Weren't the Red Sox supposed to be bad this year? Did they not get the memo?
Surely they should be undergoing decades of punishment for trading Mookie.
But here they sit, atop the AL East. They have what has so far been the best offense in the American League. They've scored more runs than any team in the majors. J.D. Martinez clearly seems to have put 2020 in his rear-view and has returned to the old, scary form we all saw in 2018 and 2019. We already knew Xander Bogaerts, Christian Vazquez, and Rafael Devers were good players and all three are off to excellent starts, so excellent we should expect some cooling off to set in. Likewise with Christian Arroyo and Kike Hernandez. Now would be a good time.
On the hill, Nathan Eovaldi has been at the head of the rotation. He's always been an odd pitcher. Not too many guys in the game throw harder, but he's never been able to strike out a lot of hitters with his impressive heat. He's also had a very hard time staying in the rotation for an entire season. The Jays won't see him anyway. We'll see Eduardo Rodriguez, who's the pitching equivalent of the J.D. Martinez story. In Rodriguez's case, he's coming back after a difficult bout with COVID-19, which left him with myocarditis and caused him to miss all of the 2020 season. But Rodriguez was a very fine starter in 2018 and 2019 and he's won his two starts this season. That's reasonable, and good to see. Even if he plays for Boston. But Nick Pivetta? Who went 19-30, 5.50 in bits of four seasons for the Phillies? How is he unbeaten as a Red Sock? Who knows? The Jays won't see him anyway - they'll see Garrett Richards, who had a couple of good seasons in the Angels' rotation. That was back in 2014 and 2015, though, and in the five seasons since he's managed to make just 41 starts.
It's all a puzzlement.
Matchups?
Tue 20 Apr. - Rodriguez (2-0, 3.60) vs Ryu (1-1, 1.89)
Surely they should be undergoing decades of punishment for trading Mookie.
But here they sit, atop the AL East. They have what has so far been the best offense in the American League. They've scored more runs than any team in the majors. J.D. Martinez clearly seems to have put 2020 in his rear-view and has returned to the old, scary form we all saw in 2018 and 2019. We already knew Xander Bogaerts, Christian Vazquez, and Rafael Devers were good players and all three are off to excellent starts, so excellent we should expect some cooling off to set in. Likewise with Christian Arroyo and Kike Hernandez. Now would be a good time.
On the hill, Nathan Eovaldi has been at the head of the rotation. He's always been an odd pitcher. Not too many guys in the game throw harder, but he's never been able to strike out a lot of hitters with his impressive heat. He's also had a very hard time staying in the rotation for an entire season. The Jays won't see him anyway. We'll see Eduardo Rodriguez, who's the pitching equivalent of the J.D. Martinez story. In Rodriguez's case, he's coming back after a difficult bout with COVID-19, which left him with myocarditis and caused him to miss all of the 2020 season. But Rodriguez was a very fine starter in 2018 and 2019 and he's won his two starts this season. That's reasonable, and good to see. Even if he plays for Boston. But Nick Pivetta? Who went 19-30, 5.50 in bits of four seasons for the Phillies? How is he unbeaten as a Red Sock? Who knows? The Jays won't see him anyway - they'll see Garrett Richards, who had a couple of good seasons in the Angels' rotation. That was back in 2014 and 2015, though, and in the five seasons since he's managed to make just 41 starts.
It's all a puzzlement.
Matchups?
Tue 20 Apr. - Rodriguez (2-0, 3.60) vs Ryu (1-1, 1.89)
Wed 21 Apr. - Richards (0-1, 6.00) vs Some Guy (?-?, ?.??)
Unless he's needed in tonight's game, I'm betting David Phelps gets the call as an Opener on Wednesday (get that J.D. Martinez at bat out of the way), to be followed by Anthony Kay.
