The Red Sox have reinstated left-hander Zach Penrod from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Worcester, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The move doesn’t impact Boston’s active roster but their 40-man is now full. They had opened a spot on the weekend by designating lefty Sean Newcomb for assignment.
Penrod, 28 next month, got to make a brief major league debut last year. He tossed four innings over seven appearances for Boston, posting a 2.25 earned run average in that small sample. He struck out three opponents and walked four.
He’s been held back by a lack of health this year. He had some elbow soreness during the spring and went for an MRI. While that imaging only found inflammation, manager Alex Cora nonetheless relayed that Penrod was going to miss significant time. He was placed on the 60-day IL on Opening Day, with his injury listed as an elbow sprain.
He now seems to be healthy enough to take the mound, as he started a rehab assignment on the weekend. He’ll likely need a few more outings before he’s a realistic candidate to get called up, but he’ll soon provide the Sox with a lefty depth arm. In 2024, he logged 62 2/3 innings on the farm with a 4.16 ERA, 34.8% strikeout rate and 12.4% walk rate.
Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images
That makes sense. He would fill a similar role to Newcomb on the ML roster.
His potential upside is higher too. He had an elite strikeout rate in the minors last year.
And he has a cool name.
I just read that Newcomb was traded to Oakland for cash considerations.
I heard he was sold.
I heard he was acquired.
If Breslow was lucky he got enough cash to get a coffee on the way into work
I’m glad Pernod doesn’t require a spot on the 26 man roster. He’s a borderline major league pitcher and could be helpful in short stints in Boston but I don’t believe he’s a full time bullpen asset (at least not yet). He should be useful alongside Guerrero, Zach Kelly, Criswell, etc. as a pitcher with options who can be shuttled back and forth from AAA without requiring a DFA / waivers transaction. The only concern is trusting that Cora knows how/when to use these pitchers. Managing the bullpen has not been one of Cora’s strengths over the years.
I think there is more to pitching decisions than Cora just thinking about it. I think the analytics department, the coaching staff and Cora come up with a plan for each game. The plans take into consideration things such as how a pitcher fares as he goes through a batting order a second and third time. I also think it is likely more important to them to manage with the whole season in mind than just the current game going on. So, I think pitching decisions are more of an organizational thing and preplanned moves come off looking awkward. They preplan days off for players and I think they likely have detailed pitching plans too. I’m not sure if I like it or not, but I think it is more than Cora.
But a key problem Cora has is switching relief pitchers mid inning. When you have inherited runners on and pitchers get switched, it hasn’t had good results.
Take two days ago. Bernardino gets 2 outs and Cora pulls him and puts in a minor League relief pitcher after Bernardino gave up just one hit. Why not have Bernardino finish a full inning? The new pitcher came in, gave up two hits and the runner scored. They beat us by a run.
Cora should be fired. He’s reading into matchups that have cost us games. Gone are the days of Embree 7th, Timlin 8th, Foulke 9th or a combination of that with guys who go a whole inning.
Both pitching and offense, Cora has ruined every possible consistent routine on this team
Wasn’t that Bernardino’s fourth straight day pitching? They are lucky Bernardino got them two outs. Yes, gone are the ways the bullpen worked in 2003 and 2004.
Regardless, he shouldn’t have been in and Cora shouldn’t have put an AAA pitcher in with inherited runners. Cora has been doing this all year. I bet if you checked inherited runners scored, we are likely top of the list
They eventually have to use the whole bullpen. Maybe your gripe should be with Breslow for having a “AAA pitcher” in the bullpen.
Cora the Destroya
Cora pulls him and puts in a minor League relief pitcher after Bernardino gave up just one hit.
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Bernardino is a lefty specialist. Those guys, and I mean on every team, come in to face lefties, and then they get pulled.
There is no discussion. These guys exist for a very specific reason.
That’s the point. A “lefty specialist” is a wasted roster spot. Better to have guys who get outs no matter which way the batter faces.
