Photo (c) Kelly O’ Connor sittingstill.smugmug.com
It’s probably a sign of just how much of a baseball nerd I am, but the aspect of the 2013 Red Sox I’m most excited for is not Jackie Bradley Jr., the new faces, potential rebound seasons from Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz, or anything like that.
Nah, it’s the bullpen.
I had a brief Twitter discussion about this yesterday: I’m a big fan of well-pitched baseball. I’m one of (what I think must be) a small minority who would rather watch a pitchers’ duel than an offensive shootout. It’s why I spend a lot of time watching the San Francisco Giants.
The thing is, my love of pitchers has always centered on the starters – which you can imagine made last season a difficult experience. If there’s one silver lining from last season, though, it’s that the bullpen was excellent through most of the season (Alfredo Aceves notwithstanding).
It’s quite possibly for that reason that I’ve learned to appreciate bullpen work as of late, if only because – as bad as the 2012 Red Sox were – I could generally count on a solid outing from the relievers. It was a small comfort, but still.
Now, a season later, one of the Sox’ greatest strengths remains in that exact same area; if anything, the bullpen has improved. So despite the numerous offseason acquisitions and call-ups, I remain excited to see the new group at work.
One week into the season, the improved Red Sox bullpen has not disappointed. Allowing eight runs in 13.2 innings – five of which came in 4.1 disappointing innings from the mercurial Alfredo Aceves – the bullpen has looked quite promising thus far. I understand that sample size is a significant factor in any early season analysis – after all, Jose
Iglesias leads the team in batting average and OBP – but the fact that there has been no early meltdown (outside of Aceves’ long-relief disaster replacing the injured John Lackey) is nothing if not encouraging.
Even new incumbent closer Joel Hanrahan has come out firing on all cylinders following a rough Spring Training; the veteran has already picked up two saves early on and maintained velocity in the very high 90s, while only walking one batter in three innings pitched – control being a concern since his previous season with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Even if Hanrahan’s control issues should reappear, the sheer depth of the Red Sox bullpen makes it almost entirely a non-factor. Former All-Star closer Andrew Bailey is currently working in a mid-relief role. On top of that, setup man Koji Uehara has been one of the most un-hittable relief men in baseball for years. Much has been written about
Junichi Tazawa since his call-up last season, so it goes without saying he’s been quite deserving of a high-leverage role himself, as well. That’s without mentioning lefty-specialists Andrew Miller and (currently DL’d) Craig Breslow, or the versatile (and also-
injured) Franklin Morales. And who knows what the Sox have in formerly dominant setup man Daniel Bard?
All this is to say that I’ve come to appreciate the value a quality bullpen can have as of late, and – while it didn’t save the 2012 Sox – the depth of the 2013 squad’s ‘pen could come to play a vital role in the team’s bounce-back season. Obviously, much of the team’s success will be derived from bounce-back seasons from pitchers like Jon Lester
and Clay Buchholz, as well as strong performances from new addition Ryan Dempster and young arm Felix Doubront. However, at least a small bit of the pressure is taken off knowing this team has a bullpen capable of picking up the slack should those starters struggle.
Perhaps it’s a feature I’ve taken for granted as of late, but I know now I will enjoy watching the 2013 Red Sox bullpen do its work, however unheralded it may be.
Quick Takes for the Week:
– Jon Lester’s first start of the season was encouraging: five innings, two earned runs, and seven strikeouts. He probably could have gone longer if not for a fairly rough fourth inning, but it was an altogether nice performance from the Sox’ top pitcher. Especially considering it came against the Yankees, although I know that doesn’t quite mean what it
used to these days.
– Jackie Bradley Jr.’s controversial call-up brought about mixed results this week, posting a bizarre .176/.364/.253 triple-slash for the week. His plate discipline and outfield defense has looked major league-ready to me, but he only managed three base hits so it will be interesting to see how he levels out in the coming few weeks. While I like Bradley a whole lot, his major league-readiness will go a long way in determining whether his start-of-season call-up was worth it or not.
– John Lackey began what looked like an encouraging start this week – 4.1 innings pitched, eight strikeouts, only two earned runs on one long ball – before a scary injury to his throwing arm took him out of commission. The Red Sox are reporting Lackey’s injury
as only a strained biceps, but considering how bad it looked at the time, it wouldn’t be altogether surprising if it turned out to be a more significant one.
–Mike Napoli had possibly the worst opening week of any Red Sox bat this year, managing only three hits in 23 at-bats thus far. While Napoli can never really be considered a contact hitter, I’m sure the Sox will be looking for far greater than a .391
OPS from the new first baseman. Whether or not his plate approach develops will be a situation to monitor going forward.
-There may be a shortstop controversy brewing in Boston very soon, as Stephen Drew is reportedly nearing a return to the major leagues. Jose Iglesias opened the season with a rare hot start at the plate – multiple hits in each of his first three games – before a Josh Johnson pitch to the right elbow kept him out of the lineup Saturday. Pedro Ciriaco received the start yesterday, going 0-for-2 with a walk.