Red Sox Making Room For Jackie Bradley Jr by Cutting Ryan Sweeney?

The only real story of this year's spring training has been Jackie Bradley Jr. He was invited into Red Sox camp as one of the more promising prospects on the Red Sox and tore it up in Ft. Meyers. With David Ortiz on the DL the discussion started about possibly having Bradley up with the big club to start the season. This started a debate about sacrificing future value for immediate improvement that Red Sox fans are deeply divided on. BMack touched on this subject previously and with the Red Sox cutting utility outfielder Ryan Sweeney it seems like they're making the moves to have him on the opening day roster. The controversy comes into play when you consider accrued seasons in Major League Baseball and how they affect team control. If Bradley comes up and gets credit for a full season in the big leagues this gets the clock going on when he hits unrestricted free agency. It gets confusing, but if they leave him in the minors for long enough they can keep him under team control for an additional season. Supposedly, they can leave him in the minors for 11 days and bring him up after that and he won't be credited with a full season and the team control of Bradley will extend to 2019.

There have been some mixed opinions about what to do here. Some feel that Bradley isn't ready for the big leagues yet. Curt Schilling said that he doesn't think you should put too much weight on how a batter performs in spring training because pitchers are usually working out the kinks and stay away from their best pitches until the games actually matter. Although his spring training numbers have been staggering (.441 BA, .521 OBP), there's a bigger sample size to consider here. His numbers at AA Portland were good last season, but the fact of the matter is that he's never seen AAA pitching let alone big league pitching. It's easy to make the argument that Bradley could use some more seasoning and a more gradual transition to the big leagues. Boston can be a very unforgiving market to players with high expectations that don't deliver.

Some people feel that a smart baseball team should be thinking big picture and 11 games this season for 162 games in 2019 of a potential all-star seems like a good deal. This is compounded by the fact that Bradley is represented by Scott Boras, an agent notorious for having his clients complete their rookie contracts and hitting unrestricted free agency as soon as possible. After hitting the open market Boras makes a deal with the highest bidder, which is rarely the client's current club. It's unlikely that the Red Sox will be able to extend Bradley on a team friendly deal like they did with Dustin Pedroia and it's unlikely that he will re-sign with the Red Sox upon hitting free agency. It's very likely  that an accrued season now would literally cost the Red Sox a full 162 game season down the road.

Others feel like the Red Sox are being too smart for their own good and they should just put the best players on the field, business aspects be damned. A million things could happen between now and 2019. Bradley could have a career ending injury. The Red Sox could have another impressive minor league prospect center fielder ready to step into the position for Bradley. He could be the difference that pushes the Red Sox into the playoffs this season. Working the system to screw Bradley out of an accrued season and pushing back his payday could piss him off and sour relations with him for the next 6 seasons. The Sox could ride him while he's got the hot bat and Ortiz is out and drop him back down to the minors when he hits a slump and Ortiz is healthy again to still hang on to that extra season.

I think that any way you decide to go with this is a reasonable position to take on Bradley. Personally, I'd leave him in the minors to start the season. If Bradley turns out to be as good as people think he is that sounds like a pretty good trade to me

Red Sox Spring Training Notes

This is kind of an aggravating time for me. I love baseball, but Spring Training is so annoying and long. You never really learn all that much, yet there are a ton of stories. Here is what I have been hearing about the Red Sox...

- Lackey is now skinny, and he says his elbow feels great. He allowed one run on one hit, one strikeout, one walk and one hit batter in his spring debut Saturday. He pitched about 20 pitches. It was shaky, but that doesn't really matter right now, just that he feels healthy.

- Bard is only throwing about 92-94 MPH, and he one timed topped out at 95 MPH. If you can remember this was a kid that used to crack 100 MPH, so that can't be a good sign. He is blaming mechanic, but you have to seriously wonder if you will ever see the Bard of old.

- Lester looked good in his first outing. Farrell says he knew what was wrong last year, and has got Lester throwing on a "downward plane" again. Hopefully that will get him back to the player he was 2 years ago. Lester threw 17 of his 24 pitches for strikes and retired all 6 batters he faced.

