One minute before the trade deadline ended, the Boston Red Sox were able to finally land a starting pitcher in a three-team deal. After the Lars Anderson for Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Rich Harden fell through yesterday, the Red Sox were able to pick up left-handed pitcher Erik Bedard from the Seattle Mariners. Also coming to the Red Sox will be pitcher Josh Fields, a 2008 first round draft pick, who has split time this season in both Double A and Triple A.
The Seattle Mariners will get Boston prospect Chih Hsien Chiang (outfielder) and Los Angeles Dodgers prospect Trayvon Robinson (outfielder). The Dodgers will get Red Sox prospects Tim Federowicz (catcher), Juan Rodriguez (pitcher), and Stephen Fife (pitcher).
So what does this mean for the Red Sox in the short term? Erik Bedard is having a good season despite his 4-7 record (wins and losses are stupid anyway for a pitcher). He has a very respectable 3.45 ERA and a solid 1.172 WHIP. The Red Sox do not want to go into the playoffs with John Lackey as their fourth starter and this trade will allow them to do that. This also means that Clay Buchholz may be hurt more than the Red Sox have let on and that we may not see him for the rest of the season. We can only hope that come October we will be able to see a starting rotation of Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, and Erik Bedard.
This trade does mean that the Red Sox will have to make a 40-man roster move, which could mean that Clay Buchholz will be put on the 60-day DL and would not be eligible to return until mid-August.
Showing posts with label Boston Red Sox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boston Red Sox. Show all posts
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Daniel Bard Scoreless Streak Still Alive
The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox earlier this afternoon 5-3 to take the rubber game in the best of three series in Chicago. Daniel Bard pitched another 1 1/3 scoreless innings to extend his scoreless innings pitched streak to 26 1/3. The Major League record is held by Orel Hershiser when he did not let up a run for 60 straight innings while pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Boston Red Sox return home for a four-game series with the Cleveland Indians before the New York Yankees come to town for a crucial three-game series.
The Boston Red Sox return home for a four-game series with the Cleveland Indians before the New York Yankees come to town for a crucial three-game series.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Kuroda to Red Sox?
The most recent rumor around baseball is that Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda would waive his no-trade clause to join either the Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees. So far this season, Kuroda is 6-12 with 3.19 ERA (just by observing this stat you can tell wins and losses are a stupid way to determine how good a pitcher is, but that topic is for another day).
The Yankees have been showing interest in Kuroda for some time now, especially after not signing Cliff Lee in the off-season. But it just does not seem like the Yankees are willing to trade any of their top pitching prospects for a 36 year-old, even though the Yankees are in big need of a quality starting pitcher.
The Red Sox on the other hand have a deep farm system and could be willing to pull the trigger for Kuroda. Both Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz have missed numerous starts and Daisuke Matsuzaka is lost for the season. The Red Sox are also in need of a fourth starting pitcher for October baseball because they probably cannot rely on Tim Wakefield or Jon Lackey to fill the role (although Lackey has been looking much better as of late). It will be very interesting to see were Kuroda ends up.
The non-waiver trade deadline ends July 31.
The Yankees have been showing interest in Kuroda for some time now, especially after not signing Cliff Lee in the off-season. But it just does not seem like the Yankees are willing to trade any of their top pitching prospects for a 36 year-old, even though the Yankees are in big need of a quality starting pitcher.
The Red Sox on the other hand have a deep farm system and could be willing to pull the trigger for Kuroda. Both Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz have missed numerous starts and Daisuke Matsuzaka is lost for the season. The Red Sox are also in need of a fourth starting pitcher for October baseball because they probably cannot rely on Tim Wakefield or Jon Lackey to fill the role (although Lackey has been looking much better as of late). It will be very interesting to see were Kuroda ends up.
The non-waiver trade deadline ends July 31.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Four Unapparent Reasons the Red Sox are on Fire
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/glossary/
http://www.fangraphs.com/library/
After beating the Seattle Mariners this afternoon 12-8, the Boston Red Sox remained three games up on the New York Yankees and improved their record to 62-37. Since their slow 2-10 start, the Red Sox have played ridiculously good baseball and have led the majors with a 60-27 record (.690 winning percentage). But how have the Red Sox been able to keep up on this torrent pace? Let's look at four reasons that aren't that obvious.
1. Offensive Catching - Defensively Jason Varitek is not what he used to be and Jarrod Saltalamacchia is decent, but what has been a pleasant surprise is the production the Red Sox have received from these two men at the plate. Saltalamacchia has an impressive VORP of 10.5 and Varitek has a 5.9. That is already higher than Varitek's VORP from 2010 (5.0). To add to this, Saltalamacchia has been racking up some extra base hits and has an OPS of .780. This was not a position the Red Sox were thinking would provide them with a lot of production offensively, but it has turned into one reason the Red Sox have been playing solid baseball thus far.
