PENNY RELEASED

The Red Sox released Brad Penny last night, clearing a roster spot for Billy Wagner. The release came at the request of Penny, who wants to be able to sign with a new team before the September 1st deadline for playoff roster eligibility.

Penny wasn't going to be much of a bullpen pitcher. He's never done it, and would only be used as a long inning mop-up guy, a quasi-starter.

Penny was 7-8 in a Red Sox uniform. He started off well enough, going 5-1 in April and May. But he finished his tenure going 2-7. He was 0-3 in August with an 8.31 ERA.

Source:
Boston Herald

WAKE UP CALL

Could this be the start of something big. Tim Wakefield returns to the rotation with 7 quality innings of 1 run ball. Victor Martinez can catch the knuckleball (unlike certain Captains). And David Ortiz is hitting big-time clutch homeruns again.

Wakefield got a no-decision, but he registered his 12th Quality Start of the season, allowing 6 hits and only 1 walk over his 7 innings. He threw 94 pitches, and 73 of those were strikes. That's a strike-to-ball ratio of 3.5:1. That's excellent for any pitcher, let alone a knuckleballer. Of the 27 batters Wakefield faced, he started 20 of them with 1st pitch strikes.

In May, who would have thought David Ortiz would be at homerun #22? This was his first multi-homerun game of the season, and his first since September 17, 2008. Much like Wakefield makes the rotation fearsome, a power-hitting David Ortiz makes the lineup a force to be reckoned with.

The Red Sox are now 19-6 against the Central Division.

The Yankees beat the Rangers, giving the Sox a 2.5 (2 in the loss column) game edge in the Wild Card.

Junichi Tazawa takes the hill Thursday night as the Red Sox go for the sweep. But he's up against John Danks, who is 11-8 with a 3.85 ERA. We've seen that the White Sox have a very good rotation. If they had some hitting, and a good bullpen, they'd be sick. Too bad.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Elise Amendola

SOX STEAL A WIN

It wasn't easy. It wasn't pretty. But it wasn't quite as ugly as Monday night's win.

And I think all the Varitek lovers out there have to admit that Victor Martinez is a serious hitter. The lineup improves so much when he's in there. He hits the ball solidly, and hits it where it's pitched. His RBI single in the 7th was a good example of taking what a pitcher gives you. He didn't do too much with it, just hit it on a rope over the short-stop and into left field.

Jon Lester isn't an Ace. He's close. He's very close. On most teams, he'd be the #1 pitcher, and he might even be the Sox best starter. But Aces get deeper into games. 6.2 innings and 3 earned runs is technically a Quality Start, but just barely.

Lester has a tendency to throw a lot of pitches early on. And his stuff deteriorates very quickly after pitch #105.

Jonathan Papelbon recorded his 30th Save of the season, becoming only the second man in MLB history to record 30+ Saves in each of his first 4 seasons. The other guy to do that was Billy "100 MPH straight fastball" Koch.



And of course, Jacoby Ellsbury set a new Red Sox record with 55 stolen bases. What's really amazing is that he's only been caught 9 times. So 85.9% of the time, he gets the base, and only 14.1% of the time he gets the out. That's a crucial part of base-stealing. In his career, he's stolen 114 bases, and only been caught 20 times (85.1%).

Tim Wakefield makes his much anticipated return tonight. He faces Gavin Floyd, who has a solid 3.98 ERA and 10-8 record.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Elise Amendola

SO WAGNER IS COMING TO THE RED SOX

The very strange Bill Wagner had a twist ending this afternoon. After his whimsically named agent Bean Stringfellow made it well-known that the Red Sox refused to agree to Wagner's conditions, therefore keeping Wagner in New York; we find out that the Sox agreed to one of his conditions, and now he's coming to Boston.

Let's just go over a rough sequence of events to reinforce how bizarre this story has been:

1) The Mets put Wagner on waivers, the Red Sox claim him.

2) The Mets and Sox worked out a deal

3) Wagner claimed that he'd refuse to waive his no-trade clause unless the Sox guaranteed not to pick up his 2010 option, and not to offer him arbitration

4) The Sox claim that Wagner never proposed these conditions

5) Wagner and his agent say that Wagner will stay in New York in order to preserve his recently reconstructed arm.

6) Wagner and his agent agree to come to Boston, the Sox agree not to pick-up his option, but maintain the right to offer arbitration

So yeah, very dramatic.

And to his credit, Papelbon was somewhat welcoming in his remarks once the trade became "official."

And seriously, I'm sick and tired of every remark made by every athlete being overanalyzed and investigated to death. I'm listening to WEEI right now and nobody is talking about how this move affects the Red Sox bullpen. They're discussing what Papelbon said a few days ago, and whether or not that demonstrates some sort of latent insecurity. Apparently, everyone's a shrink.

Remember when sports talks was about sports, and not about quotes and remarks?



