Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images How has he gone from bullpen-bound to one of the best early performers of 2024? Coming into this season, I would have been the first to tell you that Tanner Houck belongs in the Red Sox bullpen. I didn’t think he threw enough strikes to be a starter. I didn’t think he had the arsenal to get lefties out. I didn’t think he could get through a lineup three times. Last Wednesday, as Houck was mowing down opposing hitters I assumed it was nothing more than a fortunate outing, with batted balls finding gloves at every opportunity. I arrived home from ..read more

Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images These buccos were swashbuckled by some tattered laundry! Looking at the lineup before today’s game, it’s hard not to scratch your head and wonder “how in the heck is THIS team going to win?” No Triston Casas, no Tyler O’Neill, no Rafael Devers, no Trevor Story, no Vaughn Grissom (yet). And somehow, the Red Sox have taken two of three in this series at the meeting of Three Rivers. Can this Sox squad claim the third or will the Pirates get to wave their black flags in victory? Key Moments T4: Wasted Ducks On the Pond Already up 2-1 in the 4th inning, Rob Refsnyd ..read more

Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images Brooms? Well, after two nice wins over the Pittsburgh Pirates the Red Sox are in kinda of a weird space. Casas to the IL with left rib strain. Tyler Heineman recalled. — Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) April 21, 2024 Sigh. Casas is flying to Boston to see a specialist today. Is Cora concerned about a lengthy absence? “Yes. I am.” Reyes and Dalbec at 1B for now. — Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) April 21, 2024 Boston has called up the last position player on the 40-man roster who isn’t on the IL: Tyler Heineman. A catcher by trade, he provides fle ..read more

Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Kutter cruises. Pretty cool thing alert! As of this moment in time, April 20, 2024, Kutter Crawford is the best pitcher in baseball. I’m not making any Cy Young predictions here. Nor am I saying I’m picking him first of the other 389 pitchers on active MLB rosters in a sandlot game. I am simply pointing out that, right now, he is: 1st in ERA 1st in ERA+ 1st in bWAR 3rd in fWAR 3rd in WPA 4th in OPS against 6th in batting average against That pretty much makes him the best! Crawford made it through six innings against the Pittsburgh Pirate ..read more

Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images Boston is back over .500 (2022-2024 near daily statement) and as of this writing the Tampa Bay Rays are beating the New York Yankees in the 10th inning. A Yankees loss and Red Sox win would put them just 2.5 games back in the AL East. It’s a tough division as usual but no one is out of it yet. Kutter Crawrford is coming off another good start: 5.2 innings, 6 Ks, zero walks. The Sox of course went on to lose that game but he did his part. Rolling in with a 0.42 ERA and (more reasonable) 2.22 FIP he’s showing he can be a starter in the big lea ..read more

Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images The Pirates should have called up Paul Skenes tonight, but as well as Brayan Bello pitched, it probably didn’t matter. When Marco Gonzales went on the IL with a forearm strain following his last start for the Pirates on Saturday, tonight’s game should have turned into one of the most electrifying on the entire baseball calendar! While Pittsburgh was left scrabbling to fill that rotation spot, they had a very obvious solution sitting right in front of them in perhaps the most exciting young pitching prospect in the entire sport. But instead of calling Paul ..read more

Photo by Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Batten the hatches The Red Sox are back on the road hope that, uh, road cooking is just what they need to get going again. Back at .500 you again wonder if only they tried to patch the roster in the offseason would this team be really in the thick of it instead of just on the outside? Well, it’s a long season yet… Rafael Devers is still out. Rob Refsnyder is making his first start of the year. Ceddanne Rafaela is at shortstop…possibly his new home if he can start hitting. The Pirates started the season hot but are now at 11-8 after losin ..read more

Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images This dude’s got quite the story. Who is he and where did he come from? He’s Cam Booser, and he’s your new favorite player. Really. Booser, at 31-years-old, is on the cusp of finally making his Major League debut. His road to get here has not been easy, and not in the sense that no tenure in the minors is easy. Booser comes to us out of Fife, Washington. I’m not an expert on the greater Seattle area (that would be Maura). But from what I can tell, Fife appears to be little more than an overgrown logistics and distribution center for the port of ..read more

Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images Devil Rays and other flashbacks Happy Friday. The Red Sox took a 7-3 start and then went 3-7 and erased it. They currently sit at .500 in last place in the AL East, half a game behind the Toronto Blue Jays. The good news is the Sox are back on the road in to face the Pittsburgh Pirates. Friday night’s game starts at 6:40 PM ET. Saturday is a 4:05 PM ET start. and Sunday is a 1:35 PM ET true afternoon feature. Remembering 2004 Through their first 20 games in 2004 the Sox were 14-6 and had just taken game 1 of a doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Carl ..read more

Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images The Sox amass 7 errors this week and now lead MLB in the category. What a week. I guess I’ve decided I’m going to tally Red Sox errors and stew about this until something changes. We’re wasting some good pitching, and also putting a bigger burden on our pitching staff every time we give away outs like this. April 12 The Sox commit three errors in a 7-0 loss. Shortstop David Hamilton, first baseman Triston Casas and center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela all committed errors. Three errors! I will say this again (as I said last week, the first time it happened): the ..read more