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Thursday May.16/2013
It seemed like everyone was so much more excited about Hanrahan joining the Red Sox this off-season than any of their other acquisitions. Turns out his time in Boston was not only short, but memorable for all the wrong reasons. Where is Mark Melancon when you need him…Oh wait.
By Ryan Dana (MLB Reports Writer and Red Sox Correspondent): Follow @ryandana1
While some people in Red Sox Nation have had concerns about the team’s offense recently, it is clear that the major worry at the moment is the bullpen.
Their starting rotation is no longer at the top of the league statistically, but it has still been good, and the offense is still at the top of the league in most categories. The Sox are 4th in the MLB in Runs Scored, and 2nd in Doubles, AVG, OBP, SLG, and OPS. They’re also 1st in Triples.
The Bullpen was supposed to be a strength for the Red Sox entering the 2013 season, but it has been in shambles recently. At the forefront of the mess is Joel Hanrahan who I will talk about in-depth in a moment. First let me run through some of the other pitchers.
The Red Sox are 26th in the Majors with a 4.47 ERA from their relievers. Their BAA is .250 which is 23rd in the Majors, and they have 6 blown saves which is tied for 6th most in the MLB.
Above is a clip (granted it is a year old) about the true closer on the Red Sox. I think it is interesting and sheds some light on who Andrew Bailey is as a baseball player and person.
The combination of Daniel Bard, Felix Doubront, Alfredo Aceves, Steven Wright, and Jose De La Torre have thrown 15.1 IP over 7 appearances combined out of the pen. In those innings they have allowed 19 Runs for a combined ERA of just over 11 if my math is correct.
My point in mentioning all this is that they have inflated the team’s bullpen numbers a little (in limited action). Also this suggests that the depth options for the club in the pen aren’t working out so well right now.
Jose De La Torre needed to be added to the 40 man roster to make his appearance, and so would a bunch of their depth options out of the pen in AAA. They have some good arms in their system, but they are limited in ways like this as to what they can do with what they have.
Andrew Miller is another member of the 5+ ERA club in the Sox pen, but 3 of his 6 ER came in Sunday’s shellacking at the hands of the Blue Jays. He has had his problems, especially with control, in his time with Boston. However, he has also been a useful lefty with Craig Breslow and Franklin Morales being injured to start the season.
Clayton Mortensen, Junichi Tazawa, Koji Uehara, Alex Wilson, and Andrew Bailey have all been solid out of the pen in my opinion. Their ERAs range from 1.46 (Bailey) to 3.60 (Mortensen).
I was really rooting for Wilson to make the 25 man roster out of Spring Training, but I’m glad he’s getting his chance now to show that he is a very capable Major League reliever. He’s shown good composure on the big stage so far.
Injuries have really hurt the bullpen and put a lot of the load on the aforementioned arms. Franklin Morales, a guy capable of throwing multiple innings per appearance, has yet to see the mound for the Sox. Craig Breslow, a fellow lefty, just got back from the DL which he started the year on. Andrew Bailey is also currently rehabbing from a minor injury (I say that with great hope that it is only minor).
The amount of appearances required of their top guns in this early stage of the season doesn’t bode well for them maintaining health evident by Bailey already hitting the DL with a bicep injury. Other important guys could be next if they aren’t taken care of properly.
So now we get to Joel Hanrahan. The Red Sox traded for him this past offseason and gave him the closer role to start the year. Just a month and a half into the season the Joel Hanrahan era/error (whichever you prefer to call it) in Boston seems to have come to an end.
Hanrahan is on the 60 day DL and having season ending surgery to fix his flexor tendon muscle which is torn off the bone.
9 Appearances, 7.1 Innings, 9.82 ERA, 2 Blown Saves, and $7.04 Million later, Hanrahan will hit Free Agency at season’s end.
I’ll admit that I was optimistic about the Joel Hanrahan trade thinking he might be able to have another season like 2011 when he had 40 Saves, a 1.83 ERA, and a 3.81 K/BB ratio. Even a year like 2012 would have been fine with me at 36 Saves, a 2.72 ERA, and a 1.86 K/BB ratio heavily influenced by control issues.
