The Friday, July 20, 2018

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Facing tough schedule, Red Sox enter second half with focus on AL East title

Peter Abraham

DETROIT — The 68-30 Red Sox can win half their remaining games and still win 100 games. What a thing. They haven’t won that many since 1946.

But the math is almost meaningless as the Sox restart their season on Friday night in Detroit. All that matters now is finishing ahead of the Yankees and dodging the one-game wild card. That will almost certainly require winning more than 100 games.

The Red Sox-Yankees rivalry is real again, a reminder of the yearly battles at the turn of the century. No hype is needed beyond looking at the standings and understanding what’s at stake.

The Sox have a 4½-game lead on the Yankees. Winning the East means extra time off at the end of the season and likely home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The rotation can be set and the rested.

Finishing second takes away all those advantages. Even if the Sox survive the wild-card game, it would mean a quick turnaround to face the best team in the league on the road. That could well be the Yankees.

“Everybody says it gets real in September. But we know where the Yankees are now and they know where we are,” Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez said. “It should be fun.”

The Sox have 10 games remaining against the Yankees, the most against any opponent. Seven of those games will be at , including the final three of the season.

That’s an advantage. They also play only four more games outside the Eastern Time Zone, another advantage.

But the Yankees have a walkover schedule. They play 41 of their remaining 67 games against teams with a losing record, including a whopping 20 games against teams in last place in their respective divisions.

The Sox have 10 games remaining against the West Division-leading (three) and Central Division-leading (seven). The Yankees are finished with those teams.

The Indians significantly improved their roster on Thursday by acquiring All-Star lefthander and righthander Adam Cimber from the Padres to improve their bullpen.

Hand had a 1.08 WHIP and averaged 13.2 per nine for the Padres. Cimber, a rookie with a side-arm delivery, has been an effective for Hand, who has 24 saves. Righthanded hitters have a .482 OPS against him.

The Indians gave up 22-year-old catcher Francisco Mejia, one of the game’s top prospects.

In reshaping their bullpen, the Indians are preparing for the postseason and were willing to pay a steep price. Hand gives them a ninth- option to supplement if not replace Cody Allen. If Andrew Miller returns healthy, manager can control games with his relievers.

The Red Sox have All-Star to close. But they need late-inning depth given the sharp downturn Joe Kelly has taken.

A dominant reliever in April and May, Kelly has allowed 14 earned runs on 17 hits and nine walks in 13⅔ innings since June 1. Opponents have .293 against him with a .932 OPS.

Manager Alex Cora has continued to use Kelly in high-leverage situations, a practice he may have to pull back on if the righthander continues to struggle.

Matt Barnes has so far had the best season of his career and merits having eighth-inning responsibilities. But he wore down in August last season.

If Eduardo Rodriguez were able to return from a badly sprained right ankle, using him as a reliever would make sense. The Sox took that route last September when came back from arm trouble and it produced excellent results.

But the Sox cannot count on Rodriguez coming back; so external help will be the focus. Baltimore lefthander Zach Britton and White Sox righthander Joakim Soria are obvious possibilities. But Toronto also has options in and Seunghwan Oh.

A fallow farm system will not prohibit the Red Sox from adding to their bullpen as setup men can be had for lesser prospects. President of operations Dave Dombrowski obtained (2016) and Addison Reed (2017) without losing prominent players.

Rotation depth could be solved by the return of from the disabled list. The lefthander looks ready after a strong start for Triple A Pawtucket on Wednesday.

The Sox also could consider bench upgrades at catcher and second base. But clearly improved relief pitching is what would best prepare them for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs.

“We’ve made moves before,” right hander Mookie Betts said. “This is the time of the year you’re waiting to see what will happen. All we can do is play.”

Trades leave Red Sox with a diminished stack of trade chips

Alex Speier

At the All-Star Futures Game, despite the fact that Bryan Mata was the only Red Sox minor leaguer on the field, the organization was well represented.

Center fielder Luis Alexander Basabe — signed by the Red Sox out of Venezuela in 2013, and traded to the White Sox in the Chris Sale deal — turned on a 102-m.p.h. and drilled it for a 400-foot homer to right-center. One evaluator described him as having the potential to roam center as an above-average regular (and potential Gold Glover) for 10 years.

While righthander Shaun Anderson — a 2016 Red Sox third-rounder who was traded to the Giants last summer for Eduardo Nunez — allowed a homer, he earned the win for the US team in the Futures Game with an inning in which he showed a four-pitch mix that has him on a starter path. He was promoted to Triple A following the contest.

In recent years, the Futures Game has been something of a showcase for the Red Sox scouting department. Not only has the team featured some of the more notable participants (Futures Game MVP Yoan Moncada and in 2016, Rafael Devers in 2017), but it’s also supplied other teams with a rather startling wealth of talent. In the last three years, seven Futures Game participants of other organizations had started their professional careers with the Red Sox.

Basabe and Anderson followed the 2017 trio of Moncada, righthander Michael Kopech (like Moncada and Basabe, dealt in the Sale deal), and shortstop Mauricio Dubon (Brewers in the Tyler Thornburg deal). In 2016, a pair of prospects in the Futures Game — center fielder Manuel Margot and utility man Carlos Asuaje — represented the Padres after being traded to San Diego in the Craig Kimbrel deal. Over time, the impact of that prospect diaspora — which also has included several other highly regarded prospects such as Anderson Espinoza and Logan Allen — has added up.

On the one hand, trades of prospects and the graduation to the big leagues of Devers and Benintendi have been a critical part of powering the engine of Red Sox contention for three straight years. Sale and Kimbrel are anchors of a team with championship aspirations; the Nunez addition was critical in allowing the Sox to win the AL East last year; other midyear additions such as Addison Reed and Brad Ziegler played key roles in the last two division titles.

On the other hand, the cumulative impact of those prospect deals — along with injuries, suspensions, and struggles by a of the team’s top remaining prospects — have left the Red Sox with a drastically diminished stock from which to make trades now. Particularly given that top prospect Jay Groome is out for the year with Tommy John surgery and that evaluators are almost evaluating Michael Chavis anew in his return from a suspension for testing positive for a PED, the highest branches of the farm system seem picked over.

