It’s far too soon to suggest that the Red Sox will continue to maintain their current 1.54 ERA, or even that every start from here on out will continue to be five innings in length or more.
As impressive as the staff’s start has undeniably been, some context is required. Not only is seven games a ridiculously small sample size, but the Oakland A’s barely qualify as major league-caliber, and each of the first two series have been played in ballparks that are notoriously favorable for pitchers.
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But one factor certainty has emerged from the first week of the 2024 season: pitching coach Andrew Bailey was the Red Sox’ top free agent signing of the offseason. Admittedly, this is not a high bar to clear: Lucas Giolito is lost for the year with a surgically-repaired elbow, and it’s hard to imagine either Cooper Criswell or Chase Anderson eclipsing Bailey for impact.
Still, Bailey has already had an impact. He established a rapport with the pitchers in Zoom calls and prescribed throwing programs with every pitcher on the roster. He instituted a detailed plan of attack, even for spring training games. And now, as the Red Sox emphasize breaking pitches and off-speed selections over high velocity fastballs, he seems to be ahead of much of the industry.
Can it last? That remains to be seen. Injuries will test the organization’s depth, and frankly, there’s not much in reserve at Triple A beyond Criswell and perhaps Richard Fitts, both untested at the major league level.
But to date, the gains at the major league level have been impressive.
“The longer I do this,” said one major league executive this week on the subject of Bailey’s immediate impact, “the more I come to realize that having the right infrastructure, the right instruction, the right voice is more than half the battle when it comes to the performance of the staff. Ultimately, you need to have talent to work with, but the (pitching) program is at least as important.”
It’s one thing for Bailey to change the approach and impact the culture in such a short amount of time. But maybe the most amazing thing is that he anticipated all of it.
Back in January, when Bailey appeared at the team’s Winter Weekend in Springfield, he hinted at the blueprint.
“Understanding that spin in zone generally produces better outcomes,” said Bailey, as he outlines the changes he was implementing, “and that, throughout the history of baseball, fastballs are hit the hardest and generate the most slug over a long period of time (are all important).”
At the time, the Red Sox were under fire for not doing more to upgrade the rotation. Jordan Montgomery and Blake Snell were still on the market, but the Sox weren’t active in their pursuit of either. This frustrated the fan base to no end, but Bailey didn’t seem the least bit concerned.
To the contrary, he maintained that he had plenty with which to work. In January, that seemed disingenuous at best; in early April, it sounds downright clairvoyant.
“We have a lot of talent and for me, if certain guys in our rotation aren’t at higher levels going into next season,” he said, “then we just didn’t do our jobs. (We’re) expecting players to take steps forward and helping them along that path and helping them be the best versions of themselves every time out. If we hold true to our processes and accountability, our run prevention unit will be be setting up our team for success.
“It’s my job to help them to be the best version of themselves, throwing through structure, programming, setting them up to succeed and what that looks like from a game-strategy standpoint as well. There’s a lot of different things (that can lead to improvement): usage, location, pitch shapes — setting them up for success is paramount.”
And there was this bit of prescient commentary: “Just because you throw a four-seamer doesn’t mean it’s a good pitch in a vacuum for your arsenal.”
Indeed, through the first seven games, Red Sox pitchers had thrown the lowest percentage of four-seam fastballs in either league. And were 5-2.
“I’m excited about our group. There’s a of talent here already,” said Bailey four months ago. “Opportunity and helpig them understand who they are and giving them identities and creating some accountability is going to be kind of the name of our game. You can set guys up with certain ways to succeed on an individual basis. But we’re expecting the staff to take steps forward.”
Big steps, too. So far, at least.
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Larry Lucchino, who died earlier this week at 78, was a complicated figure.
In his time with the Red Sox (2002-2015), Lucchino could be a polarizing figure, which is one of the reasons he was essentially forced out by John Henry and Tom Werner, replaced as president/CEO by Sam Kennedy.
He could be argumentative, brusque, demanding, combative and relentless. He was also capable of small acts of kindness to fans and employees and could be charitable in both words and deeds.
He enjoyed a good fight, and sometimes seemed intent on creating one. Few enjoyed tweaking the Yankees more than Lucchino. He famously labeled them the “Evil Empire” after the Sox lost a bidding war for free agent Jose Contreras.
