John Farrell has
no choice but to relieve Andrew Bailey
of his closing duties. The Boston Red
Sox were on the verge of a narrow 3-2 victory last night at Comerica Park against the Detroit Tigers, before Bailey let up a
two-run, walk-off home run to Tigers’ shortstop Jhonny Peralta.
Bailey has now blown three saves in his last five chances.
Bailey surrendered the game-tying run in the in the top of the ninth inning in
the nightcap of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays. Jonnny Gomes
was able to bail out Bailey that night by crushing a walk-off home run over the
Green Monster in left field. But last
night, Bailey was not able to get away with blowing the save, costing the Red
Sox a victory.
In Bailey’s last five appearances, he’s given up four home
runs and walked batters, allowing seven earned runs in the process.
Farrell hinted at a change at the closer position following
last night’s deflating loss to the Tigers.
“Yes, I think so,” Farrell
said when asked if he’ll look at other options to close out games. “That
might be backing him out of that [role] to get him some work to get on track a
little more. We’ll talk more about that internally, about making a potential
change.”
Since returning from the disabled list in early May, Bailey
has been plagued by a decrease in velocity. His fastball is getting racked by
seemingly every batter he opposes. Farrell has noticed this disturbing trend in
Bailey’s velocity.
“The velocity hasn’t come back like it was before the DL
stint,” Farrell said. “There’s work being done, through long-toss program,
through the work that’s being done with the strength and medical staff here. He
doesn’t talk of any inflammation or any uncomfortable feeling in the shoulder
and yet the results are what they are.”
Bailey, meanwhile, shrugged off the notion that he is not
100 percent healthy as he believes his velocity will improve over time.
“I feel fine,” Bailey said. “I feel great. There are peaks
and valleys in this game with velocity in outings. Right now I’ve got a little
bit of both going and I’ll come out of it.”
It’s encouraging to hear that Bailey still has confidence in
his abilities, but the fact of the matter is the Red Sox can’t keep giving
games away if they want to remain in first place in the American League East. Bailey is just 8 for 12 in closing
opportunities this year, proving that he should no longer be pitching the final
inning for the Sox.
Farrell has plenty of internal options to replace Bailey at
the closer. He could move set-up man Koji
Uehara into to the closing role.
Uehara has shown he can retire batters in critical situations as he has
recorded 13 holds and one save on the season, posting a 2.10 ERA in the
process. If not Uehara, then maybe Farrell could slide Junichi Tazawa or Andrew
Miller into the closing role. Tazawa has a 2.51 ERA on the season with 11
holds, while Miller posts a 2.77 ERA with 5 holds on the year.
Tazawa, Uehara and Miller all have the potential to close
games. Bailey is still an important component of the Red Sox bullpen, but his
struggles in the ninth inning cannot be overlooked and therefore Farrell has to
select a new closer moving forward.
