The Boston Red Sox Friday, June 21, 2019
Positional shuffle hasn’t hurt Michael Chavis on defense
Peter Abraham
Michael Chavis was a shortstop when the Red Sox drafted him in 2014. He became a third baseman in 2015, then started playing some games at first base in 2017 in the Arizona Fall League.
Second base was added to his portfolio this season, and he’ll probably get some games in left field before the year is out.
For much of his professional career, Chavis has been a good hitter in search of a position. But since joining the Red Sox in April, his defense has actually been a positive.
“It’s been great, both at second and at first,” manager Alex Cora said. “But he’s been great at first base. Good decisions. Good instincts.”
Chavis has started 29 games at second base for the Sox, 21 at first base, and one at third base. He has been primarily a first baseman this month, taking over with Mitch Moreland and Steve Pearce on the injured list.
Chavis has handled throws adeptly, taken charge on popups, and fielded the position cleanly. He’s made several stops on hard-hit balls down the line, too.
It’s a small sample size, but Chavis has already been credited with two defensive runs saved at first base. That’s two more than Moreland, a Gold Glove winner in 2016, has had the last two seasons.
“I feel comfortable at first. I like it,” Chavis said. “As long as I’m still in the lineup, I’m happy.”
Infield coach Carlos Febles, who managed Chavis in Double A in 2017, told Cora that the rookie wouldn’t be a detriment in the field.
“He’s a good athlete,” Cora said. “He has good hands, good feet and he learns quickly.”
Pearce should return from the injured list in the coming days. Moreland, out with a quad strain, likely will not return until after the All-Star break.
Where Chavis fits long term remains to be seen. Rafael Devers, at 22, appears set at third base for years to come. Moreland and Pearce will be free agents after the season, so Chavis could fit there. But the Sox also have 23-year- old corner infielder Bobby Dalbec in Double A Portland.
You have to laugh
J.D. Martinez turned to the dugout and raised his arms in mock triumph when he reached first base after an RBI single in the eighth inning of Wednesday’s 9-4 victory against the Twins.
The hit snapped an 0-for-11 streak that included five strikeouts and two double-play grounders.
“I’m sorry you had to see that. That was ugly,” Martinez said. “It’s part of it. You can laugh about it or you can put your head down about it. I choose to laugh about it.”
Even with the mini-slump, Martinez has a .953 OPS and eight RBIs in 10 games since he missed four consecutive with a back strain.
“It’s gotten lot better. It hasn’t been bothering me of late,” he said.
Schedule turns
The Red Sox had a difficult schedule through 76 games. They opened the season with 11 games on the West Coast, and have already played two series at Yankee Stadium and another in Houston.
But now the schedule will turn in their favor.
The Sox have 14 games remaining before the All-Star break, 12 against teams with a losing record. The other two will be against the Yankees in London next weekend.
The Sox also have two days off before the first game in London, then a day off after. That will give them a chance to re-set their rotation and give the bullpen some rest.
Coming out of the All-Star break, 14 of the first 20 games will be at Fenway Park.
Bogaerts being snubbed
That Xander Bogaerts isn’t higher in the All-Star voting among American League shortstops is puzzling. He is second in OPS (.928) and home runs (14), and first in RBIs (49), extra-base hits (38), walks (45), and runs (58). Bogaerts also has started all but three games this season. But in the latest on-line voting, which ends at 4 p.m. Friday, Bogaerts was somehow sixth behind Jorge Polanco, Carlos Correa, Gleyber Torres, Tim Anderson and Francisco Lindor . . . Brock Holt has hit .371 with a .929 OPS in 18 games since returning from the injured list on May 27 . . . Chris Sale is the scheduled starter against Toronto on Friday to start a three-game series at Fenway. Sale has a 2.09 ERA in his last nine starts with 14.6 strikeouts per nine innings. The Blue Jays will start rookie righthander Trent Thornton, who will be facing the Sox for the first time. He threw 6⅔ shutout innings at Houston on Sunday . . . Pearce was 2 for 4 in a rehab game for Triple-A Pawtucket against Durham. Righthander Tyler Thornburg allowed four runs on three hits and a walk in the same game, getting just two outs. He gave up two home runs. Thornburg has appeared in five rehab games for Pawtucket and been charged with eight earned runs over 4⅔ innings.
