The Closer Position is a Problem
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| Photo Courtesy of NESN. |
Last night highlighted our one glaring weakness - our closer. Bailey gave up a home run and three walks en route to blowing an 8-6 lead in the 10th inning. He may not be 100% yet or maybe he just had a bad night, but the fact remains that we need a solid closer at the back end of the bullpen. That could still be Andrew Bailey, but after last night, I have my doubts. I might be overreacting, but we would have lost the game without the defense picking us up. Koji Uehara and Franklin Morales were lights out, but we should have won that game before the 14th.
The good news is that we won and Bailey did step up and take responsibility in his post-game interview. It's refreshing to see the players acknowledge when they make a mistake, but the fact is the Sox got lucky last night. They blew a 6-0 lead, then 8-6 and were on the brink of losing before our defense bailed us out. It might be a good idea to look at going after a closer before the trade deadline. Joel Hanrahan is out for the season and Bailey had his struggles last night. Maybe Bailey will pick it up and solidify his role at the back end of the bullpen, but it would be a good idea to get a closer and possibly use Bailey as a set up man. It's definitely worth looking into if the right guy comes up.
But the bottom line is we got the win last night, and that is what matters. Every win looks the same in the win-loss column. There will be other games like this, where we have to deal with teams that won't go away and are able to come back. We might not win all of them, but hopefully we can win most of them.
Twitter - @ConorJF1016
Conor Frederick
Contributing Writer
The good news is that we won and Bailey did step up and take responsibility in his post-game interview. It's refreshing to see the players acknowledge when they make a mistake, but the fact is the Sox got lucky last night. They blew a 6-0 lead, then 8-6 and were on the brink of losing before our defense bailed us out. It might be a good idea to look at going after a closer before the trade deadline. Joel Hanrahan is out for the season and Bailey had his struggles last night. Maybe Bailey will pick it up and solidify his role at the back end of the bullpen, but it would be a good idea to get a closer and possibly use Bailey as a set up man. It's definitely worth looking into if the right guy comes up.
But the bottom line is we got the win last night, and that is what matters. Every win looks the same in the win-loss column. There will be other games like this, where we have to deal with teams that won't go away and are able to come back. We might not win all of them, but hopefully we can win most of them.
Twitter - @ConorJF1016
Conor Frederick
Contributing Writer
