No need to panic over Ranger Suarez’s hamstring injury just yet. The injury is said to be minor and Suarez himself sounds optimistic: “[H]opefully I don’t miss anything and I can [make] my next start.” But even if this particularly injury doesn’t sideline Suarez for so long, there’s no question that the various hits to the pitching staff are threatening to tank the entire season before we even get to June. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
Could using an opener be one solution to the pitching woes? The
Red Sox are considering it for tomorrow night’s game against the Tigers, with Brayan Bello coming out of the bullpen to throw some bulk innings, a strategy that worked with Nick Pivetta a few years back. “The big thing is, if we do that, is it [to] the benefit of the Red Sox, and can we help get Bello on track?” said Chad Tracy. “He’s aware. We’ve talked to him a little bit about the possibility. Also told him to be prepared to start if that comes up.” (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)
But for as worrisome as the current state of the pitching staff is, it’s the lineup that’s the ugliest part of the team. And while the Sox are getting morehits lately, they aren’t converting them into runs. Willson Contreras recently pointed to the number of young players in the lineup as a contributing factor to the team’s prolonged offensive slumps, but one of those young guys wasn’t having it. “To me, that’s just kind of an excuse: blame the young guys,” said Marcelo Mayer. “But at the end of the day, we’re all playing baseball, we’re all pros. We all know what we need to do. I don’t think we’re doing a good job with runners in scoring position. When you don’t do that, you don’t score runs.” (Sean McAdam, MassLive)
That’s not the only disagreement that the team currently needs to work out in the clubhouse. Over the weekend, Ceddanne Rafaela was visibly upset with Trevor Story, who was out of position while attempting to convert a Rafaela throw into an out at second base. “We’ll keep it between us and that’s what I think good teams do,” Story said about the incident. “We’ll handle it.” (Christopher Smith, MassLive)
And to think, all of this is going on in a clubhouse that is supposedly “looser” in the wake of the Alex Cora firing. “When Alex wasn’t in the dugout, the team was like [exhale noise], like loose,” said Willson Contreras. “But it doesn’t matter. We have to play better. We have to find consistency. We have to get better. We have to be better.” (Rob Bradford, WEEI)
But at least the defense is doing it’s part. “The Sox have 25 defensive runs saved, the most in the majors and five more than the second-place Dodgers. The outs above average metric has the Sox second with 11, two behind the Cubs.” (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)
