Presenting the full list 2017 Roster Recaps, listed with the authors that wrote them. An asterisk denotes a player who has, as of March 13th, dearly departed the Red Sox. We’ll miss them all terribly.

Catchers

• Sandy Leon (Cam Ellis)
• Blake Swihart (Jake Devereaux)
• Christian Vazquez (Brett Cowett)

Infielders

• Xander Bogaerts (Chris Teeter)
• Chase d’Arnaud* (Matt Kory)
• Rafael Devers (Kory)
• Marco Hernandez (Cowett)
• Brock Holt (Devereaux)
• Tzu-Wei Lin (Cowett)
• Deven Marrero (Cowett)
• Mitch Moreland (Cowett)
• Eduardo Nunez (Teeter)
• Dustin Pedroia (Kory)
• Hanley Ramirez (Devereaux)
• Josh Rutledge* (Cowett)
• Pablo Sandoval* (Cowett)
• Sam Travis (Teeter)

Outfielders

• Andrew Benintendi (Ellis)
• Mookie Betts (Kory)
• Jackie Bradley Jr. (Cowett)
• Rajai Davis* (Daniel Poarch)
• Steve Selsky (Ellis)
• Chris Young* (Cowett)

Pitchers

• Fernando Abad* (Ellis)
• Matt Barnes (Cowett)
• Blaine Boyer* (Cowett)
• Roenis Elias (Poarch)
• Doug Fister* (Kory)
• Heath Hembree (Kory)
• Brian Johnson (Teeter)
• Joe Kelly (Ellis)
• Kyle Kendrick* (Poarch)
• Craig Kimbrel (Cowett)
• Austin Maddox (Ellis)
• Kyle Martin (Poarch)
• Drew Pomeranz (Ellis)
• Rick Porcello (Teeter)
• David Price (Ellis)
• Noe Ramirez* (Poarch)
• Addison Reed* (Ellis)
• Eduardo Rodriguez (Cowett)
• Robbie Ross* (Cowett)
• Chris Sale (Cowett)
• Robby Scott (Cowett)
• Carson Smith (Teeter)
• Ben Taylor (Cowett)
• Hector Velazquez (Devereaux)
• Brandon Workman (Ellis)
• Steven Wright (Kory)

Header photo by Winslow Townson — USA TODAY Sports

Scott got his innings in, all 35.2 of them. Being at the bottom of the bullpen depth chart isn’t exactly thrilling, but as one of the very few left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster, Scott had a pretty solid spot for most of the season. He would bounce back and forth a couple times over the rest of the season, but Scott would still getting southpaws out at a mostly acceptable rate. Right-handed batters, though, that was a different story entirely.

What Went Right

Scott was still a menace to anything left-handed. He held them to a stellar .119/.224/.303 line in over 20 innings, turning him into the most effective reliever on the team against left-handed batters, and that even includes Craig Kimbrel, patron saint of remarkably absurd reliever stats. Scott had his fair share of escapes as well, including this high-wire act in Cleveland where he struck out Jay Bruce and Bradley Zimmer to preserve the tie:

Being a LOOGY isn’t the flashiest thing, but they get their 15 seconds of fame just like everyone else.

What Went Wrong

Everything that wasn’t under the “versus L” split. Right-handed hitters had his number, posting a .814 OPS against the southpaw, and he gave up four home runs in just 15 innings of pitching to righties. It was bad. But don’t worry, it gets worse, because his home/road splits are objectively horrifying.

Cover your kids’ eyes before reading the rest of this segment. It’s not for children nor the faint of heart.

At home, he held all hitters to a .427 OPS. That’s pretty good! On the road, opposing batters lit him up, as he allowed 5 homers in just 15.2 innings and was pinned to a .927 OPS. That’s pretty bad! Thing is, he was still solid against lefties on the road, which speaks to how awful he truly was when there was no same-side advantage working in his favor. I could go on but the theme here is blatantly obvious: if it wasn’t a left-handed hitter, Scott was getting destroyed. They are his hard counters.

What To Expect

As optimistic as I was last year, it’s hard to think he’ll be much more than the second lefty in the bullpen. He has a major home run issue, and his batted ball profile suggests it won’t change much, especially when it comes to right-handed hitters. Scott wasn’t often misused in 2017, and it’s hard to see him being put in worse situations in 2018, seeing how dramatic his splits were. If he can keep the ball from leaving the park so much, he’ll stick around a lot longer than any of use expect.

Photo by Eric Hartline — USA TODAY Sports

“Imagine a…”

“Let me stop you right there.”

The Red Sox snagged d’Arnaud off waivers from the Atlanta Braves in the dead of night during a late April injury blizzard. Dustin Pedroia was having trouble with his knees, as was Pablo Sandoval who, it turned out, was also terrible. Brock Holt’s vertigo prevented him from helping out and Josh Rutledge was still in Triple-A recovering from a hamstring strain sustained while participating in ham-on-a-string exercises (unrelated) during Spring Training. All of a sudden, the Red Sox had no middle infielders they could play after Xander Bogaerts but, more importantly, they had no middle infielders they could not play. The Red Sox were all of a sudden a baseball team without this most important of commodities. Who was going to sit in the dugout, chat to nobody about things, and chew sunflower seeds?

