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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 26, 2020 15:46:36 GMT -5
Christopher Smith @smittyonmlb · 14m “Davidson’s arsenal is led by two plus offerings—a fastball up to 97 mph and a 12-to-6 curveball,” according to his Baseball America scouting report.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 26, 2020 15:51:01 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 7m Bradley says he’s ‘sure we’ll talk’ with the Red Sox in the offseason. ‘I’m excited for the opportunity (to be a free agent) and I think it’s going to be an interesting one.’
Bradley says decision on future is ‘a big decision’ based significantly around family life. ‘Ultimately I’m going to do what I feel is best for my family.’
Bradley on interest in returning: ‘I don’t know how to define it... I don’t know what the future holds...You go through the process and find out what’s going to be the best fit.’ Says he would be open to returning to Sox.
Bradley: ‘You start thinking about the relationships you’ve developed over time - the people who’ve inspired you. ... You definitely think about it and reflect.’
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 26, 2020 16:05:37 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 18m Bradley on his #RedSox career to date -- 'You become thankful for every trial and tribulation you go through.'
'I tried to treat everyone with respect whether it was the reporters or the fans. I wanted to be better for them and for myself as well.'
Bradley said he has no set time to speak with his agent, Scott Boras, following the season. Points out this is his first time entering free agency. But he does expect it to happen soon. #RedSox
Bradley said he arrived early at Fenway Park on Thursday night to think about his #RedSox career to date. Thanked the fans for the messages they sent him via social media and otherwise.
'I'm at peace. I'm at ease.'
Bradley on the season -- 'I think as a whole, this 2020 baseball season, it was going to be difficult regardless of how you put it.'
'I'm very proud of my teammates, the staff, all the things the organization did this season.' #RedSox
Bradley on 2020 -- 'We've got to be positive. We've got to find the positives in this. I've gotten to meet a lot of great new ballplayers who have come up through the system. I've been able to help talk them through some things.' #RedSox
Bradley on CF at Fenway -- 'I never set out to be the greatest center fielder. That's not my MO. My goal was to be the best that I could be. Be a winning ballplayer. Do my best every single day.'
'My legacy -- I'm not sure what I want my legacy to be, to be honest.' #RedSox
Bradley -- 'I don't think there's a particular favorite moment. Just because there were so many moments.'
Mentions the World Series, his work in the community, work with the Red Sox Foundation and more. #RedSox
Bradley signed off the call by thanking us and tipping his cap. Class act. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 26, 2020 16:13:38 GMT -5
Alex Speier @alexspeier · 6m Roenicke says he doesn’t know what his future is beyond the end of the season, but that while he’d prefer to know one way or another, he’s at a point in his career and life where he’s comfortable not knowing his status.
Roenicke on 2020 season: ‘It really felt like six months...It was a nightmare doing this every day.’ Said that’s true for players, training staff, front office. ‘without a doubt, this was really a tough season.’
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 26, 2020 16:22:29 GMT -5
Bill Koch @billkoch25 · 17m Ron Roenicke joins us on Zoom. He starts off by thanking us for our patience this season.
'I thought you really treated me fairly. I really appreciate that.' #RedSox
Roenicke -- 'I know everybody is disappointed in us not playing better this year.' #RedSox
In terms of rule changes for 2020, Roenicke likes the 7-inning doubleheaders and the extra-inning tiebreakers.
In the future, would be open to 26-27 men on a roster with a small expansion in September -- not to the previous 40. Maybe 30-32. #RedSox
Roenicke said he has a meeting with Chaim Bloom 'in a few days' to discuss 2021. #RedSox
Roenicke said if he was just starting out in the game his uncertain future in 2021 would be unsettling. But given that he's been at it for a while, he's a little more calm. #RedSox
In terms of rule changes for 2020, Roenicke likes the 7-inning doubleheaders and the extra-inning tiebreakers.
In the future, would be open to 26-27 men on a roster with a small expansion in September -- not to the previous 40. Maybe 30-32. #RedSox
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 26, 2020 16:25:40 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 3m Roenicke opened his pre-game Zoom thanking reporters for what were cordial relations in a difficult year.
The last time we spoke to him in person was March 9. Zooms are awkward and they had a lousy season but Roenicke never lost his temper with us.
He's a good guy.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 26, 2020 16:31:18 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 4m #RedSox make what seems like their 900th roster move of the season.
RHP Andrew Triggs returns from from the 10-day injured list. LHP Jeffrey Springs optioned.
Of course there's no where to option him to at this point. But that's OK.
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Post by Kimmi on Sept 26, 2020 17:01:25 GMT -5
I have a hard time with this i know he is a kid but he is a pro and a WS Champ Now Ron is no Cora but he has handled this mess pretty well and seems to have the players backs and the players seen to like him
as for the running thing....has happened a few times and last night...the Braves booth commented on it....Tom Glavine...and he not impressed. Devers may be a pro, but he is still very young. Sometimes, youngsters just don't know how to deal with failure or setbacks very well. IMO, he's still at a mentoring stage.
