The Red Sox have announced their roster for tonight’s Wild Card showdown with their archrival New York Yankees. Perhaps most notably, slugging outfielder J.D. Martinez has been left off it after injuring his ankle in one of the more unusual on-field injuries you’re likely to see. Nathan Eovaldi will start on the hill for the Sox. Here’s how the roster breaks down:
Right-handed-pitchers
- Matt Barnes
- Ryan Brasier
- Nathan Eovaldi
- Tanner Houck
- Adam Ottavino
- Nick Pivetta
- Garrett Richards
- Hansel Robles
- Garrett Whitlock
Left-handed-pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
Infielder/Outfielder
Having to play a win-or-go-home playoff contest against the Yanks without Martinez is, to say the least, less than ideal for the Sox. Moreover, the way in which Martinez injured himself surely falls under the category of “The Baseball Gods Must Hate Us.” Jogging out to right field in the middle of the fifth inning in Sunday’s must-win contest against the Nationals, Martinez tripped over second base, spraining his left ankle. Clearly one of the Beantowners’ three best hitters, Martinez put up a 128 wRC+, bettered only by Rafael Devers (134) and Xander Bogaerts (130). Unfortunately for Red Sox Nation, he’ll be no more than a cheerleader tonight.
On the bright side, the Sox are starting Eovaldi, who has been the club’s best and most reliable pitcher in 2021. Eovaldi took a huge step forward this year, which by many measures has been the best of his career. Among starters with at least 140 innings pitched, Eovaldi led the American League in fWAR (5.6) and FIP (2.79) while finishing a close second to John Means in walk rate (4.6%). He was able to keep the ball in the yard better than he has since 2015, with a HR/9 of just 0.74, no small feat while calling cozy Fenway Park your home.
Also of note, the Sox left Chris Sale off the roster, at least for tonight’s game. That’s not surprising, given that he started Sunday and is coming back from Tommy John surgery he underwent in March of last year. While Sale has been effective since returning to action on August 14, posting a 3.69 FIP, he’s also averaged just over 4.2 IP over his nine starts, and he certainly wasn’t going to pitch tonight. If Boston dispenses with the Bombers, they’ll be able to add Sale and (if healthy) Martinez to the roster for the ALDS.
Roster spot or not, I still think he’s cute.
Ok,horndog.
Idk the Sox depth or anything but why three catchers? Does it just so happen two of them are some of their better bench bats?
I think the inclusion of Jarren Duran means they’ll likely pinch run with him at some point. Having three catchers means you don’t have to worry about pinch running or pinch hitting for one in case your backup gets hurt. That said, they technically already had a third catcher in Kyle Schwarber.
I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Kevin Plawecki start since he’s caught Nathan Eovaldi’s last few games. I’ll bet they’ll pinch hit or run for him in the middle stages of the game, especially if Eovaldi doesn’t last long.
If you’re relying on Schwarber to be a catcher in a do or die game, lots of things went wrong.
they have Austin Davis on the roster. that says enough.
It was announced by Cora this morning that Plawecki would start tonight. He did NOT catch Eovaldi on Sept 24 against the Yanks, and not surprisingly he had probably his worst game of the season.
Tell me you’re a DH without telling me you’re a DH.
Can’t take credit for that one. My friend, Pete, texted me that after this news broke and I thought I should share it where more people can appreciate his brilliance.
Tell me the bases are dangerous without telling me they’re dangerous. How many more superstars have to blow their knees and ankles out for mlb to make a safer base.
It’s very common for a team to carry 3 catchers in post season and with Martinez off roster they may be limited who they have available
I know it’s common for the playoffs as a whole but three catchers for a single game is what I can’t wrap my head around. You get to change your roster for the DS afterwards
Catcher Scenario: Vazquez gets injured or ejected early on in the game. Plaweski becomes catcher. 9th inning you want to pinch hit for him, in a tied game. I don’t get have 12 pitchers for one game.
1-Vazquez at 2nd takes care of the catching excess.
2-The RS aren’t deep enough to come up more than 14 position players. And most of our position players don’t need pinchhitters.
The only thing I’d have liked would’ve been to see DeShields on the team. He;s definitely the designated base stealer.
