After Another Blown Save, Is It Time For Red Sox To Shut Down Uehara?
BOSTON (CBS) -- Koji Uehara suffered his third loss in his last five appearances on Thursday night, in what may have been his final time out of the pen as the Red Sox' closer.
Uehara surrendered a pair of home runs to the Yankees in the ninth inning of Thursday night's 5-4 loss in the Bronx, his third blown save in his last four appearances. After the game, manager John Farrell said the team may consider shutting down the 39-year-old Uehara for the rest of the season.
"It'll be a situation where I'll talk to Koji first what our plan would be, whether that's more extended rest, whether that is the potential to shutting him down," said Farrell. "We just walked off the field, and I think out of respect to Koji and respect to what he's done for us for two outstanding years, I'm not in a position to announce that right now."
In his last six appearances, Uehara has allowed 10 earned runs on 14 hits over 4 2/3 innings. He's given up four home runs in that span, bringing his total for the season up to 10. He gave up just five home runs in 2013.
Uehara said through an interpreter that his mechanics are off at the moment, and shouldered all the blame for Thursday night's loss. A free agent after the season, Uehara does not want to end his 2014 campaign on such a sour note, but it may be in the best interest of both the Red Sox and the player to do so.
While he says fatigue is not part of the issue, it's hard not to point to the hefty amount of "Koji Time" since he took over as closer in the middle of 2013. The team was handling him very carefully given his history of shoulder issues when he first came to Boston, but that seemed to go out the window as he hurled 1-2-3 innings with ease once he took over the ninth inning duties. Uehara ended up throwing a career-high 74 1/3 innings last regular season, and added another 13 2/3 during Boston's World Series run.
The Red Sox would like to have Uehara back in the fold in 2015, but with the team well out of contention and with little to play for, it wouldn't be a bad idea to give Uehara some extended rest and take a look at some of their younger players at the closer role.
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