Clay Buchholz is “Energized”

RSNStats

7 years ago

Grady Sizemore, who spent eight of his 10 big league seasons with the Indians has returned to Cleveland, though this time as an advisor in the player development department.

With the Tribe in 2004-11, Sizemore was formidable, slashing .269 AVG/.357 OBP/.473 SLG with 139 home runs and 134 stolen bases in 892 games. But after missing two seasons to injuries, Sizemore’s attempted comeback in 2014 with the Red Sox didn’t go to plan with a 40-for-185 (.216) performance that included 41 strikeouts over 52 games.

Sizemore told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian that he reached out to the Indians during the off-season to see what opportunities might exist to help the club.

Grady Sizemore with AJ Pierzynski
flickr photo by Keith Allison shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license

Sizemore’s experiences on the team management side of the game has been enlightening. “If I had known as a player how much time went into this, I would’ve respected it a lot more,” he said.

Energized is how former Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz, now with the Phillies, describes himself to PhillyVoice.com. Buchholz was about to board a plane for a late December vacation with the call came with the news that his time with Boston was done. The move capped an end to a 12-year career with the Red Sox, the only team he’d known. “The Red Sox gave me a lot, gave me the opportunity,” Buchholz says, “But (this is) a new chapter, and I look forward to going on the field with these guys here.”

Buchholzh’s 188 career starts with Boston is the 16th most in club history. Overall, he was 81-61 with a 3.96 ERA over 206 games (4.60 ERA over the last three seasons, the 6th highest among all American League starters with 65+ GS).

In case you missed it (RSNStats certainly did), one-time Red Sox Wily Mo Peña, 35, is back to baseball with a minor league deal with the Indians. Peña’s last MLB appearance was in 2011 with the Mariners. From 2006-07 Peña was in Boston, arriving at Fenway in a deal with the Reds for pitcher Bronson Arroyo and slashing .271 AVG/.328 OBP/.451 SLG in 157 total games.
Another one-time Red Sox contributor, pitcher Justin Masterson, 31, is attempting a comeback after a season down at Triple-A with Pittsburgh’s affiliate. Big Masty was drafted by the Sox in 2006 and appeared in 67 games with Boston from 2008-09 before being re-acquired in 2015 where an outsized 5.61 ERA over 18 games spelled his last appearance at the MLB level.