And obviously if he gave up a hit, he wasnt doing a good job getting an out. These analytics kill wins sometimes
Cora is ruining the pitching staff. why is he constantly taking Bello out of the games with 4.1 or 4.2 innings pitched? it is almost as if to punish him, or to “toughen him up” mentally or something, so he cant get the win. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but it just cant be?!?!?!!?
Cora thinks he treats his players lovingly, but what he’s doing is sheer disrespectful.
of course the bullpen is going to stink if you cant allow a starter to work out of trouble ever
It looks to me like Bello needs to toughen up or hold himself to a higher standard. I didn’t see today’s game, but he has looked like he is not competing to the best of his ability.
Bello has always been overrated. They treat him like an ace but he has only been a #4 pitcher. His extension was way too premature as well, and Rafaela, sadly may also be trending that way. They need better dealmakers.
Suit- I believe everything you said is 100% accurate.
However, its not working.
I like to call it “Smartest Guy In The Room” syndrome. The Analytics, The Ivy Leaguers, the pre-planning, none of it is working.
Sometimes it needs to be a baseball decision, or the eye test, or (worst of all) a human decision. If you look back at the last trend in baseball it was “old-school” managers, who could digest Analytics but still push back enough, or make a true on the field baseball decision.
I think what people are understanding about the Sox is, they never come away from the numbers, and its maddening.
Refsynder has a point!
Sad: Agreed it can be maddening. I think in the playoffs there is probably more old school managing, but who knows.
Dotty – Having a strength has not been one of Cora’s strengths over the years, unless lying and cheating were to be considered strengths.
Case in point, why does Cora allow all his players to run on their own? Mayer was beyond foolish tagging up at 2B on a fly ball with less than 2 outs unless you’re positive you can make it. How did he not know the player who caught the ball is a GG outfielder with a rocket for an arm?
Another case in point, why was Cora not having his fielders guarding the line leading off the 9th inning? Up a run in the 9th inning, you can’t allow the leadoff hitter to get a groundball double near the line.
He is absolutely clueless. However I had no problem with his bullpen management last night, Chapman is usually a sure thing.
Red Sox are a joke. Bregman or no Bregman, we have a .500 team.
1000% this is a 500 club at best.. Let’s see what the rookies can do!!
It’s uncanny. They are in just about every game, but they can’t seem to get what they need when they need it.
Suit, it’s because the team is incomplete. They don’t have *quite* enough.
The bullpen isn’t quite good enough for the way cora burns arms. A pen of 7 or 8 guys doesn’t mean burn 6 arms a game over the last 4 innings of work.
The infield just isn’t good enough either, the fielding is sort of OK, but the bats aren’t advanced enough, not when you know you’re carrying an elite all-glove CF.
That’s why they keep falling short. Other teams have a quality PH option to call on, or, the overall hitting depth to not need to go there. The Boston lineup is held together with ducttape to a degree and it does show.
It lies on Cora’s decision making too, though
I don’t think it’s any of those problems. Cora just forgot how to manage. That’s the issue. Theres no reason we aren’t at least above .500 with this roster. Pathetic.
I look at it this way: The starting pitching has not been going deep into games. This causes the bullpen to be overused, especially the better relievers. So, because of overuse, the better relievers will not always be available in high leverage situations and they will need to put in a lesser arm. Managing a worn out bullpen is different than managing a rested bullpen.
Their run differential is +13, and I think all of those came off a position player in mop-up? They have the best run differential of a sub-.500 team, but at the same time that isn’t nearly enough to put them in the top 12.
In short, they are playing to their talent. They are always in games because they have superb pitching, but the offense is even worse than the pitching is good.
I bet if you look at other teams, the Sox starters probably don’t pitch less than any other team. Maybe I am wrong but I’m not sure where to find the stats… I strongly believe the starters aren’t the issue. Fitts pitched well and deep last night and bullpen still ruined it… Crochet has barely gotten wins as well, despite pitching well and deep.
