Ted's Army: The Voice of Red Sox fans

Your Morning Dump...where Dempster is down in the dumps

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump

Ryan Dempster's struggles continued in a bad way last night against the Indians in Terr Francona's return to Fenway.

The strike-throwing, innings-eating Ryan Dempster that the Red Sox saw in the early stages of the season has been missing in action, and last night marked the bottom of the barrel to date for the 36-year-old right-hander.

Dempster was the first of many Red Sox pitchers to take their lumps last night in the near four-hour, 12-3 beatdown at the hands of the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park, allowing four runs on five hits with four walks in a season-low three innings of work.

There wasn’t a need to mince words for Dempster following the outing, as he bluntly said he needs to make better “quality pitches” several times to get major league hitters out. It’s just not happening right now.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Dempster said. “The last couple games I haven’t been throwing the ball the way that I throw it. I’ll get back to doing that.”

Herald: Struggles start to mount for Ryan Dempster

In his last three outings, Ryan Dempster has been horrendous:

12.2 IP, 20 H, 15 ER, 11 BB, 12 K, 10.66 ERA, 2.45 WHIP

The most most glaring stat out of that line is the 11 walks. Dempster is a guy known for being a consistent strike-thrower who isn't afraid to attack the zone. The 36-year-old had 52 walks in all of 2012 with the Cubs. This year, he has racked 29 walks; on pace to easily surpass last year.

Let's hope it's just a bad stretch from Dempster, but clearly something is off. With Dempster pushing 40 and some eager young arms down in the farm, don't be surprised to see a DL-stint. Oh, let's call it a "sore hammy"...yeah that's it...

On the bright side, there is some National League blood (Phillies) coming into Fenway for his next start on Tuesday. Maybe that will be a nice refresher for Dempster to face a familiar lineup.

Rest of the links:

Globe: Francona gets warm reception in return | Globe: Quantity of Ryan Dempster’s pitches outnumbers quality in 12-3 loss to Indians | Globe: Ross catches five innings for Portland | Herald: Will Middlebrooks set back | Herald: Terry Francona proud of Cleveland revival | Herald: Indians give Terry Francona a rout of Red Sox | ESPNBoston.com: Terry Francona where he belongs

Recap: David Ortiz is awesome

(AP Photo/Jim Mone)

With Big Papi leading the way with 2 home runs and 6 RBI's, the Red Sox beat the Twins 12-5 tonight.

It wasn't all roses for Boston this evening, but there was much to be excited about (including getting to watch David Ortiz absolutely crushing baseballs).  The most notable stat from the game was that Boston scored 12 runs on 13 hits.  That's awesome (when you factor in that they also walked 8 times, it's slightly less awesome, but I'm trying to remain upbeat here).  Plus, 6 of those runs came against Scott Diamond.  The same Scott Diamond who made the Sox look foolish just 11 days ago holding them to 3 hits over 7 innings.  He had no such luck tonight. 

Good numbers from the bats tonight.  Nava went 2-4 with a HR and 3 RBIs.  Napoli walked 3 times.  Pedroia went 2-3 with 3 runs scored and an RBI.  Middlebrooks had 2 hits.  Lavarnway even chipped in with 2 RBIs.  Granted, he was 1-4, but 2 RBI's!

On the negative side, Ciriaco went 0-5 and Ellsbury managed just 1 hit and 1 run scored in a game where Boston put up 12.  That's not good.  Oh! And Ryan Dempster happened.

If I were to tell you that Ryan Dempster threw 127 pitches tonight, you would audibly gasp.  Then you would assume/hope he at least squeezed 7 innings out of all those pitches.  You would be wrong.  He lasted just 4 2/3 of an inning.  He gave up 8 hits.  He walked 6 batters.  Only struck out 2.  It wasn't pretty.  Between this, and the 7 hits and 6 runs he just gave up to Toronto, all those Dempster fears we had are starting to come true. 

But the bullpen bailed him out.  Mortensen, Breslow and Wilson finished the game, surrendering 4 hits, 2 walks, and 0 runs between them.  Breslow picked up the win.

Good night for the Red Sox, especially for anybody named David Ortiz.  He's awesome.

