On Thursday, the Boston Red Sox announced that they were firing pitching coach Juan Nieves, who had been with the team since 2013. It took the team just one day to find his replacement.
The news broke Friday that the Sox would hire Carl Willis of the Cleveland Indians to replace him. The official announcement will likely come sometime today.
A former major league pitcher, spent more than a decade in the bigs as a reliever. Most recently, he has spent his time as the pitching coach for the Indians’ Triple-A affiliate in Columbus. He has also served in that capacity for the Seattle Mariners and the Indians themselves, where he coached the likes of Felix Hernandez, as well as C.C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee in their primes.
This season, the Columbus Clippers have so far posted an excellent 3.16 team ERA. If Willis can get the starters in Boston to start tossing like that, this will turn out to be an excellent hire.
It should not come as a surprise that the Sox found Nieves’ replacement in such short order. A long search process would have brought back shades of the Bobby Valentine hire in 2012, and the thought of that name still causes some Sox fans to twitch involuntarily. In addition, considering how poorly the pitching staff, and the starters in particular, have performed this season, it was imperative that the Sox make the transition quickly so that Willis can impose his philosophy and start fixing what he can. Yes, it is still early in the season, but the Sox are stumbling badly, like everyone in a frat house on a Friday night. Change needed to come quickly.
This likely will not be the last move we see the Sox make as they attempt to right the ship. Prospect Matt Barnes is likely to fill a key role in either the rotation or the bullpen sooner rather than later, and starter Brian Wilson probably won’t be far behind. Many fans and members of the media also seem to think the time is ripe to call up outfielder Rusney Castillo, who would provide an immediate spark in the lineup. And the longer the starters struggle, the more likely it becomes that we will see Boston trade for a top-end starter. They have the minor league depth make it happen, and people have been expecting it since Jon Lester signed with the Cubs in the offseason.
Hold on to your seats. This ride is just getting started.
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