McCarthy: Red Sox have heart, but will still miss playoffs
On Thursday’s Felger & Mazz program, the guys wonder if the Boston Red Sox can really make the playoffs this season.
Red Sox Playoff Chances Dead?
Parts of conversation abbreviated for clarity.
Jim Murray: The Red Sox won’t go away. They’ve now won two straight games. That was maybe Brayan Bello’s best performance last night. And that wasn’t even the biggest surprise out of Fenway. I will tell you what it was in a moment.
So, they’re three games back now and the Minnesota Twins are reeling. That’s the team you’ve got to keep an eye on in terms of the Wild Card race. Twins have lost I think three in a row.
That was a good win over the Toronto Blue Jays last night. What do you make of this? And have you wavered at all? Are you still calling the team dead?
Matt McCarthy: I do still think that they’re dead. I will say, though, the last two nights I’ve seen a fight from the Red Sox. The fight had gone away with this team for a little bit. Their resiliency had been their calling card all year long.
I do think their chances of making the playoffs are over, but I don’t expect them to collapse. And that’s what I was so shaken by on Tuesday because it did look like they were starting to collapse. I don’t see that happening with this team. I think they’re resilient. I think they fight. I think they’ll ultimately miss the playoffs because I don’t think they have enough pitching.
But what I saw last night from Brayan Bello, I will not discredit one bit, that was outstanding. That was probably the best outing of his career. He is so tantalizing.
It sounds so silly but I saw him warming up last night and his body language was different. For Bello, most of his problems are above the shoulders. He just looked calm, cool, collected. He looked locked in. And you saw that all night long.
He’s also throwing the fastball more. He’s not doing the Andrew Bailey thing, and some stats are supporting that. Bello has an ERA under 4. He’s been a much better pitcher.
He is so tantalizing. He is. And that’s what makes it so frustrating. Especially, with what we saw from him at the beginning of the year. Why can’t he just figure it out? He’s got all this talent.
I don’t know if he’s an ace, but he’s probably a number two starter and that’s nothing to sneeze at
Maybe the Red Sox would be in the playoffs if Brayan Bello had pitched like this all year long. Maybe they’d be there if Andrew Bailey hadn’t messed around with the pitching staff. Or, if Bello could handle some adversity.
Segment Audio
Ryan Beaton is a producer for 985thesportshub.com. You can follow Ryan at @ry_beaton on Twitter.
Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!
Patriots announce first 7 practice squad signings
The Patriots practice squad has its first seven players.
With their initial roster set on Tuesday and the first waiver cycle completed on Wednesday, it’s now time for Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo to put together the Patriots practice squad. That started on Thursday, with the team announcing the first seven signings of the season.
All seven players were with the team in training camp this summer. The group is made up of running backs Kevin Harris and Terrell Jennings, wide receiver Matt Landers, tight end Mitchell Wilcox, offensive lineman Liam Fornadel, defensive end Jotham Russell and safety A.J. Thomas.
Those signings leave the Patriots practice squad with 10 open spots remaining, four of which can be filled by veterans (the others have to go to rookie or second-year players). Russell doesn’t count against the 16-man practice squad limit as an International Pathway Player, but that also means he can’t be added to the active roster this season (although he can be a practice squad gameday elevation up to three times).
Some of those remaining spots could go to other players recently cut by the Patriots, including the four released on Wednesday (Jalen Reagor, Michael Jordan, Trysten Hill, and Isaiah Bolden) after the team’s waiver claims. However there are some players who reportedly won’t be returning, including safety Joshuah Bledsoe and wide receiver David Wallis (both reported by Mark Daniels of MassLive).
There are still a few positions where the Patriots are thin on their active roster that aren’t yet supplemented by the practice squad. Quarterback, offensive tackle, tight end, defensive tackle, edge rusher, and kicker would all be spots where it would make sense for the Patriots to add.