BOX SCORE

Recap: Diamond shuts down Sox in 6-1 loss

In a pretty boring 6-1 game in which the Sox got just four its and made three errors, you might expect me to be negative in the post, but I'm going to focus on the positive.

With just-decent starts out of staff leaders Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz, uncertainty out of the rest of the rotation, and injuries depleting an otherwise good bullpen, the Red Sox really needed a good start out of Ryan Dempster, and they got it. Dempster struck out eight over seven innings. He did give up four runs, but two were unearned -- you can charge those to Pedro Ciriaco, who made back-to-back errors filling in for Will Middlebrooks at 3rd -- and walked one while scattering five hits.

Dempster did have some disagreements with the home plate umpire here and there (including on a weird balk call in the 5th), but for the most part he pitched efficiently and effectively and allowed John Farrell to not have to dip too deeply into the bullpen. Craig Breslow (who struggled) and Alex Wilson split time in the 8th, and Wilson stayed out for the 9th. What reservations I had about Dempster upon his signing with Boston -- namely his age, career spent in the NL Central, and struggles in Texas last year -- have been erased by performances like these. The guy is a pro, and he stepped up when the team needed him, even if the end result wasn't what we wanted.

The offense was non-existent, as Scott Diamond (insert your own Rihanna joke here, or if you want to dip into last decade you can start humming "Diamonds Are Forever" to yourself) went seven innings, needing just 96 pitches to dispatch Boston hitters. The Sox didn't even perk up until the 9th inning, when Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a homer over the Monster. Jacoby Ellsbury walked, but Shane Victorino grounded into a double play (well, officially he did; he should have been called safe if you ask me) and killed the momentum. 

Other important notes: Will Middlebrooks and David Ross collided going for a foul ball, and both players were removed from the game (Ross more or less right away, Will later on). Several of the Sox beat guys mentioned that third base is the weakest spot on the Sox' 40-man roster, as there are no other truly dedicated 3Bs on there. Should he miss time, we're going to see a lot of Ciriaco. Middlebrooks has been so bad this year that I'd be cool with him getting some time on the DL even if the injury is marginal, just to give him a breather and maybe work on mechanics, but with so few other options, we'll have to hope his injury isn't too serious.

And manager John Farrell tried really hard to get thrown out, twice complaining to the home plate umpire about a Twins runner being inside the line running down to first base on a play that resulted in an error and two Twins scoring. He had a legitimate complaint (although it wasn't an outrage; he just had an argument) but the umpire refused to consult the first-base umpire, and also refused to run Farrell, despite what appeared to be his best attempts at getting tossed. He's an even-tempered guy.

Box score

Recap: Sox win weird one in Toronto, 3-1

Baseball can be a weird game, and tonight's 3-1 Red Sox win over the Blue Jays was just that. Don't let the low score fool you: The teams combined for 15 walks, added to a combined 13 hits made for a lot of stranded runners. And some pretty bad baseball to watch.

The Sox offense was pedestrian beyond their proficiency for taking pitches. Jonny Gomes was the lone Boston player to have two hits, and while three players doubled, there weren't the home run pyrotechnics we've gotten accustomed to at the Rogers Centre.

Ryan Dempster got the win, spreading four hits and three walks across six innings, yielding just one run. He only struck out four, but he got the job done. The Sox bullpen -- while not perfect -- held the fort to secure the win. David Ross was busy behind the plate, getting hit with balls, once appearing to strain his elbow trying to hold onto a pitch that was way outside, and having to block or retrieve wild pitches from Dempster and a couple of relievers (notably Andrew Miller). In addition to his defensive prowess, Ross walked three times. Good player.

Two big storylines emerged during the game. The first was the growing accusations of Red Sox pitching using some sort of foreign substance. It began earlier today with Blue Jays analyst Dirk Hayhurst noticing a sheen (that he suggested could be Crisco) on Clay Buchholz's left arm, and continued with Jack Morris, also a Toronto commentator, saying the same. Tonight rumors persisted on Twitter that during this game Morris was making the same accusations of Junichi Tazawa on the Blue Jays' broadcast.

