Inside Baseball: Go Young, Red Sox!
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Red Sox have won two straight, but that's not going to save their season.
So Tony Massarotti and Dan Roche have a request for the Red Sox the rest of the way: Go young!
"I've written them off. It's too big of a sample to expect this thing to turn around. That doesn't mean there are no reasons to watch -- there are," Massarotti said on Monday night's edition of Inside Baseball on the WBZ-TV News at 10 on myTV38. "I'm watching the young guys, particularly up the middle. [Xander] Bogaerts is having a good year. [Mookie] Betts has been up and down but, of late, has been good. [Blake] Swihart has shown us something in the last month. There is a lot to be positive about there."
Bogaerts had two more hits and drove in a pair of runs in Monday night's 3-1 win over the Blue Jays, and is batting .294 on the season and ranks fourth on the team with 33 RBI. Betts scored a pair of runs Monday and has his average up to .271 after a slow start to the season. Swihart had the night off, with Sandy Leon catching Clay Buchholz, but has hits in eight of his last 11 games played and is batting .276 for the month of June.
"To me, it now becomes about the future. The Red Sox need to start making decisions accordingly," said Mazz.
For both Rochie and Mazz, that means letting the young players, like Jackie Bradley Jr. and Devin Marrero, play more, even if their veteran counterparts (Shane Victorino and Dustin Pedroia) return. Mazz also wants to see Brock Holt get more time at first base over the struggling Mike Napoli.
"Anyone who is in the final year of the contract, I'm in no rush to get them in the lineup," said Mazz. "The one thing you know you'll get with young guys is effort. You'll absolutely get effort."
Then there is Buchholz, who was stellar on the mound again Monday night. He held the Blue Jays, one of the best lineups in baseball, to just one run over eight innings, striking out five. He finished June with a 4-0 record and a 2.21 ERA in six starts, lowering his season ERA to 3.48 in the process.
But those numbers just make him more enticing to move, according to Mazz and Rochie.
"If it's me, Im moving him. I'm selling high on him," said Mazz. "Overall this year he's been pretty good, but we know what he is in this market; his highs can be pretty high but his lows can be really low. I don't know that he can make it through a full season. All the more reason where if you get something good, make a trade with him at the deadline. Put him out there and see what kind of return you can get. I think there are a lot of teams that would love to have a guy like Buchholz for the stretch run, and I don't think hes a the centerpiece guy on a staff that you can't replace next year."
Rochie says to put everybody out there at the deadline.
"See if anyone will take them and see what you can get from there."
Watch the full segment above, where Mazz gives David Ortiz some credit! Tune in to Inside Baseball every Monday night on the WBZ-TV News at 10 on myTV38!