A survey of a handful of evaluators from teams who are going to be deadline sellers about potential Red Sox trade chips offered a fairly dreary word cloud: “Awful,” “bleak,” “not good,” “not a lot there,” “thin,” “bare,” “weak,” and “depleted” were all among the words employed by scouts and executives from around the league in examining the state of the Red Sox farm system.

Such characterizations make clear that it’s going to be difficult for the Red Sox to make anything more than modest upgrades during this coming trade deadline season. The team will be able to add, and the addition of a rental reliever through the trade market is likely, but the Sox may struggle to match the prospect packages that other contenders can offer.

“There are definitely some useful pieces, but it seems like everyone [in the system] is having a bad year,” said one AL scout.

In other words, the jolt that the farm system can provide to the big leagues this year is limited. Longer term, however, the Red Sox remain optimistic that perception may alter.

While the team lacks a high-probability starting or position player at the top of its system, the ranks of potential impact players — albeit ones with a wide range of potential outcomes — is growing. In Salem, despite his control problems, Mata shows a potential mid-rotation starter’s mix; lefty Darwinzon Hernandez and righty Tanner Houck have rebounded from bad starts to look, at least, like potential impact late-innings pitchers; third baseman Bobby Dalbec has been among the most dominant players at any level of the minors this month, underscoring a potentially huge ceiling if he can control his rate; C.J. Chatham shows the defensive tools to be an everyday shortstop with at least a chance that he hits enough to stay on that path.

With Houck, Hernandez, 2018 third-rounder Durbin Feltman, and Double A righthanders Travis Lakins and Mike Shawaryn, the Sox are building future bullpen inventory. There are some players who have shown considerable promise in short-season ball, among them Lowell outfielders Tyler Esplin and Tyler Dearden, 2018 picks Nick Northcut and Brandon Howlett in the Gulf Coast League, and power-hitting third baseman Danny Diaz and well-rounded shortstop Antoni Flores in the DSL, both of whom are potential everyday players who are currently injured.

There is, at least in the eyes of the Sox, depth forming that can help to re-establish a farm system that for many years drew scouts like moths to light because of its depth, but that, for now, has dimmed.

“You can’t deny the fact that our higher-profile players have been injured. That’s certainly something that’s been a tough blow this year,” said Red Sox VP of amateur scouting Mike Rikard. “But I do think that some of our second-tier players are maybe a little bit better than it seems the industry is giving some of our guys credit for. . . . I do think there are some guys that are good prospects who probably give us a little more volume than is perceived at times. I think there’s a real interesting underbelly that’s coming. I don’t think they should be described in that echelon of [top prospects] yet, but I’m certainly excited about the next wave.”

While the Sox believe that the next wave has started to form, however, for this trading season, likely able to dip their toe in the water but without being able to take the same dive into the water as some of their fellow contenders.

Three up Salem third baseman Dalbec is running amok in the High A Carolina League. Entering Thursday, over 16 games in July, he was hitting .439/.507/1.000 with 8 homers and 15 extra-base hits, and his strikeout rate is down from 32 percent through the end of June to 25 percent this month. The 23-year-old has strong defensive skills at third and huge power, with one of the highest ceilings of any position player in the Sox system.

In short-season Lowell, catcher Kole Cottam is hitting .308/.333/.615 with five extra-base hits in his last seven games. The 6-foot-3-inch 21-year-old, taken by the Sox in the fourth round this year, is earning raves from the organization for his strong leadership and defensive work — traits that, in combination with above-average power, make him stand out as a position that is short on prospects.

Eduard Bazardo, a 22-year-old righthander, continued a tremendous season for the Lowell Spinners on Wednesday with seven innings in which he didn’t allow an earned , struck out nine, and walked none. In his first year as a full-time starter, he’s 4-2 with a 2.08 ERA, 46 strikeouts, and 4 walks in 39 innings. He’s shown a 90-95 m.p.h. fastball with a that one evaluator called “one of the better breaking balls I have seen all year.” He’s also working on a .

Three down In Double A Portland, lefthander Trey Ball endured a brutal outing on Monday, allowing eight runs on nine hits (three homers) in 1⅔ innings. In his move to the bullpen, the 24-year-old has a 7.19 ERA with 11 homers allowed in 46 innings. His struggles have been sufficiently severe as to raise questions of whether the Red Sox should try moving him off the mound to the outfield.

Also in Portland, Josh Ockimey is 2 for 23 with 10 strikeouts since the All-Star break, dropping his line to .252/.379/.459. The 22-year-old endured considerable fades after excellent starts in both 2016 and 2017, and the beginning of his second half of this season raises concerns about whether another fade might be on the horizon.

In High A Salem, Brett Netzer is struggling through 16 games in July, posting a .219/.296/.250 line with two extra-base hits. That follows a strong June in which the 2017 third-rounder hit .337/.383/.433 in 26 games.

How the story on J.D. Martinez’s defense came together

Alex Speier

For most of the time that I’ve covered baseball, no field seemed quite so murky as defensive analytics. The ability to quantify defense and give it value — thus allowing for (theoretically) improved assessments of a player’s complete value to a team — represented a breakthrough. An area of the game understood largely by reputation became subject to far more thorough scrutiny.

But as much as I’ve relied on the exceptional work of Baseball Info Solutions, which evaluates Defensive Runs Saved, and Mitchel Lichtman’s work at , my reliance came with a caveat: I had no idea how the sausage was being made...or rather, I had some general ideas of the recipe, but didn’t know if it was always the right one to understand defense.

I’ve long wanted to do a story examining a specific outfielder’s defensive metrics by breaking down some of his plays as evaluated by modern, advanced analytics. That interest became greater when Mike Petriello and Greg Cain introduced the Statcast-measured “Catch Probability” — which offered a breakthrough in defensive analytics by incorporating positioning information — at a Sloan Sports Analytics Conference I attended in 2017. Rafe Anderson and Jeff Stern of TruMedia Networks, a baseball and sports analytics company based in Kenmore Square, expressed a willingness to humor my interest, but there was a question of finding the right player.

Then, the Red Sox signed J.D. Martinez. Martinez has an obvious interest in analytics, evident in the way he approached the transformation of his career as a hitter. At the same time, after signing with the Sox, he was adamant that his reputation as an outfielder — forged largely by some bad numbers in 2016-17 — was misrepresentative.