Joe – I won’t comment on #1 again. LOL
#2 Totally agree, Duran is the only one worth bringing up. I’m done with Franchy and the other scrubs.
Even if DeShields was still in the organization, Cora wouldn’t have put him on the roster. He’d rather have the extra pitcher.
Pudge, it’s Plawecki that is starting tonight. But I agree with everything else you wrote.
Back in the day there often WAS three catchers on the 25-man roster … back when it was a 5-man bullpen, not a 9-man bullpen.
Joe What?
1 Vazquez won’t be playing 2nd tonight
2 “RS arent deep enough for a 15 positional player” then you proceed to list a 15th positional player (DeShields). I think they could use a couple more runner/ph types.
Hope your not driving tonight. give the wife your keys.
Yup, Fever Pitch already let me know of the Christian mashup.
On the 15th position player, DeShields provides a good pinchrunner.. Our bench will be Shaw, Vazquez, Arauz, Wong, and Duran. After Shaw, I don’t see us using any pinchhiters. Maybe Duran for Arroyo against just the right righty. It just seems to me there is more value in DeShields SBs.
Too bad DeShields was traded to Cincinnati back in September. Duran will do just fine as a pinch runner.
There they are.
Should be a good one, @Brady & @FPGuy. Hope nobody gets hurt. Also hope we knock the snot of you guys.
Winter starts tomorrow for one of us.
I know my guys won’t get hurt, they bail out 10 feet from the edge of the field.
Winter? Never in my house, I’ll have the ’04 postseason DVD’s on an endless loop until Valentine’s Day.
Unlike Urshela.
But I look forward to winter these days. & if we lose tonight, I won’t watch much more baseball this year. October has great grouse hunting (can usually mix a little trout fishing with it too) & mixed bag waterfowling. Ole Fent’ll get through it.
Also: ????? There wasn’t a baseball season that year.
It is a different game now. Look at the 1970s and 1980s. Starters went 200+ innings and had anywhere 5-10 complete games.
1984 Red Sox
Oil Can Boyd 10 CG, 197 IN
Bruce Hurst 9 – 218 IN
Bob Ojeda 8 -216 IN
Al Nipper 6 – 182 IN
A team did not need more than 5 in the bullpen, because the starters went deeper in games.
I would like to see a study of the average pitches per batter to see if pitch count are higher now leading to fewer innings per starter, and if this is caused by shrinking strike zones…. I bet there is a strong correlation.
The one thing I have to say about the Yankee side of last night’s game, will John Sterling EVER learn to wait a few seconds and make the right call?
I have no issues with any of the Yankee players, but Sterling has always been the most annoying announcer I have ever heard in my life. He cares more about doing his homer-calling shtick than about … ya know, making sure it’s a homerun. And shame on Stanton for not running.
But doesn’t the nickname Fever Pitch Gu-ide to an Upper Deck HR sound endearing?
When he stops rooting for the NYY for a minute or two every game, he can actually sound cogent.
And I completely disagree with your ‘shame on Stanton’ comment. I think he, and all the other Yankees, should stand there and admire their shots.
hey, new writer alert!
also does BOS really only have two decent lefties on hand at the moment. Austin Davis is…not good.
They have Darwinzon Hernandez but he’s only pitched three times in the past 2 weeks and hasn’t looked good. Davis has been average since going to Boston (99 ERA+, 3.95 FIP) Besides, you don’t want too many lefty specialists for a one-game shootout against a righty heavy lineup
Well, given his track record against the Yankees, and the fact that his exit velocity is regressing to prior years form, it’s obvious that I have no clue what those numbers are. But thanks for reading anyway.
More reason why we need to bring in the robo-players. Robo-players are not going to break down by stepping on a base.
Thoughts and prayers for JD’s speedy recovery.
Thoughts and prayers for JD opting out of his contract.
Original – Why opt out rather than opt in and trade him? Won’t the latter bring more to the Red Sox? The Red Sox don’t need 3 DHs and his money used by Bloom could bring back 20 more guys!!!
It is still confusing why an ownership group that makes hundreds of millions in profit each year is going to have a $140M payroll rather than a $200M payroll in 2022. The talent level clearly will be significantly down with all those cost savings!
