Category: Red Sox

Dustin Pedroia is Back!

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On Thursday afternoon, for the first time in 281 days, Dustin Pedroia saw some live action for the Red Sox!

Granted, it’s only spring training. And he did only get one at bat. BUT that at bat resulted in a nice base hit to left field and a run scored. Welcome back, Pedey:

So what does this all mean? Well, not much really. We already know that Dustin Pedroia is being given the chance to revive his career this season, battling it out with Brock Holt and Eduardo Nunez to be the team’s starting second baseman. After years of serving as the team’s heart and soul, winning two World Series and a league MVP award in his first nine seasons, things haven’t gone so well for him over the past few years.

Since 2014, Pedroia has played in a total of 490 regular-season games, including all of three last year. He’s dealt with ailments ranging from a freak thumb injury while sliding into a base to a much more serious degenerative knee condition, which many believe will make it quite difficult for the 35-year-old to make a comeback in 2019, no matter how much the scrappy veteran may want to prove the haters wrong.

Regardless, today was a great way to start the attempt, and it was good to see No. 15 back out on the diamond.

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And apparently, he’s been ready to go for quite a bit now. Dave Dombrowski mentioned at the beginning of February that Pedroia had been running and working out in Arizona for months before spring training even began. Then, there was this little clip from Mass Live the other day, proving that he’s still got that signature swing and lion-esque confidence we’ve seen him display throughout his entire career (SOUND ON – and wait for the last line at the end):

There’s the Pedey we all know and love! It’s nice to know that, even through it all, he still believes the Laser Show is ready for business once more:

Again, Sox Nation will need to temper expectations. After all, he was in for less than a third of the game today, and we still have a long way to go before the regular season even begins. The team has already stated that he’s very unlikely to be an every-day player anymore, and 125 games is the benchmark the team’s brass is apparently aiming for this season.

But if anyone in the world can overcome the doubt and succeed on pure hubris and determination alone, it’s this guy. He’s done it his entire life. “Too small. “Too slow. “Not enough power.” Etc., etc., etc. He’s always been the little engine that could.

I’m not saying that he’s going to chug along the tracks like he used to in his prime, but it’s just nice to have the old conductor back. And today was a pretty solid way to start making his way out of the station.

Steven Wright Popped for PEDs. If You Thought That Body Was All Natural You’re Crazy

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ESPN – Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright was suspended 80 games on Wednesday after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. Major League Baseball said Wright tested positive for growth-hormone-releasing peptide 2 (GHRP-2)..

The suspension will begin at the start of the 2019 season. It also means Wright is ineligible to play in any postseason games this year.

I can deeply relate to Steven Wright taking PEDs. He’s 34, the golden days of his careless youth are long gone, his career is stagnant, and he’s just trying to move the needle a bit in his life.

Just a doughy dude with a dad bod desperately trying whatever he can to pump his fastball up over 60 mph. So do I judge Steven Wright for taking some Jack3d over the offseason? No, not really. After I read Juiced in high school I realized that everyone was on something. I think if you still care about steroids you’re either a holier than thou baseball writer or you’re 8-years-old.

The silver lining here is it takes the decision of potentially making Wright the closer out of Cora and Dombrowski’s hands. Thank god. We joked on The 300s Podcast recently how hilariously bad of a decision that would be. Just chucking wiffleballs up there with 2 men on in the bottom of the 9th inning and praying the knuckleball was floating on any any given night. Pass.

At least he’ll have a lot of time to reflect on things again as he’s starting his second straight season with a sweet suspension.

PS – Never forget John Farrell wrecked this guys career because he thought it’d be funny to pinch run for someone with a fucking knuckleball pitcher.

Clay Buchholz Will Be Back at Fenway in 2019!

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…as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Curious that the Diamondbacks didn’t want him back, no? Granted he only made 16 starts, but he had a 2.01 ERA last season. That really is a classic Buchholz stat line though. Absolutely dominant for 98.1 innings then misses the rest of the year with a myriad of injuries.