Strong finish to a tough stretch has Red Sox feeling optimistic
Alex Speier
On one hand, an 18-15 record (.545) for a 33-game stretch hardly seems like cause for celebration. The 2019 Red Sox have far grander ambitions over a stretch that encompasses roughly one-fifth of the schedule.
Yet when considering the degree of difficulty of the period leading into Thursday’s off-day, the perspective on that 33-game run altered. The Sox forged that mark during what will quite possibly be their most demanding stretch of the season.
Those 33 contests came in 34 days, with just one scheduled off-day and (due to a rainout) two actual days without games. Four extra-inning games totaling 15 extra innings took place during that time, with the result that the Sox pitched a total of 306 innings — roughly nine more than any team — during the 34-day stretch. Of the 33 games, 23 came against AL playoff contenders with records of .500 or better. Finally, the team played 17 contests the final 16 days, going 11-6.
Against that backdrop, the Red Sox took a measure of satisfaction that they’d played better during their most unrelenting stretch of the year than they had in the 43 games that preceded it (23-20, .535). Manager Alex Cora compared the stretch to a challenging one that he endured as a player to start the 2008 season, when the Red Sox (under manager Terry Francona) pinballed around the globe, opening the season in Japan, heading to Los Angeles for exhibition games, then traveling to Oakland and Toronto.
The jetlagged Red Sox felt punch-drunk at the start of their 2007 title defense. Early in the season, Cora recalled, Francona called a team meeting when the team’s record was around .500. The team was caught off guard when the manager delivered a message of encouragement and congratulations for their performance.
“We were like, ‘What are you talking about?’ ” Cora recalled. “He was like, ‘That was a tough stretch. That was tough to do with schedule and traveling and everything that went on.’ ”
Cora thought of that team — which reached Game 7 of the ALCS — in the latter stages of these nearly five weeks, taking pride in how this year’s Red Sox seemed to embrace their challenge with determination and focus in the latter part of the run. It was, members of the Red Sox agreed, a period that presented considerable challenges in the effort to balance short- and long-term considerations, particularly for the pitchers.
The Red Sox keep a color-coded chart identifying recent player workloads based not only on appearances, innings, and pitches in games, but also warmup work in the bullpen and physical activity before and after games. Toward the end of the trip, the Sox saw what pitching coach Dana LeVangie described as “way too much” red among its bullpen members — the product of extra innings, doubleheaders, and short starts.
“We’ve been fighting the schedule. It is what it is,” LeVangie said on Wednesday. “At times, we’re asking guys to pitch who are in the red. We really don’t want to. At some point, we have to find a way to get these guys some rest. That’s an important part of our team. We can’t win without a bullpen. We can’t achieve our goal without the bullpen.”
There were several days when the Red Sox had one or two or three pitchers whom they worked fastidiously to avoid, even in high-leverage situations — an undertaking exacerbated when Ryan Brasier had to leave the team to go on bereavement leave, and when Heath Hembree landed on the injured list due to elbow soreness.
Yet even when shorthanded, the Red Sox tried to remain mindful of the big picture, whether that meant having Josh Smith close a game against the Rangers last week; or avoiding Matt Barnes, Brandon Workman, and Walden in a 2- 0 win over the Twins on Monday; or making sure to stay away from Marcus Walden in Tuesday’s 17-inning marathon.
The rotation, too, required protection in the eyes of the team, something that placed a toll on the bullpen. After David Price made his 1⅓ -inning start against the Rangers last week, the Red Sox made a proactive decision to limit his pitches on Tuesday in deference to their efforts to keep the 33-year-old healthy for the long haul.
There were days when some pitchers were unavailable, and others when they weren’t expected to be operating with peak stuff. Against those limitations, the Sox feel that their overall performance during this taxing stretch balanced the demands of their need to win in the immediate term without compromising their longer-term ambitions.
