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Red Sox Call ups: Marrero Or Lin, The Utility Infielder Question

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Red Sox Call ups: Marrero Or Lin, The Utility Infielder Question

Come Labor Day, the AAA season comes to a close. With the season’s end, the main storyline trends back towards the Boston Red Sox and September call-ups. On Pawtucket’s roster, there is a number of candidates who could be vying for a shot.

But this piece focuses on the infield (Not First Base) and who might be the “guy”. Two names that instantly come to mind are Deven Marrero and Tzu-Wei Lin. Rosters expand from the 25-man to the entire 40-man on September 1st. Both Marrero and Lin happen to find themselves on the 40-man as of August 25th and look to remain there.

Lin Played Well Enough To Get Another Look

Lin started the season with the Portland Sea Dogs and played 48 games for the AA affiliate. Despite starting off down there he is very familiar to Boston Red Sox fans. Lin was called up to the big league club back on June 24th and had an electric time in the majors. In 19 games for Boston, this season the Taiwan product hit .280 (14-for-50) with 2 RBIs and played a number of positions for John Farrell.

In-fact, Lin is one of the most versatile players in the entire Red Sox system. He has spent time at shortstop, second base, third base, and centerfield.

After being sent down on July 17th to Pawtucket, he has appeared in 29 games hitting .225 (27-120) with 7 extra base hits, 5 RBIs, 6 walks, and 23 strikeouts. Not the greatest line, but for the 27th ranked prospect in the Red Sox system, his versatility should find him on the big club come September 1st.

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Tanner founded Trifecta Network in Spring of 2016 and has been the Chief of Content for the Network since that time. Currently Tanner covers all the sports teams in Boston and has contacts in many of the teams in the city. Before starting Trifecta, Tanner was a Site Expert for the FanSided site Chowder and Champions before leaving to cover Boston teams on the ground as a member of the media for Trifecta.

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Boston Red Sox

The Cleveland Indians: Chris Sale’s Kryptonite

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The Cleveland Indians Have Figured Out Red Sox Ace Chris Sale

On Tuesday night, Chris Sale became the quickest pitcher to reach 1,500 strikeouts. Yay! Do you think he cares? No. Sale admittedly believes that statistics such as K’s are empty trivialities in the world of baseball. This dude wants nothing more than to win, be it in glamorous fashion or not. He is a tenacious nitty-gritty competitor. Despite Sale reaching this career-milestone rather efficiently, does it alleviate any concerns in regards to his history in the latter-half of the season? Don’t forget, there’s still that “Cleveland problem”.

The obstacle that the Indians represent for Chris Sale is certainly an unnerving one. It has encumbered the minds of fans who have appreciated him, as well as the media who have covered him. Be it in Boston or in Chicago, it has always been a conspicuous tarnish on the young lefty’s reputation.

After Sale’s victory over the Blue Jays, John Farrell was asked to address this overshadowing issue. When questioned whether or not Chris Sale has a “Cleveland thing”, Farrell gave a diffident response: “If you look at the starts across the board, maybe.”

Well, that’s not exactly the vote of confidence you want to hear from your manager!

There was no cushioning in his answer. No niceties whatsoever. For Farrell (who would readily go to bat for any of his players) to volunteer that “maybe” there’s a problem: There’s a problem.

History Repeats Itself

His entire career, Chris Sale has been haunted by the Cleveland Indians. Most recently, we saw the Tribe shellac him for 7 runs in 3 IP, last Thursday. What substantiates the forebodings over Sale facing his arch-nemesis is the fact that the Indians are an ineluctable playoff opponent for the Red Sox. Historically he is 5-8 against Cleveland with an outlier of an ERA of 4.72.

Now, many people have suggested that Chris Sale is tipping pitches when he faces the Indians. That is to say: Cleveland has somehow cracked the cryptology of Sale’s delivery. This implies that Cleveland’s scouting report is much more formidable than that of any other team in the MLB. Does this seem plausible, or is it that the Indians just have Chris Sale’s number?

The Perfect Storm

Look at the 10 players on Cleveland who have at least 10 AB’s against Sale. They’re crushing him with a .283 BA, slugging at .429 and they have .781 OPS collectively. This is not derived from a negligible sample-size; those are the aggregate stats of 240 AB’s. The Indians represent a team that has well acclimatized themselves to Chris Sale’s pitching, through experience. They also represent a team that will inherently hit a pitcher with Sale’s approach on the rubber.

There are a few Indians’ players who embody this natural inclination to hit the arsenal of pitches that the “Stickman” (terrible nickname) brings to the table. Let’s take a gander.

Francisco Lindor, the blossoming shortstop, has a .455 BA against Chris Sale while slugging .636 of those hits. What is his success against the flame-throwing lefty predicated on? A wheelhouse compatible with Sale’s attack. Against left-handed pitching, Lindor’s hot-zone tells you that he loves pitches away, especially up in the zone. This is the location of Sale’s bread and butter put-away fastball. He likes to make righties stretch, and Francisco Lindor is one who is flexible enough for the job. In fact, he’d prefer to clobber pitches outside! But that’s just one example of Cleveland’s batting order. The trend overwhelmingly continues.