At 38 years young, Koji Uehara brings a passion for the game that can only be rivaled by that of a kid in love with America’s pastime. I love watching this guy pitch/play the game.
It was kind of weird to me that the Red Sox were trading for a guy with really one stellar year as a closer in his past, at 31 years of age, but the package they gave up didn’t seem to be too much. The deal was Joel Hanrahan and Brock Holt moving to Boston and Mark Melancon, Jerry Sands, Ivan De Jesus, and Stolmy Pimentel heading to Pittsburg.
Well Mark Melancon has appeared in 20 Games while throwing 20 Innings for the Pirates. He has a 0.45 ERA with 13 Holds, and has a K/BB ratio of 20. Safe to say that alone makes the trade seem pretty lopsided especially since Melancon is making $517K this season and is not eligible for Free Agency until 2017.
As for track records, Melancon also had a pretty good 2011 season before coming to Boston, so what lead the Red Sox to believe Hanrahan would be much better is beyond me. But enough Hanrahan bashing, it’s time to move on and put that all in the past.
The Red Sox still have a closer of the present and future in Andrew Bailey. Granted he has had some injury problems, but he has been good when he has been healthy. Bailey has had just as many All-Star appearances as Hanrahan (2) in fewer years, and been pretty consistent when healthy so why he lost the closers role in the 1st place is beyond me, but I digress.
Bailey won Rookie of the Year in 2009 with Oakland and had 75 Saves there in 3 seasons. The Red Sox paid a steep price to get him as Josh Reddick had a phenomenal 2012 season for the A’s while Bailey spent much of the season on the DL for the Sox, but at least the Red Sox still have something to show for the players given up.
I think one of the main mistakes the Red Sox have made is trying to acquire their “closer” via trade. Again, I have faith Bailey will be good, but it was at a steep price. The closer label comes with a big price tag compared to any other reliever who will give you the same 1 inning of work a game, just not the 9th inning.
My philosophy in using a bullpen would be have your best pitcher pitch in the most critical situation whether that be with the bases loaded in a tight ballgame in the 6th, or with a 1 run lead going into the 9th.
I’m a little more hesitant to say that a guy who can handle the 7th or 8th can handle the 9th inning because I have never been in that situation personally, but how much different is it really?
I think ideally a franchise would like to get their players through their farm system as it is least expensive in all assets really, but that is not always possible. Free agency is another option, but if you must make a trade for a reliever, do you really have to pay the high price for a closer, or can you find someone else to do the job? Just a thought.
Nevertheless I am still confident the Red Sox have a good bullpen even without Hanrahan. I think as long as Bailey can stay healthy the Sox pen will be alright. He is simply their best reliever, although Tazawa and Uehara have been very good in their setup roles.
For the record I would have never made the Hanrahan trade, but hind sight is 20/20. I think this could benefit the Red Sox in the long run as it may make them hesitant before trading for closers in the future.
My closing thought will be one plastered on all of the local sports talk shows in Boston. Should the Red Sox have sucked it up and paid Jonathan Papelbon? Please comment with your opinions if you like. I think if I was the GM I would have let Papelbon walk, but I think it looks really bad that the Sox did only because of the choices they made to replace him.
Daniel Bard was one of the best setup men in the game 2 years ago and seemingly ready to take over the closers role any moment. Then came the failed experiment with him as a starter and he just hasn’t been the same. Will he ever be the Daniel Bard of old? We can only hope.
*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com and their partners***
A big thank-you goes out to our baseball writer Ryan Dana for preparing today’s featured article. Ryan is junior studying physical education with a concentration in coaching at Bridgewater State University. He has been playing baseball since he was 7 and coaching since he was 14. Ryan wants to be a college baseball coach once he graduates.
Ryan is, and always will be, a diehard Boston Red Sox fan. Secondary to baseball, he is a big health and fitness enthusiast. You can find Ryan on Twitter . Follow @ryandana1.
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