Of course, the answer to their injury epidemic is obvious in retrospect: surgically remove the legs of every infielder on the roster and auction off the severed limbs for charity. Just think how one of Brock Holt’s legs would look in a plastic case adorned with a Red Sox logo up on your mantle? It’d be magnificent, and the Jimmy Fund would make a fortune. Strangely, that most clear of answers seemed to elude everyone, so, in lieu of that, the Red Sox went waiver wire dumpster diving to solve their problems. They came across some pretty sweet cardboard boxes, a few dead fish, Chase d’Arnaud, and bag of half-eaten cat crunchies.

You might not expect much of anyone acquired in such a manner, and certainly d’Arnaud was no different from those low expectations, but boy howdy he delivered on each and every low expectation. The Red Sox called on d’Arnaud during an early May game against the Twins. The Red Sox entered the ninth inning leading Minnesota 7-6, but the Red Sox quickly gained a small and precarious lead by scoring eight runs. After an infield single by Dustin Pedroia, manager John Farrell, looking down the barrel of a gun, turned to his best player.

“Get in there, d’Arnaud!” he probably didn’t ever shout.

“You got it, skip!” replied the ever-ready part-time pinch-hitter.

d’Arnaud took his place at first base and immediately began dancing dangerously off the bag. Twins pitcher Justin Haley threw over to first once, twice, three times, desperate to preserve the eight-run deficit for what he felt would be the Twins inevitable comeback during the bottom of the inning. But d’Arnaud’s wild dancing frustrated him. He threw over again and again and again and again, but each time d’Arnaud dove back just ahead of the tag. After Haley’s last throw, Twins first baseman Joe Mauer trotted over to Haley. “The kid’s just too good,” said Mauer. “Focus on the batter.”

“I can’t,” replied Haley. “I’m just too flummoxed. I’m going to have to throw a really bad pitch.”

“Well, uh, okay,” said Mauer, and handed Haley the ball. Haley’s next pitch was a meatball. Xander Bogaerts hit it for a triple, scoring Mookie Betts and d’Arnaud all the way from first, and extending the Red Sox lead to a comfortable 10 runs. The Red Sox were just able to hold on in the bottom of the inning. They won 17-6, all thanks to Chase d’Arnaud.

You might think that after such a performance the Red Sox might have started d’Arnaud, but they did not. Asked about it by reporters, manager John Farrell winked and grinned. “I like to keep my secret weapons where I can use them when I need them,” he said. Later that day against the Brewers, Farrell needed his secret once more. Trailing 6-1 in the top of the fifth inning, Farrell tried something radical. “This isn’t working,” he reportedly whispered to himself. “Think, John. Dammit, you’ve got to think!” With one out and the pitcher due up, it suddenly hit Farrell like a ton of bricks: d’Arnaud!

“Get in there, d’Arnaud!” he definitely didn’t ever say.

“You got it, skip!” replied the ever-ready part-time pinch-runner.

With d’Arnaud running up the steps, Farrell stopped him. “You’re going to need this,” he said, handing him a broom. “Was that supposed to be a bat?” d’Arnaud asked? “You guessed it,” chuckled Farrell. “I’m really not very good at this managing thing.” Thus inspired d’Arnaud stepped to the plate against possibly the best pitcher in the history of baseball, Wily Peralta.

Peralta’s first pitch was a 110 mph fastball on the corner. “Strike one!” shouted the umpire. His second pitch was a 120 mph fastball on the inside corner. “Strike two!” shouted the umpire. d’Arnaud stepped out of the box. He realized what he was up against. He knew how nobody had ever faced a more perilous situation in baseball, but he was determined. He cocked his bat and stood there watching as a 99 mph curveball draped itself around the plate. “Ball one,” said the umpire. Now d’Arnaud was ready. He stared out at Peralta who stared back, both knowing what was at stake, perhaps the most important fifth inning at-bat by non-rivals from different leagues in early May in baseball history.

Peralta reared back and fired. d’Arnaud took a mighty swing and hit a weak grounder up the middle. The second baseman fielded the ball, but his heart was heavy when he did, because he knew he could never catch d’Arnaud. Crossing the first base bag, d’Arnaud slowed and stopped before the enormity, the sheer gravity of what he’d done struck him. As his team mates raced from the dugout to mob him and the loudspeakers blared the theme to The Natural, d’Arnaud knelt gently in the grass, a single tear falling from his face. Somewhere, Robert Redford muttered, “No, that’s perfect,” as d’Arnaud was lifted and carried around the field by his teammates.

The next inning they took him out for Fernando Abad. That would be the last time d’Arnaud stepped on a playing field for the Boston Red Sox. Asked about his decision to release d’Arnaud, Team President Dave Dombrowski said, “When you love something, set it free.”

But I digress. On to his season recap!