“Sometimes we’re going to lose a game because we’re trying to protect a few guys. We’ve done that. You guys are looking at us and some of these guys not pitching, but we’ve got to be smart about it, too,” said LeVangie. “Whether it’s the bullpen or the starting rotation, I don’t think our mindset ever changes that we’re not panicking with where we’re at, because ideally we’re trying to get somewhere at the end of the season.”
Over a difficult period, the Sox saw their overall quality of play improve, and the number of contributors across the roster increase. In that sense, Cora and the Sox took encouragement from their performance over a daunting stretch.
“I think as far as energy, and the way we played the last five or six days,” Cora said on Wednesday afternoon, prior to his team’s 9-4 win over the Twins, “we’re in a good place.”
Jerry Remy feeling good, and feeling good about Red Sox’ chances
Chad Finn
When the Red Sox head to London for a two-game series with the Yankees June 29-30, the games won’t air on NESN. Both are nationally televised, the first on Fox and the second on ESPN.
That means Jerry Remy won’t make the trip overseas, which is just fine with him.
The Red Sox color analyst has never been to London. But the well-established homebody doesn’t feel the urgency to see Big Ben and Parliament anyway.
“The only thing I’d want to see over there is Abbey Road Studios,” said Remy with a chuckle. “If I go there I don’t even care about anything else.”
Remy will miss that chance to experience some history of the Beatles first-hand, and he’ll miss two relatively important Red Sox games as Major League Baseball attempts to expand its reach to across the Atlantic.
But one of the blessings of this season so far is that there’s no other reason to talk about Remy missing games.
After suffering a relapse of lung cancer last August, he left the booth to receive treatment and missed the Red Sox’ run to the World Series title.
He announced he was cancer-free in November, and just last Thursday received similarly good news after his latest scan came back clean.
“Knock on wood, I can’t complain about anything right now,’’ said Remy, 66. “I do have my energy, and I was a little concerned about that in spring training going through this [treatment]. But I’ve been on some road trips and I feel fine.
“I feel tired right now because we got back at 5:30 in the morning from Minnesota,’’ he said Thursday afternoon. “But that’s just part of travel.”
Remy is traveling less this year. He’s scheduled to do 85-90 games, including at least 30 in a three-man booth with play-by-play voice Dave O’Brien and fellow analyst Dennis Eckersley.
Soon, Remy will have a break of more than two weeks, what with the London series and the All-Star break coming up.
“Being off some of the road trips certainly helps, and getting the schedule down to a workable number has really helped me this year with being able to get enough rest,” he said. “I feel great, I really do. I don’t know what it sounds like on the air. I don’t know if I sound like I’m out of breath or anything like that, but I feel good doing it anyway.”
Remy will be in the booth with O’Brien and Eckersley this weekend for the series with the Blue Jays.
“I never have been a fan of three-man booths until we got hooked up with this one,’’ said Remy, who has known Eckersley since the early 1970s when they were both minor leaguers. “This one totally works, I think. Neither one of us has a big ego and we both give each other the space that we need. Dave does a good job navigating both of us through the game. I really look forward to it.”
It’s nice to be talking to Remy about what he’s seen from the Red Sox rather than what he’s missed. For the record, he’s a believer that their recent hot streak — they have won 7 of 8, including 2 of 3 against the red-hot Twins — is an indicator that the champs have finally found their footing after stumbling to start the season.
“I think this last series was pretty big in Minnesota,’’ said Remy. “I was anxious to see that series because the Twins had the best record in baseball going in there, and we actually outplayed them throughout the whole series. Could have won all three, really.
“That was a good sign, and that lightens up the schedule for the next week with Toronto coming in and then Chicago, and hopefully they can continue on this roll they’re on. I think things are starting to fall into place.”
While the Red Sox face an uphill climb in the standings — they were 6½ games behind the Yankees and 3½ behind the Rays in the American League East as of Thursday — Remy believes they will be in contention for the division title in the stretch run.
“Nothing’s changed,’’ Remy said. “They feel the same way they did about each other last year, they still feel the same way about their talent, and I think they’re going to have a run that gets them right back there with Tampa Bay and New York.
