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2019 Boston Red Sox Thread


dbecks

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How do you top this???

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Best team in franchise history, and even more optimistic for the future.

Keeping all the key players (and paying them) will be difficult -- Xander, Sale, and Porcello are all free agents after 2019... and Mookie - gulp - is one after 2020.  But if they can somehow make it happen without breaking the bank, they'll be a force to be reckoned with for the next several years.

Oh, and fuck the Yankees.

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Dustin Pedroia says if he had to do it all over again, he wouldn't have had the knee surgery after the 2017 season that sidelined him for all but three games in 2018.

"No, I wouldn't have done it. I don't regret doing it, but looking back and knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have done it," the Boston Red Soxsecond baseman said Friday.

After playing through discomfort in 2017, Pedroia had a cartilage restoration procedure on his left knee that involved grafting cartilage from a cadaver to fit in the damaged area.

Pedroia was expected to miss the first two months of the 2018 season and did return on May 26, but he played just three games, went 1-for-11  and spent the rest of the season on the injured list. In retrospect, Pedroia says he came back too soon.

"I think the difference was last year everyone wanted me to come back better than I was before, instead of just coming back," he said. "I might have pushed it too hard or done too much, but as far as following directions, I followed every step. I think some of the directions were, timing wise, a little off."

Instead of surgery, Pedroia could have pursued different types of rehab or treatment after surgery to repair a torn meniscus after the 2016 season. He opted instead for the cartilage restoration.

"It's a complicated surgery," he said. "The cartilage in my knee is great now, but the graft is the thing. You're putting somebody else's bone in your body. To get that to incorporate fully, there are so many things that, going into it, I didn't know all that stuff. I thought, 'They were like, you tore this, we can fix it. Great.'"

Pedroia, 35, was able to rest this offseason and reported to camp early. The 2007 AL Rookie of the Year and 2008 league MVP says the knee feels good and he looks forward to the first full-squad workout on Monday.

"The human body can only take so much, so you have to let it heal," he said. "When I started going again, it was tough, but it wasn't like the year before. Maybe that's why I feel so good now. I healed up, got some rest, my body is recovered and I'm excited."

In 2016, Pedroia hit .318/.376/.449 in 154 games. In 2017, playing with the sore knee, he hit .293/.369/.392 but played just one game in August and hit .242 in September. He'll be full go once workouts begin.

"I don't have any restrictions," he said. "I just have to be smart. I don't need to take a hundred ground balls. I need to take the amount that gets me ready for the game and then stop. Just limit the time on my feet and make sure I'm always staying on top of things to keep me healthy."

On Wednesday, Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said the team's plan would be to limit Pedroia to 120 games or so. The Red Sox also have Brock Holt and Eduardo Nunez as options at second base.

 

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Who you kids want to catch? 

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Red Sox: Catcher
The Red Sox have a wide-open race for the starting catcher spot. Last year, the club carried three catchers for most of the season in Christian Vazquez, Sandy Leon and Blake Swihart. Vazquez and Leon essentially shared the position, with Swihart serving in more of a utility role. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and manager Alex Cora are both on record as saying that arrangement is no longer sustainable. One of the three will likely get traded, leaving the other two to battle for the top spot. Swihart has the most offensive upside in the group, and seems to be far more in the mix to win the job than he was a year ago. Swihart has made significant improvement defensively in the last year thanks to exhaustive work with catching instructors Jason Varitek and Chad Epperson. Leon is the best defender of the three, but his bat went nearly silent last season. Vazquez is coming off a down year at the plate but has a cannon arm. The area he needs to improve most at is game calling.

 

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Eduardo making some news. 

 

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Eduardo Rodriguez threw a pitch in the bullpen on Tuesday morning that was so on point, it prompted ace Chris Sale to laugh.
The legendary Pedro Martinez knows ace-speak, so he knew exactly what Sale meant by the laugh.
"That's ridiculous. Just ridiculous," Martinez said, when asked what Sale thought of that particular pitch.
While Martinez stood next to Rodriguez during the side session, Sale stood behind him for a close-up look.
Two of the best pitchers the Red Sox have ever had are clearly invested in Rodriguez, and they hold the belief he will be something special.
A few minutes later, Rodriguez took his filthy arsenal out to Field 5 for batting practice, and Sale gleefully tagged along.
"Eddie, you throwing live today?" Sale asked. "I'm riding shotgun."

https://www.mlb.com/redsox/news/eduardo-rodriguez-ready-to-take-leap-forward-c304148340-x8528

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Longtime Boston Globe baseball writer Nick Cafardo has died after collapsing at the Red Sox's spring training ballpark.

The newspaper said Cafardo had an embolism Thursday and Red Sox medical staff was unable to revive him.

He was 62.

The Red Sox, whose owner, John Henry, also owns the Globe, said in a statement Thursday that the team was "saddened" by Cafardo's death.

"For over three decades, Nick was a fixture at Fenway Park and throughout ballparks across the country," the statement read. "His coverage was as consistent as the game itself. His opinions on the Red Sox and the most pressing issues facing Major League Baseball were a constant, particularly through the prominent Sunday baseball notes column in the Boston Globe.

"The Cafardo family will always be a part of the Boston baseball family, and the Red Sox will honor Nick's legacy at the appropriate time."