And so, I wondered whether Martinez would be willing to sit down with an analyst who might be able to shed light on how those numbers came to be — how the sausage was made. He was open to that conversation with Stern, and so the three of us met in the Red Sox dugout earlier this season, examining plays Martinez did and did not make, as well as similar plays by other outfielders. The result of that conversation changed my understanding of defensive metrics, and served as the basis for this exploration.

* The Boston Herald

Keeping Rafael Devers the right call for Red Sox

Steve Buckley

The few remaining baseball scouts still pounding a beat — that is, those who haven’t been replaced by MIT sophomores — are trained not to fall in love with a player based on one seismic plate appearance.

Their job is to take a step back and see the big picture, and to view a player through multiple lenses. Can he hit the fastball? Does he throw out his front foot on a breaking pitch? Can he take the ball the other way?

So sue me: I’d make a terrible scout — though I did scream at the top of my lungs that signing Pablo Sandoval would be a disaster of history-making proportions.

And the betting here is that you, too, pronounced greatness on a kid named Rafael Devers based on one particular plate appearance that took place on the night of Aug. 13, 2017.

Now you already know where I’m headed with this, so let’s sum things up as briefly as possible: Top of the ninth, Red Sox trailing the Yankees 2-1, and Devers, who swings from the left side, digging in against , the Bombers’ flame-throwing lefty . Chapman unleashed a fastball that was clocked at 102.8 mph — let’s round it up to 103, since it enhances the case I’m about to make — and Devers, just 20 years old and playing in just his 15th big league game, other-wayed the pitch over the 399- foot sign in left-center for a game-tying home run.

Oh, the heck with being brief. It was the Yankees. It was . It was 46,610 fans in attendance. It was Devers’ first career plate appearance against Chapman. And it was the obligatory Red Sox-Yankees offering on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball.”

Whew.

We’ve seen so much more of Devers since then, seen that he’s a work in progress, seen that his stat line isn’t as smooth as his swing. He definitely has pop, with 14 home runs in 340 at-bats this season, but he was hitting just .241 with a .292 on-base percentage when he landed on the disabled list last week with inflammation in his left shoulder.

And then there’s his glove work at third base, which makes one wonder why the Sox haven’t kidnapped 2007 hero Mike Lowell and forced him to travel with the team as Devers’ personal fielding tutor, a job he spent a few days doing during .

But enough of all that. We’ve seen that swing. We saw that home run against Chapman. And we’ve seen his birth certificate: When the World Cup arrives on our shores in 2026, Rafael Devers will still be a few months shy of reaching his 30th birthday.

And that’s why it would have been a really, really bad idea for Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to trade Devers to the as part of a package for .

For all we know, Dombrowski was doubling over in laughter, yelling, “Stop it! Stop it” at the very suggestion he’d part with Devers. Machado, who was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, is going to be a free agent at the end of the season, meaning the Sox would’ve been renting him for a few months. Sox fans would have surely loved seeing Machado in a lineup with Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, Andrew Benintendi, Xavier Bogaerts, etc., but these same fans probably wouldn’t have enjoyed seeing Devers emerge as a key component in a rebuilt O’s lineup.

But this isn’t about the Orioles. And, really, it’s not about Machado, though it would have been fun seeing him climb into the home whites just one year after saying, “I’ve lost my respect for that organization,” in the aftermath of his little dust-up at second base with Dustin Pedroia.

This is about Rafael Devers, who needs to remain in Boston.

This is about Rafael Devers, who could be one of the great ones.

This is about Rafael Devers, who, OK, needs to show more consistency at the dish.

And speaking of dishes, this is about Rafael Devers, who, one assumes, is being counseled that it’s never too early to make conditioning and diet a top priority.

Somewhere there exists an alternate universe where Jimmy Garoppolo is passing the Patriots to yet another Super Bowl championship . . . where Tyler Seguin is the leader of a powerful Bruins offense . . . where Anthony Rizzo is the best first baseman the Red Sox have had since Mo Vaughn.

It would have made no sense for the Red Sox to wrap Baby Devers in a blanket, place him in a rocket ship and send him to that alternate universe.

He’s going to do just fine in this one.

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Best Red Sox team ever, or a letdown in the making?

Kevin McNamara

Can the Red Sox really be this good? Will they ultimately be remembered as historically successful or infamously disappointing?

While we won’t reach those answers until the arrival of cool October nights, the challenge of the present is maintaining the blazingly hot pace the Sox are setting this summer.

As baseball’s second half begins Friday, your Red Sox are on track to smash all sorts of franchise records, the most important being victories. If things keep clicking along, Alex Cora’s team is pegged to win 112 games. That blows away the franchise record (105 in 1912) and brings baseball’s all-time mark of 116, set by the 2001 , into play.

Can this really happen? Are these Red Sox ready to travel such a gold-plated path to immortality?

In a word, yes. The opportunity is at hand.

While injuries and unforeseen slumps are the bane of every ball team’s existence, the 2018 Red Sox are equipped to win 100-plus games. The main reasons are a loaded roster, the relative awfulness of the rest of the American League and a schedule that tilts in their favor over the season’s remaining 64 games.

Many of the same ingredients can be attributed to the and the world champion Houston Astros, but we’ll get to them later.

First, the free-swinging Red Sox. Boston’s offense leads the big leagues in runs scored, hits, doubles, total bases, batting average and OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging). The Mookie Betts/J.D. Martinez combination is reminiscent of the /Manny Ramirez duo that paced the Sox to World Series flags in 2004 and ’07. And don’t forget that Betts happens to be the best right fielder in the sport.

The pitching staff is much shakier, but with All-Star starter Chris Sale up front and closer Craig Kimbrel shutting the door, the staff is second in strikeouts, fourth in opponents’ OPS and fifth in earned-run average.

Pitching health is always paramount and the Sox need to survive a current speed bump with lefty Eduardo Rodriguez nursing a badly sprained ankle. Rodriguez, who leads the team in wins (11-3) and is a certain playoff series starter, could be back before August. In the meantime, lefty Drew Pomeranz (biceps tendinitis) looks ready to fill in after throwing just 69 pitches to get through six innings of one-hit ball for the PawSox on Wednesday night.