“New York has scared me a little bit how they’ve been able to grab this lead with so many guys injured, but the Red Sox are going to be the really good team we expected in the second half of the season.
“Listen, it’s tough to repeat a perfect season, and basically that’s what last year was. Nothing went wrong. That’s almost impossible. Now that they’ve got a little bit of adversity, we’ll see how they fight through it. But knowing the people in the room, I believe they know how to do that.”
* The Boston Herald
Red Sox get through first grueling stretch, London comes next
Michael Silverman
Certain stretches of a baseball season are more intense than others.
The 2019 Red Sox are currently living in a state of maximum intensity.
Thursday’s off-day marks not only the end of one grueling 2019 stretch for them but also a pause before the beginning of another more uniquely taxing spell. It’s one that includes a trans-Atlantic jaunt to olde London to play a jolly great Yankees team, followed by two more road series before the All-Star break.
How are they coping – and how will they cope?
Part One went pretty well.
Between May 17 and June 19, the Red Sox went 18-14 over 34 days with one day off and one day they reported for work but the game was rained out. They played one doubleheader and four extra-inning games for a combined 15 extra innings. They began with a 23-21 record, two games over .500 and they awoke in their own Boston beds six games over at 41-35.
They trounced lightweights like the Royals, Blue Jays and Orioles 9-1, outscoring them to a 84-40 tune.
Against the best – Astros (twice), Yankees, Rays and Twins – the Red Sox lost 4-of-5 series, going 6-11 and scoring 36 runs while giving up 48.
They started 4-½ games behind the first-place Rays, but on Thursday were 6-½ games behind the surging first-place Yankees, who went 20-11 while the Red Sox were so busy.
Manager Alex Cora has had to deal with seven players going on the injured list (Mitch Moreland went there twice), one paternity leave and another for bereavement, plus keep a bullpen as spry as possible despite a black hole in the No. 5 spot in the rotation that kept forcing him to lean ever harder on the relievers.
“It’s been hard but not impossible, I make my decisions accordingly and we go from there,” said Cora. “Our goal is the long run. Sometimes we’ve got to make the decisions based on that. … It’s not easy but we need to stay disciplined. That’s the most important thing. I think overall, the guys have done a good job taking care of themselves, which is the most important thing.”
Cora also has to keep position players from running themselves into the ground. Wednesday night’s mid-game departure of Rafael Devers for right hamstring tightness was an example that it’s impossible to keep everybody safe and sound. The almost non-stop schedule simply makes that task more difficult.
“It’s not easy but we stay disciplined,” said Cora. “That’s the most important thing, and I think overall the guys have done a good job taking care of themselves, which is the most important thing. We’ve been able to give them a few days off here and there.
“So far, you see the energy of the players. That’s the most important thing, and so far, so good.”
A week from Thursday, the Red Sox will wake up in England after a 6-½ hour flight. Two highly scrutinized games against the Yankees, who have beaten them four times in five tries to date, await them. After Sunday’s game, they’ll have a nearly eight-hour flight to Toronto with a day off on Monday before playing six straight against the Blue Jays and then the Tigers in Detroit.
If that sounds a bit taxing, it’s a lot cushier than in 2008. The Red Sox, also defending a world title that year, went direct from spring training in Fort Myers to Tokyo to play two exhibition games, then the A’s for two games that counted, then to Los Angeles for an exhibition game, to Oakland to resume the regular season and then to Toronto, where the jet lag caught up with them and they were trounced.
Cora was on that 2008 trans-Pacific, trans-North America trip. Compared to the preparations he made then as a Red Sox player versus what he hears about for London as Red Sox manager, it sounded like the Red Sox rolled out of bed and traveled to Japan.
“It was tough to maneuver early – there was no ‘You have to sleep here or sleep at this time or drink this,’” said Cora. “Just travel. The guys who played cards, played cards, and go get them the next day.”
Since spring training, the Red Sox have been looking ahead to minimizing the impact of the London trip.
