Boston Red Sox: Is John Farrell to Blame for Steven Wright’s Injury?

The Boston Red Sox will have to sideline their All-Star starting pitcher Steven Wright after an odd injury that may have been unnecessary. Is manager John Farrell to blame?

John Farrell hasn’t been the most popular man in Boston for the better part of the season. Between the trending #FireFarrell hashtag and the constant berating from Red Sox Nation, the John Farrell hype train from 2013 is running out of steam. If Farrell is trying to improve his image, he definitely took a major step back with the announcement he made Wednesday night.

Steven Wright, the All-Star and potential Cy-Young starting pitcher, will miss his scheduled start on Thursday against the New York Yankees due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. One may ask, “Did he hurt his throwing shoulder amidst throwing the ball?”

The answer is no.

In fact, Wright hurt his shoulder diving back into second base after an attempted pick-off by Dodger pitcher Joe Blanton. Again, one may ask, “Did Steven Wright pitch on Sunday, get a hit, and was standing on second trying to score?”

The answer is no.

In fact, for some bonehead reason, Wright was brought in as a pinch-runner for none other than David Ortiz. Big Papi had reached base and then advanced to second before he was lifted in the sixth inning. For the last time, one may ask, “Were there any position players who could have ran for Ortiz instead of Wright?”

This time, the answer is YES. John Farrell could have elected to place either Sandy Leon or Hanley Ramirez on the bases to run for Ortiz, a run that didn’t come in to score. But for some reason he decided to put in his All-Star pitcher, on his day off, to run.

Steven Wright isn’t the most athletic guy in the world. In fact, if I saw him jogging in my neighborhood, I might pull over and ask him if he needed help getting home. Flat out, he’s just not an athletic god. I actually question if he could beat Ortiz in a foot race, and if he could, by how much.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a totally uncommon move to use a pitcher as a pinch-runner. Joe Maddon does it a lot, in fact he will pinch hit pitchers for pitchers. Madison Bumgarner comes off the bench often to pinch-hit for the Giants, and rightfully so. They are National League pitchers who are often called upon to perform on offense.

But not Steven Wright. So why didn’t Farrell bring in Hanley or Leon? Why didn’t he just leave Ortiz out there? Ortiz has more base running experience than most guys in MLB. He might not be the fastest, but Wright is not a more talented base runner than he is.

If he wanted to preserve the bench players for a potential pinch-hitting opportunity, he still had someone else to turn to before Wright. Believe it or not, Clay Buchholz is one of the fastest guys in the league. In a 2012 Bleacher Report article, he was ranked the 15^th speediest player in baseball, above guys like Andrew McCutchen and Carl Crawford.  In an ESPN article, Buchholz’s father swore that “[Jacoby] Ellsbury couldn’t sniff him,” in a race. He said his son ran a 4.25 40 in football.

To review, John Farrell elected to lift David Ortiz for Steven Wright when Hanley Ramirez, Sandy Leon, and Clay Buchholz were all available to run. By the time the Dodgers had won the game 8-5, Leon was still on the bench and Buchholz pitched a useless eighth inning.

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Farrell might hear about this one for a long time. If Wright needs to spend some time on the DL, it might be the inevitable end to his managing career in Boston. The Red Sox have had major pitching issues this season, but Wright has been one of the best pitchers in the AL. Losing him could end the Red Sox season.

Steven Wright hopes it’ll only be one missed start, but if it’s not, look for a struggling man walking in your neighborhood. It may be Steven Wright, and he may need your help.