As the Boston Red Sox prepare for the second half of the season, it's time for the midseason team awards. On today's show, Gabby hands out awards for the team's Power Bat, MVP, Most Improved Player, Most Surprising Player, and Most Valuable Pitcher. Hear where Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran stand, and much more. Also discussed is a potential Boston Red Sox trade with the Detroit Tigers for pitcher Jack Flaherty, and a preview of the big upcoming series between the Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Call him at 385-885-3885-885-8885-28. Tell him to lock down and send you Intercap Lending, NMLS, number 19-0-465. For more information, visit www.intercaplending.com. Most improved player, Team MVP, find out all of the Red Sox first half of the season awards on today's Lockdown Red Sox. You are locked on Red Sox, your daily Boston Red Sox Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. Hello and welcome to Lockdown Red Sox, your daily Boston Red Sox Podcast, part of the Lock I'm your host Gabby Herlbot, former ESPN social media associate, and currently the host of the Boston Balling Podcast as well. And I am here to bring you the latest in all things Boston Red Sox, Monday through Friday, straight to your favorite podcast feed, and the best part is it's all free. So you might as well take advantage of that and check it out, because Lockdown is here for you every single day. This episode of Lockdown Red Sox is brought to you by booking.com. Booking.com, yeah. The right stay can make you a fan of any city, even your rivals. Check out booking.com for your stay today. Happy Friday, happy Red Sox baseball returns day, it's a great day, the all-star break felt like so long, and some years I feel like the break flies by. But this year, because of how much fun it has been to watch this Red Sox team lately, and just how strong of a month plus they've had recently, it's just been an absolute blast watching this team. And so I've just been looking forward to having a game every day. And I'm glad that they are returning, although it's late tonight at 10, 10 p.m. first pitch because they are on the West Coast facing the Dodgers, so just be prepared for that. And later on in the show today, I am going to be giving a little bit of a preview into that series against the Dodgers. The schedule was released yesterday for 2025, which is very exciting. Red Sox started off the season on March 27th on the road against the Texas Rangers. It's going to be a great time, it'll be here before we know it. This year has absolutely flown by, I don't know about you, but for some reason I feel like it was just New Year's and I was celebrating ringing in 2024. And now all of a sudden it's already mid-July. I have no idea why this year is going by so fast, but it's been absolutely flying by. In a great way, though, lots of fun things going on this year, and maybe the end of this year will include the Red Sox winning a World Series, maybe? We will see, but I will be talking about an interesting trade piece on the show today that I bet you haven't thought of yet as a potential addition for the Red Sox, but first every year at the halfway point, I like to evaluate these Red Sox players and give out some mid-season awards for players who deserve recognition for the effort that they put in in the first half of the year. And there have been a lot of players who are deserving of recognition, lots of players who have contributed a lot towards what the Red Sox are doing this season long, but definitely wanted to highlight some key players who have just been remarkable this season in multiple capacities. So I have to start with the most improved player award. This is going to a player who we saw some of last year didn't get to see a lot of what he could do when he was called up, he tried to showcase his skills, but didn't do it in the best way, but has made tremendous strides this year, and that is David Hamilton. Last year in 2023, he literally batted 121. He only played in 15 games and took 33 at bats, scored two runs, had four hits and zero RBIs with six walks and ten strikeouts, lots of swings and misses and not generating a lot of contact and when he was it was late contact, so we just didn't see a lot of promising at bats from him. But now this season, he's been able to play in a lot more games, he's pretty much established himself as an everyday player at this point especially with Von Grisham and Trevor Story both being injured, so he's been able to be in the lineup nearly every day and it makes sense because his speed on the bases is very valuable and we definitely saw the speed last season when he was called up so we knew that was a factor about him that was going to be a positive that he'd be able to contribute, but we weren't able to really see David Hamilton fully and what he was able to accomplish and now this season he's up to a 274 batting average and it's been really fun watching him develop and grow 197 at bats with 34 run scored, 54 hits, 17 RBIs, 15 walks, 55 strikeouts, five home runs and 23 stolen bases, so he's not a largely power hitter which we knew to begin with, but he is somebody who gets himself on base and when he does look out if you're an opposing pitcher, so I have to go with him for most improved player because he just made tons of strides overall in establishing himself as an everyday player. Team MVP is a pretty obvious choice, I did not have to think about this one at all, he also won all-star game MVP and that is Jared Duran, somebody who is making lots of noise across major like baseball now, lots of other fan bases and other teams picking up on just how good of a player he is, he really just does it all, he's a five to a player with a lot of different skills that he brings to the table and if I'm the boss in Red Sox, I'm locking this kid up long term because he should be in a Red Sox uniform for the rest of his career just with how much versatility he provides, not