“We’re doing everything possible to avoid being tired or be on time and not be slow and tired – there’s a lot of stuff going on,” said Cora. “We talk about sleep and when to get your naps and all that. When we travel over there, when we come back. I think when we go over there we sleep and when we come back we don’t sleep. That was easy for me, ‘OK, cool, we’ll do that one.’ There’s a lot of stuff going on. It’ll be interesting. It’s two games and we have to move on.”
The Red Sox have no choice but to move on, as they balance rest with competition.
They’ll push through, and before they know it, it will be the dog days of August.
* MassLive.com
Boston Red Sox’s Xander Bogaerts confused by All-Star voting: ‘It would definitely mean a lot to me’
Chris Cotillo
Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts ranked sixth among American League shortstops in the most recent All-Star Game balloting update released Monday. The 26-year-old, who is having a fantastic year, is confused and disappointed about why he isn’t higher in the voting.
“It’s just so weird," Bogaerts told WEEI’s Rob Bradford earlier this week. "I just miss out when in my opinion I should have been there. I just feel like it’s a routine, every year the same thing. It’s kind of getting annoying. But I don’t know what to do.”
Bogaerts is hitting .300 with 14 homers and 49 RBIs in 73 games this season, ranking near the top of the American League in almost every statistical category. But that performance hasn’t translated to the fan voting, which has him ranked behind Jorge Polanco (Twins), Carlos Correa (Astros), Gleyber Torres (Yankees), Tim Anderson (White Sox) and Francisco Lindor (Indians).
Bogaerts has been an All-Star just once in five previous full seasons, getting the nod in 2016. He was snubbed in 2018 while five of his teammates represented the Red Sox in Washington, D.C.
Even if he doesn’t make it as a starter, Bogaerts might have a good chance to make the team as a reserve. His fellow players and the Commissioner’s Office will work together to fill 23 roster spots (11 for position players) once the fan vote is completed.
“It would definitely mean a lot to me,” Bogaerts told WEEI. “You work your whole career to be a world champion and I have two of those. I think it would be recognized for the performance that you do to help your team to hopefully get there. As I said, the numbers speak for themselves. I don’t understand how it’s like that.”
* RedSox.com
Jackie Bradley Jr. is turning it around yet again
Mike Petriello
Last winter, we ran an article titled "Jackie Bradley Jr. ... is poised to break out." We based it on his elite hard- hitting skills, on his hot finish to 2018, on all the hard work he claimed that he'd put in to revamp his swing with J.D. Martinez's hitting coach. It was going to be his year, and we weren't alone in saying it. (It wasn't the first time we'd said it, either.)
All looked great in Spring Training, when he hit three homers with a 1.024 OPS.
Then the season began. It ... didn't go well.
Bradley didn't hit a homer until the middle of May. He didn't get his average above .200 until June 13, just a week ago. As late as May 15, barely more than a month ago, we were talking about his season in terms of weakest hitting seasons ever. He's still only hitting .210/.310/.366. It's easy to point to his season to date as a disaster, and maybe it is. But to merely write off his 2019 due to that stat line is a mistake, in the same way that a reliever who has one or two terrible outings in April has to wear an ugly ERA for weeks or months until he can get it down, even if it's not representative of who he is.
Bradley has long been one of the streakiest hitters in the Majors, and this year is no different. We're already seeing signs of life. If you can look past the .210 average, you might just be able to see the hitter the Red Sox hoped they'd have.
When trying to find the point of the 2019 season where Bradley truly bottomed out, you'll find different answers from different sources. Bradley himself says he felt it "click" doing pregame work on May 25 in Houston. Red Sox manager Alex Cora thinks it was the day before Bradley's first homer of the year, off Toronto's Elvis Luciano on May 20. There's probably not "one right answer" here, but we'll follow the numbers, which happen to mirror what Cora said: Bradley's numbers reached their nadir on May 19.
That day, after an 0-for-3 against the Astros, Bradley's line sank to a miserable .144/.245/.176, the worst OPS (.421) of any qualified hitter. So we'll go with the numbers, and we'll go with Cora, splitting Bradley's season into "through May 19" and "since May 20." The differences are drastic.
Through May 19
• .144/.245/.176 • .421 OPS (worst of 171 qualified hitters) • 11% walk rate, 30% strikeout rate • 59% grounders (second highest of 172) • 41% hard-hit rate
Since May 20
• .293/.391/.606 • .997 OPS (22nd-best of 188 qualified hitters) • 10% walk rate, 24% strikeout rate • 47% ground-ball rate (tied for 53rd-highest of 188) • 39% hard-hit rate
Through May 19, he was the worst hitter of, well, anyone.
Since May 20, Bradley is out-hitting MVP candidates Cody Bellinger and Anthony Rendon. He's out-hitting Josh Bell and Martinez. He's been fantastic, and he's doing it with his usual outstanding defense. Streaky as he may be, this can't just be about "hot" or "cold." What's changed?
As you can see above, it's not about hitting the ball harder, because that's not really happening. It seems to be about these things ...
It's a little about contact.
Contact is good, so long as it's good contact, and Bradley is making more of that. You can see that above, as his 30% strikeout rate was one of the 15 highest among qualified players, and his 24% strikeout rate since is a mere 58th-highest. The why of that is a little more difficult to explain, but let's start with this: He's not striking out so much.
It's maybe more than a little about grounders.
"There's no slug on the ground," goes the common refrain of the last few years, and that also holds true for Bradley, who is currently holding a 53.2% grounder rate, which would, by far, be a career high. But as you can see, he's had a big before/after drop from 59% to 47%, which would put him back in line with his career norms.
It's possibly a lot about where he's hitting the ball.
Remember that home run that Cora spoke about, off Luciano? It was hit to the opposite field. That's not something Bradley was doing much of through May 19, posting a pull/center/oppo line of 44% / 35% /21%. That's changed since May 20, as it's now 33% / 39% / 28%.
Last year, when Bradley had success, it largely was to the opposite field.
• 2018 pull OPS: .659 • 2018 center OPS: 1.023 • 2018 oppo OPS: 1.194
This year, that's a gap that's even larger.
• 2019 pull OPS: .574 • 2019 center OPS: .667 • 2019 oppo OPS: 1.585
Combining 2018-19, only five hitters in the game -- good ones, too, in David Freese, Javier Baez, Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Tommy Pham -- had a higher opposite-field OPS than Bradley's 1.327. Only seven hitters had a worse pull-field OPS than Bradley.
If it's easier to look at it visually, well, here's a heat map of Bradley's extra-base hits since the start of 2018. The effect should be clear. Not every hitter wants to go to the opposite field. For Bradley, it's where he lives.
It may or may not be about a swing change, but there's been one
As you can see in this comparison from two games this year, April on the left and June on the right, Bradley has replaced the toe tap in his front foot with a more pure leg kick that doesn't touch the ground.
"Bradley had been struggling with the timing of the weight transfer in his swing all season, rushing forward too early with his front leg in a way that disrupted the timing of his swing," wrote Alex Speier in late May.
This isn't declarative evidence that it's a cause of his success, because we can't say for sure that it is, and he's been going back and forth with his stance for years. It does, however, appear to be a thing that's different, and that's notable when we're trying to find proof of change.
That's really the Bradley story, it seems. The only thing consistent about him is his strong defense and great arm. We're now more than six years into his Major League career, and the next season he has where he's productive for six straight months may be his first. That might limit his overall upside, but that doesn't mean that the player he was for the first six weeks of this season is the player he's going to be for the rest of it.
The scoreboard may show a .210 average or a .676 OPS when he comes to the plate, and those aren't good numbers. But as you can see, he's already different, and he's been one of the best hitters in baseball for a month now. Humbled by his slow start, Bradley discussed the frustrations of slumping with The Boston Globe a few days ago.
We know he has the talent to keep this up ... right until the next slump, that is. For so long as he does, there are few players more valuable than a power-hitting, defensively strong center fielder -- and that's a big deal for a Red Sox team that's still very much in the playoff hunt.
* WEEI.com
How can pitchers be clubhouse leaders? Rick Porcello explains
Rob Bradford
Remember when John Farrell needed to gather the perceived leaders on the Red Sox back in 2015?
