Boston, MA

Cerullo: Young Red Sox deserve buy-in from fans, ownership

Published

2 years ago

June 19, 2024

Cerullo: Young Red Sox deserve buy-in from fans, ownership

Even if it’s not always apparent in the standings, you can tell there’s something different about this Red Sox team.

Tossed into the deep end by ownership and written off by a jaded fanbase that’s learned to expect mediocrity, the Red Sox have survived one injury after another to keep their heads above water when almost any other team in their position would have drowned.

Now, after being tethered to .500 for more than a month, the Red Sox entered Tuesday having won five of their last six games. They’ve picked up huge series wins against the Phillies and Yankees, owners of MLB’s two best records, and finally appear to be building momentum after months of being stuck in the mud.

Can the Red Sox keep it up? We’ll see, but at this point it’s clear this group has a level of youth, athleticism and camaraderie that’s been sorely lacking the past few years.

Even if it’s not quite championship-ready, this club has proven itself worthy of investment from both fans and ownership.

The fact that the Red Sox are in this position is pretty remarkable. This past offseason the Red Sox did almost nothing to bolster the big league roster, instead focusing on acquiring young depth and getting more out of the players they already had. It was a huge gamble, one that looked doomed to fail after two of their most notable offseason acquisitions — starting pitcher Lucas Giolito and second baseman Vaughn Grissom — had their seasons derailed due to injury before Opening Day.

Incredibly, the club’s faith in its young talent appears to be paying off.

After years of starts and stops, Tanner Houck has made the leap and emerged as a genuine ace. The former first-round pick is on track to become an All-Star for the first time, and Kutter Crawford has also taken a big step towards establishing himself as a dependable workhorse. Those two, plus Brayan Bello, who is undeniably talented but whose season has been a disappointment so far, all look like they can be rotation anchors for years to come. Plus, the bullpen is probably as deep and formidable as it’s been since the 2018 playoffs.

The kids are coming to play everywhere else on the diamond too. Ceddanne Rafaela has immediately established himself as a Gold Glove-caliber defender and David Hamilton’s recent emergence has helped further stabilize the shortstop position in the wake of Trevor Story’s season-ending injury. Those two, plus fellow rookie outfielder Wilyer Abreu, have been a revelation.

Boston’s young veterans have also taken a step forward. Jarren Duran has been one of the most impactful outfielders in the league, and the fact that he isn’t even among the top 20 All-Star vote-getters is outrageous. Connor Wong is batting .332 and has been one of the best all-around catchers in the league. Triston Casas had gotten off to a great start and should return from injury within the next two weeks. Rafael Devers, still only 27 himself, is on pace to easily clear 30 home runs for the fourth time in his career and has been much improved defensively.

These guys can play. They just need more help.

The question of whether the Red Sox should buy or sell at the trade deadline has loomed over the season since the beginning, and while selling would better fit the club’s recent pattern of behavior, you can make a case the Red Sox should buy, one that gets stronger with each passing win.

For one, the competitive landscape of the American League has changed. The AL East is no longer a five-team gauntlet and the Red Sox aren’t just an average team that’s badly outgunned by four serious contenders. The Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays aren’t what they were, and even if the Red Sox probably won’t catch the Yankees or Orioles, they should at least be good enough to finish third.

Considering what a mess the AL West has been, that just might be good enough to make the playoffs as the third Wild Card.

Maybe that doesn’t sound very ambitious, but after back-to-back last-place finishes there’s value in showing meaningful progress. Plus, this isn’t like the NBA or NFL where the best teams in the playoffs usually advance. Crazy things can happen in baseball, and if the Red Sox get in who knows what could happen?

Look no further than the Phillies, who made the playoffs as the third Wild Card two years ago and reached the World Series, or last year’s Diamondbacks, who snuck into the postseason with 84 wins and made the Fall Classic as well.