Naturally, NESN didn't say anything about that (although Remy was pretty outraged about the Buchholz situation). As an amateur, I thought nothing looked off. The arms of Blue Jays reliever Esmil Rogers looked just as shiny to me, as one example. Also, as the Buchholz rumors developed throughout the day, wouldn't you have to assume you'll be under a microscope today? I have trouble believing Tazawa was up to anything. We'll see.

One thing I'm fairly confident of: Toronto is emerging as this year's enemy for the Sox. We always have the Yankees rivalry, of course, but every year there seems to be one other team that just gets under Boston's skin. I don't know if it's the Farrell stuff, or just the timing of playing them a lot early while they're struggling, but it seems like we've had a lot of drama (and a lot of whining from Toronto). I wouldn't be shocked to see some sort of brawl later in the season if we find accusations build into anything else.

The other big storyline: Joel Hanrahan came on to get the save in a two-run game in the 9th. And it's not that Andrew Bailey has been overused either. All broadcasters appeared confused and as I write this, Tom Caron and Eck don't have answers. I'd imagine we'll have some idea after Farrell's postgame, and maybe some of the beat guys will find out more over night. I was relatively terrified at first, but since it worked out -- Hanrahan gave up a single, but then retired the rest of the Blue Jays hitters -- I'm happy that Farrell took the risk. We need to build up his confidence, and throwing him against a struggling Toronto club was a good way to do that.

Box score

Your Morning Dump... Where I owe Dempster an apology (for now)

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

The commonly held belief when a pitcher jumps from the National League to the American League is that his numbers will suffer. The lineups are deeper. There’s no pitcher to feast on out of the No. 9 slot. The AL game is more offense-oriented.

Randy Johnson wasn’t the same pitcher in New York as Arizona (though, to be fair, he came to the junior circuit at age 41). Roy Oswalt was basically worthless in Texas, while John Smoltz cut his ERA in half after leaving Boston in 2009 and finishing his career in St. Louis. The winless Josh Johnson is having a rough go of things in Toronto just a few years after leading the NL in ERA.

But to this list we cannot add Ryan Dempster.

The prevailing narrative upon his arrival this winter was that he would get chewed up and spit out by the American League. Dempster’s stuff might play in the NL Central, but forget about the AL East.

However, five starts into Dempster’s Red Sox career, he looks like an AL lifer, with the numbers to match.

Herald - Dempster’s in zone

You can certainly count me among those that thought Dempster would be a disaster pitching for the Sox, in the AL East.  In fact, in our season preview, I predicted that Dempster would be the offseason acquisition that would haunt Sox fans throughout the year.  I said, and I quote, "I become physically ill each time I think of him having to face against that Blue Jays lineup."

In my defense, he hasn't faced Toronto yet.  But to this point, I was way off base.  Dempster has been rock-solid.  Even though he's only pitched less than half the innings for Boston than he did for Texas last season (30 - 69) his performance is lightyears above what he did for the Rangers.  He's pitching his ass off this season.  I tip my cap to him, and apologize for the hurtful things I said.

But I'm still waiting for the other shoe  to drop.  I don't mean to be so pessimistic.  But I am.  I don't see any reason we should expect Dempster to pitch at this level for the remainder of the season.  I'll point to one statistic to make my case:  .187. That's what opposing batters are hitting off of him thus far.  It's an absurdly low number.  So absurd, it's even lower than Buchholz's .192. 

By season's end, I expect that number to jump around .250, which is Dempster's lifetime average.  He's already surrendered 13 runs in 30 innings without giving up many hits.  Once those hits start coming, so will more runs. That's science.

I hope I'm wrong.  I really do.  I just don't think I am.

Rest of the links:

Herald - Carp warms to backup role | No question, Ross steps up | Globe -Dustin Pedroia hoping to get hotter for Red Sox | Dempster picks up first victory for Red Sox | WEEI - Mike Napoli has taken a liking to this first base thing | Closing Time: Red Sox continue to cruise through April, topple Astros | CSNNE - Ross enjoys career night at the plate | Game Day Notes: Ellsbury steals 200th base

Recap: The Houston Astros didn't have a lot of fun tonight

Can I go home now?  (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

How bad are the Houston Astros, you ask?  They made Ryan Dempster look like Clay Buchholz tonight as Boston cruised to an easy 7-3 victory.

