The Red Sox don’t yet have a playoff spot clinched and things are murkier than ever in that regard as we head into the final week of the season. But they are planning for October nonetheless. Alex Cora
is reshuffling the rotation for this week’s series against the Blue Jays, swapping Brayan Bello’s upcoming turn on Wednesday for Garrett Crochet. This move not only gives Bello an extra day of rest down the stretch, but lines up Crochet to start Game One of the Wild Card Series. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
Of course, the Red Sox need to make it October first. Last night they blew a chance to put some separation between them and the Guardians, who finally lost for the first time in 11 games. But Alexes Bregman and Cora are urging the team to stay calm and focus on winning the game in front of them. (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)
But this week brings the Sox a big chance to cement their status, with Guardians and Tigers meeting each other for a three-game set. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)
Meanwhile, the offense showed some signs of life down in Tampa. Ceddanne Rafaela went 6-12 in the series, Alex Bregman homered and collected five hits, and Jarren Duran put up some good at-bats back in the leadoff spot in the wake of Roman Anthony’s injury. (Ian Browne, MLB.com)
Back in May it seemed unfathomable that, if the Sox made the playoffs, Kristian Campbell wouldn’t be a part of it. But Campbell’s now been out of the big leagues for three months, and it doesn’t appear that he’ll make return appearance this week. Campbell is trying to look at this past year as a “redshirt” season while the front office continues to push him to refine his approach at the plate. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)
So clearly Campbell’s development didn’t go according to plan. Was there a scouting failure somewhere? None of us has any idea what the answer is to that question, of course. But we do know that, last season, Craig Breslow made significant cuts to the scouting department. And, this season, the Sox are reportedly asking several scouts — including some with decades of experience — to take significant pay cuts and shift roles. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
Regardless, there sure wasn’t any kind of scouting failure when it comes to Payton Tolle, who was named the Red Sox Minor Leaguer of the Year after he rocketed through the system and all the way up to the bigs in less than a full season. (Alex Speier, Baseball America)