When Buchholz is on he is one of the nastiest pitchers in the game. Unfortunately he’s so rarely “on” that it becomes more trouble than its worth. He’s 34 years old now so if it hasn’t happened by now it’s probably never going to happen, but he has still yet to pitch 200 innings or make 30 starts in a season. One of the most frustrating Red Sox players of all time, but its hard to not look back fondly on a guy that was part of two World Series winning teams and someone who threw a no-hitter at Fenway.

You can’t complain about how the Sox have done over the past 15 years with 4 championships during that span, but this team has won in a much different fashion than what many would have expected. I’ll never forget looking at this team in 2008 and thinking our rotation would be set for a decade with Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and Clay Buchholz all spinning gems with Papelbon and Craig Hansen closing games out. (I’ll never forget seeing a guy on Landsdowne with a stitched Hansen jersey the WEEK he made his MLB debut. Save your money and think twice before buying a jersey kids.) Things worked out a bit differently, but can’t complain about the results.

I’ll see you again Clay, this side or the other.

 

New X-Men: Dark Phoenix Trailer Drops. Will This Be the Last X-Men Before Inevitable Marvel Reboot?

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If we’re being honest I’m pretty bummed about the inevitable reboot of X-Men now that Marvel owns the rights to the mutant characters. For better or worse I love the X-Men movies. Some are incredible like X-Men 2 and Logan. Some are god awful like X-Men 3 and Wolverine. I enjoy all of them though. So it’ll be bittersweet when Kevin Feige ultimately takes this crew out back and puts them out of their meandering misery. It’s bittersweet because we’ve seen great achievements by this cast including the first time we saw them all in X-Men: First Class, but we’ve also seen some pretty big misses in X-Men: Apocalypse. So in my brain I know Feige will probably create a better, if nothing else more cohesive, X-Men universe, but it’s still a bummer to see this franchise get rebooted AGAIN. But, hey they rebooted SpiderMan three times in 10 years and they wound up with the best Peter Parker ever put on film.

Now back to the trailer itself. It looks pretty crazy so I’m excited for that…but X-Men has a history of creating amazing trailers for pretty mediocre films a la Vinny Chase in Medellin.

Seriously just look at the Apocalypse trailer again.

That movie looks incredible. Yea, well it was not incredible. It was a convoluted mess and a waste of one of the best actors of our generation in Oscar Isaac. It currently has a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and 52% on Metacritic. It does somehow have a 7/10 on IMDB though.

So I’m cautiously optimistic for this one though, especially because of the source material. The Dark Phoenix saga is one of the best comic book stories of all time and they completely bungled it with that disaster X-Men 3. The main problem with X-Men over the years has been inconsistency in their vision and convoluted storylines.

It looks like it could very easily go down that path with what looks like a potential Mystique death at the hands of Jean Gray. But that would be too obvious to put in the trailer right? Right?

Either way, I’ve been over Mystique for a while now. They cast a completely unknown Jennifer Lawrence in First Class, a year before Hunger Games made her a superstar, and she was great. In every X-Men movie since though she’s looked less and less interested in even being there. So if Jean Gray offs her in the first 20 minutes of Dark Phoenix I will not shed a tear.

As long as we get ALL the Fassbender.

Dark Phoenix is set to release on June 7th, 2019…barring any more delays.

PS – Are we ever gonna get the forever shelved X-Men movie starring the other Stark girl; The New Mutants? Or we just gonna let that one die on the vine despite looking pretty much done? IMDB lists the release date as August 2, 2019, but it’s already been pushed back almost 2 years at this point. Theres even been whispers through the grape vine that New Mutants could just be released straight to Hulu whenever it does come out. Yuck. So I’ll believe a firm release date when I actually see it with my popcorn and Mountain Dew in the theaters.

I’m Having Impure Thoughts About These Pics of Mookie Betts in the Gym

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What do you do after you win the MVP? You get back in the damn gym and keep grinding. I love it. Mookie is listed at 5’9″ so he’s not a big guy to begin with and especially wearing baggy baseball jerseys every day it goes unnoticed, but dude is low key YOKED.

A lot of people probably still think of him as the scrawny guy he was down at Pawtucket,

Not the Adonis you see before you today.

