They Can't All Be Winners
Sox Lose To Jays; Richards Struggles
I didn’t get to watch last night’s Red Sox game. It’s a dirty truth that sometimes life gets in the way, in a good or bad or just mundane fashion, and I’m unable to sit in front of my computer for upwards of four hours ignoring my family to focus solely on the Boston Red Sox. Last night was little league, and I’m the coach and my son plays, and the game was scheduled pretty much exactly during the Red Sox game. So I followed along on my phone as I could, here and there, but you can’t manage 11 12-year-old boys, answer all their questions, cheer them on, console them, and organize them (I use this word as loosely as possible) and also pay attention to the Red Sox game simultaneously. That would be like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel or walking across a field of broken glass. It’s possible, technically, but it’s essentially suicidal at most and self-defeating at worst.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions on the game though! This is the internet, after all, and the opinions come regardless of intellect, knowledge, or experience. But seriously folks, the idea that the Red Sox should jettison Garrett Richards for Tanner Houck is a silly one. It’s just silly.
We all want good pitching, especially after last season’s flaming bag of dog poo inside a larger bag of dog poo that is also flaming. But the season is long and tossing out a promising - yes promising; check out his career numbers - free agent starter after four starts is not a good nor well thought-out idea.
Scouting the stat line for Richards is bound to make things sound better than they were. I get that. Watching each of the six walks, the hit-by-pitch, the wild pitch, the full counts upon full counts upon full counts, it’s a bit like watching vintage Daisuke Matsuzaka but with a severe case of brain freeze, or early career Clay Buchholz, but with less body sweat. In a word, it’s excruciating, and I’ve been there. I get it. But I also know that feeling isn’t necessarily an accurate one. It’s grounded in emotion, not logic, and the reason I know that is because the Red Sox never did actually shoot Matsuzaka or Buchholz into the sun.
Despite the first four starts, Garrett Richards is probably not a bad pitcher. Over his career, when he’s been healthy he’s generally been pretty good. He’s clearly in a bad way now, but that doesn’t mean the organization is better off running from him. He clearly has the velocity and movement on his pitches, so it’s not like he’s throwing slop at 86 mph. The fastball is down a couple MPH but it’s early in the season and, as Richards himself noted, it gets cold in Boston.
Heh. Anyway, when things warm up, his fastball will come to life a bit more. There’s still time to tweak his mechanics and get that fastball commanded and that slider slid. It’s just four starts. The season is 162 games long. If he still has a 7.00+ ERA this time in May then let’s talk.
Also, it bears pointing out that Tanner Houck, while promising in his own right, isn’t any kind of sure thing. He gave up three runs in 4.1 innings to the White Sox in his last start. Houck is talented, but not unlike Richards is known to lack command of his pitches from time to time. What’s more, he still hasn’t fully developed a third pitch, typically thought to be necessary to navigate through opposite-side-heavy lineups. So while Houck might be a slightly better bet to help the Red Sox win the next game than Richards, I don’t think he’s a better bet to help the Red Sox win the next 140 games than Richards.
Plus, as Chris Hatfield of Sox Prospects has noted, there will be injuries. The Sox have been pretty healthy so far this season, but it’s a long season and baseball is a deceptively tough sport. There will be injuries, and the Red Sox will need Tanner Houck to start for them. There’s no need to jettison or otherwise compromise the team’s talent level and major league depth on April 22. That would be unwise.
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Next up for the Sox are the Seattle Mariners, who just got knocked out of first place by the A’s. That’s because the A’s lost six straight to start the season and then went on winning streak that is still going and presently sits at 11 games. What’s odd is both the A’s and M’s have negative run differentials. Anyway, before the series, I’m planning on having a guest who covers the Mariners join me to sort things out Mariners-wise on the Sox Outsider Podcast. Look for that later today!
In fact I’ve got a few great guests just booked, so please, check out the podcast. I’ve had tremendous guests so far and it’s been tons of fun to talk baseball with them all. If you’re new to the podcast, it’s available wherever fine podcasts are available. Click here for a list of sites that have Sox Outsider.
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One final note, have you ever climbed a mountain, reached the top, and looked down on where you just came from? Why am I asking you this? No reason.
Thanks for reading, everybody.
Photo caption has me dying. Only real concern from last night is the Sawx announcers were talking about Richards as if what was happening was...some combination of pitching hurt and the yips (e.g. “I haven’t seen a pitcher throw a 50-foot fastball in a long time.”) I do hope the warm weather to come helps.