2. Incredible Depth - I could sit here and write about every player who has landed on the DL this year for the Red Sox but I don't want to compete with War and Peace in length. Basically they have had a plethora of players on it at one time or another. But thanks to their incredible depth (mostly by bulking up the farm system and not trading those players away before they make it to the majors) the Red Sox have survived the injury bug and continued to win. One player who has been electric thus far is Josh Reddick. With J.D. Drew struggling at the plate (but not in the field) Reddick has stepped up with an OPS of 1.030 and a TrR of 33.0. And on the pitching side Alfredo Aceves has been very good in all roles he has undertaken for the pitching staff. He has been able to stand in and pitch a spot start or eat up valuable innings out of the bullpen.
3. Patience at the Plate - The worst part of any pitching staff is their middle relief pitchers. That is why part of the Red Sox philosophy is to drive up pitch counts and get to this part of the bullpen early in the game. Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis are two of the best players at driving up pitch count. Also, The Red Sox have a team OBP of .353 compared to their opponents who have a measly .314 OBP. I do not have the statistics on me, but the Red Sox have done a lot of damage in the seventh inning this year. This is mostly due to the fact that they have forced the starter to be pulled early in the game thanks to a high pitch count and then they have followed this up by absolutely dominating middle relief pitching.
4. Defense - The Red Sox have also had a very solid year defensively. Fielding percentage, to me, is a poor way of judging how good a defense is. Mainly because fielding percentage does not take range into account. Looking at some defensive statistics that incorporate all aspects of fielding, the Red Sox rank high in most of the categories. They rank fourth in UZR (behind only the Angels, Reds and Diamondbacks), second in RngR (Diamondbacks), and sixth in ErrR. The Red Sox team defense is very good because they have a lot of range, thereby lowering opponents scoring chances.
These are obviously not the four biggest reasons why the Red Sox have the best record in the American League; however, these are four aspects the Red Sox are not getting enough credit for.
http://www.fangraphs.com/library/
After beating the Seattle Mariners this afternoon 12-8, the Boston Red Sox remained three games up on the New York Yankees and improved their record to 62-37. Since their slow 2-10 start, the Red Sox have played ridiculously good baseball and have led the majors with a 60-27 record (.690 winning percentage). But how have the Red Sox been able to keep up on this torrent pace? Let's look at four reasons that aren't that obvious.
1. Offensive Catching - Defensively Jason Varitek is not what he used to be and Jarrod Saltalamacchia is decent, but what has been a pleasant surprise is the production the Red Sox have received from these two men at the plate. Saltalamacchia has an impressive VORP of 10.5 and Varitek has a 5.9. That is already higher than Varitek's VORP from 2010 (5.0). To add to this, Saltalamacchia has been racking up some extra base hits and has an OPS of .780. This was not a position the Red Sox were thinking would provide them with a lot of production offensively, but it has turned into one reason the Red Sox have been playing solid baseball thus far.
2. Incredible Depth - I could sit here and write about every player who has landed on the DL this year for the Red Sox but I don't want to compete with War and Peace in length. Basically they have had a plethora of players on it at one time or another. But thanks to their incredible depth (mostly by bulking up the farm system and not trading those players away before they make it to the majors) the Red Sox have survived the injury bug and continued to win. One player who has been electric thus far is Josh Reddick. With J.D. Drew struggling at the plate (but not in the field) Reddick has stepped up with an OPS of 1.030 and a TrR of 33.0. And on the pitching side Alfredo Aceves has been very good in all roles he has undertaken for the pitching staff. He has been able to stand in and pitch a spot start or eat up valuable innings out of the bullpen.
3. Patience at the Plate - The worst part of any pitching staff is their middle relief pitchers. That is why part of the Red Sox philosophy is to drive up pitch counts and get to this part of the bullpen early in the game. Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis are two of the best players at driving up pitch count. Also, The Red Sox have a team OBP of .353 compared to their opponents who have a measly .314 OBP. I do not have the statistics on me, but the Red Sox have done a lot of damage in the seventh inning this year. This is mostly due to the fact that they have forced the starter to be pulled early in the game thanks to a high pitch count and then they have followed this up by absolutely dominating middle relief pitching.
4. Defense - The Red Sox have also had a very solid year defensively. Fielding percentage, to me, is a poor way of judging how good a defense is. Mainly because fielding percentage does not take range into account. Looking at some defensive statistics that incorporate all aspects of fielding, the Red Sox rank high in most of the categories. They rank fourth in UZR (behind only the Angels, Reds and Diamondbacks), second in RngR (Diamondbacks), and sixth in ErrR. The Red Sox team defense is very good because they have a lot of range, thereby lowering opponents scoring chances.
These are obviously not the four biggest reasons why the Red Sox have the best record in the American League; however, these are four aspects the Red Sox are not getting enough credit for.
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