I'm not trying to criticize Roenicke. He's in a very difficult situation to manage. That said, I just don't think he is connecting with the players like Cora does. Maybe it's the age gap, I don't know.
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Post by Kimmi on Sept 26, 2020 17:05:40 GMT -5
Miami has the best luck factor in BB. They are +5. There are 3 teams +2, and one team +2. Everyone else is 1 or worse. Another way to put that is Miami has a run differential of -46, and they are 1 game over .500.
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Post by Kimmi on Sept 26, 2020 17:12:29 GMT -5
Mazza has been a bright point for me. As well as Weber. Everything this season qualifies as a SSS, but in the past 28 days, Mazza has a 4.44 ERA with 22/12 K/W in 24.1 IPs, and 2 HRs. Weber has a 2.65 with a 15/3 K/W and 2 HRs in 17 IPs. And their OPSa supports those numbers. I've complained forever about their inability to develop a 6-7-8 option, and maybe we are seeing this. I know that Roenicke mentioned Mazza as a #6/LR option for 2021. If one of the Boston writers were interested in writing something other than a hit piece, we've developed some possible nice depth pieces this year. It's actually a little bit sad, but Dalbec, Arroyo, Munoz, Houck, Pivetta, Mazza, and Springs are an interesting story, that no one is interested in writing about. I'm glad you mentioned Weber. He is a bright point for me as well, but it seems that most people are ready to move on from him. I continue to believe that our team is not in the dire shape for next year that many people believe it to be in. We have a lot of interesting names whom we only have small samples on, but they should provide solid depth at the very least.
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Post by scrappyunderdog on Sept 26, 2020 20:51:46 GMT -5
Another really nice game by Houck. Like I've said, I've never been a fan, but he is starting to convince me. What a nice step forward if he can be part of the 2021 rotation.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 27, 2020 3:15:14 GMT -5
OverTheMonster @overthemonster · 6h Assuming that's it for Houck, he finishes the year with 17 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 9 BB, 21 K.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 27, 2020 3:16:46 GMT -5
Red Sox 8, Braves 2: Tanner Houck ends his season in style
And Christian Vázquez led the way at the plate. By Matt_Collins@MattRyCollins Sep 26, 2020, 10:35pm EDT
Those who are upset with the Red Sox picking up a win on Saturday to hurt their 2021 draft position can take stock in the fact that the biggest reason they got the win was a big part of their future. Tanner Houck was on the mound for his third and final start of 2020 for this game, looking to build off two highly impressive outings. He sure did that. His slider was as nasty as we’ve seen and while he did give up his first earned run of the year, that was all he gave up. The righty worked his way out of trouble a couple times and straight-up dominated a wildly talented Braves lineup at other times, striking out ten batters over the course of his stellar six-inning start. The Red Sox offense, meanwhile, needed only one inning to score their eighth run, as they did it all in the second. That inning was punctuated by a Christian Vázquez grand slam, which was one of three hits for the catcher on the day.
Overall the biggest positive for the Red Sox this season has been Alex Verdugo, who was the team’s best player pretty much wire-to-wire. But despite only getting three starts, Tanner Houck quickly made his way up that list and it’s really hard to deny the talent. he made his third and final start of the year on Saturday and got his biggest test. While the Yankees sat a couple key bats in their matchup his last time out, the Braves, who have a ton of talent themselves, put everyone out there. There was nowhere to hide for the Red Sox rookie here. He was going to have to bring it.
And bring it he did. Even beyond the numbers and impressive pitches, which we’ll obviously get to, what stood out was how much he was willing to attack and trust his stuff against some of the biggest names in the sport. That was on display right away when he went out and fired fastballs in the zone into Ronald Acuña Jr. If you’ll recall, he hit one almost 500 feet to start Friday’s game. That didn’t scare off Houck, who got the strikeout to kick off his outing. Next up was Freddie Freeman, one of the three best left-handed hitters in the game, and Houck got a ground out. Marcell Ozuna did get on with a single, but that was it as Houck got Travis d’Arnaud swinging to end the inning unscathed.
He kept rolling after that. After a long top of the second — we’ll get to that in a few — that saw Houck having to sit for an extended period of time, it was fair to be a little concerned with how he may come out in the bottom of the inning. All he did was strike out all three batters who came to the plate. Ho hum. He followed that up with another 1-2-3 inning in the third, this one with a single strikeout to give him six through three.
In the fourth, we started to see some cracks from the Red Sox righty for the first time in the game. Freeman worked a four-pitch walk to lead things off, and Ozuna worked a walk of his own to put the first two on. After Houck started the next at bat off with two straight balls, it looked like me might unravel. Instead, Dave Bush came out, calmed down the rookie, and Houck got two strikeouts and a ground out to end the inning with his shutout still intact.