KD – Not to worry, Sox will have well over $140M payroll next year.
You don’t think Semien will be signed by Bloom? They are due for a decent size contract with all the money coming off the books.. And Schwarber should be affordable because of all the time he spent on the IL that kept his numbers down.
It is also confusing why you complain all the time, even when things are going well.
Glad to see Taylor back. Some articles made it seemed like he might be out for the playoffs.
Seeing Vazquez at 2nd should be interesting.
Yes I had heard the same last week, that Taylor was done for the season. Might have been Belichickian gamesmanship.
Vazquez at 2nd? You mean Arroyo I hope. I guess all Christians look alike to you. LOL
Thanks for the sanity check. It is Arroyo. I know Cora thinks deep, but I wasn’t quite getting that one.
No worries Joe, all good.
Heidi Watney made the same mistake, so you’re in great company! I miss her so much.
Well, he warmed up, but didn’t pitch. Maybe he was just getting in some work, but maybe he was a decoy trying to make Boone think twice about bringing in a lefty PH.
The roster really is insignificant. Throwing a few crap players on the roster because a few guys can’t play tonight makes perfect sense. Duran is the only valuable player from a one dimensional viewpoint. The rest are like packing 4th and 5th pairs of socks when you go on a three day trip. Not likely to use them but if unforeseen circumstances happen they might come into play.
KD – My biggest worry is that it goes into extra innings, which based on the history wouldn’t be all that surprising.
Cora tends to manage without considering the possibility of extra innings. He burns his best relievers and substitutes his best position players too quickly, pulling the relievers after 3 outs or less.
And keep in mind, no extra inning ghost runners anymore. So a 12-inning game isn’t out of the question.
Just saw today’s batting order and at least Schwarber is hitting first!!!! FINALLY!!!!
Cora is going to try to play small ball. He’s looking to have Schwarber walk and Kiki bunt him into scoring position so Bogey and Devers can drive him in and give Boston the lead in the first inning. Old school thinking but putting Kiki anywhere other than the bottom of the order is a mistake. Arroyo is the only worse hitter than Kiki. Also, why is Arroyo playing when Shaw could play 1B, Dalbec 3B, Verdugo CF and Kiki 2B with Devers DH. That defense is SO SO SO much stronger than what Cora has planned
Here is the line-up
Schwarber DH
Hernandez CF
Devers 3B (huge mistake defensively)
Bogaerts SS
Verdugo LF
Renfroe RF
Plawecki C
Dalbec 1B
Arroyo 2B
The Yankees went with
Rizzo 1B
Judge 2B
Stanton DH
Gallo LF
Torres 2B
Gardner CF
Urshela 3B
Higashioka C
Velasquez SS
Key to NOTE – While neither Boone nor Cora are good managers at least Boone used sound logic in building his batting order. His four best hitters bat at the top of the order. He took his Kiki equivalent (Gardner) and moved him down so the big guns get more at bats. Smart move for a very bad manager. The line-up may have come down from above and Boone had no say. It looks like a line-up that an analytics guy might create!
KD – Solo homeruns are a waste! Both leadoff hitters hit solo homers, because the 8th-9th hitters on each team tend to not get on base. And the announcers specifically said that when Rizzo and Schwarber were on the Cubs, neither one wanted to bat leadoff.
Ahh well, Cora screwed up and we still won … so it’s all good!
GAfan, KD16, and all the other Bloom and Cora hater trolls can eat crow. I want to laugh at what bs they come up with to explain why Bloom should be fired. Maybe they should just stop posting!!!!!
For trolls, you need to reply: “Ignore this troll” I for one will give such a reply a thumbs up. If no one takes the bait , the troll will get tired of being ignored and stop posting.
FPG – Did you actually say ANY home run is a waste? A home run in the first at bat of the game is the ONLY time a lead off hitter can only hit a solo home run. The trade off is that the leadoff batter (Schwarber) bats at least one spot sooner late in the game. If Hernandez bats ninth and Schwarber first it’s not different from Hernandez batting first and Schwarber batting 2nd except in the first inning. So a .333 OBP guy like Kiki adds a 33% percent chance that if Schwarber does homer in the first inning he drive in more than one run. On the other hand, put Kiki last and you get one less at bat from a lesser hitter and one more at bat by a much better hitter late in the game when things are even more critical.
