The Boston Red Sox just made their starting pitching rotation a whole lot better in the short term. For the long term future, they may look back at the player they gave up in a trade with the San Diego Padres as the one that got away.
But knowing he needed to clean up a starting rotation that is fairly solid one through three and an unsightly mess after that, Dave Dombrowski traded for lefty Drew Pomeranz yesterday, sending eighteen year old pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza to the Padres in return.
Pomeranz was named to the all-star team this season, by far his best in the majors so far. He's sporting a 2.47 earned run average and an 8-7 record on one of baseball's weaker teams, and he's just 27 years old, so there's not too much wear and tear on the southpaw, who could be retained beyond this season for Boston if things go well.
The problem could be that Espinoza is consistently listed as one of the top prospects in all the minor leagues, ranked in the top twenty for his ace potential, his fastball that averages in the mid 90's for power and has been radar-gunned as high as 99. Red Sox fans old enough to remember the Jeff Bagwell for Larry Andersen deal will not like this. Andersen was an accomplished reliever who helped the Red Sox make it to the playoffs in 1990, but the Sox were swept by the A's in four games that year, Andersen didn't last long after that, and Bagwell went on to become a perennial all-star for the Astros who's likely going to get enshrined in Cooperstown one of these days.
But this feels like a deal Dombrowski had to make. The Red Sox have finished in last place three of the past four seasons and there is simply no way they are going to make it back to the playoffs in David Ortiz' final year with the pitching staff they had before picking up Pomeranz, You've got to give up something to get something, and give the Padres credit for extracting from Boston one of their top prospects as they build for the future, and give Dombrowski props for moving aggressively and quickly to plug a hole--as he did when he traded for veteran closer Brad Ziegler to take the role while Craig Kimbrel recovers from injury-- and for showing the fan base that he is committed to winning now, while the window of opportunity is open. One note of caution: when pitchers make a move from the National to the American League they can get knocked around a bit at first, since there are much better lineups in the American League plus the DH, so Pomeranz may not dazzle right out of the gate. But in adding a cutter to his fastball-curveball arsenal he is a different and better pitcher this year than he's been before, and the Red Sox suddenly have a staff that looks a lot more formidable as they open the second half of the season tonight against the NY Yankees in the Bronx.
One other sour note, however, the news that reliever Junichi Tazawa has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a shoulder impingement, so the bullpen is starting to show some more wear and tear as well.
The NY Mets say cry me a river when it comes to injuries. They start the second half in Philadelphia against the Phillies tonight and the Mets have a number of injuries to their pitching rotation, with Matt Harvey needing season ending surgery, Noah Syndegaard and Steven Matz dealing with bone spur issues, and David Wright possibly done for the year after surgery to repair a herniated disc in his neck, while slugger Yoenis Cespedes missing games before the all star break with a quadriceps strain.
The Vermont Lake Monsters dropped a 6-2 decision to the Williamsport Crosscutters at Centennial Field last night. Arquimedez Gamboa had a big night for Williamsport, going three for five with three runs scored.
In NECBL action, the Vermont Mountaineers and Upper Valley Nighthawks had ambitions of playing a double header in White River Junction yesterday, but Mother Nature had other plans and the game was stopped after four innings with the Mountaineers up 4-1 before the heavy rains washed things out. The game will be resumed today at just after five with the nightcap to follow.
At the British Open golf tournament in Scotland, everyone's chasing the guy known as lefty. Phil Mickelson is sitting at an astonishing eleven under par after just barely missing setting a record for the best opening round ever at the British. He finished with a 63, and only a lipped-out attempt at birdie on hole number eighteen kept him from a 62 that would have set a new record. There are still three days of competition left and Mickelson has a ways to go to win the championship but he's got a five stroke lead over his closest pursuer after his near historic first round.
