The Boston Red Sox need Jon Lester to throw his four-seam fastball more instead of his cutter.
This week will be a defining week for the Boston Red Sox as they travel to Texas and New York to take on the titans of the American League in the Rangers and Yankees.
The Red Sox are coming off a sweep to the Toronto Blue Jays, who resided in the basement of the American League East. The Jays lost their top slugger, Jose Bautista to a wrist injury earlier in the week and had just been swept by the Yankees. Josh Beckett and Jon Lester took the mound in this series, but they both struggled mightily. Beckett allowed five runs (four were earned) on Friday night in a 6-1 loss. Meanwhile Lester gave up 11 runs on four home runs in just four innings in Sunday’s 15-7 defeat.
The Red Sox are 13-23 combined when Beckett and Lester are the starting pitchers. Beckett’s velocity has dropped into the low 90′s, but he had his moments earlier in the season when he was pitching well. He has been unable to keep the opposing team off the scoreboard early in the game. His ERA is over 10 in the first inning and Bobby Valentine as well as Bob McClure are at a loss for words to explain why Beckett has been awful at the beginning of his outings. Lester is relying too much on his cutter and he has been unable to put away righthanded hitters.
There is alot of talk whether the Red Sox should trade both Beckett and Lester, especially since these two were the culprits of the chicken-and-beer scandal last September. The Red Sox front office would have a difficult time getting rid of both because their values are really low at this point. Also, Lester had the highest winning percentage of any starting pitcher from 2008-’11. The only player Lester should be traded for is a certified ace like Felix Hernandez (which is unlikely to happen). After all, Tim Lincecum (5.72 ERA) is having a terrible year and he led the San Francisco Giants to capture the World Series in 2010. It’s not like Lincecum has just forgot how to pitch. The Red Sox could either put Lester on the DL and help him work out his kinks. Lester tends to let close calls by the umpires bother him. He can correct his mistakes, but he needs to regain his confidence.
The Red Sox could not be playing the Rangers at a better time. The Rangers needed to scratch Tuesday’s pitcher, Colby Lewis was declared out for the season on Monday. Lewis will need surgery for a torn flexor tendon in his right elbow.
The Yankees just picked up Ichiro Suzuki from the Seattle Mariners. While most fans will think of the left-handed hitter who terrorized the American League with his speed out of the batter’s box, this is not the same Ichiro. Suzuki has declined in the past couple of seasons. His batting average is .261 for the 38-year-old Suzuki. This could turn out to be a great move for the Yankees because Suzuki is in a lineup with powerful hitters like Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, and Mark Teixeira. The new Yankee Stadium has the short right-field porch and Suzuki will just need to get on base for the sluggers in that lineup.
The Red Sox are 48-48 and are 3 and a half games behind the wild card leaders (Baltimore Orioles and Oakland A’s). Time is running out and the Red Sox will need to show signs of life, especially from their starting rotation before the trading deadline ends next Tuesday.