The announcers comments are meaningless. Heck AROD explained how Schwarber and Rizzo were playing 1B tonight. Schwarber was the DH!! Whether they liked it or not Schwarber has had great success in 2021 as the leadoff hitter so keep him there!! Get Hernandez down at the bottom of the order so Bogey, Devers and JD can bat in the first inning after Schwarber walks. That’s how they did it in 2018. Top of the order scoring runs.
Look at the box score from this game. NYY scored two runs. The first hitter and the third hitter scored their two runs. Boston scored six runs. The leadoff hitter scored two the 2 hitter scored 1, the three hitter scored 1 and the clean-up man scored 2. That’s why the OBP approach to building a line-up is so effective. With JD out and Arroyo in I have no problem with Kiki batting 2 but I would have preferred Verdugo as the new guy to the top 4 in the order. Had he been able to get his 2 hits in the from the 2nd spot in the order the team would have scored even more runs. Top 4 hitters at the top of order. That needs to happen against TB.
Today was a huge victory for the players. So little help and so much success. They deserve all the credit. Great performances by Eovaldi, Houck and Robles on the pitching side and the Big 2 not 3 (JD was missing) were outstanding yet again plus Verdugo. I think people under estimate Plawecki as a hitter. The guy couldn’t hit in the NL but he’s hit well with BOS.
TB owns the AL East so I think it would be a moral victory if they don’t get swept but since this is a miracle season who knows which of the guys from 2018 will step up in the big moment and provide excitement for the Red Sox fan base!! Everything going forward is icing on an unexpected cake!!!
LOL … I said solo shots are a waste, not all homeruns. A big reason why the Sox got this far is their team-record-setting number of 3-run homers this season.
Big 2 not 3? Which of Devers, Xander and Schwarber are you disregarding? LOL
I’m with you on Hernandez, he needs to drop down to around 6.
The announcers were awful last night and definitely biased in favor of the Yanks. Started right away with Stanton’s single that they called a homerun. And the errors continued, such as saying Schwarber was traded from the Cubs to the Sox.
BTW – I know you hate Dugie, but the guy is money with runners on 2nd and 3rd!
He’s 4-for-10 and 13 RBI with runners on just 2nd and 3rd, and he’s 6-for-11 and 15 RBI with the bases loaded.
A fine game last night fellow-Red Sox fans. I think Cole is still hurt, but even if that’s true, shame on the Yankees for not resting him 10 days on the IL.
And I have to tell you, I was not confident in Eovaldi. He had a good bounce-back game after the NYY debacle, and has had some good games against them this year, but you can’t tell what’s inside a pitcher’s head when these things happen.
With the law of perverse consequences, if Houck keeps pitching this well, he will never get out of the BP.. I know the plan for him and Whitlock, but every time I see them coming in from the BP, I feel like I can relax again.
It is well and good that, for all the controversy about Rizzo v Schwarber, both hit a HR last night. That said, I am glad that Rizzo will (likely) be moving on from the Yankees.
I assume it will be ERod-Sale-Eovaldi-Pivetta-ERod against TB. Win or lose, that’s about as well as we can expect.
Joe I don’t have any inside information, but I think you’re writing off Sale a bit too soon. If he pitches well Friday, I can see him start a potential Game 5 with ERod coming out of the bullpen. Especially if ERod gets roughed up tomorrow.
I wouldn’t write it off, but ERod is pitching better, and this keeps them on track. Sale’s been good, but even in the three previous games before the Nats, he had a 3.52 ERA/3.69 FIP, and that was against the NYMs and BA twice.
In ERod’s last 4 starts and one RP, he has a 2.11 ERA/1.86 FIP. FWIW, I wouldn’t change the order if it was going the other way either. Honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t even pull Pivetta from the rotation. I like everything about our current setup, with these four guys, plus Houck and Whitlock out of the BP.
FPG – My point is that there is no such thing as a wasted home run. There is never a time when a home run is a bad thing.