Again, i feel Cora has mismanaged the pen and relied too much on analytics
I will also say it seems like individually, by stats, this team looks fabulous. Put all the stats together, they cant seem to win. That tells me the individual parts (pitching and hitting) are not really the problem on their own
At 5.3 IP/GS, the Red Sox are at (a few basis points above) the league average. I don’t love it, but that’s the game today.
I see no evidence that Cora’s decisions are based on analytics. That’s just a convenient scapegoat. I suspect he feels the need to “do something” rather than just putting players in the right situation and accepting fate. Listen to him talk about being “aggressive”. He believes he is adding value by pulling the levers.
I disagree, CtD, on paper they look like a .500 team. Less a few wins due to Cora’s bullpen management.
@WaitTil2026 You are closer to being right than I am. All that matters on day’s end is the overall record and they are close to .500. I just think they SHOULD be better than last year and .500 obviously isn’t any better
The Red Sox have a whole analytics department feeding info to Bailey and Cora. I doubt they are throwing it in the garbage and ignoring it all. I doubt Cora is ignoring Bailey’s suggestions about how to use pitchers.
I think that they having been involved in many more one-run games this year compared to last year shows they are improved, but most of those games have not gone their way.
Suit – they absolutely have all the Analytics in the world. I imagine the numbers say things like, “opponemt batting average against goes up third time through”, Bello is more efficient through 80 pitches than 81-100, etc and so on.
But at what point does a successful manager say “I’m burning out my pen” or can “Bello get outs here”??
Maybe the non-competitive nature of Bello’s starts (that many of us see, is the fact that he know as soon as he gets two men on and no outs Cora’s got the hook ready?
Sad: Those are good questions. There are probably details playing into decisions that we don’t know about. I think the Red Sox are heading in the right direction and I find it hard to blame one person for everything a group does.
@CtD, I totally agree. I was expecting 85 wins this year and hoping that they might scratch out a few more. Finishing at or below .500 — again — will be a huge disappointment.
I’m done with Cora…
Destroya: You are giving them too much credit. Calling it, they will finish the season below 500. Cora will still be the manager. We will hear about some new up and coming prospects: Everyone will buy into the rebuild process.
B dog – Cora isn’t getting fired no matter where they finish. If the team finishes below .500 he will be “promoted” to the front office.
Im not sure why the front office still prefers Cora. He did well but is clearly past his prime now.
Seems like Cora and Kennedy have a power partnership, and right now they have the Owner’s favor. That may change one day, but right now they’re in charge.
I think they will still finish around .500.
Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.
This is not a team rooted in fundamentals.
Bad baserunning has cost games, bad fielding has cost games, constantly playing guys out of position, quick hooks on the starters burning out the ‘pen.
Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.
Sad – So true!!
Case in point, why does Cora allow all his players to run on their own? Mayer was beyond foolish tagging up at 2B on a fly ball with less than 2 outs. You don’t try something like that unless you’re sure you’ll make it, how could he not realize the outfielder who caught the ball is a GG fielder with a rocket for an arm?
Another case in point, why was Cora not having his fielders guarding the line leading off the 9th inning? Up a run in the 9th inning, you can’t allow the leadoff hitter to get a groundball double near the line.
Keeping the same manager results in doing the same things. Over and over again.
Wait – Agreed, especially one as stubborn and egotistical as Cora is.
No chance he gets relieved of his managerial duties midseason, but I do think if they miss the playoffs again (seems likely) that he will be moved into the vacant GM position after the season.
The team is pressing almost as bad as its manager…. This is why they are losing so many one run games, they are struggling with the pressure to perform in tight situations.
Wait – So you are finally saying “clutch” is a real thing? ;O)
I am very, very happy to see you say that my friend!
Even top overall performers like Bregman have been horrible in Close & Late situations. The clutchest guy on the team is Raffy, as he’s always been. It amazes me that teams still pitch to him when they have first base open late in a close game …. and they still are getting burned by that decision.
Look no further than yesterday’s game.
Raffy gets the 2-run hit.
