In A Shocking Turn Of Events, Clay Buchholz Was Unable To Stop The Texas Rangers
In Clay Buchholz’s defense, none of the three starters that the Red Sox sent to the mound over the weekend were able to stop the Texas Rangers.
David Price got knocked around on Friday, Steven Wright allowed 8 runs on Saturday (only three were earned), and it took a miracle comeback in the ninth inning of the series opener to avoid a three-game sweep. Kind of like how it took a walk-off win in the series finale the series prior against the White Sox to avoid a four-game sweep. Things are bad right now, folks. They’ve been bad for a while, too. The Red Sox are now 9-14 in the month of June, and the Orioles are finally starting to build a little bit of a lead in the American League East.
Here’s why I’m not too worried about that four-game lead. All while the Red Sox have been struggling in June, the Orioles were really only able to get a game up on Boston for pretty much the last two months. The Orioles still aren’t as good as their fans think they are. They’re excited; I get it. The O’s are good, but they’re not “pull away from the rest of the pack” good. The Red Sox have fallen to the Blue Jays and even the Yankees, more than the Orioles have risen above the rest of the division.
It wasn’t until the Red Sox were in the home ballpark of the best team in the American League and the Orioles were playing the second worst team in the league, who were in the middle of an 11-game losing streak, that they were able to put a little bit of distance between themselves and Boston. Not saying that the Red Sox are much better — at this point, they’re not — but three of the next four series that Boston plays will be two against those same shitty Rays, and a series against the last place Angels. The only downside to that is that the Orioles’ schedule is a cakewalk, too. They finish out June against the shitty Padres, then they get the Mariners who have been struggling a lot lately, and the Dodgers, who are 5 games over .500, but still don’t impress much.
But if you’re the Red Sox, you have bigger problems to worry about right now than the Baltimore Orioles. You worry about Baltimore when you’re ready to contend for a division title, and right now, they’re not. Here’s the list of problems that the Red Sox will have to address between now and August 1 if they’re going to compete for a division title, and, thinking even bigger, a World Series in 2016.
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Left fielder: The Red Sox need a left fielder, and no, it’s not going to be Brock Holt. That doesn’t mean that Holt isn’t still going to be key piece to the puzzle, because he is, just not as their everyday left fielder. I didn’t like the move when they made it prior to the season, making Holt an everyday left fielder, and I don’t like it now, assuming that’s the plan when he returns. Go get an everyday left fielder. The Red Sox bench is GARBAGE at the moment, and having Holt back in his super utility role addresses that issue in a big, big way. For example, Xander Bogaerts has three errors in the last four games. You hear the NESN broadcasters suggesting that it’s because he’s tired. As of right now, the Red Sox don’t really have someone who could come off the bench and play a solid shortstop to give Bogaerts a day off. That’s not a guy you want to run into the ground. It sounds strange, but getting an everyday left fielder helps out a lot of guys on this roster.
Starting pitcher: This is nothing we haven’t known since this past winter. Even with the addition of David Price, the Red Sox have always needed a No. 2. And while Steven Wright has emerged as one of the best starters in the league, I still feel like there isn’t a ton of confidence amongst Red Sox fans with Price and Wright going as the first two starters in a playoff series. Could some combination of Price, Wright and Rick Porcello get you a playoff spot? Sure. Could it win you a World Series? I highly doubt it. The problem within the problem now is, how much are you willing to spend on pitching? Should the Red Sox go for it and blow the doors off the Marlins with an offer for Jose Fernandez? Or do they go the underrated, less sexy route with somebody like Drew Pomeranz? Or do they not even get a starter at all, because the price is too high? I can’t imagine they stand pat on this issue.
Relief pitcher: Losing Carson Smith was a huge blow for this Red Sox team. It didn’t seem like it at the time, because Boston was in first place and he had only made three appearances for them to that point, so it wasn’t like they needed him to get to where they were. Well, they certainly needed him to get to where they wanted to go from there, and we’re kind of seeing the effects of that now. There have already been a handful of games that the Red Sox have lost due to their late inning guys giving up game-winning home runs, starting pitchers being asked to go an extra inning and giving up game-winning home runs, or even asking Craig Kimbrel to go multiple innings for that same reason, all because they don’t have an 8th inning guy they can trust. The Red Sox need to find a dependable relief pitcher to assume the innings that would’ve been Smith’s.
Other than that, everything’s great. Not a care in the world.
Final score: Rangers 6, Red Sox 2