The Red Sox need to stop wasting their time with Andrew Cashner
The Boston Red Sox tried to save their budget by picking up Andrew Cashner from the Orioles this summer. Sadly bargains don’t always mean great value.
For the third game in a row, the Red Sox were kind enough to spot the Angels three runs in the early innings. This time the free advantage was given up at the hands of discount starter Andrew Cashner. In keeping up with the tone that Cashner has set during his time in Boston, he didn’t pitch well.
In today’s series finale with the Angels, Cashner would toss a depressing 1.2IP while walking five and striking out just one batter. With Boston’s season on life support, there is just no room for performances like that anymore. If this were earlier in the season that would be one thing but there are only 42 games left in the 2019 campaign and the Red Sox can’t afford to give away cheap victories.
BoSox Injection’s Sean Penney recently wrote about the Red Sox needing to shorten the leash on Cashner and today only added more meat to the argument. At this point, he should be nowhere near the starting rotation and maybe not even the roster at all. Alex Cora has been pretty open about his rotation in the upcoming weeks and the need to shake things up.
"“We’re going to talk about it tomorrow,” manager Alex Cora said. “We’re going to have the plan over the week. We have the off day on Thursday so we’ll talk tomorrow during the day and come up with the plan.”"
If the Red Sox are truly looking to reset the rotation to give themselves a chance in this final stretch then Cashner needs to be nowhere near the lineup. This may come off as harsh but today was the final straw and I have zero desire to see him in games that matter. He isn’t costing the Red Sox in the grand scheme of anything fiscally and they wouldn’t be hurting if they cut bait on the righty.
If they’re worried about getting rid of a player they just traded for there’s always the possibility of a demotion. Send him down to Pawtucket and let him either figure things out in Triple-A or just let him finish out his contract. Cashner is set to become a free agent after this season so the Red Sox really just need to bide their time before he’s no longer a headache.
Luckily for Cashner, his impending loss for today was wiped out thanks to a two-run dinger by Christian Vazquez that brought the score level. In his time with Boston though he’s 1-4 with an enormous 8.01 ERA in just 30.1IP. Even for a fifth-day starter that just isn’t going to get the Sox anywhere as the rest of the league passes them by.
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As it stands right now I have zero confidence in Cashner being able to contribute to the Red Sox in any way, shape, or form. Sometimes bargains pan out and wind up being of great value, this isn’t one of those times. Looking back on the trade the Orioles definitely made out on the better end as they got a pair of young prospects and were free of Cashner’s salary.
It’s tough to admit when you’re wrong and even worse when you’ve been defeated but this is one of those times for Dave Dombrowski and he needs to realize it. Again I don’t care if they send Cashner down to Pawtucket in exchange for a late-season call-up or simply cut ties, but something needs to happen. If he can’t get the outs when Boston needs them the most then he’s a ship sailing blind into a storm, dead in the water.
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The Red Sox are in dire need of their team to wake up and perform to their potential, I think Andrew Cashner is doing absolutely that. Unfortunately for Boston that doesn’t mean very much when things get serious. They need to stop wasting time with Cashner in the rotation and move on because he’s clearly not the solution on day five.