{"id":60761,"date":"2025-06-10T21:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T21:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=60761"},"modified":"2025-06-10T21:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T21:47:10","slug":"this-one-cheap-red-sox-trade-could-turn-their-season-around-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=60761","title":{"rendered":"This One Cheap Red Sox Trade Could Turn Their Season Around; Here’s Why"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/main>he Boston Red Sox entered Monday having won\u00a0three of their last four games, including two wins in a three-game set against their arch-rivals, the New York Yankees, over the weekend.<\/p>\n

But that short burst of success can’t change the fact that the underachieving Red Sox, expected to contend for an American League East pennant this year, have been a major disappointment.<\/p>\n

Heading into a three-game home set against the second-place team in the AL East, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Red Sox remained\u00a0three games under .500\u00a0and 8 1\/2 games off the Yankees’ pace.<\/p>\n

The Red Sox have plenty of issues to analyze, but one in particular has been perhaps the most glaring: starting pitching.<\/p>\n

More specifically, starting pitching in the first inning. With\u00a0a first-inning ERA of 7.12, second only to the 12-53 Colorado Rockies for worst in\u00a0MLB\u00a0(8.58), Boston pitchers have repeatedly put their team in an immediate hole and forced the Red Sox hitters to play from behind in game after game.<\/p>\n

What can the Red Sox do to solve this problem? One answer would be to acquire a pitcher who does not give up runs in the first inning. And there is one possible trade the Red Sox could make that would accomplish that goal, while costing Boston almost nothing.<\/p>\n

Even Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet has been\u00a0shaky in the first inning, allowing five runs in 14 first innings, a 3.21 ERA. His overall 2.35 ERA is\u00a0ninth in the AL. Other Red Sox pitchers have been much worse.<\/p>\n

More MLB:\u00a0Tigers Trade Urged for $33.6 Million ‘Luxury Item’ Shortstop by MLB Insider<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Brayan Bello has allowed\u00a0four first inning runs\u00a0in nine innings. Walker Buehler has\u00a0given up nine\u00a0in 10 first innings. Lucas Giolito\u00a0has also allowed nine, but in only seven first innings. Tanner Houck, now on the injured list, allowed a\u00a0staggering 11 runs\u00a0in just 11 innings to start off games.<\/p>\n

In total, Red Sox starters have given up 54 runs (53 earned) in 65 innings at the start of games.<\/p>\n

There are currently\u00a0only four major league pitchers\u00a0who this year have yet to allow a single run in the first inning.<\/p>\n

Three of them \u2014 Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Michael Wacha of the Kansas City Royals, and Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies \u2014 are very unlikely to be available in trade. And if any were, they would come at a high price.<\/p>\n

But what about the fourth one \u2014\u00a0JP Sears of the team\u00a0formerly known as the Oakland Athletics?<\/p>\n

In 13 starts, Sears has yet to be touched for a first-inning run, earned or not. In fact, Sears has\u00a0allowed just six hits, none for extra bases, and two walks while striking out 13 in the first innings of games.<\/p>\n

An\u00a011th-round draft pick of the\u00a0Seattle Mariners in 2017 out of The Citadel, Sears was traded to the Yankees later that year. Debuting in 2022, he pitched just seven games for New York\u00a0before being traded again, this time to Oakland.<\/p>\n

In addition to turning in shutdown first innings this season, Sears has been a workhorse throughout his career. He has made all 13 of his starts this season after making 32 in each of the previous two seasons.<\/p>\n

Pitching for just $770,000 this season, only\u00a0$10,000 over the MLB minimum, Sears would represent a minimal financial commitment for Boston. He also comes with\u00a0three more years of\u00a0team control.<\/p>\n

Despite his first-inning dominance, Sears has a somewhat bloated 5.21 ERA this season. But that could work to the Red Sox’ advantage because they likely could obtain him with one or two mid-level prospects \u2014 again, a low cost to Boston.<\/p>\n

But for the Red Sox offense,\u00a0whose 330 runs\u00a0are fourth-most in\u00a0MLB, a pitcher who can give them a chance to score first by blanking the opposition out of the gate obviously gives them a much better chance to win.<\/p>\n

A 2020 Society for American Baseball Research study of 73 previous seasons found that teams that lead after the first inning\u00a0win about 70 percent\u00a0of all games.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Red Sox pitchers have displayed one specific, disturbing trend. Taking a step to reverse it may be the key to a major turnaround for the underachieving team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":60762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nThis One Cheap Red Sox Trade Could Turn Their Season Around; Here's Why - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=60761\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This One Cheap Red Sox Trade Could Turn Their Season Around; Here's Why - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Red Sox pitchers have displayed one specific, disturbing trend. 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