What Went Right

He got an infield single in his only Red Sox at-bat.

What Went Wrong

Whatever.

What To Expect

Nothing.

Thanks for reading.

Photo by Jeff Hanisch — USA TODAY Sports

The A-good news is that Abad, by most standards, improved this season. His FIP (3.68) was down ever so slightly from 2016 (3.98). While that doesn’t look like that significant of an improvement, it should be noted that Abad’s 2016 FIP doesn’t accurately represent his performance in Boston. He was, after all, acquired mid-season last year after putting up solid numbers with the Twins during the first half of 2016. After he came to Boston, Abad posted a 5.44 FIP. That 18-game stretch for Abad was among the worst “seasons” of his career, posting numbers not dissimilar to the actual worst year of his career – 2015 in Oakland. To see Abad post numbers closer to the pitcher that the Red Sox thought they were trading for was, if not exciting, encouraging.

What Went Right in 2017

At first glance, his improved control jumps off the page. After walking close to six batters per nine innings during in 2016, Abad cut that number in half this year (2.89 K/9). His 7.7 percent walk rate this year looks a whole lot better than 2016’s 13.3 percent. He doesn’t really strike people out – his strikeout rate has been below the MLB average in four of his six seasons – so he couldn’t really afford to walk 13 percent of the batters he faced again (although, can anyone?).

Another interesting aspect about the improvement is that Abad really didn’t change much this year. Take a look at his pitch selection in 2016 vs. 2017:

The two seasons look pretty similar. Abad ended this year throwing more changeups than curveballs, but he generally kept his approach the same.

His contact numbers also looked more like Twins version of Abad than what we’ve seen from the Red Sox version. Last year in Minnesota, he put up Soft-, Medium-, and Hard-hit percentages of 14.7, 54.7, and 30.5, respectively. Those numbers changed to 23.1/38.5/38.5 during his time in Boston. This year, his numbers normalized, as he posted a 16.9/56.9/26.2. It was his lowest Hard-hit rate in three years. He kept the ball in the ballpark this year and finished this season with an above-average groundball rate (45 percent) for the first time in his career.

What Went “Wrong” in 2017

A lot of these silver linings exist because Abad wasn’t trusted with high-leverage moments at any point this year. He threw 43.2 innings of relief pitching for the Red Sox this year, and 4.1 of them were classified as high-leverage. For what it’s worth, he allowed three earned runs on seven hits over 19 total batters faced in those situations. He didn’t even really get any medium leverage innings either, as he only pitched 5.1 innings in that category. Of the 43.2 innings he threw this  year, 34 of them came in low-leverage situations.

What To Expect in 2018

Personally, I don’t see a world where Fernando Abad is back with the Red Sox next season. He’s an unrestricted free agent, and the team has more than enough middling starters that they can toss into the mop-up role. Why pay Abad two million dollars (or more) per year to do exactly what Brian Johnson or Roenis Elias can do for a fraction of the cost. Abad – and the Red Sox to a certain extent – benefited from Abad’s role this year. Unfortunately for Abad, it’s not a role that holds a lot of value, even when done well. He probably earned himself a shot with a major league team next year, but it doesn’t feel like it’ll be with the Red Sox.

Photo by Jesse Johnson – USA TODAY Sports

Fernando Abad has an ERA of 2.07 in the 8th inning or later. That's 31 appearances. Lefties are hitting .190 overall. (He's not bad.)

— Chris Mason (@ByChrisMason) September 19, 2017

While we were all on Twitter making the same Abad pun, he actually stopped being bad. He certainly hasn’t been overused – he’s pitched 18 innings over the last two months – but still, the numbers aren’t bad. Some of them are downright impressive.

It’s been over a month since Abad walked a batter. His 31.5 percent K/BB% has been fourth-best on the team (albeit with a possibly significant caveat that we’ll get to in a second) over that time. His K/9 (7.7) is as high as it’s ever been all year, and he’s lowered his BB/9 back to league average after struggling with walks in July and August.

Since the beginning of August, he has a 2.67 FIP, 1.16 WHIP and a .262 AVG against. Interestingly enough, he’s done his best work against righties this season. In fact, he’s never been better against righties than he is this year, posting a FIP under four for only the second time in his career and the first time since his 2013 season in Washington. His improvement against right-handed hitters has made all the difference, as this season’s stats against left-handed hitters are right around his career norms.

What’s the reason for his newfound competency against righties? Some of the answer can probably be found by looking at his pitch selection over the second half of the year:

Ever since mid-July, when Abad was pitching about as poorly as any point this season, he’s done a drastically better job mixing his pitches. Just how much that plays into his improved command is a tricky thing to prove, but it’s clear that something’s working.

The problem, of course, is that Abad hasn’t seen much game action in the first place. Despite being fourth overall in innings pitched this year (42.1), only 14.2 of those innings have come in the second half of the season. Also worth noting: of Abad’s 42.1 innings, 33 of them have come in low leverage innings. Abad’s been the mop-up, garbage-time guy all year.