The weakest part of the team is the bullpen. Kimbrel is 30-of-32 in chances, but it’s clear that the Matt Barnes-Heath Hembree-Joe Kelly troika will need to keep showing up in the seventh and eighth innings. That’s a bit unnerving and the reason why team president Dave Dombrowski will own a hot cellphone leading up to the trade deadline.

In a normal season, the pace that the Red Sox are setting would leave their competitors in the dust. But this is not a normal campaign. The American League is filled with a load of bad teams that are regularly getting bullied by the Sox, Yankees, Astros and Cleveland Indians. That’s helped those four teams emerge as the class of the league and almost certain playoff entrants.

Boston began the season 17-2 and roared into the All-Star break winning 12 of 13 but carry just a 4.5-game lead in the A.L. East. The Red Sox and Yankees are locked in a tight race that would make Affirmed and Alydar blush. Like those two great thoroughbreds, the two ancient hardball rivals appear destined to match one another stride-for-stride the rest of the way.

The slight lead the Red Sox own in the race is certainly a bonus, and so is the team’s remaining schedule. Over the final 64 games, the Sox will play 34 times at friendly Fenway Park. Seven of 10 games left with the Yanks will come at home, as will three versus the Astros. Perhaps more important, the Sox will welcome 16 games against teams (Orioles, White Sox, Mets) who’ve all but given up this season.

This all adds up to a certain spot in the playoffs — where the game changes, where nothing is guaranteed. The key will be edging the Yankees and avoiding a one-game wildcard playoff for the right to enter the main draw. Then we’ll find out if postseason duds David Price, and Xander Bogaerts can change their ways and shine when the brightest lights flick on.

That’s all a concern for another day. For now your Red Sox are in first place and as hot as an August afternoon in Narragansett. Enjoy the ride.

* MassLive.com

Boston Red Sox prospect Durbin Feltman finishes off combined Greenville no-hitter; Bobby Dalbec ties Salem extra-base hit record

Christopher Smith

Enmanuel De Jesus, Devon Fisher and Durbin Feltman combined for the third no-hitter in Low-A Greenville history.

De Jesus, a 21-year-old lefty from Venezuela, hurled 7 1/3 innings in Greenville's 5-1 win over Asheville. He allowed one unearned run and struck out five.

Fisher recorded the final out of the eighth. Feltman pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out two.

Some think Feltman, who the Red Sox drafted out of TCU in the third round in June, could make it to Boston by the end of the season. His fastball reaches the high-90s and he throws a wipeout .

Feltman began at Short Season Lowell where he hurled four scoreless and hitless innings, didn't walk anybody and struck out seven in four relief outings.

He then earned a quick promotion to Greenville where he has allowed one unearned run, four hits and one walk while striking out eight in four innings (four outings).

Dalbec ties Salem's extra-base hit record

Bobby Dalbec stroked his 51st extra-base hit in High-A Salem's 5-1 win over Buies Creek. He tied Rafael Devers for the Salem extra-base hit record.

Dalbec is batting .266 with a .380 on-base percentage, .580 slugging percentage, .960 OPS, 23 homers, 27 doubles, one triple and 78 RBIs in 90 games.

Hernandez has 0.42 ERA in July

Darwinzon Hernandez, a 21-year-old from Venezuela who SoxProspects.com ranks No. 12 in the system, allowed one run in 5 innings to earn the win for Salem. He allowed just five hits and one walk while striking out seven.

He improved to 7-5 with a 3.90 ERA in 19 starts. He's 4-0 with a 0.42 ERA in four starts during July.

Ockimey belts 13th homer

Josh Ockimey, who SoxProspects.com ranks No. 8 in the Red Sox system, went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and his 13th homer to lead Double-A Portland 10-0 over Hartford on Thursday.

Ockimey is slashing .260/.386/.480/.865 with 13 homers, 16 doubles, two triples and 47 RBIs in 79 games for Portland this season.

Lakins dominating

Travis Lakins earned his first save for Double-A Portland on Wednesday. He hurled a perfect ninth inning, striking out three.

The Red Sox converted him to a reliever in late May. Since then, he has allowed just one in 18 innings. He has given up five hits and eight walks while striking out 19.

Boston Red Sox have plenty of concerns, especially in the rotation, entering second half

Matt Vautour

The Boston Red Sox are going to the playoffs. That much is certain. They could go .500 down the stretch and still win 100 games. With two wild card spots available, it would be nearly impossible to miss the postseason. That's not the point.

Simply reaching the postseason isn't the goal and hasn't been for this franchise for a long time. For a team hoping for a deep run, the difference between winning the division and wild card is drastic.

As great as Boston has been, the Yankees have been nearly as good. The Red Sox have been rolling in first place, but New York is just 4.5 games back. While Cleveland and probably Houston will be able to strategically rest players to set up their playoff lineups and pitching, the Red Sox and Yankees won't have that luxury. The grind figures to go right through September and on paper Boston isn't as good to start the second half as it was for most of the first half.

For all the well-deserved adulation they've received after an amazing first half, there's a lot to be concerned about, especially on the mound.

There's a plan in place designed to make Chris Sale fresher down the stretch than he was a year ago. For now though, it's just a plan. Whether it works remains to be seen. Even if he is fresh, he's mostly untested in big games. Still, he's the least of the worries among starters.

Despite getting knocked around Friday, Rick Porcello has been good most of the time. He's not a reason to worry. Neither is Craig Kimbrel. The veteran closer has been outstanding.

After that it gets more concerning.

The bullpen has been inconsistent at times, but mostly solid. Matt Barnes is having his best season. Heath Hembree has pitched well and before a recent slump, so had Joe Kelly.

Brandon Workman and Ryan Brasier have been excellent in small sample sizes so far. There's even reason to cross fingers, knock wood, toss a coin into a fountain and hope Tyler Thornburg is about to become the player the Sox thought they were acquiring when they traded for him.

But none of those guys have any kind track record pitching in key games in a pennant race.

Still, it's the rotation where the real worries lie.

David Price has shown glimpses of the form that once made him elite. But he followed a terrific June with a lousy July and is talking about reinventing himself. That's hardly someone easy to rely on.

After Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez had been Boston's second best starter and was getting better as the season went on. It's possible he'll pitch again this season after Saturday's "serious" ankle injury, but the Red Sox certainly can't count on him coming back or being anywhere close to 100 percent if he does.