The other factor worth considering is the Red Sox have reached a different point in their rebuild. A young big league core has already been established, and top prospects like Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony and Kyle Teel could soon be knocking at the door. Boston will have the No. 12 overall pick in this summer’s draft, and while the club could benefit long-term from continuing to sell off pending free agents for controllable young talent, there’s also a long-term benefit in re-establishing a winning culture.

That way when those young players do reach the big leagues, they won’t be stepping into a clubhouse that just talks about winning, but one that expects it and already understands what it takes.

With Banner 18 secured and the Boston Celtics’ historic season officially in the books, all eyes now turn to the Red Sox. Could this be a summer to remember or another season of discontent? Time will tell, but this group has proven it deserves people’s support, and if the front office signals its belief, fans will undoubtedly line up behind them as well.

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Boston, MA

Bruins Believe They ‘Didn’t Do Enough’ In Loss To Flyers | NESN

Published

9 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Bruins Believe They ‘Didn’t Do Enough’ In Loss To Flyers | NESN

The Boston Bruins suffered a 3-1 road loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

Boston entered the game in points in eight-straight games, as the Bruins are competing for a playoff spot. However, Boston’s offense struggled on Saturday, as the Bruins scored just once on Dan Vladar, and head coach Marco Sturm felt like the team didn’t do enough to create more scoring chances.

“(Vladar) played really good, he kind of made those saves he needed to,” Sturm said as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage on Saturday. “We just didn’t do enough of a good job being around him or being front of him.”

Although Sturm didn’t like Boston’s play, Vladar still made some key stops when the game was close.

Bruins forward Morgan Geekie had multiple chances and was frustrated that he couldn’t score on any of them.

“Just one of those nights,” Geekie said. “Their goalie played well. Couldn’t quite put it in the spot I wanted to a couple times and Dan made a couple great plays.”

Boston’s lone goal came from Charlie McAvoy, while Jeremy Swayman made 14 saves on 16 shots, as Philadelphia added an empty-netter to secure the win.

With the loss, the Bruins fell to 33-21-5 and are holding onto the final Wild Card spot. Boston will return to the ice at home on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

More NHL: Charlie McAvoy’s Mother Reveals His Immediate Reaction To Team USA’s Gold Medal Win

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Boston, MA

MLB notes: New Red Sox pitching directors looking to keep pipeline flowing

Published

21 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

MLB notes: New Red Sox pitching directors looking to keep pipeline flowing

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Over the past few years the Red Sox pitching program has been completely transformed.

Since Craig Breslow took over as chief baseball officer, the Red Sox have gone from one of the worst organizations at developing young pitchers to one of the best, and now the club is overflowing with talented arms who are already making their mark in the majors.

That hasn’t gone unnoticed, and this past offseason one of the people most responsible for executing the club’s turnaround — former director of pitching Justin Willard — was hired away by the New York Mets to be their new major league pitching coach.

Now the Red Sox are handing the baton to two others, who they hope can keep the train rolling and ensure the club’s pitching pipeline keeps flowing.

This winter the Red Sox promoted Ben Buck to succeed Willard as the club’s director of pitching while also hiring away Quinn Cleary from the Seattle Mariners to serve as his No. 2. The two have already begun working to make their mark on the organization, though both emphasized that the Red Sox already have a solid foundation in place and that they plan to continue emphasizing Willard’s core tenet of “throwing nasty stuff in the zone.”

“That is the mantra,” Buck said. “Because it is simple to say, our guys remember it, and you can branch off from each one of those words and they become very complex.”

“It’s a perfect one sentence one-liner that really sums up the two big components of being a successful pitcher in the majors,” Cleary said.

Buck earned his promotion after just one year with the organization, joining the Red Sox as a pitching coordinator following the 2024 season after previously serving in a similar role with the New York Yankees. Upon coming to Boston, Buck worked closely with many of the Red Sox’s top pitching prospects, including Payton Tolle, one of the club’s biggest recent minor league success stories who rose from High-A to the majors in just his first year of professional baseball.

“The first time that I talked to him or heard him talk about pitching, I was a lot dumber then (than I am now),” Tolle said of Buck. “He’s one of the smartest guys that I’ve ever been around in the baseball world so to now have him as the head of development, it’s huge.”

