On Wednesday, Red Sox manager Alex Cora made his weekly appearance with WEEI Afternoons with his team having won 8 of their last 10 games.
On the heels of consecutive nights where his offense exploded - 9 runs on Monday, 10 runs on Tuesday - to go along with arguably the best start of Brayan Bello’s career on Tuesday, Red Sox fans are feeling as optimistic as they have all season long with their team now sitting at 48-45 with five games to go before the All-Star break.
Whether or not Boston will be “buyers” at the trade deadline has yet to be determined, as team president Sam Kennedy told The Greg Hill Show on Thursday that the front office has been given the green light to make big moves if the team continues winning series.
But if the last week of baseball is any indication of what’s to come, rookie outfielder Roman Anthony is going to have something to say about it.
Punctuated by his monster game on Monday night at Fenway (3-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs scored), the 21-year-old appears to have figured this whole thing out.
“Are you amazed watching him put it all together this quickly?” asked WEEI’s Nick “Fitzy” Stevens. “And how has his recent success at the plate helped the lineup?”
“Obviously getting hits helps, but I think the process and the quality of at bats has been there since day one,” said Cora. “The kid - he controls the strike zone, hits the ball hard, he doesn't deviate from his plan, and [it’s] kind of like [Jackson] Merrill last year in San Diego, right?
“They took him overseas in the opening series - I think it was Japan - and they didn't expect him to be part of the roster. And all of the sudden, he became a force for them. This kid is becoming a force for us. And I was kind of stupid pinch hitting [for] him in his first big league start. We're not doing that anymore. Now he's hitting second, he's hitting third, he's playing good defense in right field.
“Tonight he's going to play left field. And we keep challenging him. He's a big part of what we're trying to accomplish now and in the future. And we're very happy with the progress.”
With the July 31 trade deadline looming large in the offing for a team that feels one or two big moves away from being a true contender, hearing Cora say Anthony will play left field in their series finale with Colorado immediately had the antennas up for WEEI’s Andy Hart, as the team’s regular left fielder in Jarren Duran has popped up in a bevy of trade rumors in recent days.
“As soon as video of [Anthony] taking balls off the wall hits social media, it's like, ‘Oh, what about Jarren Duran? Are they trading Jarren Duran? Jarren Duran’s been moved around the lineup,’” said Hart. “What is Jarren Duran’s role with this team right now?”
“He's an everyday player that we're going to ask him to play in different positions, and we're going to hit him in different spots in the lineup,” said Cora. “We'll do the same thing with [Wilyer Abreu]. Do the same thing with [Ceddanne Rafaela]. Most likely Roman will play every day, you know? Obviously he'll need days off, and we'll ask the same thing to [Masataka] Yoshida.
“Like tonight, we're going to give Ceddanne the day off. We're going to play four against Tampa, and it was a long weekend in Washington and the first two here. So give him a blow today. [Duran] is going to play center, [Abreu] is going to play right. [Romy Gonzalez] is going to play first. [David Hamilton] is going to play second. [Marcelo Mayer] third, Trevor [Story] at short and [Carlos] Narvaez is going to be behind the plate.
“So we'll keep moving guys. And it's not a problem, to be honest with you. It's actually a luxury. At one point, one of the lefties is not going to start against a right handed starter, which is tough to ride that lineup without those guys. But at the same time, we're going to have weapons off the bench, you know? Late in the games, we bring in [Rob Refsnyder]. Let's say there's a situation - there's a lefty on the mound, we send [Refsnyder] up there to pinch hit for somebody. They bring the righty, and we got [Wilyer] or Jarren or [Yoshida] to pinch hit in that spot. So - well, we got to start managing now.”
Boston goes for the sweep tonight with Lucas Giolito (5-1, 3.66 ERA) on the mound. Antonio Senzatela (3-12, 6.57 ERA) takes the bump for Colorado. First pitch is slated for 7:10 p.m. ET.
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