Watching Henry Owens Suck Is Extra Painful When You Consider He Could've Been Dealt For Cole Hamels
Let’s not blow this out of proportion, because this was just a spot start. It’s not like the Red Sox are depending on Henry Owens to be a critical piece of their rotation moving forward, but WOW did this organization fuck that one up.
I say “let’s not blow this out of proportion,” because Owens being terrible isn’t a huge issue that needs to be addressed immediately, or at all really. He’s just going to go back to Pawtucket, and continue his journey into irrelevancy. But it’s also not an exaggeration to throw in the towel on this guy after what we saw yesterday, a five-inning performance in which the left-hander allowed eight earned runs on six hits, while walking FIVE batters, and serving up two monster home runs to Justin Upton. Small sample size, but Owens is rocking a solid 9.3 walks per nine innings in four starts for the Red Sox this year.
I’ve heard some pretty rational thinkers, who aren’t known to overreact, essentially say, yeah this guy sucks and I’m done with him. After the game ended on Sunday, Jerry Remy basically said on the NESN broadcast that Owens does nothing for him, and on the Baseball Show on Comcast SportsNet, Sean McAdam talked about how he had seen enough of Owens at the major league level. Wow, what a downfall, huh?
I’m actually kinda curious as to what it is that anyone ever saw in Owens in the first place. He’s yet to have his fastball average higher than 89.32 MPH in a major league start this year, and he’s walked 18 batters in 17.1 innings in his 4 starts in 2016. This has been who he was all along — a guy with no velocity and no control. How in the FUCK did the Red Sox almost get Cole Hamels for a package that was headlined by Owens?
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To be honest, I’ve mostly just blindly followed scouting reports, and read features on top prospects to get a feel for those players over the years. I think that’s what most baseball fans do, who are into the whole prospect thing. How many fans actually watch these guys? That’s what I started to do this year, and I remember Gary Tanguay was calling me a nerd on Comcast for saying that I got a MiLB.TV subscription so that I could watch Yoan Moncada and Andrew Benintendi play for the Portland Sea Dogs.
Can you blame me? A) They’re exciting players, and B.) How many times have we been told that a prospect is the next best thing, and then they’ve ended up bagging groceries at Stop & Shop four years later? I wanna see for myself, instead of taking somebody else’s word for it. Speaking of taking somebody else’s word for it, here’s what Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe wrote on February 12, 2015.
Amaro needs to get a return than won’t get him further pilloried in Philadelphia or fired. So here’s a formula that could work:
It starts with lefthander Henry Owens. Then pick two from this group: righthander Matt Barnes, third baseman Garin Cecchini, third baseman Rafael Devers, righthander Joe Kelly, and lefthander Brian Johnson.
If needed, add one more player from the low minors. Or center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. if the Phillies want him.
The Phillies get three or four players; the Red Sox get Hamels and get to keep Betts, Swihart, and lefty Eduardo Rodriguez. Everybody is happy.
Sure, losing Owens would hurt. But the Red Sox have to absorb some pain in this deal. The Phillies aren’t taking Allen Craig and assorted spare parts for their ace. Owens is a major prospect, one of the best in the game. Amaro could sell Owens to the Philly media and fan base as being a future Hamels. Plus he gets some other high-profile prospects and continues the needed process of rebuilding.
Just goes to show the unpredictability of prospects. If Ruben Amaro wants to save his job as the general manager of the Phillies, he’s gotta pull the trigger on trading his ace, Cole Hamels, for the NEXT Cole Hamels in Henry Owens, plus Joe Kelly and Garin Cecchini. Gotta do it. Owens is complete trash, Kelly is catching Pokemon in Pawtucket, and Cecchini was DFA’d to make room for David Price, later traded to the Brewers for cash considerations. I mean, Amaro lost his job anyway, and now he’s a professional shinguard collector for the Red Sox, but still. Love how Petey Abes was willing to use Jackie Bradley Jr. as a throw-in on that deal, too.
Long story short, I’m with Remy and McAdam on this one. I’m all set with ever seeing Owens on the mound for the Red Sox again. He is what he is, and what he is, is not good. I was never high on Owens, even when the prospect junkies were pumping his tires. If you need another spot starter, give Brian Johnson a shot. In his last four starts with the PawSox, he’s 3-1 with a 1.78 ERA, 15 strikeouts to just 4 walks in 25.1 innings, and opponents are hitting .213 with a .547 OPS against him.
Clay Buchholz is starting on Tuesday against the Rays in place of Steven Wright, but it sounds like Wright will be ready to go this weekend against the red hot Royals, winners of 13 their last 15. Red Sox manager John Farrell didn’t say which game against the Royals he’d start, but his spot in the rotation would come up on Sunday for the series finale. And who the fuck knows with Eduardo Rodriguez. That was pretty fucked up of him to make it seem like he was ready to go all week, and then at 6 o’clock, the night before he was scheduled to start, he told the Red Sox that he can’t go. That’s why Owens was scratched from his start on Saturday, and rushed to Detroit to start on Sunday.
Regardless of whether or not Wright or Rodriguez make their next starts, as expected, I still think the Red Sox should find a way to get Johnson a look. Drew Pomeranz is on pace to tally 184.1 innings this season, and if the Red Sox are postseason bound, he’ll go even further than that, after having never eclipsed more than 96.2 innings in a major league season before. Maybe the Red Sox skip a Pomeranz start to help limit his innings, and slide Johnson in there. It’s definitely something worth considering, especially if they’re willing to trot Owens’ garbage ass out there.
Final score: Tigers 10, Red Sox 5