- Allen Webster has been the talk of the town recently. He let up a run, but then struck out 4 straight batters (Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, J.P. Arencibia and Brett Lawrie). He did so while throwing 98-99 MPH. He still needs some time in the minors, but it's nice to know the Red Sox might have got a nice piece in that huge Dodgers deal.

- Mike Napoli will hit in a simulated game against Clay Buchholz Tuesday before appearing the Red Sox’ Friday night game against Pittsburgh in Fort Myers.

- Pedroia had a HR yesterday, and Carp has an RBI in his first game. People are speaking very highly of Jackie Bradley, who leads in team in batting average. I really wish they would just get it over with and trade Ellsbury, I'm done with him.

Mike's Red Sox Spring Training Thoughts

Spring training is now fully underway down in Fort Meyers as the Red Sox prepare for the upcoming season. The Captain wrote about how much he feels that this upcoming season mirrors the catastrophe that was the 2012 Boston Red Sox. He makes some valid points. Some players seem to be exhibiting attitude problems before the season has even begun. There's a new manager in charge who is supposedly going to whip these guys into shape. There are some likable new arrivals who aren't especially talented players. That said, I feel like there have been enough changes to the script that I don't think the 2013 Boston Red Sox are doomed.

I'm not sold on John Farrell. Farrell had two years in Toronto. He inherited a team with 85 wins in the 2010 season under Cito Gaston. Under Farrell they finished with 81 wins in 2011 and 73 wins in 2012. It's impossible to say how much emphasis you can place on the manager of a baseball team when a season goes badly, he's not like Bill Belichick where he has a huge amount of control over the personnel and the schemes on the field, but Farrell certainly didn't wow anybody with his work in Toronto. We didn't make such an effort to bring Farrell in because he did such a bang up job in Toronto, he's here because he's worked in Boston before. He's got a rapport with the front office and with some of the pitching staff that has been retained since he was the pitching coach here. Presumably, he saw how Terry Francona ran the team relatively successfully for years and will act in a similar fashion. I think the Red Sox wanted Terry Francona back, but couldn't actually get Terry back because of all the history, baggage and burnt bridges and Farrell was as close as they were going to get.

I think the on-field product has changed dramatically from last season. They unloaded a ton of high price tag talent to the Dodgers and I think the team will be very different as a result. I think the Red Sox front office was in denial that the team had a problem going into last season. After all, they barely missed the postseason after one of the worst months of baseball a team has ever played. Outside of that they had been one of the best teams in baseball. I think they felt September 2011 was just an aberration and with the new playoff system they should make the playoffs without a problem. Clearly they were wrong and there were some serious issues with this team. They unloaded three huge contracts and seem to have taken a more conservative approach this offseason to fill those gaps. I think this season everybody has a much lower, realistic expectation for this team and committed to a slower rebuilding process. Indications are that the ownership is ready to let the sellout streak they had propped up last season die and have said they would like to be more transparent with their dealings.


“It’s a marketing slogan but I think this one has the added virtue of being true and transparent. We know last year, and the final month of the preceding year, were the beginning of a very downward trend for this franchise, a historic collapse, a disastrous 2012. It was no secret things needed to be repaired, reset, rebuilt, reloaded, whatever ‘R’ word you want to use. Acknowledging it was probably an honest way to approach the season.”
- Red Sox president Larry Lucchino

I really doubt that this team is a championship contender, the pieces necessary to get the Red Sox to that level just were not available, but I do think a playoff birth is an achievable, realistic goal for this team.

Red Sox Deja Vu

I keep checking my calendar. This is February of 2013, right? Because it feels eerily similar to February of 2012. At least the Red Sox of 2013 seem to be acting like the 2012 team..

Jon Lester is whining again, about not getting enough credit, about high expectations. He's reciting his stats and his record, and making excuses. He's become very annoying and very unlikable. He seems to care more about perception than performance. Just pitch, please.

David Ortiz is still making excuses and is still injured. He blames Bobby Valentine for last year's struggles. And he's still hobbled by an injury that a younger man (or a man taking HGH) would have healed from long ago. Ortiz, like a number of his teammates, made excuses in September of 2011, all throughout 2012, and they're starting off 2013 the same way. 2012 was all Bobby V's fault.