Another Red Sox pitcher who Buck has worked with is Garrett Whitlock, serving as the future Red Sox right-hander’s pitching coach during his rookie ball days as a Yankees farmhand.

“I think he’s going to be great for the organization,” Whitlock said. “He’s a very good pitching mind. He’s going to bring a lot of wisdom to the table when it comes to the movement side of things, the preparation, how to build up arms, that kind of thing. He’s very, very good at that.”

Before making the jump to the professional coaching ranks, Buck spent 15 years as a college coach after playing collegiately at Lamar Community College in Colorado and at the University of Utah. He also played a year of independent baseball before spending two years away from the sport working in a poker room, first as a dealer and then as the boss.

That job prepared him for coaching in ways you wouldn’t expect.

“There are a lot of skills that I learned from poker and from running a poker room that I still use to this day,” Buck said. “We had a VIP list of something like 280 VIPs, so attributing people’s names to their faces and not forgetting. Dealing with conflict, like for them this is higher stakes, it’s win or lose money. In some regards (baseball is) win or lose money. They’re putting themselves on the line thinking in bets. What are you willing to risk? What is not worth the risk? And how aggressive are you? How unaggressive are you? All these are transferable skills to life and this job.”

Red Sox assistant director of pitching Quinn Cleary. (Mac Cerullo/Boston Herald)

Cleary’s journey to the Red Sox is equally fascinating.

Just 26 years old, Cleary is only a few years removed from his college playing days at Yale. He has quickly risen through the front office ranks since, first interning at Cressey Sports Performance before landing with the Philadelphia Phillies and then the Mariners, with whom he served as pitching coordinator.

This past offseason the Red Sox hired him as their new assistant director of pitching and head pitching strategist, specifically requesting permission from the Mariners to interview him.

“What a great hire,” Buck said. “Sharp mind, huge feel, I can’t imagine being as young as he is, as smart as he is, with as much feel as he has.”

How has he done it at such a young age?

“I think a combination of being in the right place at the right time,” Cleary said. “I’ve been able to learn from a lot of really good people at all the stops I’ve been at. I hope to continue to do that here.”

Cleary also has a fascinating family history. His grandfather, Bill Cleary, was a member of the gold medal-winning 1960 U.S. Olympic hockey team and was the longtime men’s hockey coach and athletic director at Harvard. His parents were both Harvard athletes too, and his three brothers all attended Harvard as well.

Naturally, Cleary going to rival Yale was a bit of a departure from the family tradition.

“I am like truly the black sheep of my family,” Cleary said. “We joke that I sit at a different table at Thanksgiving but other than that it’s not too bad.”

Cleary described his new role as a hybrid front office and coaching/player development role that helps with both the majors league and minor leagues. He will also be among those assisting injured big leaguers with their rehab process, and he said he hopes to add value wherever he can.

Red Sox pitching coach Andrew Bailey said Buck and Cleary have both been great to work with so far.

“It’s been fantastic, the communication lines are really solid,” Bailey said. “A lot of bright ideas and thoughts and visions, and what’s really good is the open-mindedness and the ability to listen and take in information and what’s worked and what hasn’t worked.”

With three pitchers ranked inside Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list and a huge crop of young arms coming up from the past two years’ pitcher-heavy draft classes, Buck and Cleary find themselves in a much different situation than the one Breslow and Willard inherited after the 2023 season. They said a lot of smart people put in a lot of work to help get the club’s pitching program on the right track, and they hope to build on that progress in the months and years to come.

“Justin did such an amazing job when he was here of laying this unbelievable foundation, things are really going in a real good direction and our job is to search for the one percents and two percents to keep improving,” Buck said. “It’s less about change and more about continuing on the path where evolution can happen.”

Red Sox right-hander Brayan Bello will take the mound in his native Dominican Republic this Wednesday ahead of the World Baseball Classic. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Bello’s big homecoming

Years from now Brayan Bello probably won’t remember his first two starts of spring training, but you can be sure he’ll never forget his next one.

