Category: Red Sox

Any Price Works for a 2017 Title

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Baltimore Orioles v Boston Red Sox

The first year for a free agent pitcher coming to Boston can be exacting. Whether it be pressure from the fans and media, the difficulty of pitching in the vaunted AL East, or adjusting to the bandbox that is Fenway Park, results don’t always match expectations for pitchers in their first year in Boston.

Year two is an opportunity to reset, an opportunity to prove the critics wrong. Here are some notable Red Sox pitching acquisitions over the past two decades, and a look at year one versus year two in Boston:

  • Pedro Martinez
    1998 – 19-7, 2.89 ERA, 233.2 IP, 251 SO, 67 BB, 1.091 WHIP [CYA – 2]
    1999 – 23-4, 2.07 ERA, 213.1 IP, 313 SO, 37 BB, 0.923 WHIP [CYA – 1]
  • Josh Beckett
    2006 – 16-11, 5.01 ERA, 204.2 IP, 158 SO, 74 BB, 1.295 WHIP
    2007 – 20-7, 3.27 ERA, 200.2 IP, 194 SO, 40 BB, 1.441 WHIP [CYA – 2]
  • Daisuke Matsuzaka
    2007 – 15-12, 4.40 ERA, 204.2 IP, 201 SO, 80 BB, 1.324 WHIP
    2008 – 18-3, 2.90 ERA, 167.2 IP, 154 SO, 94 BB, 1.324 WHIP [CYA – 4]
  • Rick Porcello
    2015 – 9-15, 4.92 ERA, 172 IP, 149 SO, 38 BB, 1.360 WHIP
    2016 – 22-4, 3.15 ERA, 223 IP, 189 SO, 32 BB, 1.009 WHIP [CYA – 1]

Not included above, due to injuries and other mitigating factors:

  • Curt Schilling – Schilling was excellent in 2004, but his well-documented ankle injury in October definitely affected his 2005 campaign.
  • Matt Clement – Clement was okay in 2005 and was actually named to the All-Star team that season. He faded in the second half, though, before being sidelined for good with shoulder issues in mid-2006. Some have said that he was never the same after getting hit in the head by a line drive (thanks again, Carl Crawford).
  • John Lackey – Lackey was a big-time disappointment in 2010 and 2011 before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2012. He did post solid numbers in 2013 and 2014, though, before getting shipped out of town.

Health aside, most pitchers post better numbers in their second year in Boston. Will David Price be able to follow that trend?

Price has as much talent as any one mentioned above not named Pedro Martinez. He already has a Cy Young Award and two Cy Young Award second place finishes on his resume. But does he have the mental toughness to put an underwhelming 2016 behind him and kick ass in 2017? His postseason resume does not seem to indicate that. Concern regarding the status of his left elbow could also make it harder for him to focus on just pitching in 2017.

Maybe some time off for Price is the best thing for him and the Sox right now. If he starts the season on the DL, Rick Porcello and Chris Sale can take the heat off him for a few weeks. If the Sox come out of the gate strong, Price can come back a few weeks into the season without the pressure of having to be the team’s No 1. guy. That would make it easier to focus on just pitching.

It would also mean that a strong improvement for Price in 2017 wouldn’t make or break the Red Sox championship hopes. A campaign similar to his 2016 campaign could be a enough on a team as talented as this one.You’d like more from a guy making $30 million, but Dave Dombrowski knows that championships aren’t cheap.

Ep 005 of The 300s Podcast Has Arrived!

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Episode 005 of The 300s Podcast is straight fire flames. We talk the early mayhem that is NFL Free Agency, Jimmy G on the trading block, Bruins surging after canning Claude Julien, the Celtics making zero moves at the trade deadline, Red Sox Spring Training and why the World Baseball Classic is a disaster.

Celtics Lose to Hawks, But Jonas Jerebko SHATTERED a Guy’s Ankles

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Oh what’s that, I’ve gone 3 for 15 over the past 3 games?? Must be this goddamn mask.

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Let me just take off the Rip Hamilton Special…

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…and lets see what happens*

ANKLES SHATTERED. BONES AND LIGAMENTS AND SNEAKER PIECES EVERYWHERE!

*Jerebko scored 7 points last night, sans mask.

Once Dominant Red Sox Reliever Daniel Bard is On the Comeback Tour

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Yahoo! Sports – For a time, Daniel Bard was one of baseball’s most effective and feared relievers. Now the 31-year-old right-hander is scratching and clawing for one more opportunity in the big leagues, which he hopes will come this season with the St. Louis Cardinals.

I admit I had completely forgotten about Daniel Bard. The once heir apparent to the best closer in Red Sox history, Jonathan Papelbon. Guy was absolutely lights out as a setup man and then the Red Sox fucked everything up. Seriously, don’t mess with success.

