Red Sox: A mea culpa for my articles during the 2017 season
Why didn’t the Boston Red Sox listen to me? Here are a few articles I wrote during the 2017 season that explain why they didn’t.
As the baseball season is now finished for the Boston Red Sox it is time for me to personally go back into the BoSox Injection vault and select some of my most insightful columns. There is the Latin phrase of “mea culpa” that is an acknowledgment of having done wrong. This presents a nice personal exercise in hindsight and that is always a great tool when being critical.
Baseball is a game where the reward is sometimes based on failure. A .300 hitter does fail 70% of the time, so success can be based on perspective. Often my opinion will change, but opinions do change when the facts change. It can be very difficult to defend a notoriously bad trade or free agent signing. The Red Sox do have a rather substantial collection of both.
My problem is not accepting any failure, but attempting to reduce the number to a manageable figure. When you write enough articles, the chances are magnified that a few or more than a few will be not exactly Nostradamus material. Often evaluations are made in the short-term with a neglect of looking at the long-term. But for ego reasons, I was totally against the signing of Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez. I can take some comfort in that.
So this can be considered an upon further review situation of the ten and what is the now.
What in the world were they thinking? The Red Sox had the chance to either (1) Back out of the Drew Pomeranz trade or (2) Require the Padres to cough up some type of payment for their corporate skullduggery. Boston did nothing and the deal stood.
In 2016, Pomeranz was a bitter disappointment, finishing 3-5, 4,59 ERA and I was certainly not alone in pointing out the fact the Red Sox gave up their highest-profile pitching prospect for a lefty of questionable talent.
In spring training, the battle was on for the coveted fifth starter in the rotation and Pomeranz eventually got the call. When Steven Wright went out for the season the outlook was depressing with Pomeranz taking the hill. But miracles do happen and Pomeranz made 32 starts, went 17-7, and had a 3.32 ERA. The entire season was one of consistency. Meanwhile I called for his trade.
The item of note was the failure of Pomeranz in the playoffs and he joined Rick Porcello and Chris Sale as the Astros played a baseball version of whack-a-mole, but what is overlooked came in game 161 when Pomeranz pitched six innings of one-run ball against the same Astros – that sealed up the division title for Boston.
Pomeranz came around when needed most with the rotation missing David Price, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Wight for parts of the season. Can Pomeranz do it in 2018?
So much for my long-range thinking as I wished to see the Red Sox trade for Jose Iglesias and move Xander Bogaerts to third to finally resolve the third base issue. In my futuristic vision, Rafael Devers was an afterthought as I had already condemned Devers to a few more seasons of developmental purgatory in Portland and Pawtucket.
The Red Sox obviously have no intention of a trade for a third baseball or any other roster manipulation that would solidify third. Devers did that with a remarkable rookie season that saw the 20-year-old left-handed hitter swat .284 with significant run production and power as exemplified with 10 home runs and 30 RBI. Devers is the real deal and the playoff pressure showed something special with a pair of home runs and a .364 average.
Devers’ weak link is his glove work and that will be an ongoing issue in the future. Keeping Devers at third may eventually become an issue and maybe my ill-fated article will come to fruition, but that is well down the baseball highway at this point. The Red Sox apparently have that issue under control with Deven Marrero become the designated great glove when defense is needed.
Doug Fister was not a savior, but Fister was a competent pitcher when needed most. A reclamation from the baseball landfill that came in when Price became a question mark. Fister certainly did not impress anyone and was no puzzle to any hitters. This was a disaster in the making and I pointed out a far better option.
Fister’s first two starts were rather pedestrian pitching performances, but then the gates flew open and Fister was just pounded. In Fister’s next 10.2 innings he allowed nine earned runs and as far as I was concerned I had seen enough. Then it happened.
Fister took the hill for 11 starts to close out the season and the Red Sox were 7-4 in those starts and that certainly kept Boston on top in the division. Included in that streak was a masterful 114 pitch complete game win in Cleveland. But what about Hector Velazquez? I wanted Velazquez over Fister.
Velazquez first MLB start was quite forgettable with six runs allowed in five innings against Oakland, but the rest of the way Velazquez was impressive. In 19.2 innings of relief and starts Velazquez allowed just two earned runs. At Pawtucket, the right-hander was outstanding with an 8-4, 2.23 ERA.
Next season Velazquez will be 29-years-old and just may be an asset out of the bullpen and as a spot starter. And Fister could be resigned with the knee situation of Rodriguez.
The panic button was firmly pushed in this article as the Red Sox were still in first place, but the edges were getting rather ragged. Injuries were mounting and the offense was in a deep slumber. The next issue was not the Red Sox, but their opponents.
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Tampa Bay and the dreaded New York Yankees appeared primed for a palace coup with the Red Sox being on the throne. This was starting to shape up as another addition to the litany of Red Sox failures, chokes and flops that are such an integral part of the team history. Always expect the worst is a tradition among the fans.
That was mid-August when Boston regrouped and finished with an excellent 18-9 record for the month and kept the pedal down with a 17-10 September and a very close capturing on the division on the last day of September.
Next: Red Sox Report Cards: Hanley Ramirez
Where it certainly does get tender is the playoffs where the Red Sox once again succumbed in the first round, but at least it was not three and done as in 2016. Still – more was certainly expected, but a collapse didn’t happen and a world of credit goes to the manager who kept them focused despite injuries and distractions. John Farrell was rewarded by being fired.