Abad still isn’t meant for high-leverage situations. When it comes to a post season spot, however, it seems like Abad’s second half has been enough to warrant a conversation.

Evan Drellich of CSNNE wrote recently that the Red Sox should take a look at him when rounding out their postseason roster. There’s certainly something to be made about, as Drellich puts it, riding the hot hand. It’s an idea that all of a sudden doesn’t sound so crazy, which in itself sounds so crazy.

Abad got a taste of a high-leverage situation during the Sox’s first game in Baltimore. The lefty came in with a one-run lead and quickly gave it back, allowing Pedro Alvarez to hit only his second home run of the year off a lefty pitcher. It was a moment that seemed to be a reminder that, despite playing better of late, Abad still isn’t meant for high-leverage situations. When it comes to a post season spot, however, it seems like Abad’s second half has been enough to warrant a conversation.

Should Abad even make the postseason roster, it’s not like he’s going to see any action after the 5th/6th inning. The 7th inning is hopefully probably going to Carson Smith Matt Barnes, with a pitching-much-better-recently Addison Reed taking the 8th and obviously Kimbrel comes after that. It’s not like Abad was ever going to be considered for any of those.

Abad’s playoff ceiling is probably a mid-innings gap-guy who keeps people off base. At worst, his floor is Price’s insurance policy/extra body for the one inevitable 15-inning game that will definitely be on a work night and start at 8:37 PM.

Either way, there’s value in those roles. Come playoffs, there’s value in any relief pitcher who’s on top of their game. Abad’s the hot hand, and there’s no real harm in the Sox seeing how far they can ride it. Fernando Abad: the potentially valuable bullpen piece. I’ve got a fresh box of Tums ready for the occasion.

Photo by Gregory Fisher – USA TODAY Sports

It’s fun because it’s silly, because it’s juvenile, and because it’s utterly unnecessary. I love that they’ve spent time figuring this thing out – you do this, and you do this and I’ll do this, no wait let’s try it this way, and on and on – time which has been spent together, working as friends.

Winning baseball is fun. Any team that wins is fun. And this 2017 Red Sox team wins, so by definition they are fun. But this team is more than fun-because-they-win fun. This team is straight up roller-coaster milk-coming-out-your-nose yelling-out-the-moon-roof-of-a-moving-car fun, and the outfield dance is only one reason. Here are many, many others.

