May 31, 2018

A Triumphant Return with an Unexpected Farewell



Road Recap & Homestand Highlights

 Record (2-1)       Season (34-16)  GB 00.0     Series Play (12-4-0)

Road Trip by the Numbers
Name G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO SB CS BA
▼		 OBP SLG OPS
Sandy Leon28713000010300.429.500.429.929
Eduardo Nunez3121124100100200.364.333.455.788
Mookie Betts3121013001320210.300.417.6001.017
Jackie Bradley Jr.3111113100000400.273.273.364.636
Mitch Moreland14411001100100.250.2501.0001.250
Christian Vazquez14411000000000.250.250.250.500
Rafael Devers312922101230200.222.417.6671.083
Xander Bogaerts3121011100110300.100.250.200.450
J.D. Martinez3121111000010300.091.167.091.258
Andrew Benintendi28500000030300.000.375.000.375
Hanley Ramirez3121100000010400.000.083.000.083
Generated 5/25/2018.
Name G GS
▼		 W L SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA GB/FB BAbip SO9
Rick Porcello1113.28642209.8256%.4714.9
David Price116.03113901.5064%.27313.5
Chris Sale1117.24212911.1731%.18810.6
Matt Barnes101.00000200.00100%.00018.0
Brian Johnson102.14000200.0044%.5007.7
Joe Kelly2011.10000100.0067%.0006.8
Craig Kimbrel2022.02001300.0060%.40013.5
Hector Velazquez101.00001000.0050%.0000.0
Steven Wright101.00001100.000%.0009.0
Generated 5/25/2018.

                Record (5-1)       Season (39-17)  GB 00.0     Series Play (14-4-0)
  • The past nine games represented an eventful stretch for the Red Sox as they welcomed home three noteworthy alumni that participated in the 2004 and 2007 world title runs. It was great to see Kevin Youkilis, Derek Lowe and Mike Lowell return to Fenway to accept their induction into the Red Sox Hall of Fame as their names and achievements will be recognized for posterity. In an astonishing maneuver, they also bid farewell to Hanley Ramirez, the underachieving slugger who was a huge personality with the fans and in the clubhouse. No one saw this coming as it seemed Ramirez had totally bought into Alex Cora's approach, and Cora reciprocated by inserting him regularly into the lineup as the default number three bat. The return of Dustin Pedroia from his rehab assignment precipitated a roster move, and many assumed Blake Swihart would be the odd man out. Equally startling was the news that Alex Cora had recommended to Dave Dombrowski that the team should part ways with Hanley. The whispers of avoiding Ramirez's vesting option were also bandied about as he required 497 plate appearances to earn the  $22 million option for 2019. Because of this, there was speculation that the Ramirez move was a top-down measure in order to avoid the expenditure, and Cora was merely the puppet in order to escape any impropriety on the part of Sawx management. I chose to believe that this manifested with Cora as this type of progressive thinking allows Swihart to develop and makes the Red Sox bench more versatile. Nunez is a better fit as a corner infield option, Swihart can play first, left field or DH and Holt can fill in up the middle.

