Sox look to rebuild him: Clay Buchholz starts anew
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By Tony Massarotti | Thursday, August 21, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com |
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Photo by AP
<!--//article Image//--><!--//article//-->BALTIMORE - Precisely 355 days after he no-hit these same Baltimore Orioles, Clay Buchholz is gone again. Back to the minor leagues. Back to the drawing board. Back to reality.
The question now is whether the Red Sox [team stats] can rebuild him.
“I think we need to give him a little bit of a renewed start because, obviously, it’s not working,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said of Buchholz following the Sox’ 11-6 loss to the Orioles last night at Camden Yards.
“It’s a tough situation. We’re in the middle of a pennant race, we’re in Boston, there’s a lot of attention on him. I’m actually proud of the way he’s handled it. I just think it reached the point where we felt like we had to do something.”
Take this for what it’s worth, Sox fans: In the extensive history of your beloved ball club, no pitcher with at least 10 decisions has ever finished a season with a worse winning percentage (2-9, .182) while simultaneously posting such a stratospheric ERA (6.75) than those registered by Buchholz in 2008. None of that means anything with regard to Buchholz’ future, but it illustrates just how poorly Buchholz has pitched in this season of considerable hype.
You want more particulars? When Buchholz pitched in any game this season, the Red Sox were 3-13; the rest of the time, they have gone 70-41
. In 76 innings, Buchholz allowed 93 hits and 41 walks while hitting two batters, meaning he put an astonishing 134 runners on base. The Red Sox haven’t had a pitcher with numbers like those since the merciful departure of Ramiro Mendoza.
Along the way, Buchholz failed to hold one lead after the next, including a 4-0 advantage after two innings last night. The Red Sox entrusted him with early leads in six of his last eight starts, but Buchholz recorded not a single victory because he could not protect any of them - which cannot help but make you wonder just how much damage has been done to his soul and psyche in these last several months.cw0
What a difference a year makes, eh?
“I’ve never had a streak like this, so it’s sort of hard for me to describe what I’m going through,” a stand-up Buchholz acknowledged after the game. “At this point, it’s hard to think they can give me any more opportunities than they have.”
Which is why he’s going back to Double A.
In the bigger picture, can we all now recognize why they’re called prospects in the first place? In baseball, especially, there are no guarantees. Buchholz now has considerably lower trade value than he did slightly less than a year ago, though that is incidental. What remains to be seen is whether he goes the way of Craig Hansen or of Jon Lester [stats].
Do not misunderstand. By all accounts, Buchholz clearly has the ability to assemble a long and productive major league career. But after Buchholz self-destructed last night, Francona noted that Buchholz shook off catcher Kevin Cash to throw a changeup to Luke Scott on a 3-1 count with one out and the bases empty in the bottom of the second inning.
Scott walked, triggering a three-run Orioles rally that led to seven unanswered Baltimore runs. Had Buchholz piped a fastball that Scott hit to Bethesda, the Sox still would have had a 4-1 lead.
Said Francona when asked what Buchholz’ decision indicated: “Probably (that) the understanding is not quite there.”
Before anyone suggests that the problem rests with the catcher, stop. As Sox captain Jason Varitek [stats] has said on countless occasions, calling the right pitch means nothing if a pitcher does not believe in it. Varitek likes to refer to pitchers throwing “with conviction,” an element clearly lacking in Buchholz for the large majority of this season.
This is what baseball evaluators mean when they say a pitcher “doesn’t trust his stuff.”
Of course, Buchholz is still just 23. Maybe all of this happened just a little too fast. Pitchers ranging from Greg Maddux to Tom Glavine to even Roger Clemens had some difficulty at the beginnings of their careers, and there is every chance that Buchholz will someday return to the major leagues permanently for what will prove to be an accomplished career.
Unfortunately, there is the chance, too, that he is merely the next Kevin Morton.
<!--//Byline box//-->
By Tony Massarotti | Thursday, August 21, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com |
<!--//Byline box end//--><!--//article Image//-->
Photo by AP
<!--//article Image//--><!--//article//-->BALTIMORE - Precisely 355 days after he no-hit these same Baltimore Orioles, Clay Buchholz is gone again. Back to the minor leagues. Back to the drawing board. Back to reality.
The question now is whether the Red Sox [team stats] can rebuild him.
“I think we need to give him a little bit of a renewed start because, obviously, it’s not working,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said of Buchholz following the Sox’ 11-6 loss to the Orioles last night at Camden Yards.
“It’s a tough situation. We’re in the middle of a pennant race, we’re in Boston, there’s a lot of attention on him. I’m actually proud of the way he’s handled it. I just think it reached the point where we felt like we had to do something.”
Take this for what it’s worth, Sox fans: In the extensive history of your beloved ball club, no pitcher with at least 10 decisions has ever finished a season with a worse winning percentage (2-9, .182) while simultaneously posting such a stratospheric ERA (6.75) than those registered by Buchholz in 2008. None of that means anything with regard to Buchholz’ future, but it illustrates just how poorly Buchholz has pitched in this season of considerable hype.
You want more particulars? When Buchholz pitched in any game this season, the Red Sox were 3-13; the rest of the time, they have gone 70-41
. In 76 innings, Buchholz allowed 93 hits and 41 walks while hitting two batters, meaning he put an astonishing 134 runners on base. The Red Sox haven’t had a pitcher with numbers like those since the merciful departure of Ramiro Mendoza.Along the way, Buchholz failed to hold one lead after the next, including a 4-0 advantage after two innings last night. The Red Sox entrusted him with early leads in six of his last eight starts, but Buchholz recorded not a single victory because he could not protect any of them - which cannot help but make you wonder just how much damage has been done to his soul and psyche in these last several months.cw0
What a difference a year makes, eh?
“I’ve never had a streak like this, so it’s sort of hard for me to describe what I’m going through,” a stand-up Buchholz acknowledged after the game. “At this point, it’s hard to think they can give me any more opportunities than they have.”
Which is why he’s going back to Double A.
In the bigger picture, can we all now recognize why they’re called prospects in the first place? In baseball, especially, there are no guarantees. Buchholz now has considerably lower trade value than he did slightly less than a year ago, though that is incidental. What remains to be seen is whether he goes the way of Craig Hansen or of Jon Lester [stats].
Do not misunderstand. By all accounts, Buchholz clearly has the ability to assemble a long and productive major league career. But after Buchholz self-destructed last night, Francona noted that Buchholz shook off catcher Kevin Cash to throw a changeup to Luke Scott on a 3-1 count with one out and the bases empty in the bottom of the second inning.
Scott walked, triggering a three-run Orioles rally that led to seven unanswered Baltimore runs. Had Buchholz piped a fastball that Scott hit to Bethesda, the Sox still would have had a 4-1 lead.
Said Francona when asked what Buchholz’ decision indicated: “Probably (that) the understanding is not quite there.”
Before anyone suggests that the problem rests with the catcher, stop. As Sox captain Jason Varitek [stats] has said on countless occasions, calling the right pitch means nothing if a pitcher does not believe in it. Varitek likes to refer to pitchers throwing “with conviction,” an element clearly lacking in Buchholz for the large majority of this season.
This is what baseball evaluators mean when they say a pitcher “doesn’t trust his stuff.”
Of course, Buchholz is still just 23. Maybe all of this happened just a little too fast. Pitchers ranging from Greg Maddux to Tom Glavine to even Roger Clemens had some difficulty at the beginnings of their careers, and there is every chance that Buchholz will someday return to the major leagues permanently for what will prove to be an accomplished career.
Unfortunately, there is the chance, too, that he is merely the next Kevin Morton.
