Red Sox Report: Buchholz Done!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
When you hear things like “there’s still a lot of discomfort in there” and “I guess I’ll have to learn to pitch with pain,” you learn to be a bit pessimistic.
Which is why a week ago it was reported here that there was a strong possibility that Clay Buchholz would not be pitching again for the Red Sox this season. Unfortunately, that appears to be the case.
Buchholz was supposed to throw another side session Wednesday but that was cancelled. Manager Terry Francona said that the right-hander will now see a specialist sometime between Friday and Monday for his ailing back.
Buchholz was placed on the disabled list in mid June and during his slow rehab from his back injury, he has experienced pain and discomfort every step of the way. Given his age (26) and ability, he is much too valuable to be rushed back from this injury or, even worse, forced to pitch in pain.
This news certainly changes the equation for Theo Epstein as he scours other teams’ rosters for a possible trade before Sunday’s deadline.
Where it was once believed that the Red Sox may be targeting a right-handed hitter before the deadline, now a starting pitcher is the priority.
Not that Boston’s rotation as currently constituted is bad. Jon Lester is back. He joins Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Tim Wakefield and, for the moment, Andrew Miller. Even if that remains Boston’s rotation through the end of the regular season, that should be plenty good enough to get them into the postseason.
However, advancing in the postseason may be difficult without a reliable third starter. Would Boston really want to depend on either Lackey or Wakefield to be that guy? At this point, you would have to say “no.”
So that brings up the question: what arms are out there for Boston to pursue. Depending upon how high they want to aim, they could start with Seattle’s Felix Hernandez. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner would cost a pretty penny if the Mariners were even willing to listen to offers in the first place.
Colorado’s Ubaldo Jiminez also wouldn’t come cheap. Other lesser names available are Minnesota’s Kevin Slowey, Hiroki Kuroda of the Dodgers, the Mets Chris Capuano, Baltimore’s Jeremy Guthrie and Washington’s Jason Marquis.
An interesting name is Atlanta’s Derek Lowe. While the Braves are in position to be a playoff team this year, they may listen to offers for Lowe who is scheduled to make $15 million next season. Would Boston welcome him back with open arms?
Whatever Theo decides to do, you have to believe that acquiring a starting pitcher is in his plans.
-Dustin Perdroia extended his career-best hitting streak to 24 games on Wednesday with another stellar performance at the plate. After going 4-5 on Tuesday, Pedroia went 3-4 (including his 14th HR of the season) against the Royals on Wednesday to lift his season average to .308. On June 4th, Pedrioa was hitting just .239. On June 29th he was hitting .273 when this hitting streak started. He has had 12 multi-hit games during the streak.
-David Ortiz belted a grand slam to right field in the bottom of the 4th inning. He is now hitting .305 with 20 HR’s and 68 RBI’s. Ortiz also became just the 6th Red Sox player to ever drive in 1,000 runs as a member of the franchise. He joins some pretty elite company in Carl Yaztremski, Ted Williams, Jim Rice, Dwight Evans and Bobby Doerr.
-Jacoby Ellsbury continues to be sizzling hot! The Sox lead-off hitter went 3-4 and belted his 17th HR of the season. Ellsbury is hitting .325, has 60 RBI, 29 stolen bases and has scored 78 runs so far this season.
-zAdrian Gonzalez added to his Major League-leading RBI total with 3 more Wednesday night. He now has 87.
-Kevin Youkilis told Terry Francona he wanted to play because the hamstring was feeling fine. Youk played third placing Yamaico Navarro in left field with Darnell McDonald in right. That gave the red-hot Josh Reddick a night off until he replaced Youkilis in the game moving Navarro to third base.
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