Category: Players

Brock Holt, All-Star and Vote Xander!

Posted on July 7, 2015 in Players, Random Stuff
Happy days are here again! (Boston Herald/Matt Stone)

Happy days are here again! (Boston Herald/Matt Stone)

The Brock Star is an All-Star.

You won’t find two bigger Brock Holt fans than Lefty and Righty, and Holt certainly deserves the nod since he’s slashing .295/.383/.424 and has played 2B, RF, 3B, LF, SS, CF, and 1B this year. Ned Yost said that his versatility was one of the main reasons he was selected (Belichick would be proud).

I was a little disappointed that Xander wasn’t selected. He was also worthy to be selected by Yost at .302/.339/.414 while playing the most important defensive position in baseball. Part of my disappointment could also stem from the fact that Xander is so improved from a year ago, which doesn’t really matter to anyone but Red Sox fans. Then again, advanced stats and analytics don’t really matter to Ned Yost so who knows. It also would be cool to have him be an All-Star shortstop at age 22. Fortunately, Xander is on the ballot for the Final Vote for the final roster spot on the 2015 ballot.

In any case, we’re happy for Brock Holt! All-Star 4lyf (I’m not trying to be cool, his twitter handle is @BrockStar4Lyf). Don’t be surprised if his versatility allows him to play more significant innings than expected – unironically that’s the exact way he ended up an All-Star in the first place.

And don’t forget, Vote Xander! #XforASG

 

 

Sox Win 3rd in a Row – Eduardo Rodriguez Tipping Pitches?

Posted on July 1, 2015 in Game Recap, Prospects

The Red Sox won 4-3 over the Blue Jays last night, their third straight victory. Here’s how it happened:

The story coming into this game was “is Eduardo Rodriguez tipping pitches?” If you hadn’t heard, the scuttlebutt was that Eddie was showing his hand early in his last outing, but only when pitching from the stretch. This theory certainly held water, seeing as in that game he retired the first 10 Orioles he faced, then one batter reached and Rodriguez surrendered 6 runs, and only recorded one more out.

Over the course of the past four days that theory had been confirmed. Eduardo was looking at the ground before throwing his offspeed pitches, and looking more to the side before throwing his fastball.

Eduardo Rodriguez Tipping His Pitches

lEduardo Rodriguez Tipping Pitches (NESN)

Last night, he was definitely conscious of his head positioning. Several times Eddie took the sign from the stretch, lowered his head, then stepped off. Since he was involuntarily tipping his pitches (obviously), I’d imagine it was tough for him to concentrate on locating his pitches while fighting a natural instinct. Regardless, Rodriguez performed admirably, holding Toronto to one run in six innings. This was especially impressive considering that the Jays touched him for 9 runs the last time he faced them.

Pitchers IP  H  R ER BB SO HR ERA
Rodríguez (W, 4-2) 6.0 4 1 1 2 4 0 3.92

Rodriguez was opposed by Marco Estrada, who had been untouchable in his last two starts, taking no-hitters into the 8th inning both times. It was evident right off the bat that Eastrada didn’t have the same no-hit stuff. He walked four men in the first frame, giving up two runs on 0 hits (Mookie reached on an error to lead off the inning).

Somewhere in that first inning it looked like Estrada lost the feel for his fastball, and he started relying heavily on his changeup. He as a good one (he’s no Clayton Mortensen but who is?), but he went to the well many too many times.

In the top of the second, Jackie Bradley Jr. sat on an all-systems-go change that hung on the outside corner.

Unfortunately for Jackie, this might be too little too late. John Farrell announced after the game that Hanley will be back in the lineup tomorrow after putting on a show in BP before the game. De Aza has been exceptional of late, and Victorino is nearing a return. Barring anything unforeseen, JBJ most likely won’t get consistent at-bats for the remainder of 2015 – maybe in September if things break a certain way.

In the top of the 3rd, it was Ortiz’s turn to be cleared for launch on an Estrada change.

That ball might’ve actually gone to the moon. It’s not quite Manny’s shot, which was last spotted near the Andromeda Galaxy, but a rocket nonetheless.

