Garrett Crochet is not coming to save the Red Sox season. Or at least he isn’t any time soon. After initially saying that his lat strain was so minor that he didn’t even want to call it a setback, the Red Sox ace now says that it “is a lot worse than what we thought” and that “he has “no idea” when he’ll be cleared to pitch. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)
But wait! Is his injury actually any worse? After Crochet’s dispiriting comments came out last night, Chad Tracy and Craig Breslow both spoke to the media, providing somewhat contradictory information. “Garrett continues to make good progress with the lat strain,” Breslow said, further stating that there was no new information in terms of the severity in the injury. So no one has any idea what’s going on with the team’s ace and highest paid pitcher. This is what a dysfunctional organization looks like, folks. (Christopher Smith, MassLive)
Elsewhere in the rotation, you my have noticed that it was Jake Bennett — not Brayan Bello — who got the start for the Red Sox yesterday. But just because Bello’s been relegated to AAA, that doesn’t mean he can’t bounce back. Cliff Lee, for one, once similarly got demoted in the middle of an established bid league career and came back stronger. So what does Bello need to do out in Worcester? “With Bello, the Sox have areas of focus. For much of this year, the arm slot on his foundational sinker had been an average of 6 inches higher than it was last season. From that height, he was losing sink on his sinker and changeup. His locations and pitch shapes became worse.” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
But for all the ink spilled about Crochet, Bello, and the rest of the pitching staff, it’s the somnambulant lineup that remains the Red Sox’ biggest problem. “I can’t believe they are content going with so many [Triple-A] players — utility infielders — at the bottom of the lineup,” said one executive from a rival team. “I’m still confused on the Red Sox roster construction and truthfully how they thought it would turn out any different than it has. The holes that were there at the start of the season are still there,” said another. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
Notably, none of those rival executives thought that the Red Sox problem was literally with the team’s bats, rather than the players wielding them. But Mickey Gasper isn’t taking any chances — he put in a new order of bats to try to turn his offensive fortunes around. (Ian Browne, MLB.com)
Of course the bats probably aren’t to blame for the team’s terrible plate discipline. In the previous four games entering yesterday’s contest, the Sox had walked just four times total. “It marks only the fourth time since 1994, and the fifth since 1981, that Boston has had four or fewer walks in a five-game span.” (Justin Turpin, WEEI)
No word on whether Caleb Durbin was using a new bat yesterday when he had his first career multi-homer game, and hit his first homer off a non-position player this year. “Honestly, the last couple days felt really good,” Durbin said. “Felt like I was really getting good swings on the ball, and when I was going to hit them, it was going to be good results — not just feeling like I’m putting good swings on the ball, but trusting that the result would be good and trending in the right direction. But obviously still a lot of work to be done.” (Christopher Smith, MassLive)
But despite Durbin’s power surge, the Sox still lost. It’s going to be one of those seasons where we see historical parallels like this all year long:
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