Overusing Junichi Tazawa A Temptation John Farrell Must Resist
By Johnny Carey, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- It seems like every time John Farrell has trotted out to the mound in the seventh or eighth inning over the past three seasons, it's been to call upon Junichi Tazawa.
Of course that's an exaggeration, but in reality, it's not too far off from the truth.
Between 2013 and 2015, Tazawa pitched in 216 games (including postseason) in his role as Farrell's go-to man in the late innings.
Last September, the Red Sox were forced to shut down Tazawa due to arm fatigue. By the time he was shut down, Tazawa finished the season with a 2-7 record and 4.14 ERA over 61 games. Opponents' batting average and OPS against Tazawa spiked to .400 and over 1.000, respectively, in August and early September -- a far cry from his career .268/.729 splits. The man who had clearly become the team's most trusted set-up option looked lost on the mound.
Offseason additions of Craig Kimbrel and Carson Smith signaled that the Red Sox organization knew Tazawa needed an altered role. Slotting Kimbrel in the ninth, Koji in the eighth, and Smith in the seventh would allow for Tazawa to rest more in hopes that his arm would hold up. With more rest, presumably, would come better results.
Of course, Smith went down in spring training, and Tazawa was thrust back in to his seventh-inning role. Just because he's back in the seventh, however, doesn't mean Tazawa should be used like he has been in the past. If the team doesn't want a repeat of 2015 Tazawa, it can't use him the same way.
Over the offseason, Farrell commented on Tazawa's re-energized arm, and said nothing about altering his approach toward using Tazawa.
"The ball's getting out of his hand really well. He's staying behind his arm," manager John Farrell said in Fort Myers. "I say that because of his fastball location to the intended areas. The way he's throwing the ball, there's nothing to suggest the year-end fatigue that he went through has had any lingering effects."
That may be true, but just because his overuse in the past hasn't shown any lingering effects to this point doesn't mean that using him in the same manner won't produce similar, poor results.
Through two games this season, Tazawa already has two appearances.
On Tuesday, Tazawa was sharp. He pitched a scoreless inning in a crucial spot, which was a great sign for Boston considering Tazawa hadn't looked like himself in about nine months.
Apparently, however, it was such a good sign to Farrell that he decided to bring back the "pitch Tazawa every night" strategy that failed his pitcher last season.
It failed last night, as well.
Tazawa was noticeably flat, and a horrendous splitter was taken out of the yard by old friend Mike Napoli. Tazawa was pegged with the loss.
Perhaps it was just an off-night and maybe he wouldn't have come in if Clay Buchholz had managed to pitch deeper into the game, but it's hard to ignore considering the poor outing came on the back end of consecutive appearances.
It's not too surprising that given the amount of work he has taken on over the past few seasons, Tazawa has fared considerably worse over the years at pitching back-to-back days.
Obviously, the Red Sox need Carson Smith back in a big way, but in his absence, the Red Sox need a different strategy than just throwing out Tazawa every night.
In a situation where Tazawa is out (like last night probably should have been), who in the bullpen can you trust to hold a lead, or keep the team in the game before Koji or Kimbrel come in?
Noe Ramirez, Robbie Ross Jr., Matt Barnes, or Tommy Layne?
With Ross and Layne, the Red Sox know what they have.
Ross is a five-year vet whose 3.86 ERA last season was right around his career number of 3.94. For the lack of a better word, Ross is serviceable.
With Layne, the Red Sox know they have someone who can shut down lefties, which is key in any bullpen. He was a nice piece last year, as lefties only hit .148 against him, but the fact remains that you can't count on Layne to get any right-handed batter out. His limited scope of effectiveness, while helpful, is not conducive to the "Hey, take the whole seventh inning" role within the bullpen.
That leaves Ramirez and Barnes.
While Ramirez and Barnes are both intriguing prospects, both are just that. They're unproven. Barnes seems most likely to take over Tazawa's spot when he needs rest. He has a hard fastball, and looked solid last night in his first appearance of the season, while Ramirez struggled.
By all accounts, Barnes has transitioned well from a starting role to full-time bullpen duty. Of course only time will tell, but his emergence would be huge for a Red Sox bullpen searching for consistency outside of Kimbrel, Uehara and presumably Smith.
Staying away from the overuse of Tazawa will pay dividends as the season goes along. He would remain fresh, and the bullpen would have a rested Tazawa to go alongside Smith upon his return.
It's only been two games but the "pitch Tazawa every night" strategy of the past few years needs to be left behind in 2015, no matter how appealing it may be.
Johnny Carey is a senior at Boston College. You can find him on Twitter @JohnnyHeights.
