The Official Boston Red Sox Thread

#1,577
#1,577
Thankfully someone other than us has a brain and some common sense!

Red Sox optioned RHP Mark Melancon to AAA Pawtucket.
Melancon has looked absolutely terrible thus far, allowing 11 runs and five homers over just two innings, resulting in an obscene 49.50 ERA.

Red Sox recalled RHP Junichi Tazawa from AAA Pawtucket.
Tazawa, now two years removed from Tommy John surgery, tossed seven shutout frames to begin the season with the PawSox while striking out nine and walking two.
 
#1,578
#1,578
He has faced 18 batters and surrendered a .667 AVG and 5 home runs. He uh. He needs to work on some stuff.
 
#1,581
#1,581
Matt Barnes

is three starts into his professional career, and thus far, he has been incredibly dominant.

On Wednesday morning, Barnes ripped through the Lexington Legends, the Single-A affiliate of the Astros. He breezed through six shutout innings, striking out nine and allowing three hits while walking none. Ho-hum — more of the same. After all, the right-hander, taken by the Red Sox with the No. 19 overall pick in the 2011 draft, has made three starts, pitched 16 innings, struck out 25 batters, walked two and allowed six hits for the Greenville Drive in the South Atlantic League. He features a mid-90s fastball and a swing-and-miss curveball that have simply overmatched opponents who are primarily trying to get settled in their first full season of pro ball.

“The fastball has had explosive, impressive life. He has a really good feel for the curveball. The changeups he’s thrown have been good ones,” said Sox farm director Ben Crockett, after Barnes’ first two starts.

He has been performing like the proverbial men among boys. That makes it fair to ask: When is the right time for the 21-year-old to move up in order to give him a greater challenge?

To answer that question, it’s worth considering why the Sox assigned Barnes to Greenville in the first place. After seeing Barnes touch 96 mph with his fastball with a good curve and changeup, there was certainly conversation about letting the right-hander start his career at High-A Salem. Unquestionably, his stuff would have justified such an assignment.

Still, the Sox wanted Barnes to establish his footing as a professional at the lower level in Greenville. They wanted to familiarize himself with the five-day pitching routine and to have an environment in which he could comfortably begin the process of growing into a pitcher, learning to incorporate his changeup into his mix in a place where he would likely enjoy good results while doing so. At least through his first two starts, the Sox were still hoping to see Barnes work his changeup into the mix with greater frequency.

The Sox have had other top draft choices dominate while making their debuts at Greenville, most notably Clay Buchholz (2006), Casey Kelly (2009) and Anthony Ranaudo (2011). Here’s a look at the first four starts in Greenville for all three:

Clay Buchholz (2006): 2-0, 0.96 ERA, 18 2/3 IP, 22 SO, 4 BB
Casey Kelly (2009): 3-0, 0.90 ERA, 20 IP, 19 SO, 3 BB
Anthony Ranaudo (2011): 1-1, 0.46 ERA, 19 2/3 IP, 23 SO, 8 BB

Barnes has been more dominant than those three pitchers in his early starts, but that’s something of an exercise in splitting hairs. All three of them were more talented than the level where they were performing.

Kelly ended up making nine starts (going 6-1 with a 1.12 ERA) in Greenville before a promotion to Salem. Ranaudo — the pitcher of this trio who most closely compares to Barnes, given the fact that both were highly regarded Division-1 performers in college — made 10 starts in Greenville, going 4-1 with a 3.33 ERA before moving up. Buchholz actually made 21 starts in Greenville (going 9-4 with a 2.62 ERA) before he was promoted to the Sox’ High-A affiliate at the end of the year.

It appears to be a matter of when, not if, for Barnes this season. He doesn’t need to reach a certain threshold in early-season starts in Greenville before moving up to Salem. At the same time, the Sox do have some developmental goals in mind before they let Barnes move up to his next professional challenge.

“I think it totally depends on the player or the pitcher,” Crockett said of the timing of a potential promotion. “So much of it has to do with background, previous competition level, age, the way those outings are going. I wouldn’t say there is an absolute minimum or maximum we need to see to kind of check the box, but certainly we want to continue to see progress with the fastball command within the zone and the continued involvement of the changeup before we make any moves.”
Click to expand...
- Weei.com

Matt Barnes will be another guy to watch develop in our farm system, looks like he has started off great so far.
 
#1,582
#1,582
• Carl Crawford was 1 for 3 with a walk and a home run in an extended spring training game in Fort Myers, Fla. He was the DH.

• The Red Sox want Andrew Miller to get at least one more rehab appearance with Triple-A Pawtucket before he is activated off the disabled list. He is scheduled to pitch on Thursday.

• Daisuke Matsuzaka was in the clubhouse. He is visiting to talk to the trainers and throw a bullpen session that pitching coach Bob McClure can watch. Matsuzaka was over 60 pitches in his last extended spring outing. At some point soon, Matsuzaka could be ready to start his rehab assignment.

But there is a 30-day maximum on those assignments for pitchers, so the Red Sox may wait a bit to make sure.

• Rich Hill's rehab game with Single-A Salem was rained out. He'll try again on Thursday.
Click to expand...
- Boston.com
 
#1,583
#1,583
Francona has decided to attend the Fenway 100 Celebration on Friday. IMO he deserves one of the loudest/longest standing ovations of the people attending.
 