1. Anytime anyone tries to hit a ball past Dustin Pedroia.
2. Chili Davis. On one end of the cool cat scale you have former Yankees catcher Brian McCann, who probably dresses like an old timey school marm and hits puppies with sticks for fun. On the other end of the cool cat scale you have Chili Davis, who plays jazz trumpet in clubs until 4am and will chat you up long after that. Does he really play jazz trumpet in clubs after games? Who knows, but metaphorically speaking absolutely.
3. Hanley. The Red Sox drafted him and then they dealt him away. That happens. Baseball is a business. But through all that, through two other organizations and a literal decade of time, dude still felt an attachment to Boston and wanted to come back. I’ll never forget that. Also he’s a total goofball whose helmet needs to be crazy-glued to his hair. We should get a Kickstarter rolling for that.
4. Hanley’s homers. GOOD GOD Y’ALL, those things GO. When he gets a hold of one it’s a sight to see. I tell ya, A SIGHT TO SEE!
5. You know what’s fun? Stuff that is exciting! And you know what’s exciting? Any time the Red Sox get a base runner! Will he steal? Maybe! Will he be thrown out at home by 30 feet? Maybe! Exciting! Fun!
6. Andrew Benintendi’s hair.
7. Andrew Benintendi’s swing.
8. Andrew Benintendi.
9. You know how when Mookie stands in the batter’s box and glares back at the pitcher his lip does this little curl thing, kinda like Elvis Presley used to do? I love that.
10. Craig Kimbrel is striking out more than half the batters he’s faced this season. He’s at 51.8 percent right now! Exclamation point! Vomit! YELLING! Fifty-one point eight perWHAT! AHHHHHHH! That’s a lot is what I’m saying.
11. So this kid who is 20 years old was playing for Salem, Virginia in the Carolina League last season and now he’s the starting third baseman for the Red Sox and he’s always smiling like that time he smiled after he turned around a 103 mph fastball from Aroldis Chapman and tied the game in ninth inning. That was a smile!
12. Joe Kelly’s velocity readings are fun!
13. Joe Kelly’s great stuff is funny because it’s not real, which is fun!
14. You know how the Yankees aren’t doing great and are always mad and they are paying Aroldis Chapman a lot of money to be awful? That’s not directly related to the Red Sox but it sure is fun anyway!
15. The standings! You should look at them sometime. They are great fun.
16. Mookie sometimes fools fielders and thieves bases from them.
17. Jackie’s defense. Have you ever seen him miss a ball? Like, ever?
18. Sandy Leon and his occasional magic. You never see it coming and then POW! Right in the kisser!
19. Brandon Workman last pitched in the majors in 2014. You know who started the most games for that team? Jon Lester, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz, Jake Peavy, Rubby De La Rosa, and Workman. That’s a long time ago! Then Workman got hurt and rehabbed and then he got hurt again and rehabbed and his rehab didn’t take and he had to start and stop and start and stop and start and stop again. Poor guy as recently as this season was throwing 87 in the minors and getting lit up. Now he’s back in the mid-90s and looking like a worthwhile piece of a major league bullpen. That’s persistence. That’s perseverance. That’s impressive. Also, remember that time he batted in the World Series? Less fun, that.
20. Addison Reed will probably help eventually!
21. Eduardo Nunez: How bad must the Giants have been that they couldn’t win with this guy?
22. Remember that time Doug Fister looked like Chris Sale? That was fun! (We’ll ignore the time Chris Sale looked like Doug Fister.)
23. Robby Scott might not be your favorite Red Sox, but he’s one of mine. Remember Daniel Nava? Scott is the reliever version of Nava. Like Nava, Scott went undrafted and started his career in pro ball only Scott played for the Yuma Scorpions of the independent league where he was teammates with Jose and Ozzie Canseco. It’s like wanting to be a baseball player and the only job available was with the circus. He almost quit baseball to become a teacher, which considering his circumstances, made perfect sense. But now he’s in a major league bullpen!
24. Fenway Park. I don’t care that the seats are small and everything costs a fortune. Okay, I care, but the point is that’s the place Ruth played, where Williams and Yaz and Ortiz all made their names. It’s worth it, it’s worth every bit of it. Fenway is on the top of any list of major league ballparks because it’s living history, but also because it’s damn beautiful right now. Really, it’s at the top of any list of pro sports stadiums that you have to visit. It’s the best.
25. Fernando Abad has been okay!
26. Rick Porcello’s immaculate inning. Remember that?! That was crazy!
27. Rafael Devers’ triple play. Remember that?!? That was crazy!
28. Unexpected stuff is lots of fun, when it’s good, and Porcello’s 2016 was exactly that. Drew Pomeranz has taken up where Rick Porcello’s 2016 season left off. Pomeranz has been as valuable as Jose Quintana and Jake Arrieta by BP’s metrics, and as valuable as Dallas Keuchel and Justin Verlander by Baseball Reference. Pomeranz has been what the Red Sox thought they were getting when they signed David Price. He’s been that good.
29. Chris Young’s weird short-armed swing is so weird. How does he hit the ball? I don’t know!
30. Chris Sale has over 253 strikeouts which coincidentally is the same number of times I would strike out against Chris Sale were I to bat against him 253 times.
31. Heath Hembree’s hair. It’s like he saw the movie Coming To America where Eddie Murphy’s character wears soul glow hair goop and thought, yeah, that’s what I want.
32. Have you seen those embarrassing high school pictures the relievers (probably Joe Kelly) have hung in the bullpen? They’re hilarious!

This is only a partial list. There’s also Brian Johnson’s complete game five-hitter against the Mariners in May, Tzu-Wei Lin getting three hits in a 15-1 win over the Blue Jays, and of course, that time Deven Marrero hit two homers in the same game off Jose Quintana. It really does go on and on with this team. They are a ton of fun, and that will be true whether they go out meekly in the first round, or win the World Series. Even after a spanking from Cleveland, I look forward to the next Red Sox game. Fun times are good.

Photo by Ken Blaze – USA TODAY Sports

That’s why it’s time to get on board with Brandon Workman. Workman has quietly been increasing his workload, throwing 46 pitches in 3.2 innings spread out over the last seven days. In fact, in the month since Workman returned, he’s thrown more innings (16.2) than any pitcher in the bullpen. He has the best WHIP (0.78), is walking the fewest amount of hitters (3.3 percent) and has the second-lowest average against (.193) of anyone who’s thrown at least 10 relief innings in the last 30 days. Teammates think he might even be better than he was before Tommy John:

Matt Barnes said he thinks Brandon Workman might be better now than he was pre-Tommy John.

— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) August 10, 2017

Basically, Workman has been at least the second-best relief pitcher over the last month. Given Kimbrel’s (relative) shakiness over that same period of time, a convincing argument could be made that Workman’s been their best option since he returned.

He’s been great in high leverage situations, too. There was this performance against Kansas City:

And then this against Cleveland:

Given that he’s shown the ability to be relied on in big spots – not just this season, either – and that the Red Sox generally don’t have many better options, it makes no sense that of Workman’s 17.1 innings this season, 11.2 of them have been innings designated as “low leverage.”

At this point, I’d argue there’s no clear preferred choice for who gets the eighth inning. If you’re terrified of pitching your set-up guy on the road, is he really a reliable set-up guy? Workman’s even got his old fastball back, touching 95 on multiple occasions this season:

(Interesting note: Workman has completely given up on throwing his change up this year)

A healthy Workman that’s pitching this well deserves more chances to prove himself in high-leverage situations. He was a successful set-up guy in the World Series before health derailed his career – now that he’s seemingly back on track, it’s time to give him the eighth inning and see what he does with it.

