{"id":355667,"date":"2025-12-19T14:45:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T14:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/355667\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T14:45:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T14:45:07","slug":"mlb-notebook-andrew-bailey-weighs-in-on-revamped-red-sox-pitching-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/355667\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Notebook: Andrew Bailey weighs in on revamped Red Sox pitching staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

To date this offseason, the Red Sox have done very little to address the team\u2019s offensive shortcomings. Presumably, those are still to come this winter.<\/p>\n

But the pitching staff? That\u2019s another matter altogether. The Red Sox<\/a> have traded for two starting pitchers to add to their rotation and also acquired a prospect for the rotation.<\/p>\n

Pitching coach Andrew Bailey spoke of the current state of the staff \u2014 both holdovers and returnees \u2014 in a recent conversation.<\/p>\n

\u2217 On the trend of the Red Sox seeking out pitchers with big frames and good extension: \u201cI think that\u2019s probably a better question for (chief baseball officer Craig Breslow), to be honest. We just try to work with what we have in front of us. When trades go through and we acquire players, our (pitching) group dives in to get to know the player and tries to help them be the best versions of themselves. Obviously, extension is a huge part of that \u2014 finding guys who can move down the mound and can leverage their frame helps produce and raise the floor of velocity and performance in general. I\u2019m not sure if that\u2019s something specifically they\u2019ve been looking for in trades and acquisitions; I can\u2019t really speak to that. But we\u2019re definitely excited about Jake (Bennett, a 6-foot-6 lefty obtained for Luis Perales earlier this week<\/a>) and the ceiling he possesses as well.”<\/p>\n

\u2217 On Johan Oviedo, obtained earlier this month from Pittsburgh: \u201cWhen you look at Oviedo and the quality of the four-seamer, the consistency of the profile in terms of vertical break and how that made strides the last few years, (it\u2019s impressive). Keeping that consistent is primary and obviously lowering the walk rate is going to be a big driver of his success. I think there\u2019s some stuff we can do to help with the breaking ball component to round out his arsenal. Controlling the zone, living in the zone and attacking with that mindset… strategizing ways to help him do that is where we\u2019re at. He\u2019s had success at the major league level and striking guys out. There\u2019s a lot to like about him, not only as a pitcher but as a person as I get to know him. I think the Boston fan base will grow to love him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u2217 On Sonny Gray: \u201cWatching him compete has been fun. <\/a>We\u2019ve never crossed paths before. He provides a big load from an innings standpoint. The underlying numbers the last few years have been real quality. He loves to talk baseball, learn, develop and grow. Hopefully, we can help and maximize what he brings every fifth day. The pitchability, the experience he brings, the leadership component are all good. (Gray has discussed being willing to trade more walks for less damage) and we\u2019re always trying to solve for that and find ways to get off of barrels. Sonny does a great job inducing swing and miss. There is some room on the sliding scale. We definitely want him to limit doubles and home runs, but we also want to limit walks, so it\u2019s a fluid conversation. For a guy that punches out the amount of guys he does, trying to limit damage and walks is where our goals are, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the health and readiness of Kutter Crawford (knee, wrist) and Patrick Sandoval (Tommy John), neither of whom pitched at all last year: \u201cBoth of them are in their offseason throwing programs right now. We\u2019re having conversations with them. Kutter\u2019s down in Fort Myers and Patrick\u2019s out in Arizona. They\u2019re connecting with our medical group. We\u2019re pushing forward to spring training to get them back into games and back on the field and having an impact on our team is the goal. We kind of have to wait and see where all this plays out. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair to put a timeline on them when they\u2019re dealing with injuries, but the expectation is that they\u2019re executing their offseason programs. They both missed competition for a long period of time and we definitely don\u2019t want to back them into corners. We have to get through bullpen phases, the live BP phases, getting them back into the games. But the expectation is that they stay on course and start checking those boxes and hitting those performance thresholds. But where they\u2019re at, they should be in a good spot in terms of competition in order to challenge themselves and hit those goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2217 On the improved depth of the staff: \u201cI think it\u2019s fantastic. It gives us the ability to have a really good, deep rotation. We definitely want our starters to go deep into games. There are ebbs and flows to the season and I think Alex (Cora) does a phenomenal job knowing where our starters are and where our bullpen is. With the younger depth that\u2019s started to rise organizationally, it gives us depth and flexibility in terms of covering games strategically with piggy-backs or six-man rotations… a lot of different things. To have so many young starters (Payton Tolle, Kyle Harrison, Connelly Early, Hunter Dobbins) paired with the more veteran guys is going to be useful. You\u2019ve got your (Garrett) Crochet, Gray and (Brayan) Bello, and the younger guys, and having them stretched out as starters and then adapting if we need to shorten them up or what have you, it gives a lot of flexibility in terms of how to navigate games, especially early in the season and maintaining that throughout the season. We all know the game of baseball \u2014 there\u2019s going to be injuries throughout the course of the season. You never know when they\u2019re going to pop up. It\u2019s kind of foolish to go into the season thinking you have all the depth you need. I don\u2019t think you ever have enough depth. But having as much as we do, one, allows us some flexibility and also gives the front office some leverage for how they see the roster.”<\/p>\n

On the challenge of getting all of the starting candidates enough work in spring training: \u201cSpring training is always a gauntlet, navigating games whether it be piggy-backing guys or back-field games or getting certain guys enough looks. You\u2019re also weighing some of the rehab guys like Kutter and Sandoval and Dobbins. You\u2019re taking information from all sorts of departments and trying to put the player first and what\u2019s best for them. But I feel comfortable with what we have going into camp. In terms of the rotation, having those innings covered and having guys get their innings in, especially as we start to get up to three or four innings and then adding in the more traditional relievers, will be the No. 1 job of spring training.<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

The Red Sox\u2019 trade with the Washington Nationals earlier this week produced a rare trade of prospect for prospect \u2014 the Sox sent Luis Perales to the Nats for Jake Bennett<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was a trade of contrasts \u2013 lefty for righty, hard-thrower for more command, and high ceiling for high floor.<\/p>\n

We asked two evaluators to give their thoughts.<\/p>\n

Scout No. 1: \u201c(Bennett) is a very advanced left-handed starter with a stuff and pitchability combo….I really like the arm and he has solid middle-of-the-rotation upside. Basically, the Red Sox traded a high ceiling\/high risk guy (in Perales) for a solid ceiling guy with lower risk. Bennett can be anywhere from 91-95 mph with his fastball and sit 92-93 mph.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scout No. 2: \u201cBennett is a tall, rangy guy with three-quarter delivery, a pitchability guy with not a lot of margin for error…He has enough feel to eat some innings, either in long relief or a back-end starter…Works easy, has deception and a solid fastball with strike-throwing ability, setting up other pitches and works ahead…Has a delivery that\u2019s conducive to good command, but needs to upgrade his breaking ball command….Favors his cutter, but shows a sweeper as well….The cutter has the best life of his pitches for now…Has good feel for his changeup with very good fade and is effective both early and late in the count against right-handed hitters with swing-and-miss life…He\u2019s the type who provides left-handed depth…Envision him starting at Triple-A next season, but could contribute in Boston…Throws his four-seamer 92-95 mph, with a slider at 83-85 mph, the cutter at 87-89 mph and the changeup at 84-86…Has good makeup…History of injuries with TJ in 2023 and hip impingement May of 2025…Hope he can stay healthy…For now, needs to build up innings as he\u2019s never thrown more than 156 in a season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To date this offseason, the Red Sox have done very little to address the team\u2019s offensive shortcomings. Presumably,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[9012,3307,49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-355667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-american-league","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}