#1,585
#1,585
Jacoby Ellsbury spoke to reporters today for the first time since he injured his right shoulder on Friday.
Holding his right arm at an angle and pressed up against his chest, Ellsbury repeated the same themes several times:

1. He is icing the shoulder to get the swelling out.

2. Once the swelling subsides, he can start exercises.

3. There is no timetable.

4. Everybody is on the same page.

Ellsbury confirmed that surgery will not be needed.

"We ruled it out. As of right now, I’m focused on getting my work in and getting back as soon as possible," he said. "I’ll be playing this year, hopefully sooner than later."

Ellsbury has not yet had a follow-up examination of his shoulder. Once the swelling goes down, doctors should be able to get a better idea of his condition.
Click to expand...
- Boston.com
 
#1,586
#1,586
Kevin Youkilis (6 for 34, one extra-base hit, 12 strikeouts) and Jarrod Saltalamacchia (2 for 24, 7 strikeouts) are struggling so far this season.

If 2011 taught us anything, it's not to get too wrapped up in April statistics and certainly Youkilis has earned the right to play his way out of his slump. But it's worth noting that third base prospect Will Middlebrooks is hitting .333/.347/.583 with three homers and 11 RBIs in 12 games for Triple-A Pawtucket.

Middlebrooks is an excellent third baseman, too. Now is not the time for rash moves, but Middlebrooks is starting to bang on the door and you can't ignore that forever.

Keep an eye on his walks and strikeouts. Middlebrooks has walked once and struck out nine times. The Sox would like to see him control the strike zone a little better.

Ryan Lavarnway is hitting only .231 but has a .388 on-base percentage thanks to 10 walks. He is another alternative that the Red Sox will have to consider if Salty isn't able to turn it around.
Click to expand...
- Boston.com
 
#1,587
#1,587
Lineup for tonight's game on ESPN against the Rangers:

Aviles SS
Pedroia 2B
Gonzalez 1B
Ross RF
Ortiz DH
Youkilis 3B
Shoppach C
McDonald LF
Repko CF

Looks like Ross is batting cleanup tonight, looking at that OF combo makes me say "Man we really need Ellsbury & Crawford back ASAP"
 
#1,588
#1,588
– Lavarnway hit his homer in the top of the ninth inning to break a scoreless tie. Beyond his second homer in as many days, it is worth taking stock of his usage as the Sox work to put the finishing touches on his development. For most of his career, the Sox had Lavarnway split time behind the plate with another catcher, whether Tim Federowicz in Greenville, Salem or Portland, or Exposito in Portland and Pawtucket. This year, Lavarnway has been an everyday catcher, working behind the plate in 11 of his 12 contests this year. That everyday deployment, in turn, rendered Exposito expendable.

– Outfielder Bryce Brentz has five RBI in his last five games after going 2-for-4 on Tuesday. He recorded his first triple and his first outfield assist in Portland.

– In his last five games, Jackie Bradley Jr. is 8-for-18 (.444) with three walks and eight RBI. He matched a career high by driving in three runs on Tuesday. His .426 OBP is tied for 10th in the Carolina League, and he is tied for the league lead with nine walks.

– Rich Hill is slated to make his third rehab appearance with Salem and his fifth overall on Wednesday. Of note, he will be pitching with just one day of rest between appearances for the first time on his rehab assignment as he takes another step forward in building his workload with an eye towards a return to the majors from the Tommy John surgery that he underwent just over 10 months ago. Hill has struck out 10 batters in five innings, and has recorded multiple punchouts in each of his outings.

– Catcher Blake Swihart (serving as DH on Tuesday) launched the first home run of his career, as the switch-hitter went deep to the opposite field for a three-run homer in the second inning. All three of his extra-base hits this season (homer, double, triple) have come batting left-handed, a side from which he only started hitting in the middle of his high school career.
Click to expand...
- Minor League Roundup
 
#1,594
#1,594
Thank god he left the LHP in to pitch to Napoli.

The rangers are sharks in the water when a pitching staff is struggling.
 
#1,598
#1,598
milohimself said:
What's up with the Sawx bullpen this year?
Click to expand...

Where should I start?

1) we let the best closer in Red Sox history walk b/c of $ (when was that ever a problem for the Sox? Well ever since Henry bought his precious soccer team)

2) we took the closer in waiting who was suppose to take over for Papelbon & moved him to the rotation

3) we then traded for injury riddled Andrew Bailey to be our closer & guess what happens? Yep, he gets hurt.

4) we also traded for the Astros closer Mark Melancon, which was sent down to AAA today b/c he was playing home run derby w/ the batters

5) we moved our best long relief pitcher to the closers role b/c everyone else in the pen sucks @$$ & we had no other choice.
 
#1,600
#1,600
I keep telling myself to be patient & wait until we can get everyone healthy then we will make a run but man it's just hard. This team is so bad right now.

Beckett made one mistake last night & that was leaving the ball up to Napoli, other than that he pitched a very good game yet our offense couldn't give him any run support & Morales sucked it up.

It's like we can put all the pieces together at once. When we have good pitching our offense stinks, when we have good offense the pitching stinks, when we have a close game w/ a chance to win the bullpen comes in & sucks it up. It's frustrating.
 
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