Did someone say Boston Massacre? How about a Bronx Burial?
Although eight weeks remain in the season, as alive as the Red Sox seemed in trouncing the Yankees in the first three games of their series in Boston two weekends ago, they have since suffered a catastrophic collapse. They lost four games to the Yankees, the latest three at Yankee Stadium, and three to the Rays, emerging from the seven-game losing streak weak and wobbly.
After beating the Yankees three times at Fenway Park and slashing the Yankees’ lead over them to 8 games, the Red Sox plummeted 13 ½ games behind and looked feeble doing it.
The Red Sox have time to recover, but they don’t have the necessary ingredients to do it. Chris Sale, their ace starting pitcher, has epitomized the Red Sox problems. Pitching against the Yankees last Friday night, he lasted only 3 2/3 innings, giving up 8 runs and 9 hits, including 2 home runs. He was finished after throwing 76 pitches and lowered his record to 5-11.
In his previous start, he also lost to the Yankees, allowing 6 runs in 5 1/3 innings. The Red Sox, the defending World Series champions, can’t expect to repeat if their No. 1 pitchers can’t beat their No. 1 rival.
Boston’s starting pitching has been poor generally. Eduardo Rodriguez (13-5) has been the team’s only consistently good starter. That is not to say that the Yankees’ starters have been terrific. Domingo German (14-2) is the only starter in the Yankees’ rotation worth talking about.
The Yankees, however, have done things that usually have been achieved by other teams. They have uncharacteristically compiled a collection of unknown or unheralded players who have performed superbly and are responsible for the Yankees’ success this season.
DJ LeMahieu doesn’t necessarily fit in that category because he won the National League batting title with a .348 average playing for Colorado in 2016. However, the 31-year-old infielder was not hotly pursued as a free agent last winter and signed a 2-year $24 million contract with the Yankees in January. Perhaps teams shied away from him because he had achieved his hitting levels in Colorado, but New York has been a good fit for him.
As the leadoff hitter and versatile infielder, he has been so good on a daily basis that if voting for most valuable player were conducted today I would vote for him.
I have already seen mention of Mike Trout as the leading m.v.p. candidate – again – but when are writers going to learn that best does not equal m.v.p.? Trout very likely is the best player in the American League, but he is not the most valuable.
The Angels are buried in fourth place in the A.L. West with a .500 record. Should Trout receive credit as most valuable for keeping the Angels out of last place?
LeMahieu, on the other hand, has produced critical hits for the Yankees, both leading off games and in the middle and final innings. He has also played first, second and third, wherever and whenever the Yankees have needed him.
Typical of LeMahieu’s performance was his two-homer game in the first game of the Red Sox doubleheader Saturday. He led off the game with his 16th homer, against Sale, and slugged his 17th, a three-run homer against Sale in the fourth, burying the Red Sox even more deeply than they already were buried.
Entering Sunday’s games, LeMahieu was leading the majors with a .336 batting average and had .383 on-base and .531 slugging percentages.
Among LeMahieu’s unheralded teammates who have produced for the Yankees are first baseman Luke Voit (currently on the injured list), third baseman Gio Urshela and outfielder Mike Tauchman, whose two-run single beat Boston, 6-4, in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
The Red Sox have not had the benefit of unexpected contributions.
When a team comes up with such players, the general manager usually gets credit. As I have readily made known, however, I am not a fan of Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, who in his 22 years on the job has squandered many more millions than most teams spend on players.
I suspect credit should go to Tim Naehring, a former major leaguer and the team’s vice president for baseball operations. When Gene Michael, the team’s former general manager, was alive, he credited Naehring for finding unheralded players who turned out to be surprising contributors.
However, I’ll give Cashman credit for hiring Naehring after staying with the unproductive Mark Newman for 15 years in that job.
As for the Red Sox, they will have to settle for four World Series championships in 15 years. That success is far better than Cashman and the Yankees have had. As eager as the Yankees to spend and win, the Red Sox will be back next season following a quest for starting pitching.
The Red Sox problem with their pitching is they have a lot of money invested in two starting pitchers seemingly in decline. Sale has a 5-year contract for $145 million that begins next season. David Price has three years left on a 7-year $217 million contract.
The Red Sox also have a 4-year $68 million contract with Nathan Eovaldi that began this season. They have talked about turning him into a closer because of arm problems he has had.
They have Rodriguez for two more years before he can become a free agent, and Rick Porcello can be a free agent after this season.
As far as acquiring pitchers through free agency or trades, the Yankees are in far better shape financially than the Red Sox.
CC Sabathia is retiring, Masahiro Tanaka has one year left on his contract for $23 million, J.A. Happ has one year left for $17 million, James Paxton needs another year before free agency and German will be four years short of free agency. Luis Severino, who has been out all season, is in the first year of a 4-year $40 million contract.
Barring prior signings with their own teams, these pitchers could be free agents after this season:
Gerrit Cole, Madison Bumgarner, Stephen Strasburg, Corey Kluber, Jake Odorizzi, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Jake Arrieta, Dallas Keuchel, Zack Wheeler, Jose Quintana, Julio Teheran, Alex Wood, Ivan Nova, Trevor Cahill.