He entered the fifth not only with a shutout going, but also still not having allowed an earned run at all this year. The streak ended right away in that inning. Dansby Swanson led things off for the Braves and jumped on a bad slider for a solo shot, upping Houck’s ERA to a sky-high 0.60. That was followed by a base hit, and again it was a chance for Houck to unravel. Again, he reversed course with a strikeout and a double play to navigate any potential issues yet again.
The righty had one more inning in him with the heart of the Braves order starting things off. He issued another walk to Freeman to lead things off, but then got three straight outs to finish off his night. In all, he got through six strong innings with just the one run on three hits, three walks and ten strikeouts. Just an incredible end to an incredible stretch to start his career.
On the other end, the Red Sox got a ton of runs and only really needed one inning to do it. They were going up against a rookie in Tucker Davidson who was making his major-league debut. The southpaw was impressive in the first with a 1-2-3 inning. The second wasn’t so impressive. Boston got the rally going with a one-out walk from Jackie Bradley Jr., which brought Bobby Dalbec to the plate. He did what he does, which is to say the Red Sox took a two-run lead on one swing which happened to be the rookie’s eighth homer of the year. They’d load up the bases after that on an error, a single and a walk before Rafael Devers hit a ground ball to shortstop. Swanson bobbled what should have been an inning-ending double play, and the inning continued with a run coming across and only one out being recorded at second. Xander Bogaerts made it 4-0 with a base hit and then J.D. Martinez re-loaded the bases with a walk. That brought Christian Vázquez to the plate, and he started what was a hell of a night. This was his biggest swing, bringing everyone home including himself with a grand slam. Just like that, it was an 8-0 ballgame.
The Red Sox weren’t able to add any more to their total over the next five innings either, and the score was 8-1 as Houck was leaving and Austin Brice was coming in to start the bottom of the seventh. This was his first appearance off the injured list, and he looked good in a scoreless inning. The righty did issue a two-out walk, but that was all.
The eighth belonged to Phillips Valdez, but he wasn’t able to come through with a clean inning. The righty gave up a double to Freeman with one out, but was almost able to get out of it from there. With two outs, d’Arnaud ripped a line drive right back up the middle that ricocheted off Valdez’s leg. Fortunately, he was okay, but he had to rush a throw to first and it got away, allowing Freeman to score and make it an 8-2 game. He followed the error up with a strikeout to end the inning.
That just left the ninth, which belonged to another guy who just came off the IL in Andrew Triggs. He was able to toss a scoreless frame, allowing a single but nothing else to finish out the win.
The Red Sox have just one game left tomorrow afternoon. They’ll have Nick Pivetta going for the finale while the Braves counter with Bryse Wilson taking the mound for Atlanta. That game, like all others around the league tomorrow, starts at 3:10 PM ET.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 27, 2020 3:33:01 GMT -5
'He is nasty': Houck K's 10 to finish 2020
By Ian Browne @ianmbrowne 12:18 AM EDT
The taste that Tanner Houck will leave the Red Sox with going into the offseason is one they haven’t felt in years. This is the story of a homegrown pitching phenom who looks poised to make an impact for years to come.
How did Houck, the Red Sox's No. 10 prospect per MLB PIpeline, follow up his first two sparkling Major League starts? With an even better third start. The righty held the playoff-bound Braves to three hits and a run over six innings, walking three and striking out 10 while leading his team to an 8-2 victory on Saturday at Truist Park.
Houck became the ninth Red Sox pitcher in history to have a 10-strikeout game within his first three career starts.
• Box score
In his three starts -- all against playoff teams -- Houck is 3-0 with a 0.53 ERA.
“Well, [chief baseball officer] Chaim [Bloom] and I just talked, and I think that it’s still a short sample, but it’s against three good teams,” said Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke. “We feel pretty good that this guy can do this against the best hitters in the game, so I think it’s really encouraging when you’re looking at trying to fill in spots for a starting rotation and then you see that from a young guy. Chaim’s got a smile on his face right now, so you know it’s pretty good.”
Dansby Swanson took Houck deep for a solo shot in the fifth, stopping his run of 15 consecutive innings without giving up an earned run to open his career. It was the longest scoreless streak for a Red Sox pitcher starting his career since the late Vaughn Eshelman in 1995.
“He is nasty,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We haven’t seen him before. His ball moves a lot. He has a funky delivery that he kind of crossfires at you. He was effectively wild, but his stuff was live. He really did a really good job.”
The 24-year-old is the eighth pitcher in Red Sox history to win his first three career starts and first since Anthony Ranaudo in 2014.
What has Houck keyed on to have this kind of success so soon?
