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The Boston Red Sox are betting on a strong rebound from Clay Buchholz in 2017 after announcing they had picked up the starting pitcher’s contract option.  

Jon Heyman of Todays Knuckleball reported in October the Red Sox were “seriously thinking” about picking up Buchholz’s option despite posting a 4.78 ERA in 2016, and some people in MLB felt he could have received a multiyear deal as a free agent because of the lack of free-agent pitching options.

Buchholz’s option is for $13.5 million and included a $500,000 buyout, per Baseball-Reference.com. His tenure with the Red Sox has featured stretches of brilliance but has also been marred by bouts of inconsistency and injury. 

Since Buchholz’s first full season in 2008, he has never made 30 starts in a season. His single-season high in innings pitched is 189.1 during the 2012 campaign, though he’s failed to reach the 140-inning barrier each of the last two seasons. 

Things reached a point for Buchholz in 2016 in which Red Sox manager John Farrell moved him to the bullpen. He did finish the season strong and was able to make Boston’s playoff rotation, starting Game 3 of the American League Division Series against Cleveland. 

The Red Sox will be happy if there is a happy medium with Buchholz in 2017. They are fortunate to have more depth in the starting rotation. They should benefit from Rick Porcello’s 22-win form, David Price’s ability to do more than he offered in his first season with the team and, hopefully, a full year out of Eduardo Rodriguez.

Buchholz doesn’t have to be the star in the rotation anymore. He just has to provide the team with something around a league-average performance as the No. 4 or 5 option for manager John Farrell.

The Red Sox will rise or fall based on their loaded offense in 2017, but their pitching depth is going to play a key role in determining just how far the team is able to go with Buchholz being one of the great unknowns for Boston.

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The Boston Red Sox announced Tuesday the organization will not fill its vacant general manager position following the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ hiring of Mike Hazen as their GM, according to Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. 

The team did name Eddie Romero the senior vice president and assistant general manager, per Mastrodonato. He previously served as the club’s vice president of international scouting and has been a member of the organization for 11 years.

“The Red Sox are very pleased to announce Eddie’s promotion to Assistant General Manager,” said president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said in a press release. “This is a very talented individual who we think can make a real impact for us with his background in player evaluation and his knowledge of our minor league system. A native Spanish speaker, his ability to communicate with both players and staff is significant, especially in today’s game. We look forward to having Eddie onboard to assist our efforts to improve our ball club.”

The Red Sox have certainly undergone a shake-up in the front office this offseason, as the vice president of amateur and international scouting, Amiel Sawdaye, followed Hazen to Arizona to become his assistant general manager. 

According to Scott Lauber of ESPN.com, Sawdaye “is credited with directing the club’s wildly successful 2011 draft that yielded outfielders Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley Jr., catcher/left fielder Blake Swihart and third baseman Travis Shaw, among others.”

Lauber also reported Sawdaye was considered a candidate to fill the vacant general manager position before his departure. But Dombrowski already had the final say on personnel decisions and other matters, leaving Lauber to speculate he may simply continue to rely on Romero and a circle of assistants. 

In essence, then, it appears Dombrowski will continue to serve as the Red Sox’s de facto general manager. 

The departures are likely to continue, as well. According to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, “senior baseball analyst Tom Tippett revealed his plans to leave the organization at the end of the month when his contract expires” and the team “also is losing director of sports medicine services Dan Dyrek.”

Bench coach Torey Lovullo is considered a leading candidate for the Diamondbacks’ vacant managerial position, per Abraham, and he will potentially garner interest from other teams as well.

The retirement of David Ortiz may have garnered the majority of the headlines in Boston, but the Red Sox will have a much different look behind the scenes as well in 2017.

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.

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Edwin Encarnacion has been a key member of the Toronto Blue Jays for the last seven-and-a-half seasons, but with the 33-year-old in the final year of his deal, he could be playing elsewhere in 2017.

Continue for updates.

Latest on Blue Jays’ Plans for Encarnacion Extension

Monday, Oct. 24

Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins made it clear Monday that Toronto will make a strong effort to re-sign Encarnacion, telling reporters that retaining him and fellow slugger Jose Bautista is a priority, per TSN’s Scott MacArthur.

At the very least, the Blue Jays will extend Encarnacion a qualifying offer, according to Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi.

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported Oct. 13 that the qualifying offer will be worth $17.2 million this offseason. Encarnacion would be a near-certainty to turn it down. Since he’s one of the best hitters available, he’ll be in a position to command much more on the open market.

