How do I think the Red Sox experiment to move Joe Kelly from the starting rotation to the bullpen is going to work out?
Well, just watch the clip of Larry David. He expresses my feelings better than I.
Kelly's move to the bullpen makes a lot of sense. He has shown potential as a starter but he's never been able to establish himself in that role. A common problem for Kelly, at least in his time in Boston, has been that after pitching well for the first few innings he gets beat up on his second or third time through the opposing lineup.
The move from starting pitcher to relief pitcher should, in theory, allow Kelly to make best of his talents without having to go through the lineup multiple times. Being able to showcase his fastball and sinker, Kelly's two best pitches, to just a few batters each appearance instead of facing the entire lineup several times should be the key to success for the 28-year-old righty.
The shift to the bullpen for Kelly is coming at the right time for the Red Sox. He has had success in three appearances out of the bullpen with Triple-A Pawtucket (0-0, 0.00 ERA over 4 innings with 8 strikeouts and just 1 walk) a a time when the Boston bullpen has been decimated by injuries.
If Kelly can successfully transition to the bullpen at the major league level, the Red Sox will have made a very important addition without having to trade away any prospects. They are also set to get back Junichi Tazawa from the disabled list, maybe as early as tonight, and the addition of Tazawa and Kelly - as well as recently acquired Brad Ziegler - would help them survive the recent injuries to closer Craig Kimbrel and set-up man Koji Uehara and then set up the Red Sox to have a potentially dominant bullpen for September and October.
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I have to admit, I'm disappointed that the Guerschon Yabusele era with the Celtics will not start until the 2017-18 season.
The team's second first round pick in last month's draft, a 20-year-old Frenchmen who is built like Draymond Green, is set to spend this season in China playing for the Shanghai Sharks.
Yabusele certainly needs more time to develop his game but after watching him display a versatile offensive game in the Utah and Las Vegas summer leagues, I was hoping that he'd have a "red shirt" season with the Celtics in Boston. Working every day with Brad Stevens, playing with and against veterans like Jae Crowder, and making a few trips to Maine to play for the Red Claws would have been an excellent situation for the Dancing Bear to continue his development as well as shape his 6-7, 270-pound frame into an NBA ready body
The Celtics third pick in the first round, 19-year-old Croatian center Ante Zizic, will also delay the start of his NBA career for at least a year. The 7-foot, 250-pound big man will stay in Croatia for the 2016-17 season in order to develop his game. Unlike Yabusele, Zizic did not play for the Celtics summer league entries but he comes highly rated and has the potential to be a contributor to the C's as early as next season.
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Add this to the list of amazing memories David Ortiz has provided to Red Sox Nation since joining the team back in 2003.
Taking batting practice before last night's 13-2 win over the Twins, Ortiz launched a ball so hard that it got stuck in the fabled Pesky Pole down the right field line at Fenway.
Building off of his memorable performance in batting practice, Big Papi went 3-for-5 with his 24th home run and drove in four runs to increase his 2016 total to 79 as the Red Sox maintained their hold on first place in the A.L. East.
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Enjoy Eduardo Rodriguez tonight.
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