  • Hanley didn't do anything in his swan song series in Tampa to help his cause as he put up an "ofer" in 12 plate appearances. The entire month of May seemed to be Ramirez's undoing as he only hit .163 in 18 games with 3 dingers and 12 ribbies. He did lead the team in grounding into double plays as he initiated 6 twin killings this month. In contrast, Mitch Moreland had been kicking the door down in May and has a .318 average in 19 games with 13 of his 21 hits going for extra bases. Mitch has driven in 14 runs with one game remaining in May. There has actually been quite a bit of redundancy with Hanley and Mitch since the start of 2017 as can be seen in the tweet below. However, since starting the 2018 season 0-for-12, Mitch Moreland clearly has been on fire. He is 39-for-113 (.345) with a .413 OBP and 9 of his last 11 hits have gone for extra bases. Also, among players with 100+ PA, Moreland currently ranks 4th in SLG (.632) and 5th in OPS (1.011).
  • The once offensively dormant catching position took a pleasant uptick as Sandy Leon has made a convincing bid for more time behind the plate. Sandy hit .361 this month in 12 games with three doubles and a couple of homers. He has also been better defensively than Vazquez so far this season which really is the bread and butter for both men. Vazquez rarely makes solid contact as his .190 BA for May clearly shows. Cora now has no choice in my mind but to ride with Leon despite the contract extension gifted to Vazquez. The brass seemed to have settled on Christian a little prematurely as I feel they leaned on his offensive numbers from last season that featured a lot of dinking and dunking into right field. He had a .348 BABIP in 2017 which may have provided a smoke screen. Hopefully, Leon's progress will push Vazquez as I believe he needs a wake-up call.
  • Staying on the theme of resurgence, Jackie Bradley Jr. is trying to distance himself from the notion of an "all glove no bat" player as he quietly went 3-11 in Tampa with a double. On the homestand, he turned it up a notch going 6-16 with 2 more doubles and 3 steaks. So in his last 8 games, Jackie has a .346 BA which is tops on the team with a minimum of 25 at-bats. Do I smell a patented JBJ hitting streak on the horizon?
  • Andrew Benintendi has been scorching during the homestand with 6 of his 10 hits going for extra bases. In 14 games since May 15th, he is 21-for-52 (.404) with 5 HR and a 1.295 OPS. Like Moreland, Benny stumbled out of the gate this season. In his first 21 games, Benintendi was batting .218 with a .706 OPS. In 31 games since April 26th, he is 42-for-123 (.341) with a 1.014 OPS, and Andrew has a .340 BA for the month of May second only to Mookie Betts for qualifying players. JD Martinez has paired with Betts to become the only duo to each hammer 17 homers in the first 54 games of the season since Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez turned the trick for the 1998 Mariners. JD is also the first Red Sox player with 13 homers or more in the month of May since David Ortiz did it back in 2006. The last Boston player to do this before Ortiz was Jim Rice in 1978. Martinez leads the majors in RBI (47) and is tied for the lead in HR (18) with Mike Trout and Bryce Harper. He also ranks 3rd in slugging (.663) and OPS (1.042). For Betts, it was another ho-hum month of exceptional play. He led all Red Sox players in batting (.372) for May, and he leads MLB in batting average (.359), slugging (.750), OPS (1.187), runs (52), and extra-base hits (37). Mookie also ranks 2nd in OBP (.437) and is tied for 4th in homers (17). I look forward to seeing his return to the lineup as he missed the entire Toronto series due to tightness in his side.
  • The Red Sox bullpen has really stepped things up recently despite the fact that outside of Kelly and Kimbrel, I'm not totally sold yet. The number of late, however, don't lie.  Red Sox relief pitchers have a 1.21 ERA (5 ER/37.1 IP, 1 HR) in the club’s last 11 games (since May 19th). Since May 15th, Red Sox relievers lead the AL and rank 2nd in MLB in ERA (2.58; 39 ER/136.0 IP). Overall, the Sox’ bullpen ranks 2nd in the AL in ERA (3.17) and WHIP (1.18). Among the stars in these numbers as of late are Matt Barnes, Joe Kelly and Steven Wright. All three of these relievers have an active scoreless streak of 6.0+ IP: Joe Kelly (9.2), Matt Barnes (8.1), and Steven Wright (6.0). Joe Kelly looks to have finally become what many had hoped with the repertoire and giddy up he possesses - a shutdown guy. "Joltin' Joe"  has allowed only 1 run in his last 24 outings going back to April 1st, posting a 0.35 ERA and a .119 opponent batting average during that time. Opponents are 0 for their last 23 vs. Kelly (2 BB, 1 HBP). Left-handed hitters are 2-40 (.050) with 0 XBH, including 1 for their last 37 (.027), and 0 for their last 19 against Joe. Craig Kimbrel has benefited from this bridge work as he collected 5 saves in the last nine games. Among AL relievers so far this season, Craig ranks 2nd in saves (18), tied for 6th in punchouts (34),  and ranks 8th in SO/9.0 IP (12.24) and opponent batting average (.170).