Source:
Boston.com's Extra Bases

DAISUKE'S RETURN ON SCHEDULE

Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched 3 innings of rehab ball for the Sox' Gulf Coast League affiliate in Fort Myers yesterday. He threw 37 pitches (surprisingly low for 3 innings), struck out 4, walked none, allowed 1 hit, and didn't allow a run.

His upcoming rehab starts:

Saturday 8/29 with AA Portland
Thursday 9/3 with AAA Pawtucket

Unfortunately, AAA Pawtucket's season ends on September 7th. The Sea Dogs end their season on the same day. So Matsuzaka might have to finish his rehab starts with the big club.

Source:
Boston.com

SLOPPY WIN

Apparently Clay Buchholz pitches to the level of his opponents. Against Sabathia, Verlander, and Halladay, he allowed 4 earned runs in 19 innings (1.89 ERA). Against Jose Contreras, he allows 7 runs in 4.2 innings. Thankfully, Clay's next opponent will be Toronto's Ricky Romero, who's 11-5 with a 3.91 ERA.

Jose Contreras really sucks against the Red Sox. Even though he got charged with only 1 earned run, he was primarily responsible for Chicago's 3rd inning collapse. It was his error that allowed Ortiz to reach on a weak groundball, and his wild pitch allowed Youkilis to score the tying run.

We saw in this game why Billy Wagner would be a good addition to this team. The bullpen did an excellent job, pitching 4.1 innings and allowing only 1 run. But the fact that they HAD to pitch 4.1 innings is why adding another arm out there will help.

With 38 games left in the season, Papelbon's already made 52 appearances. Ramirez has made 55, Delcarmen has been in 51 games, and Okajima's made 56 outings. Having a guy like Wagner could help keep the bullpen fresh. With starters like Buchholz and Tazawa, who struggle to reach the 6th inning, the bullpen needs to be as deep as possible.

Jon Lester faces Freddy Garcia Tuesday night. Yes, Freddy Garcia's still knocking around out there.

Source:
ESPN.com

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Charles Krupa

BILLY WAGNER AND HIS CONDITIONS

The Sox want Billy Wagner. The Mets want to dump Billy Wagner's contract. Billy Wagner doesn't want his $8M option for 2010 picked up. I don't see what the hold-up is.

Wagner can help bolster the Sox bullpen. The relatively innocuous comments from Jonathan Papelbon ("Has he pitched this year?) and Manny Delcarmen ("I think our bullpen is fine right now") notwithstanding, Wagner has 385 Saves in his career. He might turn out to be Eric Gagne 2.0, or he could bolster a bullpen that's lost it's early season form, and has been rundown by lackluster starters failing to go 7 innings.

There are some reports that Wagner's people (his agent has the laughably silly name of Bean Stringfellow) have made two conditions clear to the Red Sox:

1. They agree NOT to pick-up his 2010 option, so he can sign with a team as a closer.

2. That they do not offer him arbitration, allowing teams in 2010 to sign him without compensating the Red Sox with draft picks.

These are reasonable terms, to be sure. I don't want to spend $8M on Wagner in 2010. But the Red Sox denied being offered these conditions. So God knows what's actually going on.

But if the Sox make the playoffs, and subsequently do well in the playoffs, it will be because the starting pitching sorted itself out. It will be because of the return of Tim Wakefield, or perhaps Clay Buchholz finally settling in as a Major Leaguer. It will also be because JD Drew, Jason Bay, and David Ortiz figured out how to all hit at the same time.

This Billy Wagner situation might be more trouble than it's worth. Papelbon's comments aren't as bad as some have made them out to be, but they could just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Then there's how much Eric Gagne struggled to figure out his new role.



Sources:
ESPN.com
New York Post
AP via WBZTV.com

BULLPENNY

Tim Wakefield will return to the rotation Wednesday night. Victor Martinez will catch him, and he'll replace Brad Penny. Penny will be shifted to the bullpen to be used as a long-reliever.

This move makes sense, except why didn't the Sox use Smoltz in this role? Brad Penny has made 4 relief appearances in his career. Smoltz has made 242. Opponents were hitting .230 off Smoltz the first time they faced him. Of the 8 homeruns Smoltz allowed, 0 came the first time thru a lineup. Opponent OPS for Smoltz the first time thru was a meager .597. For Penny, it's .789.

Smoltz just seemed like a better choice for this role. He boasts 154 career saves, and also 4 postseason saves.



Penny leaving the rotation is fine, and he's probably better suited to be used in large-deficit games. It'll help save the other guys in the bullpen. But I just can't get over how the Sox could have a versatile guy like Smoltz and simply let him go just because he sucked as a starter. You spend a couple million dollars on the guy, at least see if he can contribute as a middle-reliever.

Source:
Baseball-Reference.com

Photo Credits:
AP