Remember when the Yankees had the same EXACT situation on their hands with Joba Chamberlain? Guy was an absolutely dominant reliever who was in line to take over as closer for Mariano Rivera. Nope, Yankees tried to move him into the starting rotation and the guy folded. Admittedly he had some sparks of dominance as a starter. I was at a game at Fenway he started and the guy went 7-8 innings and struck out 10. But for whatever reason, his build, his control, his endurance the guy unraveled and was ruined as a pitcher. They had a specific set of rules called the Joba Rules to keep this guy in tact for christ’s sake. Probably not the ideal guy to be messing with his whole workload and mindset. But I digress…

This is the latest team in a long list of teams kicking the tires on Bard. Theo was the first to try and resurrect Bard’s career unsurprisingly, picking him off the scrap heap in 2013 after the Sox placed him on waivers. He signed with the Rangers next season before actually re-signing with the Cubs organization in 2015, signed with the Pirates organization in January 2016 and didn’t even make it to April before getting released. Bard ultimately signed with the Cardinals last year and that’s where the comeback tour rolls on.

Reports say Bard seems to have his control back and is still throwing 96 mph. And this isn’t from some scrub St. Louis reporter, by “reports” I mean that this is coming from Peter Gammons, the human Britannica of baseball himself. So that’s gotta count for something.

With guys like Bard who were absolutely filthy for a short stint and then flamed out just as fast, it always reminds me of the Stellan Skarsgard quote from Good Will Hunting.

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Best of luck, Dan.

MLB to Get Serious about Speeding up Games

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ESPN – Is this the year baseball raises the strike zone? Is it the year the sport does away with the practice of lobbing four balls toward home plate to issue an intentional walk? Major League Baseball has made formal proposals to the players’ union to usher in both of those changes.

ESPN – MLB will test a rule change in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League and the Arizona League this summer that will automatically place a runner on second base at the start of extra innings.

The days between the Super Bowl and MLB Opening Day are the dreariest days of the year for sports talk. Even for the diehards, breaking down regular season hockey and basketball games every day can get tedious. Topics like MLB’s pace of play can get a lot of attention in February.

You gotta admire MLB’s attempt to steer the conversation on the pace of play discussion. “Games lasting longer three hours have nothing to do with endless Southwest Airlines commercials. Nothing at all. It’s all those intentional walks and extra inning games slowing us down! Yeah, that’s it!”

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Actually, only 7.6% of MLB games last year went to extra innings. Of those extra inning games, 40% ended after just 10 innings. Only 32 games went past 12 innings last year.

There were 932 intentional walks last season. That may seem like a lot, but that’s out of 2430 games played across the league last year. That works out to one intentional walk every two and half games or so. On a night when all 30 teams are playing, you might see about 6 intentional walks.

Speeding up extra innings and/or intentional walks does not seem like the best way to regularly speed up the pace of play or cut down game times significantly. I think if MLB wants to get serious, they’ll have to consider George Carlin’s rule proposals from 1986.

If that doesn’t work, maybe we can cut a few Southwest ads after all. I don’t know that many people need to fly from Manchester to Albany for 49 bucks any time soon anyways.

Episode 001 of The 300s Podcast Coming In Hot!

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This is it. The start of the 300s media empire. Unless you’d rather listen to guys scream at each other on the radio about why Drew Pomeranz should be coming outta the bullpen. This is a podcast from real fans who talk the way you do; no hyped up hot takes or mock outrage. Just shooting the shit. In the very first episode of The 300s Podcast we talk about how Los Angeles has too many football teams, NFL coaches getting fired/hired, the Red Sox rotation vs the Mets, how the Islanders ended up with a bastard dragon as their mascot and is it possible to buy season tickets without having a panic attack? Subscribe today!

Red Sox Re-Sign Jackie Bradley Jr. for $3.6 Million to Avoid Arbitration

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ESPN – “The Boston Red Sox have avoided salary arbitration with Jackie Bradley Jr., agreeing to a $3.6 million deal with the All-Star outfielder, a source told ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. Bradley made $546,500 last season and will be eligible for arbitration in each of the next three years. Bradley, 26, enjoyed a breakout season in 2016, batting .267 with career highs of 26 home runs, 87 RBIs and 94 runs scored. He was voted a starter for the American League in the All-Star Game and helped Boston win the AL East with a 93-69 record.”

Its a good thing the Red Sox stuck with it when guys like Jackie Bradley Jr were struggling because with all the $20 million pitchers on the roster, theres not really much money left for expensive outfielders. Now the Sox have one of the best outfielders in all of baseball and all 3 guys are on rookie contracts. As anti-Theo as Dombrowski is, that is exactly what Theo preaches. Build up your farm system to be the core of your team and then add in a few high priced vets to fill out the roster, especially pitching.

I’m sure JBJ’s number will continue to rise, but if he puts up numbers similar to last year then $3.6 million is an absolute bargain. Not a bad bump for him either, essentially getting paid 6x what he made last year. I’d take that deal every day of the week.

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