The three-time All-Star said last Wednesday that the Blue Jays are his preferred destination:

It will be interesting, though, to see how team president Mark Shapiro chooses to handle both Bautista and Encarnacion.

During his days with the Cleveland Indians, Shapiro often shied away from signing aging veterans to pricey extensions, opting instead to invest in his younger players.

Last October, TSN’s Rick Westhead also reported Shapiro questioned Alex Anthopoulos’ decision to trade the Blue Jays’ best prospects in order to acquire David Price and Troy Tulowitzki. Anthopoulos ultimately decided against signing an extension with Toronto last year.

Encarnacion has been consistent the last five years—averaging just over 38 home runs and 110 runs batted in per season. At his age, though, the first baseman/designated hitter will soon begin to decline.

Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols are both cautionary tales for why it’s risky to pay significantly for sluggers who are into their 30s, no matter how impressive their track records are.

If Shapiro’s focus is on the long term, he and Atkins—who came over from the Indians as well—may have a definite ceiling for what they’re willing to offer Encarnacion.

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For the second year in a row, the Toronto Blue Jays made it to the American League Championship Series. And for the second year in a row, the Blue Jays came up short, this time losing to the Cleveland Indians in five games.

With a number of players eligible for free agency, most notably Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, what the team’s roster will look like in 2017 isn’t clear.

What is clear, however, is that John Gibbons will be back as manager, a job he’s now held for a decade. Team president Mark Shapiro told Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi after the team’s Game 5 loss:

There’s a level of consistency with him in approach that is unflappable and I think that translates into toughness. …  

There’s no panic. He believes in the talent, he believes in his players, he believes in the process and he believes in all the work that’s been done to date. That gives us confidence, that gives the players confidence and the belief to hold true to the bigger picture. That’s a separator.

What follows is an overview of some of the other decisions the team will have to make—and some of the players it may look to—as the Jays try and get over the hump in 2017 and reach the World Series for the first time in more than 20 years.

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Attorneys for Edwin Encarnacion filed a motion in a New York court Tuesday to have a lawsuit against the Toronto Blue Jays first baseman dismissed due to a lack of evidence as well as questions regarding the jurisdiction of the case. 

Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star provided details of the filing Wednesday, which is in response to a suit filed by Ashley Lebron, an Encarnacion family friend, who said the MLB player knowingly infected her with genital herpes and chlamydia during a pair of sexual encounters in February.

“The complaint is devoid of a single fact supporting her conclusory allegations that the defendant knew or should have known that he had herpes and/or chlamydia,” the motion filed by Encarnacion’s lawyers stated.

Encarnacion doesn’t deny the pair had sex in February in his native Dominican Republic, where his lawyers argue any legal action would need to take place, but the motion also noted the details “do not even remotely suggest anything other than consensual sex between two sexually active adults.”

The Toronto Star added Lebron is seeking $11.5 million in damages for “past and future medical care as well as mental anguish and emotional and physical suffering.”

TMZ Sports passed along more information about the initial lawsuit in August. Lebron stated in her court filing that Encarnacion told her he was clean and responded to her questions by suggesting “she may have picked up [the STDs] when they went four-wheeling and she swam in the river.”

She also alleged the Blue Jays star later backed off his comments about being clean before ending all contact with her, according to TMZ Sports.

No timeline was provided for when a judge will rule on the request for dismissal in the case.

If the lawsuit is allowed to move forward, Sam Pazzano of the Toronto Sun reported the civil trial could occur by 2018, if not earlier, based on remarks from Lebron’s lawyer, Robert Hiltzik.

Encarnacion and the Blue Jays are currently playing in the American League Championship Series. They trail the Cleveland Indians 3-1 with Game 5 scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

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The Toronto Blue Jays are trying to go where only one team has gone before. They took an important first step in Game 4 on Tuesday.

Facing a 3-0 deficit to the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series, Toronto played its second win-or-go-home game this month. It had the same happy ending as the AL Wild Card Game. The Blue Jays walked away with a 5-1 win, earning the right to play another day.

And now for some obligatory words of caution.

The Blue Jays are still three wins short of joining the 2004 Boston Red Sox as the only teams to ever come back from a 3-0 hole in a best-of-seven MLB series. And while winning four in a row is something they did seven times in the regular season, losing four in a row is something the Indians did zero times.

But there aren’t many other words of caution worth diving into following Toronto’s entry into the W column in this series. A 3-1 deficit is less daunting than a 3-0 deficit, and the Blue Jays looked the part of a team coming alive in Game 4.

