I missed most of the Red Sox game yesterday, but caught a few of the middle innings on the radio. Must've been the fifth inning when I tuned in, and surprise, surprise, Drew Pomeranz was already done after four.
Pomeranz has pitched into the seventh inning exactly once in his eight starts this season, way back on April 11. He failed to record an out in said seventh inning.
Again, none of this is newsworthy per se. Call it revisionist history all you want...but what exactly did Dave Dombrowski see in Drew Pomeranz? Almost a year later, we're waiting to see for ourselves.
There's a reason the Red Sox are Pomeranz's fifth organization since being drafted fifth overall in 2010. There's a reason his original team, the Cleveland Indians, dealt him little more than a year later to the Rockies. There's a reason Colorado, where pitching might as well be synonymous with the Loch Ness Monster, gave up on him after two-plus years at Coors Field. There's a reason Oakland, who acquired Pomeranz in December 2013, sent him packing two years later.
And there's sure as hell a reason the San Diego Padres, who don't exactly have the payroll of their southern California counterparts, who have had just four starting pitchers make the All-Star team since 2000, who had Pomeranz under a reasonable contract through 2019, gave up on him.
Of course, Drew Pomeranz is about the flukiest all-star since Steven Wright. Picture Dr. Evil quoting "all-star" whenever you think of Pomeranz as such. Guy had half a good season and suddenly he's worth your top pitching prospect, Anderson Espinoza?
Did Dombrowski think that the Red Sox organization was just the cure for Pomeranz's ails? That this consistently inconsistent enigma of a pitcher would flourish under the Boston method?
The jury remains out and then some on Espionoza, still just 19 years old. He might become Pedro Martinez, he might become Felix Doubront. Who knows.
But let's say Dombrowski saw something in Pomeranz, just 27 at the time of his acquisition. Let's say Dombrowski believed Pomeranz hadn't yet reached the height of his potential, which isn't impossible. Late bloomers do exist. Take a look at Jake Arrieta on the Cubs, for example.
However, giving up on Espinoza means there'll be another lengthy wait until the next serviceable homegrown pitching prospect arrives at Fenway.
This is hardly a problem unique to the Red Sox, but it has been 10 years since you can honestly say a Red Sox pitching prospect 'made it' with the club. You wanna know who that someone is?
There's different ways to acquire starting pitching. The Red Sox have had exponentially more success this millennium signing pitchers in free agency or acquiring them than developing them through their own farm system.
By that logic, fine, giving up on Espinoza for someone on the outside makes sense. But we're not talking about Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, Rick Porcello, Chris Sale or any other pitcher the Red Sox have acquired via trade in recent memory.
We're talking about Drew freaking Pomeranz. I truly wish there were a way he and "Manager John" could just stay in Oakland this weekend and never comeback. Because this Red Sox team is circling the drain and we're not even out of the conference finals in the NBA or NHL playoffs. Even the 2012 team hung on into July before things really went south under the current athletic director of Sacred Heart University (look it up).
Pomeranz has been an abject failure. In a similar manner to his frustrating predecessor Clay Buchholz, it's likely he's going to continue to get chance after chance because the alternatives -- failed prospects Henry Owens or Brian Johnson, or journeymen like Kyle Kendrick -- just may, in fact, be worse.
His trade value is less than zero at the moment. Designating Pomeranz for assignment makes little sense at this juncture, but then again, neither does moving him to the bullpen. People forget it was Pomeranz, in relief of Buchholz, who served up a gopher ball to Coco Crisp in Game 3 of the 2016 ALDS to really put the Red Sox in a hole and send David Ortiz into retirement.
My best idea for Pomeranz? Give the Mets a call and offer Pomeranz and a boatload of cash for Matt Harvey. What could possible go wrong with Pomeranz and his injury history and the Mets training staff? Harvey is nothing more than a name at this point; the Mets need to cut bait with him pretty desperately as well.
Believe it or not, Harvey has been worse than Pomeranz this year. He's 2-3 with a 5.56 ERA and a 31-22 K-BB ratio; Pomeranz is 3-3 with a 4.97 ERA and a 45-16 K-BB ratio.
Trading for a pitcher who's performed worse than Pomeranz makes little sense. But then again, neither did acquiring him in the first place. One might say that for as much as there's a reason Pomeranz is on his fifth organization, there's a reason Dave Dombrowski is now on his fourth as a general manager.