I’ve often thought that one of the reasons Lucchino so frequently sparred with the Yankees was because he was more like George Steinbrenner than he would have liked to acknowledge. Both could be boorish and bullying, but also had a philanthropic, softer side.
Lucchino’s management style was to keep people on edge. The one thing he hated was complacency, and he believed people responded best when they were being challenged and held accountable.
Terry Francona recalled being told, in advance, by Theo Epstein that he had was about to be hired to manage the Red Sox after the 2003 season and to expect a call imminently from Lucchino informing him of that news.
“I was excited,” recounted Francona. “And then Larry called me and told me what I was going to make (in salary), and I was like, ‘Larry, is there any room to negotiate?’ He said, ‘Do you want the job or not?’ And that was that.”
Lucchino made his mistakes, to be sure. It was his idea, against pretty much everyone else’s best judgement, to hire Bobby Valentine to manage in 2012. At the time, Lucchino conceded that the decision was fraught with risk and the hiring would eithe be a strikeout or a grand slam, with little chance of anything in between. It was Lucchino’s belief that the team needed a strong personality in the manager’s office, in response to the chicken-and-beer scandal that took place in the final months of the 2011 collapse.
Of course, it soon qualified as a disaster, with Valentine quickly alienating players and holding childish grudges against members of his own coaching staff. Valentine’s presence resulted in a last-place finish and a season full of misery off the field.
Lucchino also encouraged dissent in the organization. To him, the worst possible outcome was an echo chamber in which employees were conditioned to agree for the sake of harmony. He preferred a healthy exchange of ideas, because that would signify that every possible option had been evaluated and vetted.
That was his approach with reporters, too. Exchanged with Lucchino weren’t interviews as much as they were sparring sessions. He’d question your question and expect you to defend it. He was unafraid of disagreement; it could be argued that he relished it and sought it.
Privately, Lucchino told confidants that he was fearful of being made the villain if a deal wasn’t worked out to keep the Pawtucket Red Sox in Rhode Island. He practically begged Rhode Island officials to make him an offer which he could then take to his fellow owners. Despite his best efforts, that never came.
When Lucchino ultimately came to the decision to instead take the deal on the table from the city of Worcester, more than one limited partner in the team told him he was amazed that Lucchino had been as patient as he had been with officials from the Ocean State.
It’s fair to wonder whether the Red Sox would have fallen into their current funk — three last-place finishes in the last four seasons — had Lucchino remained in charge. Would he have pushed back on John Henry’s decision to scale back on spending? Insisted on more experienced hands in Baseball Operations? Demanded more in the way of debate, as he was prone to do?
We’ll never know. What is known, however, is that he was a consequential figure in Red Sox history, and his imprint not just here, but also in Baltimore and San Diego, will be long-lasting.
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Major League Baseball should be ashamed of its handling of the Oakland A’s situation.
In anticipation of the franchise’s pending move to Las Vegas, the team announced its plans to play in Sacramento for the next three seasons. In that span, the A’s will play in a Triple A ballpark with a capacity of about 14,000.
It was one thing for the Toronto Blue Jays to be relocated to a Triple A ballpark in Buffalo during that pandemic. That was an unavoidable solution that took place in the middle of a pandemic and involved travel restrictions across the border.
But this figures to be a multi-year “solution” in a ballpark that will fall well short of major league standards when it comes to facilities for players and coaches.
What has Oakland owner John Fisher done to deserve this sort of autonomy? He refused to negotiate in good faith, either to find a long-term replacement for his team, or in extending the lease to remain in Oakland until the new ballpark in Vegas is ready. This isn’t some long-term owner who earned the good faith of the commissioner’s office and fellow owners, with whom he is presumably partners.
And it should be noted that the Vegas deal isn’t yet 100 percent official. What happens if, during the franchise’s exile in Sacramento, the deal with Nevada falls apart?
Meanwhile, Fisher continues to embarrass himself in public appearances, as he did in announcing the stopover in Sacramento. Fisher took the opportunity to reveal that he couldn’t wait until major league stars like Aaron Judge — an opponent of his own team — would start hitting tape-measure homers at the A’s new home.
Then again, being tone deaf is the least of Fisher’s traits.