Nobody deserves more credit than Aaron Sanchez and Josh Donaldson. Sanchez limited Cleveland to two hits and one run in six innings. Donaldson set the tone early when he put the Blue Jays up 1-0 with a solo homer off Corey Kluber in the third inning:

Donaldson was also heard from on defense in the fifth, making a diving snag and throwing to first to rob Carlos Santana of a single that likely would have tied the score at 2-2. This was the reigning AL MVP putting his money where his mouth is.

“I let the boys know I was coming to play today,” Donaldson told Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet Magazine, recounting what he said at a team meeting before Game 4.

He wasn’t alone. The Blue Jays collected nine hits en route to their five runs in Game 4. Edwin Encarnacion got the other big hit, scoring a pair on a bases-loaded single in the seventh following an intentional walk to Donaldson—highlighted by CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson as Cleveland manager Terry Francona’s first misstep this October.

Although it wasn’t an offensive explosion reminiscent of the hurtings the Blue Jays put on the Texas Rangers in sweeping the ALDS, Toronto’s offensive output in Game 4 is a start for this series. The Blue Jays scored only three runs in the first three games, hitting just .177 as a team.

There’s a disembodied voice saying “Well, actually” and pointing out that the Blue Jays got five of their hits and three of their runs off three Cleveland relievers not named Andrew Miller or Cody Allen. The Blue Jays earned the chance to do that, though. Making his first-ever start on three days’ rest, a not-too-sharp Kluber was worked for 89 pitches in five innings. 

And now, Toronto’s passing of the Kluber test has ramifications beyond just Game 4.

It was easy to think along with Francona when he decided to start Kluber on short rest. It was either go for the kill or roll the dice on an anonymous left-hander named Ryan Merritt. Easy call there.

But since it backfired, Francona now has no choice but to trust Merritt, who has all of one major league start to his name, to perform well enough in Game 5 on Wednesday to prevent a 3-2 series. The Blue Jays are already champing at the bit.

“With our experience in our lineup, I’m pretty sure he’s going to be shaking in his boots more than we are,” said Jose Bautista of Merritt, via Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca.

If the Blue Jays do what they should against Merritt in Game 5, they’ll get Josh Tomlin in Game 6. He’s more of a challenge, but the Blue Jays could be optimistic about exploiting his chronic homeritis the second time around after failing to do so in Game 2.

If this series goes to a Game 7, Kluber would have to start on three days’ rest once again. He wasn’t especially sharp in one start on three days’ rest. He probably wouldn’t be any sharper in a second straight start on three days’ rest.

It’s not an ideal outlook for Francona, but he has no choice. Trevor Bauer was supposed to be a big part of the team’s plans for this series. His drone mishap put that on thin ice, and that thin ice broke open the same time his stitches did in the first inning of Game 3.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are sitting pretty with a rotation loaded with able bodies and healthy fingers. Sanchez did his part by silencing Cleveland hitters in Game 4, and now things are flipped back over for Marco Estrada in Game 5 and, if necessary, J.A. Happ in Game 6 and Marcus Stroman in Game 7. 

Asking the Blue Jays to get it done with offense and starting pitching isn’t asking too much. It’s how they won games all season. And if Game 4 was a wake-up call for the Blue Jays offense in particular, it will be difficult for an Indians team that hasn’t been tearing the cover off the ball and is now light on pitching to close out this series. 

There should be no mistaking that the odds are still against the Blue Jays. We know where history stands on them completing a 3-0 comeback. The digital bean-counters aren’t more optimistic. According to FanGraphs, Toronto has just a 7.2 percent chance of winning the ALCS.

But if Game 4 did anything, it turned a fool’s hope into a fighting chance. Now all the Blue Jays must do is abide by the words veteran reliever Jason Grilli shared with Nicholson-Smith.

“If we’re in this position we may as well make history.”

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.

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The Toronto Blue Jays have been stymied by the Cleveland Indians over the last two games, but the blame might not fall completely on the players.

Jose Bautista hinted the umpires have been giving Indians pitchers favorable calls so far in the American League Championship Series. The outfielder explained Sunday, per Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star:

I’m having great at-bats. It’s just sometimes the elements and the circumstances that we have to deal with as hitters sometimes doesn’t necessarily go our way. But I’m not trying to really get into that.

All you have to do is go look at video and try to count the number of pitches they have thrown over the heart of the plate. It hasn’t been many. But they’ve been able to do that because of…the circumstances.