There is no sense of responsibility on this team.

Clay Buchholz remains fragile. Buchholz has always been an IHC (if he can...) type of pitcher. If he can stay healthy. If he can get off to a good start to a season. If he can pitch consistently. And in this Spring Training, many are still saying "If he can" about him, and still being optimistic. I've gotten to the point where it's "can he?" with Mr. Buchholz. Can he stay healthy? Can he pitch in April like he can pitch in June? I just don't know.

But there's a new manager in town, so things are different, right? We have a tough, no-nonsense, disciplinarian manager now. And he'll set the players straight.

Didn't people think that during February of 2012? Wasn't Valentine supposed to set the clubhouse straight, get rid of the alcohol, and stop pampering the players?

I like John Farrell much more than Bobby Valentine. As a Manager, however, what has Farrell accomplished that we here have so much allegiance and admiration for him? He was a decent pitching coach, and kept Beckett in line. At least for awhile. Why does that make us think he can solve all the problems this team has?

Farrell has already had to draw on his disciplinary tools in dealing with Alfredo Aceves. The versatile reliever was disinterested in participating. We have yet to see if Farrell's chat with Aceves will yield anything. At least Farrell didn't pull a Bobby V and embarrass the player in front of the whole team... for not properly doing a drill he was never instructed how to do.

And there's Pedro Martinez too. He can instill some discipline into these young men.

So not everything is the same as 2012.

Unfortunately, most things are. We still have an ownership with split attention between Fenway and Anfield. We still have spinster Larry Lucchino running things in Boston. We still have a puppet GM. We still have excuse making players. We still have whiny pitchers. We still have more "ifs" than "whens."

There is a new manager in town, and new special assistants to the GM. But how much influence does a special assistant to the GM wield over million dollar babies like Jon Lester?

There are new players in town. Role players and clubhouse character guys.

Though what does it say about a team if the most likable and respectable players are the new ones? What does it say if the likable and respectable guys are the middle-tier and bench players?

It's early. Change takes time. Maybe the Sox will change in 2013. But up to February 20th of this year, more has stayed the same than changed.

-The Captain

Jon Lester Starts Red Sox Whining Season

What was your date in the Red Sox Whining Pool? Which player did you pick to be the first to complain about something this season? If you had February 9th and Jon Lester, you win the jackpot.

"What next level is there? That's the thing that frustrates me. People don't consider me an ace or don't consider me a front-line starter. Well, when there are two other pitchers in all of baseball who (won at least 15 games four straight seasons), what am I? That's my argument to it. What extra level is there to it? Am I supposed to win 25 games every year? It's not possible."

That's Jon Lester in a Rob Bradford column from Saturday.

Even with the departure of Josh Beckett and Bobby Valentine, there is still so much to not like about this team's attitude. Lester is complaining about how he's perceived and the lofty expectations people have of him.

Guess what, Jon, this year you're not expected to win 25 games. We expect you to win more games than you lose, win more than 10 games, have an ERA below 4.00, a WHIP below 1.300, allow 20 HRs or less, and allow less than 100 earned runs. These are things you failed to do last year, but used to do every year. I don't think these goals are asking too much.

Last year, perhaps your preseason griping was legitimate. You were a solid, consistent #2 pitcher, and some expected you to be more than that. Maybe that was unfair, maybe it was just optimism. Nobody disliked you for being a perennial 15 win, 3.40 ERA pitcher. Nobody booed you, criticized you, or felt like you weren't trying 100%. They were hopeful to see more because they liked you and thought you could do it.

This year, oming off a 9-14 and 4.82 ERA season, is not the time to moan about people expecting too much from you.

Aces don't whine, Jon. Aces don't recite their stats to prove they're Aces. They don't keep track of how many other pitchers had four straight 15+ win seasons and then brag about it (especially after a 9 win season). They just pitch.

And that's all I want you to do. Stop pumping your own tires, shut up, and pitch to your capability.

-The Captain