Up is Down, Left is Right with Sputtering Red Sox
31 March 2019
There was a Little League moment in the Boston Red Sox’s 6-5 loss to the Seattle Mariners last Saturday evening. Seattle third baseman, Dylan Moore, almost single-handedly fumbled the game away in the top of the ninth inning, with Seattle ahead 6-2. Moore committed two throwing errors that bracketed a fielding error on three successive routine ground balls that allowed three Boston runners to score.
Moore committed these consecutive errors on balls that should have been routine for any major leaguer. This was a surreal display of “major league” fielding. It almost seemed as if the game was being played by minor leaguers on another planet.
Surely, Seattle was about to lose yet another sure victory, as they had the evening before. On Friday, almost diabolically, Boston crept back into the game and, just when it seemed Seattle would survive losing their 6-1 lead, Mitch Moreland pinch hit in the top of the ninth. One level swing and the ball soared over the right field fence and Boston was suddenly ahead 7-6. It was an unexpected reprieve and an unexpected victory.
One night later, the Seattle manager Scott Servais should have made two late moves in the ninth inning, rather than only a pitching change, summoning Nick Rumbelow from the bullpen. Servais should have replaced Dylan Moore, moving Ryon Healy from first to third base. Then he should have inserted Daniel Vogelbach at first base. Luckily, Moore was not cruelly forced to field a fourth consecutive ground ball. It’s fair to say Kyle Seager is already missed in Seattle.
Fortunately, the right-handed Rumbelow decided he would take matters into his own hands and struck out Xander Bogearts for the final out of a game that seemed like it would be a repeat of the previous night’s collapse for Seattle.
Early Ineffectiveness of Red Sox Starting Pitching
But the game did end well, for Seattle. Because Boston’s starting pitching left a lot to be desired. Granted this was only the third game of the season, but Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi and Eduardo Rodriguez looked like batting-practice pitchers soft-tossing to the 2001 Mariners team that won 116 games. Together, the three Boston pitchers allowed 22 hits and 18 earned runs in 12 1/3 innings for a 13.14 ERA over the three games. And not one of the three pitched six innings. Not a pretty picture.
Omitted from this snapshot was last year’s starting catcher, the defensive specialist Sandy Leon. Leon was jettisoned because his $2 million contract was too much for Boston to handle. Was that before or after Chris Sale signed his name on the dotted line? Leon can now be found in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, playing for the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate.
Boston could win in the postseason without an effective Chris Sale. But Boston cannot win without him over a long regular season. Even a subpar Eduardo Rodriguez, who pitched so well for Boston last season, particularly helping them as the lefty out of the pen in the postseason, would be a difficult pitcher to replace.
Chris Sale’s outing was shocking. His swagger was on display on the mound Thursday afternoon. He torqued his body and snapped into a cross delivery that whipped the ball out of his grip on an evil path to home plate, as he always has. What was dismaying for Boston fans was to see the ball put into play often and hard. When Sale is at his best, those are swings and misses, not balls rocketing over the fence. Not Boston outfielders racing away from home plate looking over their shoulders as balls caromed away from them.
Seeing this anomaly, and it could be for only one game, the Chris Sale signing seems forced. Why the rush to reward a player with a five-year deal who has crumbled three-quarters of the way through the season the last two years? Sale’s signing is yet another example of how much money there is in baseball, and how freely teams dispense money to purchase past performance they still believe in, despite analytics. Or did Boston’s analytics validate the Sale signing as a wise course of action?
In any event, Dave Dombroski, Boston’s VP of Baseball Operations, went ahead and offered a five-year contract to Sale. So, Boston now has another $29 million on its books as they enter next season. Clearly, Dombroski will have some difficult personnel choices ahead. Foremost among them will be whether or not Mookie Betts elects to remain in Boston. And as Betts has already rejected Dombroski’s opening salvo of 10 years at $200 million, Dombroski must wonder how much he’ll need to offer to secure Betts signature on a multiyear contract.
Ouch.
Upside Down?
The question is, is this a blip on Boston’s radar or the beginning of bigger trouble for this storied franchise? Since this was first written, Boston has yet to have one quality start first time through the rotation, shutout last night by an Oakland team that was smacking the ball thrown by David Price as if he was facing Reggie Jackson and Joe Rudi in the middle of the lineup.
So, to begin the 2019 season, why is up down, left right, and Boston pretending to be Baltimore? Boston standing at 1-4, almost unbelievable, last in the AL East. Almost as surreal as Dylan Moore fumbling three consecutive ground balls.