Getting a little flustered if we’re being honest.

This is exactly what you want to see out of your best player though. Not resting on his laurels and falling back into the trappings of a professional bowler lifestyle. Nope, dude is getting after it because he wants to be the best Red Sox highest paid player of all time.

So Apparently Eduardo Rodriguez is Gonna Win the Cy Young This Year

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OK. I’ll admit the headline is pure yellow journalism, at its finest, but I’m not exaggerating at all when I say the Sox’s young lefthander has been getting a lot of attention in spring training so far. Like A LOT.

Last week, the team held its first official workout, and it’s still incredibly early to start making any real predictions for the upcoming season. But that hasn’t stopped coaches, teammates, and writers alike from gushing about the 25-year-old, who is apparently in “the best shape of his life”:

After a breakout rookie campaign four years ago – during which he posted a 3.85 ERA with 10 wins across 121.2 innings – Rodriguez posted a combined 4.42 ERA over the next two seasons, leading some to believe his first go-round was a fluke. Yet the southpaw battled back to post a 3.82 ERA as a back-end starter in 2018, and he also saw his K/9 increase for a fourth season in a row, settling in at a more than respectable 10.1 by season’s end. He did miss all of August and most of July with an ankle issue, but overall it was a solid year.

E-Rod had a rough postseason run, though, finishing with an 8.10 ERA across 10 frames. Sadly, the lasting image of him from last season was the mini-hissy fit he threw on the mound in Game 4 of the World Series after giving up a meatball home run to Yasiel Puig, which put the Dodgers up 4-0 in the game. The Sox eventually ended up winning the game – AND the series! – and I still think that he might’ve taken too much heat for the reaction. But it only furthered the notion that perhaps the young fella didn’t have everything he needed between the ears to take the next step in his development.

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That wasn’t a great moment for the kid, but he’s already over it, and we all should be too.

That is, until this spring.

Seriously, just Google the name “Eduardo Rodriguez,” and you’ll be treated to a PLETHORA of articles about how great he’s looked so far. Not only does he look more trim, but reports are that he also wowed his fellow teammates during his first live batting practice session on Tuesday.

Apparently, the key to his success has been adding a much more refined slider to his repertoire. He’s always possessed a pretty lethal fastball/changeup combo, but his inability to master a third pitch has held him back. Now, after working with staff ace Chris Sale, he’s ready to unveil a whole new arsenal to the world in 2019:

“I worked with Sale and most of the guys, asked everyone the way they throw the curveball and slider and how they finish,” Rodriguez said. “But mostly Sale, because he has the best (expletive) slider in the game, so that’s how we do it.” (h/t Boston Herald)

Obviously, anyone outside of Fort Meyers has yet to see the new pitch, but the kid seems pretty freakin’ fired up about.

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Eddy is ready!

Sale himself added to the praise by saying that E-Rod has displayed some noticeable “drive” this offseason, and Nathan Eovaldi added, “I feel like he’s taken it to a whole new level.”

So, after what had to be the most boring offseason in Major League Baseball (or even major professional sports) history, we finally have a little something to get excited about for the upcoming season. Especially for a rotation that does not come without its questions and concerns, the early news out of camp about Rodriguez is extremely encouraging. Fingers crossed!

The Sox are set to kick off the preseason campaign on Friday against Northeastern before a showdown with the Yankees on Saturday afternoon.

I Want the Universal Designated Hitter and I Want It Now

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With Major League Baseball Spring Training now underway, it was no surprise to hear that the league and the Player’s Association were once again discussing potential rule changes for the game. It’s an almost annual occurrence now, with the limiting of mound visits last year and the expansion of the playoffs in 2012 examples of recent proposals that were ultimately implemented. This spring, one proposal in particular seems to be receiving the most attention – the universal designated hitter.

It’s high time that both leagues play by the same rules, and I strongly support the idea of a universal designated hitter. Twenty years ago, when teams were scoring runs at record levels, there was no call for a universal designated hitter. Actually, there were calls for the American League to repeal the designated hitter rule. In 1996, teams scored 5.04 runs per game and it was the first time runs per game topped 5 in 60 years. Runs per game spiked to 5.14 in 2000, but have been steadily decreasing ever since.