Cafardo joined the Globe in 1989 and covered the Red Sox before switching to the New England Patriots in time for the team's first championship in the 2001 season. He returned to baseball and has covered the Red Sox and the major leagues for the past 15 years.

He was covering spring training on Thursday when he collapsed on a sidewalk outside the Red Sox clubhouse. The paper said it was his day off, but "Cafardo's love of baseball and commitment to his craft compelled him to report to JetBlue Park.''

"Nick was one of the best people to ever walk through our doors -- generous with his time and insights, immensely knowledgeable, deeply devoted to the Globe,'' Globe editor Brian McGrory said. "He had a view of the Red Sox and the game on a national scale that is virtually unrivaled.

"For those reasons, he was one of our most read writers, constantly attracting followers near and far, his weekly baseball notes column being destination reading for tens of thousands of people.''

Cafardo is survived by his wife Leeanne, and two children, Emilee and Ben, who works in the communications department at ESPN.

Outside the clubhouse, damn. 

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  • 4 weeks later...
Sounds like Sale is about to be extended. Kinda surprised, actually.


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5/150 are the numbers being thrown around now.

Mookie is gonna get paid regardless, but I have a hard time believing the Sox didn’t just drive up his price a little on their own (assuming the Sale numbers are true).


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Good news about the Sale deal:

-Doesn’t affect luxury tax for 2019

-Deferred money makes AAV under $29M from 2020-24

-Sox project right now to be spending beyond Tiers 1 ($206M) and 2 ($226M) of luxury tax threshold in 2019, but not beyond Tier 3 ($246M), where 75 percent rate and draft pick penalty take effect


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From Alex Speier:

Sale’s Opening Day start was the worst by a Red Sox starter since 2002. The culprit that year? Pedro Martinez, who allowed eight runs (seven earned) in three innings in a 12-11 loss to the Blue Jays.

That game seemed to wave all kinds of red flags. Martinez, after all, was coming off a 2001 campaign in which he was typically brilliant when on the mound (7-3, 2.39 ERA, 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings) but was limited to 18 starts by an injured rotator cuff. And so, his Opening Day-egg against the Blue Jays, in which he gave up nine hits in those three innings and walked two batters, seemed ominous.

Over his remaining 29 starts that year, Martinez went 20-4 with a 1.97 ERA and 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings. He was the American League Cy Young runner-up.

Put another way: If Sale’s struggles – most notably, a four-seam fastball that he threw 25 times at an average velocity of 92.3 miles per hour, resulting in just 12 strikes (48 percent) and, for the first time in his Red Sox career, no swings and misses – weren’t the product of injury, then what gives?

Red Sox pitching coach Dana LeVangie suggested that Sale did not stay in his delivery, flying open too soon in his upper body rather than remaining closed off while on the rubber. Sale’s changeup was his most effective pitch on Thursday. On that offering, LeVangie saw the mechanics Sale needs on his entire mix.

At a time when the Sox want the lefthander to control his effort level and build gradually into his velocity (“driving the Mustang, not the Ferrari,” in LeVangie’s terms), the Sox need Sale to have his delivery under control so that his three pitches can play off each other more effectively. If that happens, LeVangie believes the pitcher’s normal velocity will follow.

 
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Courtesy of Pete Abraham:

* They're 1-5. Haven't been 1-6 since 2011.

* They've lost 8 of their last 10 games in Oakland.

* They're lost 4 straight and have not lost 5 straight since an 8-game losing streak July 12-23, 2015.

* Eovaldi no-hit Oak over 6 IP last time he faced them.

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I hate losing on Patriots Day. 

 

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BOSTON -- Nobody is taking the rough start of the defending World Series champion Red Sox harder than Mookie Betts.

The winner of the American League’s Most Valuable Player Award last season, Betts sounded off -- on himself -- following Monday’s 8-1 loss to the Orioles.

“Basically, what I’m doing is unacceptable,” Betts said. “I have to figure out a way to get something done and help the team.”

While the Red Sox are 6-11 and 6 1/2 games behind the Rays in the American League East, Betts is slashing .222/.324/.413 and has three homers and seven RBIs.

As one of the star players in the game, is Betts putting too much pressure on himself to help his team escape a sluggish start?

“I wouldn’t say it’s more pressure, but I know I’m definitely -- there have been many times where I can help score runs or do something and I haven’t done it,” said Betts. “I take full ownership of that.”

Could it be a plate approach thing?

“I’m not exactly sure,” Betts said. “Just have to find a way to get some hits and get on base. I’m not really doing anything well right now. It sucks. Nothing really else to say, but it sucks and I have to figure out a way to make something happen.”

 

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1 hour ago, dbecks said:

Still not panicking... yet.

 

Swihart is DFA'd, Leon is recalled from AAA.  Apparently Swihart was making the pitchers suck, too.

I am cool with this. 

Leon spent much of 2018 as Sale's personal catcher, and much of the Red Sox pitching staff speaks glowingly of his ability to call a game. In 2018, he led the majors with a 3.29 catcher's ERA in 89 games.

but I do feel like a dumbass for an earlier prediction. 

 

On 2/18/2019 at 9:44 PM,  InkaUtexas said: 

Swihart and Vasquez. Love Leon and he can be clutch, but....   

Definitely this.

And that's a shame about Cafardo.  He was always a good read.

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