This put the score at 4-0, and the Red Sox would need all of those runs. Tommy Layne surrendered two more runs on top of Rodriguez’s one, to bring the score to an uncomfortable 4-3. With Toronto’s lineup and the roof closed in the Rogers Centre, a one run lead feels like you’re starting every inning with a runner already on 3rd, but Ogando had a big-time 8th inning, getting Joey Bats, Edwin Encarnacion, and Chris Colabello in order, and Koji came in and had a 1-2-3 ninth, sealing the Sox’ third straight win.

Notes:

-After the game Rodriguez acknowledged explicitly that he was tipping his pitches with his head position. I thought it was kind of odd that he openly admitted the specifics of it, even if it was pretty obvious. I’m guessing because it’s not a mechanical thing, just something he has to be conscious of, it’s not as important to try and keep the “tip” a secret. If it was mechanical it’d be a much bigger issue and a longer fix, and may even have meant a trip to the minors to sort it out. This is a relief, and maybe he can even use it to his advantage by looking down when he comes set, then firing 95 MPH cheese.

–Ryan Hanigan will be called up tomorrow. It’ll be interesting to see what happens here because Swihart has played well and deserves to stay with the big club in my opinion, but Leon has been Buchholz’s personal catcher … and he’s out of options.

-The Sox inked their top two draft picks Andrew Benintendi and Austin Rei.

-The White Sox’ Chris Sale had 12 K’s last night, giving him 10 or more strikeouts in eight straight starts. The only other guy to do that? Pedro in ’99.

–Brock Holt!

-Everyone else in the division lost last night. Here’s how the AL East is looking, in case you had tuned out:

East W L PCT GB WCGB L10 STRK
Baltimore 41 36 .532 – – 7-3 L2
Tampa Bay 42 37 .532 – – 3-7 L3
NY Yankees 41 37 .526 0.5 0.5 3-7 L3
Toronto 41 38 .519 1.0 1.0 4-6 L2
Boston 36 43 .456 6.0 6.0 6-4 W3

Not exactly apocalyptic.

Sox Lose 7th In a Row

Posted on June 16, 2015 in Players
Hebeh. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

Hebeh. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

After the Red Sox’ first sweep of the season just over a week ago, and a glimmer of hope that perhaps the ship was righting, the Sox have dropped seven in a row.

Porcello took the bump in this one and again was on the wrong side of of the W-L column and has not won a start since May 16. Yikes. This one wasn’t terrible but it still looks like he’s leaving a lot of balls up in the zone, which you would think is a relatively easy thing for a major league pitcher to fix. Maybe just aim lower? I tell my little league catchers to give the pitcher a lower target if he’s leaving balls up in the zone. Anyone know how I can get a hold of Blake and Sandy?

It seems like this team can’t get everything going at the same time. During that stretch a few weeks ago when the starting pitching was great they couldn’t hit. Now that the offense has come around somewhat the pitching has been mediocre at best and the bullpen has been shaky.

Bogaerts, Pedroia, and Holt have been rock solid and Ortiz was hitting .333 over his last five coming into last night’s game, including three homers. But Ramirez is hitting .200 in his last six, and Napoli has dipped back below the Mendoza line. The offense did bang out 10 hits (three by Mookie Betts in his return to the lineup) but they once again Plaxico Burress’d themselves, grounding in the three double plays and going 1-7 with runners in scoring position.

The silver lining here – aside from Mookie looking no worse for the wear after his scary crash – was Xander, who homered, but I unfortunately don’t have any proof of that because for some reason neither the Red Sox nor MLB have it up on their sites. I guess you’ll just have to trust me. He turned around a center-cut 89 MPH fastball and hit it out to dead center. He also made a nice play in the field and continues to improve at short. Earlier in the year I touched on his advanced defensive statistics; how some had improved and some had declined, and I wasn’t quite comfortable enough with advanced defensive stats to use them to back up what I was seeing – he’s gotten a lot better. I’m now happy to report that they’re up across the board so I still don’t have to learn exactly what they mean.

Lefty pretty much covered the doom and gloom thing yesterday, but the Red Sox now sit 11 games under .500 and it’s getting harder to stay optimistic seeing as we are now halfway through June. It’s a little early for this talk, but it’ll be interesting to see if the Sox are buying or selling come July. That’s not a question you should be asking in June of the team with the 4th highest payroll in the league.