In 2018, teams scored 4.45 runs per game. In 2014, teams scored just 4.07 runs per game. That 2014 number was the lowest runs per game number since the strike-shortened 1981 season (4.00) and the third-lowest number of the DH era (1973-present). A universal designated hitter would provide more offense to the game and help reverse this trend.

A universal designated hitter would also provide more action to a game desperately in need of it. Pitchers like David Price taking 40 seconds between pitches is certainly an issue, but the long time between balls being put into play is a bigger issue. Balls in play are way down and strikeouts are way up. Last year’s National League Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom hit .164 at the plate. He struck out 25 times – and had just 11 hits – in 74 plate appearances. Number 9 hitters with stat lines like that don’t make the game more fun to watch.

A universal designated hitter would also speed games up by removing most double switches, cutting down on pinch hitters, and maybe even cutting down on relief pitchers if managers can keep their starters in the game longer and go to the bullpen later.

From a competitive standpoint, National League teams and fans should be clamoring for a universal designated hitter. In 22 years of regular season interleague play, the American League holds a 3032-2732 record and a .526 winning percentage. The American League has won more regular season interleague games in 17 of the 22 seasons that have featured interleague play. American League teams have also won 18 of the 32 World Series played since 1986, when the current World Series designated hitter rules were adopted (both teams use a DH in games in AL ballparks, pitchers hit in games in NL ballparks). Clearly, AL teams don’t lose much when they lose a designated hitter. David Ortiz could always play first base 5-6 times a year. NL teams don’t gain much, though, when they get to insert a light-hitting utility infielder or fourth outfielder into their lineup as their designated hitter du jour.

Because the current baseball collective bargaining agreement runs through the 2021 season, it’s unlikely we see the designated hitter at places like Dodger Stadium or Wrigley Field before 2022. Still, it’s an easy chip for Major League Baseball to trade to the Player’s Association in exchange for something else they want. Compared to the alternatives of banning shifts or other more dramatic changes to the fabric of the game, though, a universal designated hitter seems like an easy way to modernize and refresh the game.

I’ve Had it Up to Here with Kyrie

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This is a really difficult thing to write, but deep down in our hearts, I think most of us as Celtics fans know the truth. It’s time to move on from Kyrie Irving. Let me first say I love Kyrie the basketball player. On the court, he’s one of the most exciting, acrobatic, clutch guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching on a daily basis. In my mind he’s the best ball handler of all time. The shots he can and often does make are ridiculous. 

That being said, not only do the numbers show that we play better without him, but I think his attitude is toxic to the Celtics locker room culture. First, the numbers. In 11 games without Irving this year, here’s how we’ve looked:

  • With Irving, Boston has shot 46 percent from the field. Without him, that number improves to over 48.5%
  • When it comes to scoring, the Celtics average 112.8 with Irving, 113.9 without him. 
  • On defense, Boston is allowing 107.3 points with Irving in. But that drops all the way to 103.4 points per game when he’s out. Last year it was the same, allowing 4 less ppg with him out.
  • Without Kyrie, Celtics are 21-3 at home since he’s joined the club

Now I get that 11 games is a small sample size and a lot of those games are against bad teams, and I also get that typically high scoring guards like Westbrook and Lillard have similar effects on their teams defense, but this is only the first point in my argument. Now you can say that last year our offense scored 7 less points per game without Kyrie than with, but it’s clear from watching this team our offense has taken a big step forward, especially in 2019. Rozier, Tatum, Brown, Hayward (obviously) are all significantly better offensive players right now than they were this time last year. And we saw what they could do as a team in the playoffs. Although they couldn’t beat Lebron, having that experience is only going to make them better in the years to come.

I also understand that as currently constructed, this team benefits from Kyrie being on the floor. His clutch gene in the playoffs is up there with the best, plus having a backup PG like Rozier is huge. BUT, when I say time to move on, I mean it’s time to move on from treating Kyrie like the Crown Prince of Boston.