The big 3 are JD, Bogaerts and Devers. Schwarber the new guy has been a late season addition so he doesn’t qualify as a big 3 or 4 if he was added for the full season.
I don’t hate Verdugo. I considered him the fourth best hitter on the team during the regular season before they got Schwarber. Renfroe came on late and pulled even with him in September so I don’t hate Verdugo I just think he is a slightly above league average player like Benny who wasn’t allowed to stay being slightly above league average.
Hot players are great and small samples can prove almost anything. Anything Verdugo does that is positive is good. Let’s not just look at the positives for Verdugo and all the new players that don’t have much of a history with the ball club. Pearce did the same thing and fooled most people.
That’s why I like looking at a person’s history not just small segments of their career to form opinions. A lifetime .250 hitter can have a good season and then he’ll regress back to the mean. Expecting something above .250 because he’s been hot lately is optimistic. Looking at a career allows you to see when a player jumps to a new plateau. Otherwise, his career numbers are a good reflection of his skill. Example – Bogaerts. He spent his first 5 years hovering around league average numbers and then broke out in 2018 and has maintained that level ever since. Career numbers would not be fair for Bogaerts. Devers on the other hand has vacillated up and down every year with 2017 good, 2018 bad, 2019 good, 2020 bad, 2021 good. Looking at that pattern you have to wonder where he goes in 2022. Will the pattern be sustained and he has a bad year or will he maintain a new plateau established in 2021? Time will tell.
Kiki had a league average year splitting time between HOU and MIA in 2014. Then he had a great year in LA during 2015. Then 2016 was terrible. Then 2017 was below league average and 2018 put him slightly above league average. 2019 and 2020 were sub par years again. So after 7 years in the league he had 4 significantly below league average, 2 league average years and one great year 6 years ago. His 2021 season is league average once again so my conclusion is that ANY hot streak he might have will be off=set by an equally cold streak to bring him back to league average. It’s a career long pattern and he only had one great year 6 years ago.
That’s why digging into the detail is important to setting expectations. I’d be happy to go through Verdugo too because he’s another LAD player with a very inconsistent past. I hate that he was in a trade for our franchise player and I struggle to accept him because of the circumstances but I don’t hate him. I simply consider him a Benny clone and we praise one and throw away the other because of their source not their performance.
Ignore KD — He is a troll.
jml1950 – You are so dumb you don’t even realize that what you did was troll my comment. Who’s the TROLL? Look in the mirror jackass..
Ignore KD he is a troll.
Great suggestion!
Several of the trolls no longer post, because the more the Red Sox won the bigger fool they looked.
Verdugo had a great game, but needs to do better base running. Second game in a row. Great game. NY sports radio is extremely entertaining today. As was Boone’s comment that “other teams have caught up to us”, instead of the truth. The Yanks have been doing the chasing for a long time. Go Sox!
Lucky I agree with you, Verdugo has had some really bad baserunning. It’s almost like he gets so excited over a big hit that he loses his focus while running.
Great win last night it was a total team effort there will be plenty of time to debate in the offseason but for now I’m just going to enjoy the Red Sox kicking the Yankees to the curb and getting ready for the very stern test in Tampa. Great job to the entire Red Sox organization for getting this far in what was thought to be a lost season by most fans. I’m just going to enjoy the ride however long it lasts this year.
Bruin1012 – For me, the game helped erase the Bucky Dent memory. Now its a Bogaerts, Eovaldi, Schwarber and Eovaldi memory. Or possibly a Gerrit Cole memory. Shocking and hard fought season no matter what happens next..
KD- me too me too it’s been a long time coming.
Yup that’s the way I’m approaching it, Some people aren’t enjoying the ride because they think Tampa will steamroll the Sox. I say anything can happen, so I’ll enjoy every minute until when and if they are eliminated.
Bruin1012 – Not that many games I felt we needed to revenge but the WS win over St. Louis was one. 2004 Yankee series and this elimination game are at the top of my list.
FYI – Didn’t see the 1946 series with STL but did watch every game of the 67 series!
KD – You didn’t miss much in 1946, except Pesky held the ball.