Photo by Kim Klement – USA TODAY Sports

As they did for batters, the great team in the Statcast lab has created leaderboards that allow us to find the pitchers who are the best at limiting batters from barreling up their pitches. These can be defined per batted-ball event (Brls/BBE) or per plate appearance (Brls/PA). So we can look at how often pitchers allow barreled-up balls when their pitches get turned into balls-in-play, but also factor-in the fact that some pitchers allow fewer balls-in-play than others due to things like strikeouts and walks. With our minds now re-oriented to the pitching side of the batter-pitcher matchup, let’s look at how pitchers fared in limiting barrels-against.

Before getting right into things I think it is worth considering that, now more than ever, starting pitching and relief pitching are two very different roles. As such, I evaluated the roles separately. Starters were defined as pitchers who started more than half their games. This is a crude definition, but it provides a decent distinction. With the starter/reliever categorization made, I then limited the data to only include starters who had at least 60 batted ball events, and relievers who had at least 45 batted ball events. 60 BBE was used as the threshold for the starters because it matched the threshold I used for batters last week, and 45 BBE was used for relievers because it was reasonably above the dataset minimum of 30 to provide a strong sample. These thresholds were mostly arbitrarily selected, and therefore can be adjusted if someone thinks there is a reason to do so. In any case, using these BBE thresholds leaves 533 pitchers (216 starters, 317 relievers) in the sample.

For the 216 starters, the average Brl/BBE was 6.96 percent (SD = 2.35). As was the case when looking at the batters, barrels do not happen very often. The starter who was the best at limiting opponents from barreling up his pitches: Alec Asher of the Phillies (1.2%). I was not sure I knew who he was until I looked into this metric, but it turns out he had five nice starts for the Phillies last year. My knowledge of 2016 starting pitchers aside, the list of the top-25 guys at limiting barrels includes many of the pitchers you would expect to be at the top of a list like this: Noah Syndergaard, Gerrit Cole, Jose Fernandez, Kyle Hendricks, Aaron Nola, Rich Hill and Jake Arrieta. Changing things to be on a per-PA basis lowers the average rate to 4.36 percent (SD = 1.61) and flips the top spots, moving Brandon McCarthy (0.6%) into first and Asher to second (0.9%).

How about the Red Sox starters? As a group they had the third best ERA in the American League last year, and this is reflected in the group’s ability to avoid opponents’ barrels. Other than Clay Buchholz and Drew Pomeranz, all of the 2016 Red Sox starters who met the BBE threshold were better than the league average. Note that being better than average means having a low rate. Steven Wright and his dancing knuckler was a standout for the Sox last year; he was ninth best in Brls/BBE and 11^th in Brls/PA. Oh, and just as you expected, Sean O’Sullivan was a top-30 pitcher in terms of barrel-limiting. He will certainly be missed. Fortunately the Red Sox acquired a reasonable replacement, Chris Sale, who was not far behind in limiting barrels-against.

Henry Owens did not have 60 BBE last year, but I included him because this provides another bit of evidence that he is not ready to pitch in the major leagues. He has serious control issues (career 4.66 BB/9) and when he allows contact, it is hard contact more often than anyone would like. Given this, and his struggles this Spring, it might be time to move on from the Henry-Owens-is-a-reasonable-depth-option thought process. The rest of the list – O’Sullivan notwithstanding – shakes out mostly as expected. I am interested in seeing Pomeranz’s San Diego/Boston splits for this metric. From what I recall, and this is likely unfairly biased, he gave up all kinds of rockets during his time with the Red Sox last year; he certainly has this Spring, which doesn’t exactly instill confidence.

On to the relievers. For the 317 relievers included in the sample the average Brl/BBE was 6.3 percent (2.99); relievers allow barrels slightly less often than starters. Joba Chamberlain did not allow a single barrel among his 49 batted ball events. He was one of three relievers to do so last year, along with German Marquez (Colorado) and Xavier Cedeno (Tampa Bay). Accordingly, putting things on a per PA basis does not change the top spots, but as is typical when making this adjustment the average barrel rate drops: 3.71 percent (SD = 1.86). As for the Red Sox’s relievers, much like the starters, they were for the most part better than league average.

Craig Kimbrel is an interesting example of the importance of considering the barrel measure on both a per batted-ball and per PA basis. Per batted ball, Kimbrel was slightly worse than league average, meaning that when opponents managed to put the ball in play he was not much different from the average reliever in having that contact come off the opponents’ barrel. But when you consider how often he strikes out (and walks) batters, his barrel rate is much more palatable. Noe Ramirez did not make the BBE threshold, but I included him here for similar reasons as with Henry Owens: he should probably not be considered a viable major league option. If the 2017 Red Sox have Ramirez and Owens throwing many innings then I suspect something has gone wrong.