Rafaela has the three hits early in the game, but strikes out in his last at bat when it mattered most … and of course the unforgivable baserunning blunder. And that was the third consecutive game where he made a huge mental error.
KC though is just an absolute mess. He really should have been charged TWO errors on that final play, one for the decision to throw home instead of going for the doubleplay and one for the horrendous throw.
Cora didn’t have the huge grin on his face or the hearty laugh yesterday when talking about the team’s performance, so maybe he is finally starting to take the situation seriously?
Slaten not covering first base was another inexcusable blunder. I really, really am not looking forward to the tougher schedule coming up ….. especially the month after the All-Star break. Have you seen it?
3 @ Cubs
3 @ Phillies
3 vs LAD
3 @ Twins
3 vs Astros
3 vs Royals
3 @ Padres
3 @ Astros
Not in my lifetime can I recall a tougher 24-game stretch.
Yeah, that’s a tough stretch. Though as you know, the Red Sox have a better record against .500+ teams than they have against sub-.500 teams. So maybe they’ll play up to the competition?
I thought I was the one standing up for Rafaela? He’s a decent player, even if his plate discipline remains crappy.
The team is a huge mess at this time, don’t know where to begin. Everybody knows it, including the players, so it isn’t at all a surprise that they are reacting poorly to this. Cora’s inability or refusal to convince Devers to give 1B a try (and he should have started working out there last winter). Cora’s insistence to bat the two veterans #2 and #3 while the team gets LEAGUE WORST production from the high-pressure cleanup role.
Clutch of course matters. But it isn’t really an “ability”, as studies have proven in the past. Rather it is a reaction of specific players to specific situations. A big part of the job of the manager is to keep players comfortable and focused, so they can perform in all situations. Cora is really really bad at that. He takes good care of Devers. He protects Rafaela. But he throws other players under the bus, like Abreu and Campbell. And he is a disaster with the bullpen.
Get the right manager in there and those “choking” players will suddenly start performing in the clutch. The team has no focus right now – or rather the entire focus is on keeping Devers fat and happy rather than on winning games. Devers is easily their best hitter, but NO PLAYER can take precedence over the team.
I stated on May 8 that the season was over. When Devers declared that his comfort (and promises made to him by the ex-GM) was more important than the team, I believed him even if nobody else did. The level of play in MLB is too tough to win games if you aren’t 100% on board.
Somebody explain to me why Campbell is battling cleanup? He’s mired in the most prolonged slump of his professional career. All while trying to learn a new position. The added pressure of hitting in a premium spot in the lineup cannot help his mental makeup. What is Cora thinking? Anthony is killing it in Worcester, another home run last night. Let’s get our most talented players in the big league lineup before the wild card ( forget the division) is out of reach.
( I think I’m done discussing the Devers fiasco)
cdc – I know what Cora is thinking.
Cora is thinking he’s smarter than everyone else, and he’s thinking KC is so timid and meek and shy and innocent and passive that no matter what gets thrown at him, no matter how bad he is mentally abused, he will quietly accept whatever Cora tells him to do.
I feel so bad for the kid, he’s not strong like Raffy and others, he can’t handle Cora.
cdchi: Campbell is out of his slump. The hits are starting to drop.
FPG: “he’s thinking KC is so timid and meek and shy and innocent and passive that no matter what gets thrown at him, no matter how bad he is mentally abused, he will quietly accept whatever Cora tells him to do”
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Baseless garbage. The pitchers made adjustments to Campbell and he has made adjustments and the hits are starting to fall. All is well with Campbell as far as I can see.
cdc – Cora finally listened to me. KC has been benched today, Mayer is batting cleanup behind Abreu.
Finally Cora acknowledges the harm he has done by mentally abusing KC. His OPS over his last 7 games is .486 so he definitely needed a mental break from Cora today.
Today’s bottom half of the lineup is quite putrid though ….. all 5 hitters have an OPS between .387 and .618
And they are facing Peralta, one of the best in the game right now.
May God help them by providing more good fortune, a few more wild pitches with Sox runners on third base would help!!!