This Wednesday the Red Sox right-hander will take the mound for Team Dominican Republic in a pre-World Baseball Classic exhibition against the Detroit Tigers at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo. Bello has never pitched at the historic stadium before, and getting to pitch there will mark a special homecoming for the 26-year-old.

“It’s going to be my first time after I was a big leaguer that I’m getting to pitch in the Dominican Republic in front of my friends and family, in front of my home country,” Bello said Friday via interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez. “For me it’s going to be very emotional, I’m very excited to be able to pitch there and I’m looking forward to it.”

A native of Samana, a town roughly two and a half hours away from the Dominican Republic’s capital city, Bello hopes to help pitch his country to its second World Baseball Classic title. The Dominican team previously won it all in 2013 and this year features All-Star standouts like Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., among others.

Hometown kids coming up

Almost anyone who grows up playing baseball around New England dreams of one day playing for the Red Sox, and this spring several local standouts hope to take the next step in their journey towards making that dream a reality.

Shea Sprague and Jack Winnay, both recent draft picks by the Red Sox with Boston-area ties, are among the many minor leaguers populating the Fenway South complex this spring. Sprague, a BC High alum from Hanover who starred at the University of North Carolina, is entering his second full professional season after being selected as a 13th-round pick in 2024. Winnay, a Newton resident who starred at Belmont Hill and Wake Forest, is in his first spring training after going as a 13th-round pick himself last summer.

Brian Abraham, the Red Sox’s senior director of player development, said the organization is really excited about both, noting that the pair also played for the same travel ball club as his son, North East Baseball.

Sprague appeared in 22 games in his first pro season, earning a promotion from Low-A to High-A along the way and finishing with a 3.82 ERA in 96 2/3 innings, which was the eighth-highest innings total of any Red Sox minor leaguer.

“Really good pitchability,” Abraham said of the 23-year-old lefty. “Trying to increase his fastball velo, because he already has a good pitch mix and has a good way on the mound with his mix.”

Winnay debuted as a professional weeks after being drafted and made a strong first impression, batting .321 with a home run, three doubles and 11 RBI in only 15 games at Low-A Salem. The 22-year-old infielder will be a candidate to start this season at High-A, and Friday he was among a handful of minor leaguers who traveled up to North Port with the big league club.

“Jack has been playing mostly third but can play first, has really good power, moves well, really exciting I think,” Abraham said. “A lot of tools that we like and value.”

Burt signs with Tigers

North Andover’s Max Burt, a former St. John’s Prep and Northeastern University standout, signed with the Detroit Tigers as a minor league free agent this past week. The longtime New York Yankees minor leaguer spent his first eight professional seasons with the organization, playing the majority of that time at Double-A Somerset.

According to the Somerset Patriots, Burt departs as the team’s all-time franchise leader in hits (241), runs (179) and games played (361). The 29-year-old will now get a fresh start as he looks to make a push to the majors with a new organization.

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Red Sox reliever ‘fired up’ to join Team USA after dominant start to spring

Published

1 day ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Red Sox reliever ‘fired up’ to join Team USA after dominant start to spring

FORT MYERS, Fla. — It’s hard to imagine Garrett Whitlock’s spring getting off to a better start. The Red Sox right-hander made it three straight scoreless outings through the first week of games Saturday by sending down the Minnesota Twins 1-2-3 in the third during the club’s eventual 13-8 win.

Now, Whitlock will get ready to join Team USA ahead of the World Baseball Classic.

“I’m stoked. I’ve been jittery the past two days, like, ‘Oh man it’s almost here,’” Whitlock said. “Now I’ve got to go home, do some laundry and do some packing.”

Whitlock and teammate Roman Anthony will fly to Arizona on Sunday to join the rest of the American squad, which features Aaron Judge, Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes and many more of the game’s biggest stars. Team USA will play exhibitions against the Giants and Rockies this week before opening their tournament run in Houston against Brazil on Friday.