It’s time for Danny Ainge, the media and everyone else to stop acting like Kyrie’s ego is the only thing that matters. And here’s why:


KYRIE IS A FUCKING HEADCASE.

Listen to his interviews throughout the season and you’ll see what I’m talking about. First, he says if you’ll have me I want my number hanging in the rafters at the Garden. Then you having him calling out teammates, whining to the media, having hissy fits on the court to his coach and to a guy who’s leg snapped in half 15 months ago, saying we need veterans cuz these young bucks can’t cut it, saying he doesn’t owe anybody anything and only cares about himself. On top of that, all anyone wants to talk about is whether or not he’s getting traded, if he’s staying put, if we’re going to trade and pair Davis and Kyrie. It’s like he’s bipolar and he’s using the media as his shrink, but instead of doctor-patient confidentiality it’s the exact opposite of that.

The trade talk alone is enough to rattle young guys like Tatum and Brown, but when you also don’t know which version of Kyrie you’re going to have to talk to after the game that night, I can only imagine how that wears on these guys. Kyrie is like one of those crazy girlfriends from Entourage who you can’t stand to listen to but can’t look away from because they’re just that sexy. 

With all of these things to consider, it’s no wonder why Marcus Morris said nobody is having fun. They don’t know if they’re gonna get yelled at for not being serious by a guy who needs to sit out a week because he ran around a screen the wrong way. He’s got everyone on edge and half these guys are too young to know how to handle it. Do you remember the first couple times you got yelled at on the job? When it happened to me, I was somewhere between “I want to punch this dick in the face” and “Holy shit I can’t believe I made a mistake,” so I just froze. Kyrie is not a good leader, and it’s no surprise because his role model in Cleveland was King Diva himself. Earlier this season Jaylen Brown, in response to Kyrie’s locker room ranting, said. “We can’t make comments. We can’t point fingers. We just gotta empower each other. If we don’t everybody’s going to go into their own little shell.” And Kyrie has been doing exactly…not that.

The icing on the cake with this whole thing is that Kyrie is going to play in the All Star game tonight after missing a week with a knee sprain, a part of his body he’s had trouble with his whole career predating the NBA. And this motherfucker wants to go play grab-ass with Lebron and AD in some bizarro-world Lebron’s All-Star Recruiting Night? It’s completely astounding to me that Danny and Brad have no problem with this, and are just like, “he’ll have a trainer with him so it’s cool.” Fuck off Kyrie. 


*Side note: It’s very possible I have this all wrong, and it’s actually Kyrie doing the recruiting of Davis. I’ll eat my words if, months from now, Davis says talking with Kyrie at the ASG changed his mind and convinced him to come to Boston. Also, Kyrie can make this all better by shutting up with media and taking over for the rest of the season. Less ego, more hoop.

WEEI Can’t Decide On One New Red Sox Broadcaster, So They Hired EIGHT

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WEEI – Entercom, the unrivaled leader in sports radio and one of the two largest radio broadcasters in the United States, today announced the new all-star team of play-by-play sportscasters for 2019 Boston Red Sox games on WEEI in Boston, the flagship station of the team. Broadcasters participating this season will include Sean McDonough, Josh Lewin and Mario Impemba, who will rotate in the radio booth alongside veteran broadcaster and Red Sox Hall of Famer Joe Castiglione, who has signed a multi-year extension with the WEEI Red Sox Radio Network and will begin his 37th season…

In adition to McDonough, Lewin and Impemba, Chris Berman, broadcaster for ESPN; Lou Merloni, on-air personality for WEEI; Dale Arnold, on-air personality for WEEI; Tom Caron, studio host for NESN; and Dave O’Brien, television voice of the Red Sox for NESN, will also call select games as part of the broadcast play-by-play committee. O’Brien will call a select number of nationally televised Red Sox games.

The WEEI broadcast booth needed a replacement to put next to longtime Red Sox play by play man, Joe Castiglione. Someone that could call the game, provide insights, have a regular conversation (don’t you dare call it a talk show), and essentially just create a more entertaining product.

But they couldn’t decide on one guy, so they hired EIGHT.