Barring a trade, the four and five spots probably get filled by some combination of Brian Johnson, Drew Pomeranz, Steven Wright and perhaps Hector Velazquez.

Wright's recovery is progressing slower than expected. He's still battling knee pain with no game plan for a return all of which makes him hard to count on, too.

Pomeranz was finally effective in Triple A Wednesday, but he's still barely cracking 90 with his fastball. Can he win games in the majors with stuff that slow? He's an unknown at best.

Brian Johnson has been a decent fill-in starter and a solid bullpen arm, but he's hardly somebody that inspires confidence in a big spot. Before the team scattered for the All-Star break, Hector Velazquez was slated to make a start next week in Baltimore. He's been a find out of the bullpen at 6-0 with a 2.66 ERA. If he's good enough to start, somebody will have to fill his role in the bullpen.

That's the best case scenario. It's just as likely Velazquez won't be as effective when hitters see him a second time through the batting order. Then the Red Sox have lost him as a bullpen asset and still have a hole in the rotation.

A trade would obviously help, but won't be easy to pull off. The farm system that was already depleted coming into the year has had it's would-be trade chips further devalued by injuries and suspensions. Getting the caliber of starter worth trading for might be a challenge.

All of which makes winning the division so critical. If the Red Sox have to pitch Sale in a one-game Wild Card series, even if they win, they wouldn't have him again probably until Game 3 of the ALDS.

So the Red Sox better keep hitting and they're going to need players to outperform their usual second halves. Even if Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez continue to compete against each other for the American League MVP, they're going to need help.

Xander Bogaerts has only hit over .260 in the second half once and only hit 10 or more home runs in the second half once. Mitch Moreland and Brock Holt have career batting averages considerably lower after the All-Star break than before it.

Four and a half games can disappear in a hurry. The Yankees, who have an easier schedule, have their own issues, but their farm system is deeper with internal options to fill in or players to trade for help.

The first half was outstanding. It gave the fan base a reason to trust Alex Cora and to love J.D. Martinez, but it's going to get harder now.

David Price can't relate to Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale never shaking off catcher, explains what reinventing himself means

Christopher Smith

BOSTON -- Red Sox lefty David Price learned to call his own game as a sophomore in college from then- Vanderbilt pitching coach Derek Johnson who now serves as Commodores associate head coach.

Johnson and Price sat together in the dugout breaking down opposing lineups each Friday, the day Price started. They did it while the other team took batting practice.

"We'd break down the other team's lineup 1-9," Price told MassLive.com. "Be like, 'This is the five-hole guy.' See how he's standing in the box, whether he's open or he's closed (stance). Seeing where his hands start. The type of leg kick. Whether he closes himself off to the plate or kind of steps out toward third base if he's a right-handed hitter. Looking at stuff like that will kind of tell you where that hitter wants the baseball and where he can do damage with the baseball as well."

Price recently talked about reinventing himself against the Yankees. The Red Sox lefty has an 8.43 ERA (44 earned runs, 47 innings) in nine starts vs. New York as a member of the Red Sox. He has allowed 74 hits, including 13 homers.

"It's time for me to go back to that drawing board and reinvent myself against these guys," Price said July 1.

Price -- who will pitch today (Friday) against the Tigers at Comerica Park in the Red Sox's first game after the All-Star Break -- doesn't need to reinvent himself by adding or subtracting pitches to his repertoire. He already began doing it in 2010 when then-teammate Chad Qualls taught him to throw a two-seam fastball.

It's about how he approaches hitters with his repertoire, altering pitch-sequences, locating pitches and studying constantly to figure out hitters' weaknesses. He also talks about standing on different parts of the rubber to give different looks.

He has the ability to make these changes and grow as a pitcher now that he's 32 and his average fastball velocity has dipped from 94.8 mph in 2015 to 92.6 mph this season. After all, he has been studying hitters since back during his sophomore year at Vanderbilt.

"I think a lot of guys are looking for ways to keep hitters on their toes, to keep them guessing, to make sure they're not too comfortable in the box against you," Price said. "If they're seeing the ball well off you, just have a lot of at-bats, you kinda have to do things differently from time to time."

Former Red Sox ace Jon Lester said the term "reinvented" gets overused because a pitcher still works with his same pitches. "It's maybe just sequence a little bit differently," Lester said.

"I don't think David Price needs to reinvent himself," Lester added. "I think he's a pretty darn good pitcher and he's been one for a while. I'm sure from what I've heard about him as far as his work ethic and how he goes about his craft, I'm sure he'll figure out the Yankees at some point."

Calling his own game

Price said he can't relate to Red Sox ace Chris Sale never shaking off his catcher.

Johnson, his Vanderbilt pitching coach, called all his pitches freshman year. He actually called the pitches for everyone on the staff.

"Then my sophomore year he gave me the liberty of calling my own game," Price said. "He gave me the ability if I wanted to throw another pitch. Just really bought into a lot of the stuff that he would look at."

He obviously doesn't call his entire game. He's not constantly shaking off Sandy Leon and Christian Vazquez.

"Preferably not," Price said. "I think it's just all about trying to set the hitter up the way that I either set him up in the past or knowing the way I set him up in the past and so I kinda want to do something opposite of that. And kinda just pitching backwards.

'I'm reading swings, body language, how they took a certain pitch," Price added. "What their hands are doing. Their leg kick. Everything. I'm taking that all into account. And trying to process what pitch is going to set up my next pitch or the pitch after that to get the best results."

Changing his repertoire over time

As a rookie in 2009, Price threw his fastball 73.5 percent of the time, per Fangraphs.com. He mixed in a slider 16.4 percent of the time, a changeup 6.4 percent and a curveball 3.7 percent.

Tampa Bay acquired Qualls on July 31, 2010. Price immediately asked him about his two-seam grip when they played catch in the outfield.

"I started the next day, threw it and loved it and threw that ever since," Price said.

The two-seamer is a fastball with movement. It typically isn't thrown as hard as the four-seam fastball but Price noticed his two-seamer had similar velocity to his four-seamer.

"Velocity at that time wasn't different," Price said. "It wasn't down."

Price's two-seamer (92.6 mph) has averaged approximately the same velocity as his four-seamer (92.8 mph) this season, per Baseball Savant. He also throws the two-seamer more often than any other pitch (36 percent), including the four-seamer (13.6 percent).

His two-seamer can be a very effective pitch. His best start against the Yankees as a member of the Red Sox came July 16, 2017 at Fenway. He hurled 8 scoreless innings. He threw 107 pitches: 77 two-seamers, 26 cutters and four .

"It's going to happen at some point in your career" where you need to make changes, Price said. "I wanted to do that early on in my career. I didn't want to get to that point where it was like, 'All right, it's time. I need to make adjustments because what I'm doing right now isn't working.'"

He learned his cutter from then-Rays teammate James Shields.

"Anytime you can add something to your arsenal or change something, it's kind of in a sense reinventing what you're doing," Price said. "When I started throwing the two-seam, when I picked up the changeup. I started throwing the backdoor cutter and throwing the cutter in to righties.

"Just moving around on the rubber, whether it's hitter to hitter or during an at-bat, start to start. There's a lot of things I feel like a lot of guys do that probably don't get noticed but that they do differently from their last start or their last at-bat or their last hit."

Now that he's older, he needs to spend time studying and changing sequences.

Price gave the Blue Jays a different look in his final start before the All-Star Break, throwing more than usual.

Price has thrown his two-seamer 36 percent of the time this season, his cutter 27.5 percent, his changeup 19.3 percent, his four seamer 13.6 percent and his curveball 3.6 percent.

He threw 34 percent changeups and he induced nine swings-and-misses vs. Toronto.

"I do it with our hitters," Price said. "I look at our hitters and try to identify what they're doing. Especially when you're seeing games on TV. It's a little bit tougher when you're out there because you can't get an exact feel for where they are in the box. Or whether they are in the back of the box or in the front of the box.

"Their distance away from home plate and how close they are, that's kind of tough to see from the side," Price added. "But whenever you're watching on TV and it's straight behind that pitcher, you can get a pretty good grasp of what that hitter wants."

Different mindset vs. Yankees

Maybe it's simply a change of mindset for Price vs. the Yankees.

Lester said every pitcher has at least one team that he has trouble against.

"Sometimes it's better to go out there and go, 'You know what? Screw it. I'm not grinding this one. I'm just trying to execute one pitch at a time,'" Lester said. "And a lot of times when that happens, you look up and you're like, 'Oh, man. I threw the ball pretty well tonight.'"

Lester said when a pitcher struggles against a certain lineup he often wonders to himself during a start when he'll begin getting hit hard.

"If you're just plotting along and not worried about that (it might be a different outcome)," Lester said. "You know, it doesn't always go well. But I think mentally that's a way to kind of approach it sometimes."

* WEEI.com

Why high number of walks aren’t all that concerning for Red Sox pitching prospect Bryan Mata

Ryan Hannable

One of the top pitchers in the Red Sox farm system is 19-year-old Bryan Mata with High-A Salem.

Mata was named to Team World for the Future’s Game in Washington, D.C. this past week and threw one inning. As always, being named to the game is the highest honor for a minor leaguer to receive.

Looking at his numbers — a 6-2 record with a 3.42 ERA — things look pretty good, but the thing that stands out is his 57 walks in 71 . Over the past two seasons, he’s had a total of 45 walks, so clearly something is off, but there may be good reason for that.

The right-hander is adjusting to his new body.

“You’re talking about a guy growing into his body,” Red Sox minor league pitching coordinator Ralph Treuel said. “His velocity, he’s touching 96-97 [miles per hour], which we never saw that last year. That has spiked. He’s a bigger kid, physically. He’s every bit of 6-foot-5 and close to 230 pounds right now. He was not that last year. It’s a transition and I have seen this happen with a lot of young high school, young Latin pitchers … He’s been 19 years old all year in a really good league. The league, they aren’t hitting him. They are hitting .226 off him.”

Mata is a completely different pitcher than he’s been in his first few years in the organization, so he’s still adjusting and figuring things out with the bonus being more velocity. Being 19 years old, there’s nothing wrong with that, especially when most of his pitching peers in the Carolina League are 21 and 22 years old.

Aside from Jay Groome, Mata may have the most promise of any of the young pitchers in the system and while it may be easy to look at the control problems and get concerned, realizing he’s only 19 and still growing into his body makes that a lot easier to take.

* BostonSportsJournal.com

Five second-half keys for Red Sox, including bolstering the bullpen and keeping regulars fresh

Sean McAdam

The All-Star break has come and gone. On Thursday night, the Red Sox will travel to Detroit and start the second half of the season Friday.

The Sox built the best record in either league leading up to the break, and are on pace to eclipse the franchise mark for most wins in a season. But securing first place will not be simple. The Yankees sit 4.5 games behind, with three games in hand, and are just three games back in the loss column. The teams will meet 10 more times, including six games in the final two weeks of the season. So there’s ample opportunity for the Yankees to close the gap.

Until then, here are five keys for the remainder of the regular season.

1. Beef up the bullpen.

Red Sox relievers performed well in the first half with a 3.27 ERA, fifth-best in baseball and third-best in the American League. Craig Kimbrel (30 saves in 32 chances; 0.890 WHIP) is a lock-down closer and Matt Barnes (.166 batting average against) has emerged as a quality, high-leverage reliever.

But there are concerns. Joe Kelly has an ERA of 9.22 since June 1, and no one else in the pen has sustained big-game experience. It’s worth noting the Sox have been outscored 48-36 in the eighth inning, where, particularly in the postseason, so many games are won or lost.

And make no mistake: it’s the postseason the Red Sox should be focused on. Take a look at the bullpen capabilities of the last few champions: All of them had multiple late-inning options from which to choose.

As currently constituted, the Red Sox don’t have that. They need to acquire someone with experience in high-leverage spots, preferably one with postseason experience. Zach Britton and Jeurys Familia fit that description and are very much available as rentals.

2. Address the starting rotation.

Injuries have hit the Red Sox’ rotation at precisely the wrong time. Eduardo Rodriguez won’t return until well into August at the earliest. Steven Wright is still battling knee woes. Drew Pomeranz took a big step forward Wednesday night when he allowed just one run in six innings in a rehab start for Pawtucket, but that was his first strong outing in four tries there.

If Pomeranz can come back soon and fill one of the vacancies in the rotation, the Sox would be in good shape. They could somehow patch-and-fill the fifth spot between Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez. But having both in the rotation at the same time represents a double whammy since it thins the bullpen depth while also placing more of a burden on the rest of the relievers to provide more innings during those starts.

Obviously, the Red Sox lack much inventory in their farm system, and might be hard-pressed to deal for a reliever. Adding a starter to their shopping list would only further stretch them.

It’s possible that they could get a veteran back-end placeholder, in the mold of Doug Fister from a season ago. If not, Pomeranz will need to return and be effective.

3. Continue to monitor the workload of veteran starters.

The Red Sox wisely developed a program in spring training to limit the toll on their starters. Throughout the first half, they gave Chris Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello extra days of rest when the schedule allowed.

Now, that same approach becomes even more imperative. All three starters are over the 100-inning mark at a time when teams would like to avoid having their pitchers get to 200 innings.

The break will help offer a reset for the rotation. Other than his one inning of work in the All-Star Game, Sale will get 11 days between starts, while Price will get seven and Porcello will get nine. The latter, in particular, could use the rest, having pitched to a 5.14 ERA since mid-May.

Going forward, the Sox will have to find a happy medium for the three, as the team very much wants to win the division to escape the prospect of a one-and-done, wild-card game, but still has to focus on the need to have its top starters at full strength for what could be a long October.

Taking advantage of an off-day in August to plug in a spot starter and provide two extra days of rest — as the team did back in June, right when rotation had hit something of a wall — would be a good idea.

4. Don’t run the regulars into the ground.

For the most part, the outfielders are young — all in their 20s — and healthy. But in the infield, the Sox need to make sure a couple of players get an occasional breather. Xander Bogaerts has a history of running out of gas in the second half. Since returning from a DL stint in April, Bogaerts has started 70 of the last 73 games. The Sox have options on the roster (Brock Holt, Tzu-Wei Lin and even Eduardo Nunez) who can fill in for a game here and there to keep Bogaerts fresh; they shouldn’t be afraid to do so.

Mitch Moreland is another who needs some time off. Moreland has never played as many as 150 games in a season, and while the presence of Hanley Ramirez earlier in the year limited his games played — he appeared in 77 of the first 98 games in the first half — it would be wise to ensure that he doesn’t get overexposed in the second half. The presence of Steve Pearce allows for an occasional day off, as does the periodic availability of Sam Travis.

5. Keep beating up on the bad teams.

With a few exceptions (losing a series at home to the White Sox last month), the Red Sox have successfully steamrolled the many weak opponents they’ve played. For instance, Boston is a combined 19-4 against the two losing teams in their division, the Orioles and Blue Jays, and while they’ve come under criticism for building their record on the backs of tomato cans, they need to continue this trend.

More weaklings await them in the start of the second half, with 10 straight against losing teams (Tigers, Orioles, Twins).

There will be plenty of challenges on the schedule. Ten games remain with the Yankees, as well as three with Houston, seven with Cleveland, three with Atlanta and four with Philadelphia — all playoff contenders.

But by winning the games they should, the Sox will give themselves some breathing room when it comes to playing quality opponents.

* The Athletic

Red Sox look like they need more starting pitching before trade deadline

Jen McCaffrey

With less than two weeks before the non-waiver trade deadline, the Red Sox figure to be busy bolstering their roster in hopes of a deeper postseason push than the past two years.

Though Boston’s 68-30 record is the best in baseball at the All-Star break, there are still some improvements to be made.

The Red Sox would be wise to add an another arm to the bullpen, but the week before the break presented another need: starting pitching. That might seem odd for a unit that counts four pitchers with at least 10 wins at the All-Star break, but injuries have taken a toll on the back end of the rotation.

It didn’t look good when Eduardo Rodriguez raced over to cover the first base bag on Saturday in the sixth inning and collided with Toronto’s Lourdes Gurriel rolling his ankle in the process. Manager Alex Cora confirmed as much the next day.

“There’s some serious damage in the ankle,” Cora said, adding it’s a ligament injury. “No surgery required. He’s going to have a [walking] boot for two weeks, and then we will reevaluate to see where he’s at.”

Given Rodriguez’s injury history and the length of time it took for him to feel comfortable on the mound following knee surgery, it’s hard to feel confident about what he will provide when he returns.

Meanwhile, Drew Pomeranz, who went on the disabled list June 5 with biceps tendonitis, pitched in another rehab outing Wednesday for Pawtucket. He posted much better numbers than in his previous three outings (when he surrendered 10 runs over 9 1/3 innings), allowing one run on one hit over six innings.

Steven Wright still remains sidelined with knee inflammation as a side effect from his surgery last season and doesn’t appear ready to return anytime soon.

In the interim, the Red Sox have relied on Brian Johnson and Hector Velazquez, both of whom have done well filling in but don’t seem to be long-term solutions.

So who’s available?

The have veteran left-hander Cole Hamels under contract through the end of this season with a team option for 2019. The 34-year-old Hamels hasn’t been as reliable as years past, posting a 4.36 ERA over 19 starts. However, he does have experience in the postseason with 16 starts and a 3.48 ERA. If there’s one thing the top of Boston’s rotation lacks, it’s postseason experience and success.

The Blue Jays’ J.A. Happ has been mentioned in trade talks over the last month. The 35-year-old lefty has a 4.29 ERA over 19 starts this season, but a career 2.91 ERA in nine games, eight starts, at Fenway. In his most recent start at Fenway, however, he allowed five runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Another interesting option for Boston could be the Reds’ Matt Harvey. After he was designated for assignment by the Mets earlier this year, Harvey has quietly put together a nice season for Cincinnati, posting a 3.64 ERA in 12 starts. Harvey will become a free agent in the offseason so the Red Sox won’t be looking to give up too much, but it could be an intriguing fit.

Speaking of the Mets, it’s possible a more long-term solution is available for Boston. While starters like Jacob DeGrom and Noah Syndergaard would require a prospect haul that the Red Sox do not seem to have, right-hander Zack Wheeler could be a good fit. The 28-year-old has a 4.44 ERA over 18 starts with a respectable 8.9 K/9 this season. He won’t become a free agent until 2020 and is making just $1.9 million this season. It’s possible the Mets might be looking for a prospect like infielder Michael Chavis in return or maybe a pitcher prospect like lefty Jalen Beeks along with infielder Tzu-Wei Lin.