Notes:

-Jonny Gomes, nice to see ya.

Offense Forgets to Show Up

Posted on June 10, 2015 in Game Recap, Players, Prospects

View post on imgur.com


I’ve been itching to cover an Eduardo Rodriguez start since he got the call from Pawtucket. All season, every time a starter turned in a bad performance I’d tell my friends they should give Rodriguez a turn. It got to the point where it was a little irrational. “Well, yeah, Buchholz went 8 and struck out 11 and didn’t walk anyone. But I’d still like to see what Rodriguez can do.” My friends now refer to him as “your boy” when they’re talking to me, which I take as a huge compliment.

Anyway. Eddie (he needs a nickname. Any suggestions?) was once again impressive, but in a different way than his first two dominant starts. He didn’t have great command of his slider or changeup, but battled through and turned in 6 shutout innings, essentially with one pitch – six of his seven strikeouts came on his fastball.  It helps when your one pitch is a lively 95 MPH hairy heater, but still superb work by the rookie.

His crucial sequence came in the bottom of the 5th. After surrendering a leadoff single to J.J. Hardy, Rodriguez hit Ryan Flaherty when he was trying to bunt, putting runners on first and second with nobody out. The next batter was Manny Machado, who he coerced into a fielder’s choice on a 1-1 changeup, one of only two outs he’d record with that pitch all night. Rodriguez followed that with big back-to-back strikeouts of Delmon Young and Adam Jones. After the strikeout of Jones, Eduardo was FIRED UP. Jones didn’t like Rodriguez’s reaction too much, and kind of sarcastically grinned in his direction as he was walking towards the dugout.

Pitchers IP  H  R ER BB SO HR ERA
Rodríguez 6.0 3 0 0 3 7 0 0.44

When the Red Sox acquired him, the Orioles scouts were sad to see Eduardo go and said he had another level, another gear that facing major league competition would bring out of him. I don’t know how they could possibly know such a thing, but a 0.44 ERA over his first three starts suggests that they knew what they were talking about. This one must’ve been hard for them to watch.

The lone run in this game came in the bottom of the 7th on a wild pitch from Matt Barnes. With runners on first and third with no one out, Barnes shook off Swihart, who I assume called for something hard, and threw a first pitch changeup that went about 55 feet. It’s a pitch that Swihart might block 8/10 times, but he lifted up on it slightly and it got away. Definitely a wild pitch, but still blockable. That was enough for the O’s to win the game 1-0.

Notes:

-The Red Sox lineup looked like it was filled with graduates from the Milford Academy.

Milford Academy

-0-8 with RISP.

-Not helping: Hanley fouled a ball off of his knee and had to leave the game. Let’s hope it’s just a bruise.

–Mookie has hit a rough patch. He’s batting just .156 since May 30.

-Don and Jerry have been comically bad at predicting the outcome of reviewed plays this season. Their chuckles and self-deprecating humor after the call is made almost makes the multi-minute delays palatable.

-If anyone suggests “E-Rod” for Rodriguez’s nickname you will be tarred and feathered and publicly shamed for lack of originality.

-The Red Sox had the #7 overall pick in this year’s draft and selected Arkansas outfielder Andrew Benintendi. I was somewhat surprised that they didn’t take Carson Fulmer (RHP, Vanderbilt), who was taken by the White Sox with the next pick, and who the Red Sox were very high on leading up to the draft. Fulmer was considered to be the best pitcher in the draft, but two others were taken ahead of him, including the Twins taking a college reliever with the 6th pick – I can’t quite figure that one.

Benintendi (is that Italian for “good Nintendo”?) shot up the boards after hitting .380/.489/.715 with 19 homers in 221 ABs this season. He’s got a sweet, compact lefty stroke and the potential to be a gold glove outfielder. With such a high ceiling, he was probably too tantalizing for the Red Sox brass to pass on. Definitely no reason to be upset if you’re a Sox fan.*

*Obviously I reserve the right to backtrack on this statement if Fulmer is the next Pedro and Benintendi is the next Billy Beane.