* A year ago, Josh Winckowski was arguably the second-best reliever on the Red Sox’ staff, behind only Chris Martin. Winckowski was effective and durable, sometimes capable of giving the Red Sox multiple innings.
On Saturday, the Red Sox optioned him to Triple A because they needed a roster spot for the return of Brayan Bello. It’s likely he’ll return before too long — either as a replacement for someone in the rotation, or to again serve as a high-leverage reliever.
His demotion serves as a reminder — as if one is needed — that the game is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business. But it’s also evidence at how much improvement has been made to the Red Sox pitching staff since the end of last season. Some of that is due to new arrivals, and some of it is due to the new pitching program that has resulted in better performances from pitchers who were here a year ago.
From top to bottom, the staff is both better and deeper. How else to explain that the Red Sox currently have their best staff ERA at this point of the season since the start of the Live Ball Era? And that’s in spite of ia spate of injuries that resulted in three projected starters spending stints on the IL since the season began.
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Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford have been coached up, and Cooper Criswell, Greg Weissert and Justin Slaten have shone as newcomers.
The Red Sox brought in Craig Breslow to fix the team’s pitching. In a little more than six weeks, the early returns suggest he has done just that.
* Charlie McAvoy’s play this postseason has been so alarming that it would be easier to accept if he were battling an undisclosed injury. That would at least offer an excuse for his ineffectiveness in these playoffs. McAvoy hasn’t scored a postseason goal since the spring of 2021, with just one goal in his last 34 playoff games. Between his reluctance to shoot in general and some sloppy turnovers against both Toronto and Florida, McAvoy’s been a disappointment. The Bruins should expect more from the league’s fifth highest-paid defenseman.
* The Celtics have too much talent to be just 8-7 at TD Garden in the last two postseasons, especially when you consider that they’ve been the higher seed in every one of the last five series. Being barely above .500 against lesser teams when it matters most is a sign that there’s something fundamentally lacking in their makeup.
Do the current Celtics believe that visiting teams are going to see banners from decades ago and suddenly cower in fear? In the last round, a mailed-in performance against Miami didn’t cause any real damage, and the same will likely be true for the team’s no-show in Game 2 against Cleveland. But in the long run, cruise control will come back to haunt the Celts at some point.
* No matter what else happens this spring, the Bruins have found a keeper in defenseman Mason Lohrei. Lohrei has played with remarkable poise in the playoffs, has shown the ability to move the puck effectively while also being responsible in his own zone. His emergence could mean the Bruins could move someone else off their blue line this summer to fill other needs on the roster.
* The NBA is enjoying a major bidding war for its next national TV rights agreement. Among the interested parties: current broadcast partners TNT and ESPN along with NBC and Amazon. When it’s all said and done, the NBA will have a TV deal that’s worth approximately two and a half times its current arrangement. For all the changes that have come to media in the last decade, sports retains its appeal to over-air networks, cable giants and streaming services alike because of the ability to draw viewers to live programming.
One way or another, Major League Baseball had better figure out a way to capitalize, too. Locally, the sport flourishes as a TV property as fans tune in to watch their favorite team. But on a national scale, baseball doesn’t resonate anywhere near the way it once did. Ratings for baseball’s postseason are routinely eclipsed by regular season NFL telecasts. Until MLB can figure out how to reverse that slide, it will remain a distant third to the NFL and NBA as a TV attraction — and leave a lot of money on the table as a result.
* It’s adorable watching New York fans dream of an NBA title for the Knicks. They won’t get out of the East, much less win it all.
* Sam Bennett will be wearing No. 9 for the Florida Panthers Sunday night, but it may be obscured by the bullseye target he’ll have affixed to his back. I have a hard time believing the Bruins won’t be out for revenge for Bennett having delivered a cheap shot to the head of their captain, Brad Marchand.
* The Rooney Rule is a well-intentioned effort on the part of the NFL to expand the pool of candidates for top front-office jobs and coaching positions, and for that the league should be applauded. Kudos to the league for making an honest effort to hire and promote qualified candidates of color. But in actual application, the rule is easy abused and ends up looking like a sham. The Patriots had clearly determined that Eliot Wolf would be their de facto GM, but had to pretend the job was still up for grabs, debasing the candidates they reached out to interview to fulfill the rule. There’s got to be a better way.
* The NHL was guilty of some major hypocrisy Friday. After a Canadian reporter said the league has put the Bruins and Panthers on notice following the third-period fisticuffs in Game 2, the league’s own Twitter account featured multiple highlights of that game’s fights to promote Game 3.
Pick a lane, Gary Bettman. You can’t be clutching pearls over the brawls, then turn around and use them to market your product.
* Thumbs down on the new Patriots’ “logo,” which wasn’t needed in the first place.
