Red Sox Links: A Side Effect Of The Rules Changes We Didn’t See Coming

Mar 31, 2023 - 2:36 PM

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Well, we were all expecting more stolen bases thanks to the pickoff rules and bigger bases. But I, for one, didn’t really think about the way savvy runners would use the timing of the pitch clock to their advantage. The Baltimore Orioles are smarter than me. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)

That wasn’t the only place where the new rules hurt the Sox yesterday, though. Devers got dinged on a tough pitch clock violation, but isn’t blaming anyone else. (Matt Vautour, MassLive)

Masataka Yoshida was greeted with “Yoshi” chants every at-bat yesterday. But that pales in comparison to what the crowds in Japan used to do for him (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

Corey Kluber had the single best walk rate in all of baseball last year. Yesterday, he sure didn’t seem like the same guy. (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)

Kenley Jansen didn’t pitch yesterday, but he sure looks like the leader of the bullpen. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)

It’s not like Lou Merloni ever went anywhere, but now that he’s going to be consistently calling ballgames, it seems it’s inevitable that he’s going to take on Jerry Remy’s old Mr. Red Sox Nation mantle. (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)

In the last game the Red Sox played in 2022, JD Martinez led the way with two homers and Xander Bogaerts chipped in with two hits. They both debuted for their West Cost teams last night and Bogaerts picked up right where he left off. (Nick Friar, WEEI)

We’ve argued that the Red Sox won the World Baseball Classic. Chaim Bloom kind of agrees, saying that the tournament helped bring the team together. (Ryan Gilbert, WEEI)