Plus, Garrett Crochet and Quinn Priester are looking good down in Florida.
Quick: who has started the most Opening Day games in Red Sox history? This topic came up on the most recent episode of Pod on Lansdowne and the answer… probably won’t surprise you. It’s Roger Clemens, who just edges out Pedro Martinez with eight opening day starts to Pedro’s seven. But what did surprise me was learning that Nate Eovaldi is fairly high up on the list with three Opening Day starts. That’s the same number of starts made by some more heralded Sox pitchers like Smoky Joe Wood, Babe Ruth, and Luis Tiant, and it’s more than Chris Sale, Josh Becket, Jim Lonborg, and Lefty Grove, amongst others. Nasty Nate is highly unlikely to ever make a fourth start to tie him with Jon Lester, Mel Parnell, and Bill Monbouquette, but he is going to be the Texas Rangers opening day starter when they face the Sox later this month, as Texas has decided to ease ace Jacob deGrom into the season by starting him at the back of the rotation. (Kennedi Landry, MLB.com)
Here’s one Red Sox record that Nate Eovaldi is unlikely to challenge: most times being name-dropped on the Amazon Prime show Reacher. That record is currently jointly held by Nomar Garciaparra and Rob Refsnyder. Seriously. (Chad Jennings, The Athletic)
We still don’t know who will be taking the ball for the Sox on Opening Day. Tanner Houck could get the nod in recognition of his All-Star season last year, but obviously it’s Garrett Crochet whom the Sox now view as the ace of the staff. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at some of the inner workings of December’s trade. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
Crochet was outstanding yesterday against the Rays in a game that wasn’t broadcast on TV, as he struck out seven hitters in three innings of work. He also raised some eyebrows with a couple of pitches that registered 101 MPH on the JetBlue scoreboard, but those numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. (Ian Browne, MLB.com)
With both Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford looking unlikely to be ready to start the season, the back end of the rotation has more questions than the front end. Quinn Priester put in a strong bid to take one of those rotation spots with a strong start against the Pirates this week. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
Barring health, Triston Casas will be the Opening Day lineup, too. But that’s not his only goal. He expects himself to hit 40 home runs if he can stay on the field. (Alex Speier Boston Globe)