Detroit right-hander Mike Fiers, who pitched in Houston last season and is scheduled to pitch against the Sox on Saturday, could be another option. In 18 starts this year, Fiers has posted a 3.70 ERA and could be a nice fourth or fifth starter option for Boston.

Aside from Chavis (who just returned from an 80-game PED suspension), Beeks and to a lesser extent, Lin, the Red Sox farm system is thin. Two of Boston’s top prospects are already sidelined for the season in 2017 first-rounder Jason Groome, out for the year with Tommy John surgery, and 2018 first-rounder Triston Casas, recovering from season-ending thumb surgery. The Red Sox seem to like Double-A right-hander Mike Shawaryn but he could be moved in the right situation, as could Triple-A reliever Ty Buttrey.

Considering Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski already acquired right-handed hitter Steve Pearce, a nice addition to the roster so far, for a relatively cheap price (High-A Salem shortstop ), it won’t be surprising if Dombrowski works out one of these deals.

* USA Today

Yankees and Red Sox, both bound for 100 wins, gear up for epic pennant race: 'Bring it on'

Bob Nightengale

It was the summer of 1993, and Boston Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel still remembers the stress, the nightly angst he and his family felt every single day.

Now, 25 years later, those feelings are back.

The difference now is that instead of being a young Atlanta Braves fan growing up in Alabama, he’s a vital component in baseball’s greatest playoff race in a quarter-century.

It’s Yankees-Red Sox - and the talent level and stakes involved may be the greatest this rivalry has known outside of their playoff meetings.

Amid baseball's competitive imbalance, we also have a division race we can’t keep our eyes off, where one team has won more games before the All-Star break than anyone in baseball history, the other on pace to win 106 games.

The Red Sox are 68-30, even if they go .500 the rest of the way, are guaranteed of only their fourth 100- victory season. They are on pace to win 112 games, shattering the franchise record of 105 victories in 1912.

The Yankees are 62-33, their best record at the All-Star break in 20 years, and if they continue at this clip, their 106 victories will be their second-most in a season since Roger Maris eclipsed Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1961.

And all this drama leads to one team winning the AL East, with the Red Sox leading by 4 ½ games, and the other having no guarantee of playing more than a single postseason game.

“You hear a majority of guys say they don’t pay attention to the race until later in the year,’’ Kimbrel says, “but with the situation you’re in, you’re looking at the scoreboard every night. You can’t help it. Every single day is important.

“I remember 1993, and when I played in Atlanta, you were reminded of it every time the Giants came to town, because they would put those highlights on the Jumbotron.

“You don’t forget something like that. You can’t.’’

It was baseball’s last great race without a safety net. The San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves were tied on the final day of the season for the NL West lead. The Giants lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers that day; the Braves beat the .

The Braves (104-58) went to the playoffs. The Giants (103-59) stayed home.

“Can you imagine?’’ Kimbrel said. “You win 103 games and you’re not in the playoffs. You felt sorry for them because you never wanted to be that team.’’

Major League Baseball made sure it would never happen again, adding a third division to each league in 1994, introducing a wild-card format, even adding a second wild-card team in 2012.

There hasn't been a 100-win team since the ’93 Giants who failed to play in a best-of-five playoff series.

That could change this year.

The Red Sox and Yankees, who have outscored their opponents by a combined 294 runs, are virtually assured of each being in the playoffs, with Tampa Bay trailing by 18 games in the AL East, and the Oakland A’s down by eight games for the second wild-card spot.

The winner gets to rest and play a best-of-five series. The loser is relegated to a one-game playoff and likely facing one of two pitchers who have thrown a no-hitter this year: James Paxton of the Seattle Mariners or Sean Manaea of the Oakland Athletics.

“The goal is to win the division,’’ Mariners All-Star slugger said, “but if we have to play the wild-card game, we’ll take our chances. I don’t think anyone wants to play us in a one-game wild-card."

Can you imagine the firestorm if the Yankees or Red Sox lose that wild-card game, robbing us of a potential Yankees-Red Sox playoff series?

You don’t think there would be a dramatic push to change baseball’s playoff format, turning the wild-card game into a best-of-three?

“Let me say this loud and clear,’’ MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred says, “nobody appreciates the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry more than I do in terms of how important it is to the game. But I would also suggest if it’s the Brewers and Reds winning 100 games, the uproar would be less than the Red Sox- Yankees one. So, I don’t think you should get into redesigning your system based on the outcome of a particular year,”

While MLB officials and TV executives would be mortified to see the Yankees or Red Sox eliminated after one game, this is the intention of the second wild-card. There was little deterrent in being a wild-card winner in the past, with 12 wild-card teams still reaching the World Series, winning six championships.

Now, you better win the division, or you’re left rolling the dice at the craps table, knowing that even if you win the wild-card, you just lost the services of your ace until Game 3 of the Division Series.

“If the standings finished as they are today under the old system,’’ Manfred said, “the Yankees and Red Sox wouldn’t care who won the .

“So I’m pretty good with how it looks.’’

Pardon the Yankees and Red Sox for not sharing those cuddly feelings.

“You drive yourself crazy in July trying to keep track of that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters last weekend. “I’m aware they win every game.’’

Well, maybe not every night, but certainly at a historic pace. The Red Sox opened the season going 17-2, and closed the first half winning 12 of their last 13 games.

“We’re not worried,’’ Yankees ace Luis Severino said. “We’re going to be in the playoffs. It’s just 4 ½ games back. We play them 10 times the second half. We have to fight, but we will be in the playoffs.’’

Yet, the possibility of a one-and-out postseason is the fear of every Yankee and Red Sox fan,.

“You try not to think about it too much,’’ Red Sox All-Star first baseman Mitch Moreland says. “I don’t know if it’s more fun or less fun the fact that we can’t shake them. But if nothing else, it does keep you focused.’’

The schedule-makers can take a bow this year. The Yankees and Red Sox play one another six times the last two weeks, beginning with a three-game series Sept. 18 at Yankee Stadium, and the final three games of the season at Fenway Park.

It could be an epic finish in this storied Yankee-Red Sox rivalry, with perhaps an encore awaiting in the postseason.

“This is what we signed up for, right?’’ Red Sox ace Chris Sale said. “Yankees-Red Sox. Bring it on.”