Byrd To Sox
Via mlb.com –
Paul Byrd is going to have to reschedule his book signings. Perhaps a store in the Boston area will take him in.
The Indians traded the veteran Byrd to the Red Sox for a player to be named or cash on Tuesday.
Boston is getting Byrd at his best. After a rough first half in which he seemingly couldn’t keep the ball in the park, Byrd changed his windup, rediscovered his curveball, curtailed the home runs and gone 4-0 with a 1.24 ERA in four starts since the All-Star break. He is 7-10 with a 4.53 ERA in 22 starts overall.
“I knew I had to do something different,” Byrd said after a complete-game victory over the Blue Jays on Saturday. “I had to change. I feel good with where I’m at right now. I’m very confident. Better late than never.”
Under normal circumstances, left-handed batters beat up on Byrd – pretty darn good. The last 5 seasons, their OPS against him is in the high 800′s.
As crazy as this sounds, coming from me, if I’m the Yankees, I’d rather take my chances with Phil Hughes…at this stage of the game.
I’d rather take my chances with Phil Hughes…at this stage of the game.
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Really? I mean, I don’t disagree, but I’m just surprised to hear you say that.
Not that it matters anyway. The Yanks don’t need to add a pitcher for the stretch run. What they need to do is figure out what happened to Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano. If those two suck next year like they have this year…well, next year won’t be a lot of fun either.
Breaking news from the Boston Globe Extra Bases blog:
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Byrd will most likely pitch on Friday, which was Clay Buchholz’s day to start. So does that mean Buchholz is out of the rotation? Epstein would only say the Sox will have more definitive plans in the next couple of days, and that “by no means are we giving up on Clay Buchholz.”
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With the knowledge that he’s made alterations and has pitched much better of late, and against some good to half-way decent teams, I’m going to be cautiously optimistic that Byrd will improve on Buchholz’ recent performance.
He sure can’t pitch any worse.
Once was they have Zink and Purcey to replace Buchholz so I think that Byrd is a sub more for Wakefield. Good move by Boston, Byrd has been pitching well as of late. I wonder whether or not his dentist can send him enough HGH in time for a playoff run…… Maybe Theo can send an e-mail to Marc Shapiro regarding his HGH use!