretty sure it’s the 6″ between his ears that is the biggest issue. I’m hoping in the off-season he can get away for a bit and come back to his training program and reset. I read something a few weeks ago about a small mechanical change that was made, but I still think it is mostly mental.
Its just as easy to blame his issues on the Mets as an organization as to blame it on Diaz inability to pitch in a big market. Seattle was a big market but I assume you meant in a division competitive environment.
His fastball is flat
Like on a tee for these guys
I’ve seen it all year
LFGM!
the slider is even worse. it just hangs
I was criticized on here for saying Cashner was awful when he was traded to the Red Sox. Look who’s laughing now
I was criticized on here for saying Cashner was awful when he was traded to the Red Sox. Look who’s laughing now
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And what was your support for saying Cashner was awful, outside of ‘just because’?
The fact that he’s been nothing more than a #4 starter in his career and he’s been especially bad since the start of last year. This site even posted an article earlier in the season stating that he should be moved to the bullpen because he’s so bad.
“The fact that he’s been nothing more than a #4 starter in his career”
But your original statement was that he was awful, and your most recent statement is that he is nothing more than a #4. I agree with your #4 remark 100%. That’s exactly what we were looking for.
Hey Joe….your boy Cashner was just demoted to the bullpen…guess those great statistics of yours weren’t….Joe…Joebrady…Joe….????
I’ve only seen Diaz pitch less than 10 times this year, but from what I’ve observed, it seems he blows strikes by batters with his fastball, then when he’s ahead, he floats in a breaking pitch that gets hammered. Can the Mets at least try to just let him stick to the heat?
you should have seen his outing yesterday before giving up the bomb to Robles. While he did walk Eaton on 5 pitches, he made Turner and Rendon look silly before hanging a meatball slider to Robles.
He still has electric stuff so how he gets consistently hammered with his slider is beyond me. The only thing I can think of is the new seams are affecting his ability to throw the pitch well consistently.
Yes watched game yesterday. Who is calling the pitches?
He should go with fb and change only.
Clue:
If other pitches are called — shake head
Cashner says he hates the Yankees. But boy do the Yanks love him in Boston.
.
re Diaz – the new ball is messing up everyone’s hard sliders and Diaz has been unable to adjust the way most other pitchers have. His fastball is still excellent, but his slider has been a mess all season and without a third pitch, he can’t just scrap it.
The creative solution to the RS rotation is Shawaryn, Johnson and Houck. And maybe build up Eovaldi so that he can get a couple of starts before the end of the season.
Unless Price and Eovaldi return to the rotation in a bout a week, and Porcello suddenly reverts to at least a #3, then we are toast.
I don’t mind losing, but losing without learning is a terrible thing to do. At a minimum, Pearce, Porcello, Cashner, and Moreland won’t be here next year. We need to play .700, and I’m not sure if we are a .500 team with the state of our rotation. I guess we could wait a couple of weeks to see if something extraordinary happens, but if not, I’d like to start to accruing some more information for the hard decisions this winter.
Shawaryn and Houck have been taken out rotations and been relieving. They would t have enough time to build back up. They are a mess and this year can be written off.
Thank you. In another week or two, I would still have them on the RS, even if they are two-inning ‘openers’. I just don’t want to tune into any more Porcello or Cashner starts. The rational side of me suggests that i am over-reacting.
The emotional side of me wants to see what some of our younger players can do. I’d even add Dalbec to that list. Brasie & Lakins as well.
Even the rational side of me thinks that I don’t want to wait until spring training to find out if some of these guys could be useful in 2020. let the entire team know that this is indeed a try out period for 2020.
Agreed on everything but Porcello. The team simply can’t throw enough innings without him or Cashner and there is no way the team lets Cashner’s contract vest. If it does, the entire management team goes and they dig up Buddy Lerioux to try to steal control of the team again.
The season is already toast it’s just one of those things. The Red Sox have a good foundation a lot of money coming off the books and an improving farm system.
The Red Sox have won 4 World Series in 15 years no other team can say that in the last 15 years. The real question is Mookie.
If they can’t get him extended, he has given no indication he will extend, then maybe look at trading him this would do two things 1) Help rebuild the already improving farm system and 2) Allow Boston to almost assuredly reset the Lux Tax and set them up for 2021 to spend again if so desired.
If the Red Sox do that they would still have a competitive team they have a great young foundation and if Sale, Edro and Price pitch up to expectations next year they should be very competitive. If they don’t then Mookie won’t make a difference anyway.
The sky is not falling in the Red Sox but this year is over time to strategize what to do next year and beyond.
“then maybe look at trading him”
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I agree 100%. He’s an elite player, but at $25M, we could get a pretty good player, with some left over for a good RP. I wouldn’t give him away, but one of the writers was saying the price tag on him starts with Pache & Ian Anderson. I think that’s a huge overpayment, but if that was the price tag, I’d thank him for his services and drive him down to Atlanta myself.
Hey Joe…I was on the Boston.com board for years. Nice to see ya still putting your red sox thoughts out there.
Thanks, I need to get back there.
The “creative solution” to the RS rotation is a plane crash……
right, because then they would all be dead. Super funny.
nah, just injured….
Yep, zero mortality rate in plane crashes.
Kelenic da god
The juiced ball killed Diaz. Either that or the Mets pitching coach is terrible. I think we are going to see ground ball pitchers start to surpass strikeout power pitchers as the most frequently consistent star pitchers in baseball. The long ball is killing the guys that rely more on the strikeout than the ground ball. I cannot believe how many home runs Verlander has given up this season. I think he leads the league. And he still was a starter in the All-Star game. That has to say something about where this league is headed. They will either have to stop juicing the ball or pitchers that rely on ground balls are gonna be the only ones consistently minimizing home run damage throughout their careers. Luckily Verlander is smart and has experience so he is able to pitch well despite giving up so many jacks. A lot of younger guys aren’t gonna be able to do that.
Dombrowski doesn’t use analytics to aid his decision-making. Poor Bill James’ brilliance has been drowned-out.
The Red Sox need to creatively (and probably silently) toss in the towel this season and take a good, hard look at what they have in the organization to see how to proceed in the offseason.
You are correct Sir!
Sox can’t win with just 3 pitchers. Mookie for an ace or forget next season too.
If it’s true that the cream eventually rises to the top, then last year’s best closer (Diaz) should be in store for a monumental six weeks. And of course, that would come along at just the right time as I still say the Mets are gonna catch the Braves.
Yeah Braves won yesterday, but their closer-of-the-day (Yesterday it was Luke Jackson) allowed 3 hits before getting the save. That Braves bullpen is gonna be their undoing unless their starters find a way to pitch nothing but complete games.
Elsewhere in the NL East, the Marlins have proven themselves to be pesky of late, so no more automatically chalking up a sweep or 3-outta-4 before you get off the team bus to play them..
The Phillies? Totally dysfunctional with a certified coconut as a manager and a Cub Scout posing as their GM. Note to Matt Klentak: Exactly how many LH hitting LFers do you need?
The Nats? If Scherzer comes back as Scherzer their pitching will keep them in the running. Still say, come that final week in September, it’ll be the Mets and the Nats battling for top cheese in the NL East and the good folks of Hot-Lanta will be home watching the playoffs on TV.
What….doesn’t anybody care that Andrew Miller is now the CEO of the Minnesota Vikings??!!
Save ERod’s and Sale’s’arms by playing lightly for remainder of bad season.
Time to rebuild around Bogaerts, Benintendi, ERod and Sale.
Need to replenish the farm system and acquire and ace or two