The Indians had some fun with Bautista’s comments on their Twitter account: 

Bautista cleverly avoided any specific mention of the calls, but it’s clear he isn’t happy with the breakdown of balls and strikes so far in a pair of losses to the Indians.

Toronto’s offense has struggled immensely in the series, generating just one run in two games after scoring 27 in the first four games of the postseason. The offense is 10-for-63 through two games, good for just a .159 batting average with zero home runs.

The Blue Jays have also struck out 25 times over two games, including 10 against Indians reliever Andrew Miller.

Bautista has been one of the biggest holes in the lineup to this point, going 0-for-6 with five strikeouts.

The squad will try to bounce back with its return home to the Rogers Centre for Game 3 on Monday. Whether the team gets more favorable calls or simply hits better, something has to change for the Blue Jays to avoid falling into an 0-3 deficit.

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Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Devon Travis left Friday’s ALCS matchup with the Cleveland Indians in the fifth inning with a knee injury. He has been ruled out for the rest of the postseason.

Continue for updates.

Travis Out for Remainder of Playoffs

Saturday, Oct. 15

Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com reported Justin Smoak will take Travis’ spot on the ALCS roster.

Atkins Comments on Injury

Saturday, Oct. 15

“There’s enough information to suggest that the injury has changed and there is more of an injury than just the bone bruise,” general manager Ross Atkins told reporters.

Atkins said Travis suffered a separate knee injury that was in the same area but independent of his previous injury. 

Travis’ Injury Comes at Terrible Time for Blue Jays

Travis had missed Games 2 and 3 of Toronto’s ALDS win over the Texas Rangers with a bone bruise in his knee. 

Darwin Barney replaced Travis during the ALDS but went hitless in seven at-bats. Ryan Goins was added to the ALCS roster after not appearing in the ALDS because the Jays wanted an extra infielder in case of an injury.

With Travis out, Toronto will be without one of its most important offensive weapons. He hit .300/.332/.454 with 11 home runs and 50 runs batted in during the regular season, his first full MLB campaign.

With the Jays attempting to avoid falling short in the postseason, losing Travis is a crushing blow.

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter.

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Following the Boston Red Sox‘s elimination from the postseason, second baseman Dustin Pedroia has undergone surgery on his left knee.

Continue for updates.  

Latest on Pedroia’s Timeline for Return

Thursday, Oct. 13

According to Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, Pedroia is expected to be ready in time for the start of spring training after undergoing knee surgery.

Per Abraham, Pedroia suffered the injury in mid-September during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays.

After injuries threw his career off track the previous two years, Pedroia was seemingly back to his old self in 2016. The former American League MVP hit .318 with 15 home runs, 74 RBI and 105 runs scored, which marked his best statistical season since 2011.

In addition to Pedroia’s offensive exploits, FanGraphs rated him as the second-most valuable defensive second baseman in 2016 behind only Cesar Hernandez of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Pedroia struggled at the plate in Boston’s American League Division Series loss to the Cleveland Indians, as he went just 2-for-12 for a .167 batting average with two runs scored in three games.

While Pedroia and the Red Sox wanted to send David Ortiz off with another World Series championship, the early exit may prove beneficial to Pedroia and his recovery.

He has some added time to rehab and get back into game condition prior to spring training, which means he should enter the 2017 regular season in good health so long as the current timeline holds true to form.

Boston boasts some middle infield depth if Pedroia’s injury takes longer to heal than anticipated, as Brock Holt is capable of filling in. However, early indications suggest that won’t be necessary, which is positive news for a Red Sox team that will need all the offense it can get next season without Big Papi.

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For the first time in more than a decade, the Boston Red Sox head into the offseason knowing that David Ortiz and his larger-than-life personality won’t be a fixture in the middle of their lineup when the team reports for spring training next year.

“No one wanted it to end like this,” said Xander Bogaerts, Boston’s 24-year-old shortstop, following the Cleveland Indians‘ series-clinching Game 3 victory over the Red Sox in the American League Division Series, per the Providence Journal‘s Tim Britton.

Whether the “it” Bogaerts was referring to was Boston’s season or Ortiz’s career is irrelevant—he’s right.

The team wasted little time in making one of its biggest offseason decisions, deciding to maintain the status quo in the dugout for 2017.

“John Farrell will be our manager for 2017,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters Tuesday, per the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato. “So he is all set and his full staff will be invited back. … Everybody is welcome back. I think they did a very fine job for us.”

Exactly how the roster he’ll be managing will look come Opening Day, however, isn’t quite as clear.

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