There’s a few familiar faces in here with current WEEI names like Lou Merloni and Dale Arnold as well as NESN personalities Tom Caron and Dave O’Brien. In addition to them, WEEI brought back fan favorite and Mass native Sean McDonough, Josh Lewin, and Mario Impemba.

Wait.

Is that what I think it is?

THATS CHRIS BERMAN’S MUSIC!

Chris Berman is back back back back baby! I honestly don’t know how many “backs” Berman is gonna be able to squeeze in when Mookie hits a piss missile over the Monster. There’s really not enough time, but he’ll adjust he’s a professional.

In all seriousness, I only really listen to the Red Sox radio broadcast if I have to. If I’m stuck in traffic or I’m crushing a few Bud Lattes win the old man in his backyard. So I don’t really care who they bring in, but it does scream indecisiveness. I know they probably wanted to test out a few guys to try and jumpstart a broadcast they had grown tired of, but there’s something to be said for familiarity. Having 8 different guys in there on any given night could do 1 of 2 things. It could provide excitement because you’re always hearing different voices and opinions. Or it could quickly create favorites leading to fans tuning out when they hear that Lewin’s calling the game and not Merloni on a given night.

Credit to them for trying something new, but it won’t be easy to build a rapport with Castiglione if some of the new guys are only working a game a week.

Just give Jonny Gomes the job and be done with it.

PS – It’s spring training and I just made a Jonny Gomes reference so get your Jonny Gomes Duckboat shirt before the season starts!

Three Burning Questions for the Red Sox on First Official Day of Spring Training

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With most of us still flying high from the Pats’ big victory just a week and a half ago, it might be pretty easy to forget that our other reigning champion sports squad is set to begin work on their title defense this week.

On Wednesday morning, your world champion Boston Red Sox held their first official spring training practice down in Fort Meyers. (Even though a lot of players arrived last week and have already been practicing – including Chris Sale, who has been “cleared to have a normal spring training,” according to Dave Dombrowski [h/t ESPN Boston]. That’s big news for the lefty after last year’s late-season injury woes.)

After an offseason where the Sox literally made zero noteworthy moves besides resigning Nathan Eovaldi, we’re pretty much going to see the same team this year. Gone are Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel (who is still a free agent, however, and could potentially return at the right price, per The Boston Globe‘s Pete Abraham):

But other than that it’s going to be the same dudes you rooted for throughout all of last season. That’s certainly not a bad thing.

Still, that does not mean that this team comes without questions or concerns. Yes, we haven’t even passed Valentine’s Day yet, and the season is still over a month and a half away, but there are definitely some things that Cora & Co. need to figure out before the real action begins in Seattle on March 28:

(Who’s Going to Replace Kelly and Kimbrel?)

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To be honest, even though Joe Kelly had one of the most dominant posteason runs any Red Sox reliever has ever had (11.1 IP, 1 ER, 13 Ks), he’s actually been a pretty lackluster bullpen guy for most of his career otherwise. After he signed with the Dodgers in mid-December, I let you all know that I wasn’t really that worried, and there’s definitely enough already in tow to replace him and his 4.39 ERA from last season.

But Kimbrel? Sure, I laughed at the fact that he thought he was worth $100 million when he first hit free agency. And yes, he also had a horrible 2018 postseason and is prone to meltdowns every now and then. But besides an abnormal 3.40 ERA in 2017, the man has posted sub-2.75 ERAs in every other season in his nine-year career. Overall, his career ERA is actually 1.91, and he has lead the league in saves four times. So, not only do I think the Sox should try to resign him at what should now be a much more reasonable price, but if they don’t then they are going to be missing a pretty big piece at the end of games this year.

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The team’s got some decent bullpen depth from which to draw, especially after the emergence of guys like Ryan Brasier last year and the low-risk re-signing of Carson Smith (a move I made sure to highlight and highly endorse), with the former being my choice to replace Kimbrel if he doesn’t come back. And, there was also this from ESPN’s Dave Schoenfield earlier today:

“Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said the team’s plan to replace Craig Kimbrel as closer will be ‘somebody internal.’ He said — at the risk of sounding old-fashioned — that he does prefer one guy rather than a bullpen by committee approach and mentioned Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier, Tyler Thornburg and Steven Wright as possibilities. As for the chance of still signing Kimbrel: ‘I can’t get into the conversations with free agents.'”