Among those Whitlock expects to be in Houston for the tournament is his father, Larry Whitlock, a veteran who saw combat during the Vietnam War. Whitlock said getting to represent his country is an amazing honor, and that sharing the news with his father that he’d been selected to the team last fall was an incredible moment for the family.

“I called him and I was just like, ‘Hey I want you to hear this from me before you hear it from anyone else, as a vet, I’m just so honored that I get to represent this country for baseball,’ and he kind of sobbed up and everything,” Whitlock said. “It was a very cool moment for me and him.”

“I’m actually the only male in my family not to serve in the military,” Whitlock continued. “My dad, my uncle, my brother, my granddad on both sides, so it’s a really truly special thing that’s close to my heart and that’s why it’s such an honor for me. Forget the stage and everything else, just to represent the country, obviously I’ll never be able to sacrifice like so many of our service members do, but the chance that we can hopefully bring them some joy in anything, it brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.”

To prepare for the tournament, Whitlock said he began his ramp up earlier than normal, throwing several live batting practices over the offseason when he’d typically wait until camp. The work was clearly evident through the first week of games, as Whitlock allowed just one hit in three innings with no walks and two strikeouts in his three Grapefruit League outings.

The next time he appears in a game the stakes will be a little bit higher, but if all goes according to plan, Whitlock won’t be back with the Red Sox for a while.

“It was funny, (USA manager Mark DeRosa) texted us like three days ago and he’s like, ‘Hey y’all better be packing for 18 days because we aren’t doing anything less.’ Kind of fired the guys up,” Whitlock said. “So I’m going to go home and you don’t realize how long 18 days is until you try to pack for it.”

Gray shaky in debut

Sonny Gray made his first start in a Red Sox uniform and wasn’t sharp, walking the first batter he faced on four pitches before ultimately allowing two runs on three hits and two walks over 1 1/3 innings. He threw 31 pitches, 13 for strikes, and allowed a solo home run to James Outman to lead off the second.

“I don’t like throwing as many balls as I did,” Gray said. “You walk the first hitter, four pitches, you know you’re not setting yourself up for success there.”

Gray escaped a potentially problematic first inning unscathed when he drew a 6-4-3 double play turned by Trevor Story and Nick Sogard to escape a bases-loaded jam. But after giving up the solo home run in the second, he allowed a single and was lifted after drawing a groundout to end his day.

Early solid again

Connelly Early took the mound in the top of the fourth for what was effectively his second “start” of the spring, and the rookie left-hander performed well again, throwing 2 2/3 innings while allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

Early posted a 1-2-3 fourth, allowed a single and an RBI double in the fifth and gave up a single before finishing his outing with back-to-back strikeouts in the sixth. The inherited runner later came around to score, giving Early the second earned run, but the lefty still threw 27 of his 39 pitches for strikes and topped out at 97.1 mph on the radar gun.

“I’m just trying to keep building the workload and I want to hold the velo going into all three innings,” Early said. “I thought I did a pretty good job with that.”

Duran homers twice

Jarren Duran has been red hot over the first week of games, and Saturday he came through again by launching two more home runs, including a two-run shot in the first inning for the second straight day.

Duran went deep to right-center field, crushing a 2-2 fastball from Twins starter Taj Bradley 401 feet for the two-run shot. He followed that up with another two-run bomb off Kendry Rojas in the fourth inning, this one going 409 feet.

The outfielder finished 2 for 2 with the two homers, four RBI, a walk and three runs scored. Duran is now batting .583 with a 2.167 OPS for the spring.

Roman Anthony and Carlos Narvaez each went 2 for 3 with an RBI, Trevor Story went 1 for 3 with a triple and Max Ferguson hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh.

Coming up next

The Red Sox are now 5-3 in Grapefruit League and 3-0 against the Twins. Ranger Suarez will take the mound for the second time this spring on Sunday when the Red Sox host the Baltimore Orioles. Aroldis Chapman, Justin Slaten, Wyatt Olds, Tayron Guerrero and Devin Sweet are all scheduled to pitch as well.

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