"There was a group of guys that I had in to talk about a number of things," the then-Red Sox manager said at the time, with his team experiencing an early-June downturn.
Those guys? They were Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Hanley Ramirez, Pablo Sandoval and Mike Napoli. See a trend? Not a single pitcher. But that wasn't out of the ordinary considering how leadership is often perceived in Major League Baseball clubhouses. Player-driven guidance is usually sought out in all corners of the roster with a heavy emphasis on those who are on the field every day.
It's why when Alex Cora identified three starting pitchers -- Rick Porcello, David Price and Chris Sale -- as his go-to leaders Friday night it was of some note.
"Those three guys, they mean a lot to me in the clubhouse," the Red Sox manager said. "David, Chris and Rick. Whenever I have a message or whatever they’re the ones that are always in the office and we talk about it and they take care of that stuff in there. In their own way, too. They’re very different."
The leadership dynamic within these Red Sox might be a bit different than previous clubs but it is very real.
There are position players who exhibit strong presences in their own way. J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogaerts come to mind. But the trio of starters is viewed by the entire organization as its key voices, as Cora confirmed.
No matter what the position, it shouldn't come as a surprise. Porcello explained to WEEI.com why pitchers can take on such rolls:
"I think when you talk about leadership it doesn’t have anything to do with what position you play, or how many games or how many games you’re not in. It has everything to do with you as an individual and how you carry yourself and how you impact other guys in the clubhouse. That’s what permeates through players and creates a culture and that feel.
"You lead by example and you go out there and perform and that’s one way to lead, but there are other things to go along with that. That’s how you carry yourself in different types of moments. Are you a guy who can go over and pick up another teammate if they’re down or whatever it is. So I don’t think it’s as much a positional thing as it is a guy’s personality and how they affect everyone else on the team. If you do certain things that guys respect you for than you are establishing that presence. It doesn’t always have to be a position player or somebody out there every day.
"Sometimes it’s hard because we aren’t out there every day like position players are. But we take a lot of pride in what we do and we work our ass off even if we aren’t pitching that day."
So, how does a player like Porcello come into such a role? For that, there is no blueprint.
"I don’t think about it at all. It’s not something that is forced and you wake up and say, ‘I’m a leader!’ That being said everybody has a different perspective," he said. "Just go about my business and be as organic and in the moment as possible. That’s it."
* BostonSportsJournal.com
Next fix for Red Sox – improving at Fenway
Sean McAdam
Having demonstrated that they can play with — and beat — one of the best teams in baseball, the Red Sox have another project, on tap: once again becoming a force at Fenway Park.
In the aftermath of the Red Sox 9-4 win over the Minnesota Twins Wednesday night, a victory which gave the Red Sox the series at Target Field, manager Alex Cora didn’t take long before looking ahead for another item on his “To- do list,” noting that the next goal was to play better at home.
Following a disastrous opening road trip on the West Coast that saw the Sox dig a sizeable trench for themselves by going 3-8, the Sox have been one of the best road teams in either league.
Wednesday’s win was the ninth win in their last 10 road games, but their dominance stretches back farther. After the Sox dropped a two-game set in Yankee Stadium in mid-April — their first road series after the season-opening meltdown — they’ve since gone 2-18, a winning percentage of .724.
They’ve piled up five consecutive winning road trips and have lost just two road series since then: losing two of three in Houston and dropping two of three in New York, a series that was rain-shortened and technically doesn’t resume until the fourth game is made up in August.
That .724 percentage represents the best winning percentage in MLB in that span, and even if one includes the 3-10 road start, the Sox are tied with the Twins for most road wins this season in the American League.
But at home, it’s been a different story.
Normally dominant at Fenway, the Sox are merely .500 to date at 17-17, and though the season is fast approaching the halfway point, they’ve won just two series at home this season.
A year ago, in sharp contrast, the Red Sox posted a 57-24 mark for a blistering .703 percentage. Only five other teams through the game won as many as 50 home games and none won more than 53.
So, what’s happened?