As I noted when looking at barrels from the batting perspective, this is supposed to be a process metric. We are interested in finding pitchers who, due to their pitch repertoire, pitch movement, deception, or other factors, are able to consistently avoid having opponents barrel-up their pitches. For batters I suggested this is about swing and approach consistently resulting in contact on the barrel. If it is a process metric we should expect some year-to-year consistency. This was the case for batters, as the year-to-year (2015-to-2016) correlation for barrel rates was quite high (0.747 for Brls/BBE, 0.742 for Brls/PA). This turns out not to be the case for pitchers. The Brls/BBE correlation across 2016 and 2015 for pitchers who met the BBE threshold criteria by pitching role in each year was only 0.13; it was only slightly better for Brls/PA: 0.19. Pitchers changing roles between seasons and survivorship bias (those who frequently give up hard contact are not kept around) likely have an effect here, but this is still interesting. For those interested, here are scatterplots of the batters and pitchers year-to-year Brls/BBE and Brls/PA. Taken together, these correlations suggest that it is the same batters who are barreling the ball year-to-year, but they are not necessarily doing it off of the same pitchers each year.

While the relation between years may not be as clear for pitchers, here are the changes for Red Sox pitchers (grouped by role; negative numbers mean the rate was lower (better) in 2016):

The emergence of Steven Wright is clear, as it is for Fernando Abad. Wait, that seems odd. Perhaps, as for Drew Pomeranz, it would be interesting to see Abad’s team splits for these barrels measures. Otherwise most of the Red Sox pitchers stayed fairly similar across the two seasons.

In the end, the majority of the 2016 Red Sox pitching staff allowed barrels at better rate than league average. This certainly helped them post a top-10 team ERA. The extent to which it is replicable in the coming season is unclear, as the available data suggest the year-to-year barrel-against rates involve a lot of noise. Regardless, barrels-against are not the whole story, but rather just one component, and the additions of Chris Sale and Tyler Thornburg, and improved defense in left field and at third base should keep the run prevention side of the 2017 Red Sox in the top third of the league.

Photo by Kim Clement – USA TODAY Sports

Fernando Abad made minor history this offseason when he became the first player under the current ownership group to go to arbitration with the Red Sox. He wanted $2.7 million, the Red Sox felt he was worth $2 million, and, on the last day of January, the team notched its first victory of the season when the arbitrator ruled in their favor — saving $700K that they’d otherwise have to sell, like, five beers to make back. The horrors.

Will things get better for the bullpen lefty in 2017? Let’s find out.

What went right in 2016

A lot went right for Abad in 2016. He started the season in Minnesota on a minor league deal and ended up on first-place Boston after a summer trade for right-handed flamethrower Pat Light. A lefty specialist and journeyman, Abad put up a 2.65 ERA over 34 innings for the Twins, holding left-handed batters to a .163/.192/.265 line before the deal and holding opponents to a 45.2 percent ground ball rate.

What want wrong in 2016

Abad’s success in Minnesota didn’t translate to the Red Sox. He only pitched in 12.7 innings for Boston, but over that span his ERA ballooned to 6.39 as his ground ball rate fell just enough (to 38 percent) to do some real damage to his overall line. Virtually homer-proof for the Twins (0.5 HR/9), he gave up some dongers in Boston that pushed him to 1.5 HR/9, though he did increase his K/9 by nearly a full point. These are very small sample size issues, but they likely cost Abad quite a bit in arbitration. Sad!

What to expect in 2017

Especially at his discounted price, there’s a lot to like from Abad here. Last year’s Robbie Ross-or-bust approach to lefty relievers is blissfully a thing of the past, and if Abad can simply revert to the average stats of his peripatetic career — 3.71 ERA, 41 percent ground ball rate — he can be a valuable piece of a Sox team that most certainly wants its lefties to induce ground balls. At the very worst, Abad is a headline writer’s dream, a pun generator par excellence. That’s Agood thing.

Photo by Rick Osentoski/USA Today Sports Images

As the season winds down, Sox fans and both the Boston and national media have spent a lot of time both looking ahead to October and remembering the past. Of course, we’re fondly remembering and reminiscing about the career of a certain designated hitter. Meanwhile, Sox fans contentedly peer practically to the future issue of playoff team management, like which players make the 25-man roster and the order of the starting rotation.

Much of the roster that will play in the ALDS is obvious, but some spots are up in the air. How many people would have projected Sandy Leon to be a starting catcher on this year’s division-champion Red Sox? The 27-year-old has exceeded all expectations, and while his spot is clearly secure, his backup is slightly uncertain. Christian Vazquez seems to have lost all traction in earning playing time, so the decision will come down to Bryan Holaday and Ryan Hanigan. Neither offers much sexiness at the plate and both would dwell at the bottom of the lineup.

As Pete Abraham points out in the Globe, the Red Sox are 21-8 in games started by Hanigan (48-32 since last season, according to Michael Silverman) and, given his longer tenure and experience with the pitching staff, he seems to be the safer bet. Hanigan has a little potential to play to David Ross 2013-like role in October. That may just be a comparison made for the sake of comparison, but ‘wily veteran backup catcher’ seems like a prerequisite for playoff success.