“Just comes down to game plan and executing,” Houck said. “I spent a lot of time down in Pawtucket working on being able to execute, whether it’s fastball away, four-seamer, two-seamer, slider. I didn’t throw many splitters, but a lot of it was hard work and executing.”
Houck had plenty of offense to work with in this one. The Red Sox erupted for eight runs in the second inning against Braves lefty Tucker Davidson, who had a tough first Major League start. Bobby Dalbec got things started by bashing a two-run homer, his eighth since getting called up a month ago, and Christian Vázquez capped the damage with a grand slam.
Instead of losing focus with the big lead, Houck continued to attack, generating 16 whiffs in his 94 pitches. In this one, Houck’s biggest weapon was his four-seamer.
“I felt like I had a lot of ride and pop on the ball,” Houck said. “I went to it. They’re an aggressive, low-ball-hitting team. Went out there and just kind of rode the fastball, up and it worked out really well -- also playing off the two-seamer and off the slider as well.”
This offseason, Houck will train in Florida so he can do as much throwing outdoors as possible. His mission will be to refine his splitter, which he hopes to use as a weapon against lefties. He barely used the pitch in these three starts for the Red Sox.
• JBJ, a pending free agent, talks tenure in Boston
“There were definitely some times I felt like I could have thrown it. Just continuing to work on that and refining mechanics and everything in general. There is always something you can work on,” Houck said.
One thing Houck won’t go into the offseason with is a big head.
“I know I’ve had some success now, but this game isn’t a sprint. It’s a marathon,” Houck said. “You’ve got to go out there and produce year to year. So a lot of work to be done still, but I’m ready to put in the work, and I invite a lot of competition.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Sept 27, 2020 3:53:44 GMT -5
Red Sox’ Tanner Houck continues strong run, dominates Braves in final outing By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated September 26, 2020, 10:51 p.m.
Tanner Houck has the Red Sox' attention. Even chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom is grinning, according to manager Ron Roenicke.
In his major league debut recently, he went five scoreless against the Marlins and struck out seven. Then he followed that by tossing six innings of scoreless baseball against a formidable foe in the New York Yankees. Keep in mind, he made easy work against two teams that would ultimately punch their ticket to the postseason.
On Saturday night, Houck made it three straight impressive outings against a playoff team, pitching the Red Sox to an 8-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.
In six innings, Houck fanned 10 and allowed just three hits. The only run he allowed — his first of the season — came in the fifth when he left a four-seamer over the heart of the plate to Dansby Swanson, who parked it in the left-center-field seats. He’ll finish the season with a 0.53 ERA, striking out 21 batters in 17 innings. Houck joined Eduardo Rodriguez as the only Red Sox starter to allow one or no runs in each of their first three major league outings. Additionally, he’s just the ninth Red Sox ever with a 10-plus strikeout game in one of his first three starts. Get 108 Stitches in your inboxEverything baseball every Monday-Friday during baseball season, and weekly in the offseason.
“It’s better than I could have written up myself,” Houck said afterward. “It all comes down to how you present yourself and your confidence. If you treated it like it’s a bigger moment I think you’ll fall into that pattern of trying [to do too much]. You just got to settle down and realize, ‘alright, I got here for a reason.’”
Houck didn’t have his best command. He elected to go with his four-seamer 43 times in his outing. Instead of his two-seamer, Houck felt he had the best feel with the four-seamer.
“I felt like I was commanding it really well today,” Houck said. “I felt like I had a lot of ride and a lot of pop on the ball. They are an aggressive low-ball hitting team. I kind of just went out there and kind of just rode the fastball up.”
He walked three, including back-to-back passes issued to Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna to open up the bottom of the fourth. But Houck dug deep, striking out Travis d’Arnaud and Ozzie Albies for the first two outs of the inning and then induced an Adam Duvall groundout to end it.
On the offensive end, the Sox scored all their runs in the second inning.
Bobby Dalbec pounded his eighth homer of the season (a two-run shot) off Atlanta’s Tucker Davidson, who made his major league debut. Then, with the bases loaded, Rafael Devers brought in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder and Xander Bogaerts drove in another with a single.
The Braves replaced Davidson with Grant Dayton, but with two outs in the inning, Christian Vazquez barreled a grand slam to left to make it 8-0.
“We haven’t had many [innings] like that this year,” Roenicke said. “It’s so nice to see the guys getting on base. I know the home runs were good but we walked. We got on base because we had some good at-bats.”
For Houck, he can ride into the offseason knowing he left his stamp on the season. It still isn’t determined how the Sox will utilize Houck, but you can bet, based on what he’s shown, that he’s certainly a part of this team’s future.
“It’s still a short sample,” Roenicke said. “But it’s against three good teams that we feel pretty good that this guy can do this against the best hitters in the game. When you’re looking at trying to fill in spots for a home-grown rotation and then you see that from a young guy it’s pretty good.”
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