Without Varitek, young staff caught off guard

August 11, 2006 | Boston Globe | By Nick Cafardo

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- One thing is obvious: The Red Sox pitching staff really misses Jason Varitek .

Nobody is pointing fingers at Javy Lopez and Doug Mirabelli, but the small nuances of Varitek's game are lost inside the white lines. Pitchers are now thinking more on their own. Mound visits by the catchers have been fewer. Fewer adjustments are made on the fly.

That's been a problem since Varitek's injury, according to team sources. The Sox, who lost their fifth straight game last night, 5-4, knew they were getting an offensive catcher in Lopez and have a part-timer in Mirabelli, who got the call last night to catch Curt Schilling. When you take away Varitek's effect on some of Boston's younger relievers, it's created quite a void.

Though Jonathan Papelbon has blown two straight save opportunities, pitching coach Dave Wallace doesn't feel his closer has hit a wall.

In fact, Wallace said Papelbon has merely "missed his location" a couple of times in the last three appearances, but said, "His velocity and mechanics have been fine. This isn't something he won't be able to come back from."

Wallace, however, is mindful of watching young pitchers carefully.

"You can pitch 130, 140, 150 innings in the minor leagues," said Wallace. "It's just different when you get to that point in the major leagues. It's not so much the number of innings, it's just the toll of what it takes to get to 130, 140 innings at this level. It's so much more taxing both mentally and physically. I know the one reason they held Jonny [Lester] to a set number of pitches [40-50 per start] for the whole month of April was to prevent what's happening to some young pitchers in the league now. I think that's really helped him."

But for Papelbon, it's not so much hitting a wall as it is making adjustments.

"I just think everybody goes through that," Wallace said. "I've had young closers who, when you go around the league three or four times now over a period of five months, they're going to make a mistake or two. He's got the kind of makeup where he's going to come back and be just fine with everything. If it was a physical thing, we would act on that and act appropriately. His stuff is good, his velocity is good, he just mislocated a couple of pitches [Wednesday] night."

Wallace, however, sees a renaissance in pitching. He marvels at some of the young arms he's watching on his own team, and around the league this season.

"Personally, it's enjoyable. I think the way these organizations have drafted, particularly college pitchers, these guys are closer to being ready. You see a lot of guys in the big leagues in a year or two. Some of the college programs are really advanced. There's much more awareness of what it takes to pitch at this level than ever before. When you travel around and watch these kids around the country, you're amazed at the advancements in the science of pitching with these kids," Wallace said.

Wallace, who returned as the team's pitching coach full time this week, said he's never had so many young relievers on the same staff.

"I've had situations where you break in one or two guys, but you've got four guys on this staff who are making major contributions, but any pitching coach will tell you that you also worry about that as the season goes on, for the simple reason that it's the first time they're going through the fire, so to speak," he said.

And with young pitchers there's a different learning curve and different teaching methods.

"There are two schools of thought," Wallace said. "If it's not broke, don't fix it, and then there's the school of thought where you try to stay a step ahead of the game. Manny [Delcarmen], Lester, Papelbon, and [Craig] Hansen aren't secrets anymore. The Catch-22 is do you try and stay one step ahead or are you confusing a guy by overanalyzing and overcoaching and perhaps disrupting the natural order of learning down the road?"

Which is precisely the riddle Wallace, Al Nipper, and bullpen coach Ralph Truel have to solve. While this is, to some degree, player development, it is also a pennant race.

One thing's for sure, Varitek's absence is helping no one.