Red Sox: Drew Pomeranz enigma continues to make trade more appealing
By Rick McNair
Is Drew Pomeranz finally the real deal? The Boston Red Sox may have finally received the results expected from a potential ill-fated trade.
Winston Churchill’s famous quote on Russia has an application to the Boston Red Sox. “It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” is how Winny stated it in 1959. That is essentially how I now view Drew Pomeranz. Just what is going on? How can he look like the ultimate dud and then a world beater?
I hated the original deal and was far from alone. Red Sox Nation is usually divided on all things Red Sox, especially transactions, but this one was almost universally rejected. When further information was revealed that the San Diego Padres had withheld medical information that only exasperated the ire.
Then came the pitching. Last season Pomeranz was a pitching pinata for Boston. Was it an adjustment to the American League after a successful first half stint in San Diego? Was it the fact that Pomeranz – now a starter – was racking up innings? Maybe it was just – to use the vernacular of RSN – “He sucked!”
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In spring training, Pomeranz was on the cusp of a return to the bullpen. The Red Sox rotation was lefty heavy and other options such as Steven Wright appeared more promising. Then came the intervention in the form of debilitating injuries to the rotation. Wright – gone! David Price – gone! Pomeranz became the default option.
Pomeranz is what I refer to as a “souvenir pitcher.” Bring your gloves boys and girls and settle into a comfortable outfield seat and wait for a majestic home run off one of the meatballs that Pomeranz is prone to toss.
In his first eight starts of 2017, Pomeranz reached the magical six inning level a mere two times. If you work out of the bullpen it is a guarantee that you will have an early entry into a game in which Pomeranz has taken the hill. The good news in both those six inning ventures is Pomeranz came out with victories and allowed only three runs in 12 innings. Better still was pitch counts under the century mark.
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So what you see is the occasional glimpse of a talented pitcher – a tease – one who does not do it consistently or just enough to give some glimmer of hope until his last two starts. Back-to-back performances that were worthy of ace designation if the name was Price and not Pomeranz.
The first win was an 11 strikeout, one earned run effort against the mashers from Texas and better still it was accomplished at Fenway Park. Pomeranz walked just one batter and tossed 96 pitches.
The follow-up was an even more impressive win against Chicago to close out the month of May. This was a seven-inning stint with a big zero in the walks department. The Red Sox had a nice 4-1 win and Pomeranz is now 5-3. The Red Sox are also 6-4 in Pomeranz outings and if one considers Pom-Pom your number four started that is more than acceptable.
I am not ready to hop on the Pomeranz bandwagon. This may be an illusion worthy of Penn and Teller – nothing like getting our collective hopes up only to have them crushed by a flurry of dismal and home run infected starts, but there is hope. Maybe the corner is turned?
If Pomeranz continues to toss relatively consistent six inning starts this rotation will have another solid option. The outcome could be that our lower end pitchers are Pomeranz and Rick Porcello. Now that is interesting. As it is now the Red Sox staff and their starters continue to chug along in first place in team pitching statistics. A world turned upside down.