Roche: Red Sox' Priority At Deadline Should Be Improving For Future Seasons
BOSTON (CBS) -- Fresh off a Cape Cod vacation, WBZ-TV's Dan Roche joined Toucher & Rich on Monday morning to talk a little baseball.
Before the conversation focused on the Red Sox, the guys spent quite a bit of time talking about the Cape Cod Baseball League. Sadly, Rochie was only able to see four games on his week-long trip.
"I only got to see four because of the schedule. That was the tough part. There were mandatory off days," Roche explained. "So we only got to go Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then I had to leave on Friday. ... I was only able to see four, but I enjoyed them thoroughly, didn't want to leave."
Roche said to be on the lookout for Gio Brusa, who showed off some serious power last week and has five homers this summer for Yarmouth-Dennis.
With regard to the professionals, Roche said the anger directed toward Red Sox manager John Farrell after Friday night's loss by many fans was simply the result of a long, frustrating season.
"Now it's just pure frustration because it's just about done, so now you're just trying to figure out what to do at the trade deadline," Roche said. "I understand the frustration. You could just feel it. It felt like either [Albert] Pujols or [Mike] Trout was going to end the game, the way things were going. ... Lo and behold, [Koji] Uehara throws him a decent fastball that caught too much of the plate, and Trout just crushed it."
Considering Uehara's name came up in conversation, Rochie was asked if the closer might be a player the Red Sox try to trade away this month in an effort to acquire some assets.
"Especially if you could get some value for him. If he's given proper rest and treated the right way as a closer, there's no reason for him to slow down," Roche said. "You might be able to get something decent for him."
Obviously, acquiring an ace is no easy task, but Roche figures a good strategy would be to simply acquire as many young arms as possible in the hopes that one or some will develop into that top-of-the-rotation kind of pitcher.
"I look at Eduardo Rodriguez as a guy that's heading there," Roche said. "I'm really curious to watch Brian Johnson pitch for the next couple of months here, because I like his stuff and I like his makeup. I think he reminds me a lot of [Jon] Lester early in his career, very early in his career. Will he ever get there -- who knows? But those guys. That's what I want to see. I'd like to see some young guys come in here that have the possibility to become that ace."
Listen to the full discussion, which touches on the Sox' interest in Cole Hamels as well as some more Cape League talk and some thoughts about battling "the darkness," below:
