a blog by La Kifo Koji went down last night in the Sox's 4-0 win over the San Francisco Giants. Uehara was used during a non-save situation in the 9th. John Farrell sucks, I don't know how else to put it. He does stupid shit all the time like using the 41 year old spot duty closer in a non-save situation. I get that the it's only 4-0 and the Giants had the heart of their lineup due up, Brandon Belt/Buster Posey/Brandon Crawford, their 3-4-5 hitters. I also get that the rest of the bullpen is a mess, and there is virtually no one else to trust in that situation.
But, Kimbrel is on the 15 day DL, and Junichi Tazawa has blown cock this year. The only guy capable of closing out games was Uehara. His first three years in Boston he posted 20+ save seasons. Now he's off to the DL and at his advanced age, 41, who knows when or if he will be back. Mistake after mistake, has been John Farrells career in Boston following the World Series win in his first season as the Sox Manager. Now we have to deal with Noe Ramirez in the bullpen. Calling for Farrells head at this point in the season might be a complete overreaction. Axing the manager of a team who's .5 a game out of first place seems like another mistake. The only saving grace here might be the deal for Drew Pomeranz. It's pretty simple math, Pomeranz is a starter and if he works out here in Boston that means the Bullpen needs to work less innings. Since our Bullpen is in shambles right now, good outings from Pomeranz is exactly what we need. Pomeranz is 27, coming from the San Diego Padres organization, it is his sixth professional season. This year he posted an 8-7 record with a 2.47 ERA up until this point. Impressive I guess, but a big talking point on this guy is his lack of consistent success. Also one word used to describe the starter, unflatteringly was "soft". Radio guys have undersold him since he is coming from the National League. They've also said Pomeranz has only had one good season to date, which just so happens to be the one we find ourselves kinda in the middle of. I don't always like to quickly align myself with the radio guys, but this time they're right. This is the first season since 2012 that Pomeranz has been a rotation starter. He mainly worked out of the bullpen the past two seasons. This is the first season that he has pitched over 100 innings. Maybe we're seeing the development come together, but we're not. Pomeranz has been with 4 organizations in his 6 year career. By that measure, he hasn't been working with any team consistently enough to say that he can make major improvements upon his game, and if you look at the teams he's played for, Colorado/Oakland/San Diego, all three of those teams reside in pitchers ballparks. The Red Sox have a very batter friendly ballpark to call home, as well as one of the better hitting divisions to call rivals. When you add all that up and sprinkle on the fact we traded away Anderson Espinoza, highly regarded pitching prospect, for Drew Pomeranz then you can start to get scared. I have faith in this team in 2016. I think they can win the AL East and hopefully by September/October we'll have Kimbrel and Uehara both back in full force. If all that can fall in place, then the Red Sox will have a serious shot at reaching and winning the World Series. Comments are closed.
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