The roster gets a little more complicated in the bullpen. All of a sudden, after months of blown leads and late-inning implosions and overreactions to bullpen mismanagement (of which I am assuredly guilty), the Red Sox … have too many relievers. That can’t be right.

Along with Drew Pomeranz moving to the bullpen with some shoulder soreness and fatigue, the team has five relievers who seem like locks to make the playoff roster: Craig Kimbrel, Koji Uehara, Brad Ziegler, Matt Barnes and Robbie Ross Jr. That leaves probably two spots (assuming 13 position players and 12 pitchers) for a group of pitchers who, frankly, have all pitched well enough in the past month of merit a roster spot: Heath Hembree, Fernando Abad, Robby Scott, Junichi Tazawa and Joe Kelly.

Pete Abe’s roster breakdown from above has Abad and Hembree making it as the final two. Maybe it’s the ease with which his name lends itself to unfortunate puns, but I have little confidence in Abad in high-leverage October situations. The lefty has a 6.39 ERA during his time in Boston and has allowed 13 hits and eight walks in 12.2 innings. Lefties, however, are just 3-for-23 against Abad since he arrived in Boston. On the year, he’s held opposing left-handers to a .459 OPS. That is, um, really good.

If the Sox are wary about Abad being bad (get it? It’s like his name), they would probably still want a lefty out of the pen other than Ross, who figures more as a long-relief out-getter. Maybe Pomeranz is healthy enough to pitch and pitch in tough spots in relief by the time the playoffs roll around. Regardless, Farrell may consider bringing Robby Scott into the fold. Scott, of course, has a comically short baseball-reference page, having made just six major league appearances in his career. But they’ve been good ones! The left-hander has thrown 5.1 scoreless innings, striking out five and allowing six runners to reach base. Lefty batters are 2-for-10 against him, so maybe Robby Scott is our LOOGY after all.

More importantly, can you imagine how much pleasure Joe Buck would get out of telling Scott’s undrafted-free-agent story to a national audience in the seventh inning of a playoff game? Give America the chance to hear it, John Farrell.

Much as I will always love him for his 2013 postseason performance (and you too, Brandon Workman, wherever you are currently rehabbing), Tazawa has looked worn out coming out of the bullpen and probably doesn’t end up on the roster. While his performances have been better of late, Farrell’s unwillingness to pitch Tazawa in high-leverage situations indicates that he’ll probably not be appearing in October.

So that leaves Hembree and Kelly. Prior to the nonsense grand slam Wednesday night, Kelly had yet to allow a run since returning to the bullpen in September. In 11.1 innings, he had allowed eight hits (all singles) and struck out 15. And, of course, Great Stuff. Kelly has it. Hembree, on the other hand, has worked to a 2.25 ERA in nine appearances since rejoining the roster in mid-August.

Given Hembree’s longer track record as a full-time reliever and the potential instability of other parts of the bullpen given Pomeranz’s injury and Scott’s inexperience, I wouldn’t be surprised if Farrell opts to put Hembree on the roster in favor of Kelly.

Quick Hits

The bullpen’s isn’t alone in helping the Red Sox to a division-clinching month of September. The rotation has been good and, with Pomeranz down, the postseason rotation is set to include David Price, Rick Porcello, Clay Buchholz and Eduardo Rodriguez. As Silverman writes in the Herald, the Sox have lined Price up to pitch game 162 Sunday and then Game 2 of the ALDS, with Porcello going Game 1. Buchholz’s Long and Winding Road of a season continued with an impressive six-inning, one-hit performance at Yankee stadium Wednesday. At Over the Monster, Matt Collins asks if we should be worried about Playoff Clay. Eddie Rodriguez’s season looks ugly on the surface, 3-7 with a 4.68 ERA, a 118 cFIP and 5.53 DRA. But those numbers don’t tell the whole story of his 2016, as Ben Buchanan points out at Over the Monster. Rodriguez owns a more than respectable 3.10 ERA while limiting hitters to a .213 average since coming back from AAA on July 16.

This week, the nostalgia incurred by the impending retirement of David Ortiz has come out in full force. This, still, to me, is not actually happening. I have not reached a point of acceptance with the end of Papi’s career. Watching this team well over 100 times has numbed my senses to the ongoing commemorations and commercialization of David Ortiz’s baseball farewell. Every final game in *insert miscellaneous American League ballpark* has spawned gifts and celebrations and fairly emotionless goodbyes. They have all blended together.

Now, it’s real. Thursday’s game will mark the last time David Ortiz plays in Yankee Stadium. One more regular season series at home. That’s it. Now we’re talking about whether he’ll make the Hall of Fame, as Dan Shaughnessy wrote in the Globe.

Papi himself is penning Players Tribune farewells to Yankee fans. He is the website’s Editor at Large, after all. And Brian Cashman is answering questions about Ortiz’s career in the past tense.

I guess this is really happening. After spending literally more than half my life with David Ortiz in it, his career is coming to an end. How about a championship sendoff?

Photo by Dan Hamilton/USA Today Sports Images