Edwin Encarnacion: a Right-handed hitter who loves anything up and away against lefties. He’s batting .353 when facing Sale with a 1.182 OPS.

Perhaps the most alarming performance is that of Cleveland’s first-baseman Carlos Santana. In 43 AB’s (the most of the group) he has a .302 BA with a .419 slugging percentage against Sale. His scouting report: A righty who loves the ball up and away.

A Monkey on Sale’s Back

For the rest of the regular season, the Cleveland Indians are not on Boston’s schedule. But predictions tell you that the Red Sox will face them in the playoffs, be it in the ALDS or the ALCS. In any event, Chris Sale will invariably be our ace in the rotation. His resolve to win is going to have to overmaster his vulnerabilities when facing Cleveland, in order to be successful.

Presumably, Sale will be making his postseason debut, come this October. Adrenaline will certainly be a factor. Taking on the Indians, his approach may have to mutate into an aberration of itself. He may have to wander out of his comfort-zone, attacking righties in on the hands. Rest assured that Carl Willis, Chris Sale and the rest of the pitching staff will have ample time to make the necessary adjustments. Whenever Sale sees Cleveland again, he will be more educated, more experienced, and he will surely be out for blood.

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Pawtucket Red Sox Close Out At Home And Thank Fans

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Pawtucket Red Sox

Pawtucket Red Sox Close Out At Home And Thank Fans

The Pawtucket Red Sox closed out their home schedule at McCoy Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Paw Sox went on to win the game 3-0 over the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. The only runs scored on the afternoon came from a 3 run blast off the bat of Tzu-Wei Lin. Hector Velazquez also had a great game for the Paw Sox. In 7 innings, he only gave up 1 hit as he earned the win.

After the game, the Paw Sox had several promotions going on around the ballpark as they thanked their fans for a great season. The Paw Sox had pony rides on the football field next to the stadium. They let kids run the bases after game. They even had a helicopter drop tennis balls onto the field

The Paw Sox welcomed 409,960 fans into McCoy Stadium this season. That was up from the 2016 season. In the 2016 season, 407,097 fans went through the turnstiles at McCoy Stadium. There were also 11 sellouts at McCoy Stadium this season.

Helicopter Drop

During the helicopter drop, the Pawtucket Red Sox placed three hula hoops in center field. Each hula hoop represented a section of the ballpark. You can find the whole video on the Trifecta Face Book page or you can find a portion of it below.

The prize that the team gave out to fans was free frostys from Wendys. That was on top of the free frostys that they were giving out to all the fans from the “Pop Flys For Frostys” promotion that the team has during the game.

Day As A Whole

Pawtucket Red Sox players thanked their fans after the game by throwing soft toss balls into the crowd. After that, the team had the helicopter come in to drop the tennis balls on to the field.

Once the helicopter left McCoy Stadium, the Paw Sox let kids run the bases. Then in the football field next to the stadium, the Paw Sox had horses for children to ride.

The next Pawtucket Red Sox game to be played at McCoy Stadium is on Friday April 6th, 2018 against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.

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Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox Give Update On David Price

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Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox Give Update On David Price

Boston Red Sox starter David Price has been battling elbow injuries all season long. With the starter on the DL and the season closing in a month, the window for him to return is closing.

But thankfully for Price, there is an opportunity for him to return before that window closes for good.

According to the Boston Red Sox Price will throw off a mound on Wednesday at the Rogers Centre. He hasn’t thrown off a mound since July 22nd, the last game he pitched before landing on the 10-day disabled list with elbow inflammation.

If he can throw off the mound on Wednesday it would be a huge step for him.

“It would be a big step,” said Red Sox manager John Farrell of Price’s return to the mound. “You know, any time a pitcher goes through that longtoss and flat ground phase of their throwing, you start to incorporate the angle, that’s clearly a positive step. We’ll see how things build into tomorrow.”

The issue for Price is the lack of opportunities to pitch in a minor league game to rehab. Many of the affiliates have their seasons ending on Monday. It is for that reason that John Farrell believes Price making a rehab start is a stretch at this point.

“Just in general,  assuming he gets on the mound [Wednesday],  I can’t envision him being in a game in a week,” Farrell said. As we did prior to him starting  the season with us,  there were five or six sim  games that we put together that we were able to build up a physical base. I would guess that we’d probably take that same approach, provided that we get to that.”

As for options to build Price back up, the Sox manager explained, “At this time of year, you have a number of things. In  September, we’re  going to have extra guys right here. You can put something together right here.”

Chances are any type of build up for Price will not be enough for him to be a legit starting option for the Boston Red Sox unless they work out some type of situation where he rehabs at the major league level with protection behind him in the bullpen.

One could imagine that he could find work out of the bullpen. It is a role he has done before including in the 2015 playoffs with the Toronto Blue Jays.

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