  • Eduardo Rodriguez (6-1, 3.88)  picked up a win in both the Braves' series and in the sweep of the Blue Jays. He featured nasty stuff in each of these outings striking out 14 batters in 12 innings. If he can build in this type of consistency, the Boston rotation looks to be in very good shape. Rick Porcello (7-2, 3.65) had a nice bounce-back game at home against the Jays after a rough outing on the road against the Rays. Ironically, the only loss at home came at the hands of Chris Sale (5-2, 2.67)  who never got out of the fifth inning against the Braves. David Price (5-4, 4.04) followed up a terrific outing in Tampa with a competent 5 inning victory against Toronto, especially after taking a line drive off the chest, but ruined it by revealing his hurt feelings to the press after his lame attempt at self-deprecation. Price mocked himself by saying he was the softest guy in the Boston clubhouse due to the blowback he received from not pitching when he had lost feeling in his fingers in the cold weather. Due to his condition, he had to leave early against the Yankees at Fenway and missed a scheduled start in the Bronx because of "mild" Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Some guys can make this sort of shtick work for them, but it doesn't take with Price. Because of the acrimony with the media and fans last year, he has no credit to cash in for this type of sarcasm. For the most part, I think Boston fans simply wonder why he just can't keep his mouth shut and pitch. With the Boston media once again setting up shop in his head, David just can't seem to help himself.
  • The Red Sox head for Houston with the best record in baseball. Boston has won 9 of their last 11 games and 11 of their last 14. Today is the 64th day of the MLB season and Boston has held at least a share of 1st place at the start of 57 days, and they have been alone in 1st at the start of 46 days. With their sweep of the Blue Jays, the Red Sox are now 25-10 (.714) vs. AL East clubs. At Fenway, they have the best home winning percentage (20-8; .714) and are first in the majors in home batting average (.289). They are third best for runs scored at home with 174. On the road, they own the second-best winning percentage ( 19-9; .679).  The Red Sox lead the majors in runs scored (301), overall batting average (.268), slugging (.469), doubles (129), and extra-base hits (221). They also rank 2nd in OPS (.801) and are  24-3 (.889) when scoring the game’s 1st run, the best such record in the majors.
Homestand by the Numbers
Name G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS BA
▼		 OBP SLG OPS
Sandy Leon2772320130200.429.4291.1431.571
Andrew Benintendi6272451022291101.417.444.9171.361
Jackie Bradley Jr.517153621032110.400.471.6671.137
Brock Holt41593300024130.333.533.333.867
Blake Swihart31190300012500.333.455.333.788
Mitch Moreland622223722150500.318.318.7271.045
Mookie Betts2973200122210.286.444.7141.159
J.D. Martinez521194520362300.263.333.8421.175
Xander Bogaerts627236600234500.261.370.522.892
Eduardo Nunez416163410120400.250.250.500.750
Rafael Devers520192410001600.211.250.263.513
Christian Vazquez415151200010200.133.133.133.267
Dustin Pedroia313111100002100.091.231.091.322
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/31/2018.
Name G GS
▼		 W L SV IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA GB/FB BAbip SO9
Eduardo Rodriguez22212.094441413.0037%.27610.5
Drew Pomeranz113.165533113.5046%.4178.1
Rick Porcello1116.25322512.7050%.2226.8
David Price1115.04224403.6013%.2677.2
Chris Sale1114.156638112.4630%.44416.6
Matt Barnes202.10000300.0040%.00011.6
Heath Hembree202.12111403.8625%.50015.4
Brian Johnson202.23221006.7545%.2730.0
Joe Kelly303.10001300.0043%.0008.1
Craig Kimbrel4033.23111412.4550%.2229.8
Hector Velazquez303.08112203.0033%.5336.0
Steven Wright2015.03001300.0050%.2145.4
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/31/2018.




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