This will remain the biggest question throughout all of spring training, and we may not get an answer for quite a while.

(Can We Trust the Rotation?)

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Considering the Red Sox as a team led the league in pretty much every notable batting category last year, it should be no surprise that the second question featured here also has to do with pitching.

Chris Sale, David Price, and Nathan Eovaldi came up huge in the postseason last year. Rick Porcello, too, was very solid, allowing just two runs in 11.1 innings outside of a rough Game 4 in the ALCS. But each one of these guys did not come without their struggles during the regular season last year:

  • Sale suffered his late-season shoulder issues, which caused him to be shut down or severely limited over the last two months of the season. (He pitched a total of 14 innings from July 27 through the end of September.)
  • Price may have finally exorcised his big-game demons last October and has posted sub-4.00 ERAs in each of the past three years. But still, ya never know with this guy.
  • After winning the Cy Young Award in 2016, Porcello has two straight seasons of ERAs over 4.20.
  • Eovaldi is another unproven guy who really didn’t shine until September (and, of course, October). He had pretty much been a flame-throwing mid-4.00-ERA type of guy for most of his career before coming over from Tampa Bay last season.
  • And, even though he’s not mentioned above, this is also a huge year for lefty Eduardo Rodriguez. The 25-year-old pitched to a solid 13 wins and 3.82 ERA last year, but had been wildly inconsistent – both physically and emotionally – beforehand, so he’s no guarantee yet. However, apparently he’s now “in the best shape of his life,” so that’s a good start.

I don’t think there’s necessarily a ton to worry about as of right now, but things could take a turn for the worst pretty quickly here if things don’t go right. Adding a little more depth in this area would be a smart move if Dombrowski can make something happen this spring.

(What’s Up with Dustin Pedroia?)

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Remember this guy??!! Ya know, the diminutive little spark plug who used to be the heart and soul of the franchise? He’s also a four-time Gold Glove-winning second baseman who won Rookie of the Year AND a World Series in 2007. He then won the MVP award the following season, before also helping the team win another World Series with another All-Star season in 2013.

But after playing in just three games last season, and only 105 the year before that, it seems as though he’s almost been forgotten entirely. (Your team achieving a record-setting, championship season without you being involved whatsoever can do that to a guy, I guess.) In fact, many people I’ve talked to have just assumed he was “done.”

If you know anything about Pedroia, though, you know there was just no way he was going out like that. And if anyone can come back and prove all the haters wrong at 35 years old, it’s this dude.

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However, if we’re being honest, it’s not going to be easy. It’s not as though Pedroia is dealing with some freak knee injury he got sliding into second base; rather, it’s an issue with the cartilage that was originally only supposed to keep him out for just a few months last season. Let’s just say things didn’t work out according to plan. Dombrowski also added this little tidbit on the subject this week:

“We’re still not looking at a 150-game player. We’re hopeful that he’s a 125-game player at this point. We do feel we have some people who are solid and can fill in. To fill in if (Pedroia) plays 120, guys like (Brock) Holt, a guy like (Eduardo) Nunez coming over there. Even some depth with Tzu-Wei Lin in our organization we like a great deal. They are also capable of playing more games, that combination. But we’re hopeful that Pedey will be the guy. The main guy.”

Fortunately for him, the second base job still seems to be his for the taking, and he’ll get every chance to reclaim his rightful spot on the field with a solid spring. But as alluded to in the quote above, he’ll face some stiff competition. Yet if he can get the Laser Show going again, it’s going to be tough for anyone to stop him.

There are very few players in Red Sox history I love more than Pedey. Here’s to hoping he bounces back with some great spring ball down in the Sunshine State.

As far as the rest of the team goes, I’d say there are very little questions on offense with this loaded lineup, and I’ll save all the upcoming contract talk for another time. I’m sure some more questions will pop up along the way this spring, but for now let’s just enjoy the fact that the champs are back in action and good weather is just around the corner. Baseball is back, baby!