The Red Sox had no trouble trouble at the plate or on the mound tonight.  Their 5 pitchers combined for 14 strike outs, and they amassed 17 hits and 4 home runs with their bats.

Dempster was awesome, allowing 4 hits and 2 runs over 6 innings with 10 K's.  Mortensen, Tazawa, Uehara, and Anderson finished off the game, allowing 3 hits and one run between them.  For Houston, the Sox made Erik Bedard throw 96 pitches in 3+ innings (!!!!!!), and not one at-bat ended in a walk.  Insanity.  They tagged him for 3 home runs as well.  Not going to be a happy evening in the Bedard household.

Everyone but Nava got a hit for Boston.  Papi and Gomes were the only batters to only get one hit.  Everyone else had two or three (or four, in the case of Ross).  All but 3 batters drove in a run.  It was that kind of night.  Two of Ross's 4 hits were solo shots.  Papi and Middlebrooks each had a home run as well.  Pedroia and Napoli had two doubles a piece.  Ciriaco had a triple.  Ellsbury swiped his 11th base. 

At least one team in Boston had some offense tonight. 

BOX SCORE

Ted's Army Season Preview Part One

Baseball is finally here. While Spring Training can hold people off, many are fiending for the season to start. We're right there with you. We look forward to the brutal grind of the baseball season. The braintrust behind Ted's Army came together and put out expectations for our beloved Boston Red Sox and how they would fair in the 2013 campaign. Without further ado... I give you part one of the Ted's Army season preview.

 

Who will pan out to be the best acquisition of the offseason?

Tucker Silva: Koji Uehara Pitched in the AL East for the Orioles in 2011 and had a career-low ERA of 1.72. Uehara will be the anchor of the Red Sox bullpen. Not a bad one-year signing of $4.25 million.

Nick Karalis: Jonny Gomes…I guess:  There was not one acquisition that I was even the least bit excited about, and I should go with no one. Though, if Gomes does get some playing time, he could be good for 15-20 homers and a somewhat decent .260 - .280 BA. I still think the Sox over-paid for him. 

Aaron Gettings:The player formally known as John Lackey.  I've said nothing but vile, terrible things about him since he donned that Sox cap.  But I'm prepared to pretend none of that ever happened.  It's a clean slate for he and I.  He won't let me down.

Ben Fountain: Koji Uehara. I've been smitten with this signing since Day 1. Incredible control, an absurd strikeout-to-walk ratio, can go multiple innings and is just as solid against left-handed batters as he is against righties. He will be the glue guy in the bullpen.

Scott Priest: I'm going to cheat a bit and say the best offseason acquisition was the one we didn't make: There was no panic move to get Josh Hamilton or Zack Greinke to get headlines. They also didn't trade out of any of their surpluses (catching, bullpen) when the value wasn't there, which is good.

Your Morning Dump...where Papi is (slowly) on the mend

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Ortiz said Sunday when he ran the bases the day before, for only the second time this spring, he felt some stiffness in the tendon. 

“I got a little worried yesterday,’’ Ortiz said, “and the doctor told me that’s the way it’s going to be at the beginning, because that muscle, that foot, I haven’t been doing strong activity like that. I didn’t run the whole offseason, so they said, ‘You’re just breaking things down [calcification]. That’s why it’s sore, but it will go away.’’ 

Ortiz said the foot felt “fine” this morning, but while he hoped to play in a game by the end of this week, it would be his call. 

“I’m looking forward to [playing],’’ he said, “but it’s not what they say, it’s what it is. I don’t want to go out there without being ready and having a setback.’’ 

ESPNBoston | Ortiz: Doc said heel soreness to be expected

Later in the piece Ortiz compliments one of the medical staff, which I think is the first positive thing said about them since 2003. 

Let's play a little what-if. What if Ortiz has another setback and isn't ready for opening day? Now, most people aren't projecting much for this team anyway, but it seems reasonable to expect them to be around .500. Without Ortiz? We're going to have a middle of the order with Jonny Gomes and Will Middlebrooks and Shane Victorino. Oof.

