Evan: Please welcome Mike Silver to the Fire Brand writing crew! Tim Daloisio is going to be stepping down from writing articles for Fire Brand. He will still be contributing one podcast a week plus the weekly poll -- and will add in another podcast every week.
Junichi Tazawa heads to the rotation Tuesday against Detroit:
Boston's management has decided it's time for Junichi Tazawa to throw his hat into the ring as savior of the Red Sox starting rotation. Is he up to the challenge?
One can point to one move, or non-move, that is the reason the Red Sox are so far out of the division. And that is the Yankees acquisition, via free agency, of Mark Teixeira. Had the Red Sox signed him, rather than the Yankees, it could very well have made up the difference. Maybe the two teams are tied right now, rather than 5+ games apart. Tex is currently raking at a clip of .284/.382/.557. And he's stellar with the glove as always. His 'WAR' is 3.6 (3.6 wins over a replacement player).
Basically, adding Tex would have given the Red Sox the best corner infielders in the game.
But we didn't add Tex. Instead, we decided upon saving tons of money--especially some probable dead money at the back end of Tex's contract. And the organization felt it was best to put their stock in the players on the farm, rather than expensive veterans. Lars Anderson being the main reason why Tex wasn't signed, as far as "players on the farm" goes.
Can things really have gotten that much worse since the last time we talked? Well, at least we all now know that David Ortiz "did not have sexual relations with that women...." or "has never bought or used a steroid". It's been a gutwrenching week for Red Sox fans. But a win tonight could start the righting of the ship. Remember, the Red Sox are still a game plus up in the Wild Card.
All that and more on a special edition of Fireside Chats on MVN!
Nick Cafardo says the Red Sox have placed a waiver claim on shortstop Cristian Guzman. 31, Guzman has revived his career over the last three years with the Washington Nationals, hitting well over .300 each of the three years.
Average to below-average defensively according to certain defensive metrics, Guzman also cannot take a walk. However, when hitting .300 with decent pop, you can't complain. Guzman would represent a vast improvement. He's in the first year of a two-year, $16 million contract. The Sox desperately need someone like Guzman for the short- and long-term. Acquiring Guzman would theoretically solve the offensive conundrum. It remains to be seen if the Nationals will send Guzman to Boston. Now, for that starting pitching...
The Red Sox were gracious enough to issue me a press pass for the Pawtucket/Norfolk game at Fenway Park today. I barely made it into my seat for the first pitch thanks to some heavy traffic on the Pike. I saw Jake Arrieta, one of the Orioles' fabled pitching prospects, shut down a lethargic PawSox offense, 7-3.
After the game, I headed down to try to get some interviews, but only was able to grab manager Ron Johnson as everyone was skedaddling. I took the chance to talk about Clay Buchholz with him.