The offense has been good, but not great at Fenway. While the Sox have been averaging 5.35 runs per game, a figure only bettered at home by Texas (5.74), that’s somewhat misleading for while the Sox have had four games in which they scored in double-figures against poor teams (once with Detroit and twice against Seattle), they’ve also scored two runs or fewer in almost one-quarter of their games (eight times in 34 home games). In the pitching department, the Red Sox are decidedly middle-of-the-pack. Their ERA at Fenway is 4.49, ranking them seventh among American League teams. In particular, the bullpen has been an issue at home, with Boston relievers blowing five of nine save opportunities. It should help some that the home schedule is about to turn favorable for the Sox. The Toronto Blue Jays, who arrive for a weekend series Friday, sport the third-worst overall record in the American League.
Next come the Chicago White Sox, who while improved and on the periphery of the wild-card race (35-37) are eminently beatable, with the Red Sox already taking three of four from them last month at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Beyond the statistical analysis, which reveals only so much, it may just be the team’s underperformance at home, at least through the first three months of the season, is just one more oddity to a season in which very little has gone according to plan.
In most areas of their game, the Red Sox have simply not been nearly as good as they were supposed to be, so why shouldn’t that extend to their play at Fenway, too?
Presumably, with their overall level of play trending upward of late, that will soon be reflected in their home record, too.
And if not, there’s always this: after the Sox get through with their two series against the Blue Jays and White Sox, they’ll travel to London for their showcase series with the Yankees. In England, by prior agreement, the Red Sox will be considered the home team — even though they’ll be playing on the road.
Given how well they’ve played away from home, perhaps two “road home” games are exactly what the Red Sox need.
* USA Today
David Ortiz shooting suspect indicted on drug conspiracy charges in New Jersey
Rodrigo Torrejon
A Paterson, New Jersey, man suspected of shooting baseball star David Ortiz has been indicted on drug conspiracy charges, authorities said.
Rolfi Ferreira Cruz, 25, was charged with multiple crimes, including conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute 100 grams or more of heroin and an amount of cocaine, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a statement on Thursday.
If convicted, Cruz will face a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum of 40 years in prison for two of the charges. The third charge has a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison.
Ferreira-Cruz is one of 10 people arrested for the shooting of Ortiz in a bar in the Dominican Republic. Cruz admitted to being the person who shot Ortiz, Dominican Republic police said.
As of Thursday, Cruz was in custody in the Dominican Republic for the shooting, the statement said.
* Associated Press
Ortiz suspect charged in NJ over drugs, firearms
One of the suspects in the shooting of former baseball star David Ortiz was charged Thursday with drug and firearm possession in New Jersey.
Rolfi Ferreira-Cruz was indicted on cocaine and heroin possession charges and also a charge of conspiracy to distribute drugs, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark announced.
Ferreira-Cruz, 25, who was arrested last week, is among at least 11 people who have been arrested in the shooting so far, ranging from the alleged gunman to a series of drivers and relatively minor accomplices. Thursday's charges are unrelated to the shooting.
He also faces state charges in New Jersey in connection with two armed robberies in 2017.
No attorney information is listed for the Reading, Pennsylvania, man.
Ortiz was shot in the back at a bar in the Dominican Republic on June 9. The former Boston Red Sox star is in Boston recovering from surgery. On Tuesday, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital upgraded the 10-time All- Star's condition from "guarded" to "good."
The Dominican Republic's attorney general and national police director said Wednesday that the attempted murder was ordered from the United States by Victor Hugo Gomez, an associate of Mexico's Gulf Cartel. They said Gomez had hired a gang of killers to eliminate his cousin, whom Gomez suspected of turning him in to Dominican drug investigators in 2011.
The cousin, Sixto David Fernandez, was seated with Ortiz when a gunman approached and fired a single shot at Ortiz, the officials said.
Gomez, the alleged mastermind, is believed to be in the United States and is being sought by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Ortiz led the Red Sox to three World Series championships and was a 10-time All Star. He has a home outside Boston that he shared with his wife and three children before putting it up for sale.
The 43-year-old Ortiz's father and sister live in Santo Domingo.