Obviously, the most important thing is to get the most games out of Papi that we can. And if that means slowly bringing him back, even starting the year on the DL for a couple of weeks, then so be it. What we can't afford -- for this team's short-term viability and watchability -- is for Ortiz to be out for a long stretch.

On page 2, everybody loves Ryan Dempster.

Your Morning Dump... Where Clay is looking forward to a better year

Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.

Buchholz wasn’t around for most of September 2011, a stress fracture in his back rendering the starter a spectator during one of the all-time late-season collapses. Then, last season, the 28-year-old logged a career-high 1891⁄3 innings and notched a 3.62 ERA after May 6 and a 4.56 ERA overall.

It wasn’t good enough. Not by a longshot.

“I always say it starts with the guys on the mound, and I definitely think that it wasn’t the year any of us wanted to have,” Buchholz told the Herald yesterday after joining Lester, John Lackey and nearly two dozen other pitchers in a voluntary workout on the practice fields behind JetBlue Park. “There were a lot of things that went on last year, but as a staff, yeah, things definitely could’ve gone a lot better.”

Last spring, Buchholz insisted he was healthy, and from a physical standpoint, that was true. Looking back, though, he said he pitched “scared” during the season’s first six weeks, fearing that his back may flare up if he wasn’t overly cautious.

Herald - Buchholz up front

One of the storylines I'm most excited about this Spring is seeing how Clay builds upon his stellar 2012 campaign.  Last season's rotation was a mess, and for a long period of time, Clay was the only guy we could put on the mound that bred any type of confidence in winning a game.  The season was barely half over when we declared him the new 'Ace' of the Boston Red Sox. 

Among the many potentially awesome side effects of having Clay push himself to be the Ace of the rotation is the motivation it gives Lester.  Lester is typically a very good pitcher.  Not last year.  He wasn't even good last year, never mind very good.  He's a talented, prideful man.  I don't think he needs any outside forces pushing him to have a better 2013.  But having Clay stealing much of the pitching thunder isn't going to hurt. 

That doesn't mean we should expect fantastic things from the Sox rotation this season.  Once you get back Clay and Lester (assuming they have good years) you're left banking on Dempster being able to pitch in the AL East (debatable), Doubront taking a step forward (entirely possible) and Lackey morphing into the anti-Lackey (laughable).  Those things are entirely possible, but for the Sox to have any Playoff hopes, let alone World Series dreams, those three things all need to come together.  Oh, plus everybody must stay healthy all season long. 

The odds are certainly stacked against them, but crazier things have happened in baseball.

On Page 2, Schilling can crawl back to wherever he popped out of now.

Sox finalize Dempster deal; Hamilton signs with Angels

The Sox have finalized a deal with right-handed starter, Ryan Dempster. The deal is for 2-years and $26.5 million, which is $750K more per season than the first offer.

"We're working on a number of fronts,'' said GM Ben Cherington on the team's search for pitching before news of Dempster's deal emerged. "We have nothing to announce, but we feel like we're a little further ahead than we were when we left Nashville. We're engaged on a pitcher, but that's all I can say at this point. We're still working on a number of things.''

Initially, Dempster and agent Craig Landis were telling teams they were expecting a three-year deal. But the Red Sox may have overcome that issue by doing what they did with both Shane Victorino and Mike Napoli: Offering more in terms of average annual value (AAV) than the market dictates in exchange for a shorter-term deal.

It is hard to get excited about a deal like this. Dempster is 35, has only had one notable season in his 15-year career, and he is going to be over-paid. Aside from that one really good season in 2008, where Dempster went 17-6, with a 2.96 ERA, everything else has been mediocre.

I wouldn't call it a desperation move, though it is on the borderline of calling it one. Screw it, it is a desperation move. Why else would you throw $13.25 million ($13 million is becoming too common) at a guy that is worth half of that? I would also call it a John Lackey move, but it is only for 2 seasons, so we won't insult him like that. Though, John Lackey may have a better season than Dempster.

While the Sox were over-paying Ryan Dempster, the Angels signed Josh Hamilton for 5-years and $125 million.

Well, I guess we can put that story to rest. Look on the bright side, Nick Swisher is still available...