only does he have the speed in that lineup position where when he gets on base he can most likely round the bases quickly and score, a routine single for most players is a double for him, it's pretty incredible but he also has the talent defensively to be able to take up a lot of the outfield and make really strong running plays and center, I've seen some great catches from him this season and offensively he does it all with the bat, he can hit home runs like he crushed that go ahead to run Homer for the American League in the all-star game on Tuesday night but he also hits the singles and doubles and improves his slugging percentage by creating more bases out of it and it really comes down to what can't Jaren Duran do, most valuable player to me on the team means the player that is the most important and provides the most valuable and Jaren Duran to me just is that person, I always find myself talking about him when it comes to players who have made an impact on this Red Sox team in a positive way and you can't help but include him in those types of conversations every game because he always does something to make himself somebody who stands out and makes an impact so he's definitely been the most valuable player in the first half, the power bat award has to go with Rafael Devers just continues to rack up the home runs and bring his power on a regular basis to this lineup and that's what we knew we were getting from him, you know that with the home runs comes the strikeouts, he is still gonna generate swings and misses quite often as Rafael Devers but I mean if you are a hitter that opposing pitchers like to intentionally walk a good amount in high leverage because you're afraid to go up against him, that's a player who's worth every penny of the contract he was given and that is because he could go up there and crush one over the monster at any given point in time and that's a great player to have in your lineup as somebody who just you know is gonna go out there and crush baseball and another player who has been hitting a good amount of home runs is Tyler O'Neill still had to put him behind Devers though because Devers just seems to do it in the most opportune situations and it's amazing how much he continues to own the New York Yankees in terms of how many home runs he likes to hit at Yankee Stadium so it's pretty remarkable watching him there. Most surprising player this season for sure has to be kind of wrong. He has made such tremendous growth from a catching standpoint, we knew he had the glove and the arm, he's always been able to throw out attempted base stealers and he's always been able to make nice plays behind the dish but he didn't really have the offense to go with it in prior seasons and this breakout season that he's having this year has just been great for the Red Sox and having him and his ability to put pressure on opposing pitchers with the bat because he's so disciplined now in terms of finding his pitch and running up pitch counts and being patient at the plate until he gets the right pitch for him to crush that has been so valuable for this lineup and I did not expect him to have the season that he has had at the plate so far I've really enjoyed watching him play this year and if he keeps that up he's going to be a great catching tandem to pair along with Kyle Teal when he eventually gets called up so looking at this roster when I was early on in the season trying to analyze the roster who was going to contribute and who wasn't Connor Wong was definitely not somebody that I would have put at the top of the list as somebody who would contribute a lot offensively so that's definitely been a pleasant surprise to watch this season and the arm award for most valuable arm in the pitching staff definitely goes to Tanner Hauck in terms of his ability to just be consistently reliable and you know what you're getting from him throughout all of his starts he is the ace of the pitching staff having a sigh young caliber season was a well-deserved all-star and it's just been amazing to watch his development and how much he's been able to contribute this season in terms of pitching deeper into games and growing his pitch arsenal and being able to just develop himself into one of the scariest starting pitchers in the league right now so that is without a doubt the most reliable pitching arm most valuable pitcher on this team that has to go to Tanner Hauck so those are a few first half awards that I just wanted to give out to players who have really stood out for this Red Sox team and have made their mark and certainly there are other players who have contributed to the Red Sox recent success and I've mentioned all of them throughout the show before so shout out to the everydayers by the way for listening every day and knowing what I'm talking about daily it's been great having all of you around here so lots of different players that have contributed but those guys definitely stand out in different capacities and I'm hoping in the second half they can really turn things on because this team definitely has the potential and you have somebody like Yoshida who's been on a roll lately hopefully he can keep that up and doesn't slow down because of the break so lots of things to be excited about in the second half and coming up I'm going to be talking about a player who could make things a little bit more exciting for the Red Sox that I bet you wouldn't have even thought of before as a potential trade acquisition for this team this episode of locked on Red Sox is brought to you by booking.com booking. 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can check that out today and all of our locked on hosts here will have you covered with the latest as the trade deadline approaches in a couple weeks believe it or not we are right around the corner from that the red Sox have definitely made their mark within the league this season and have established themselves as a team that's worth investing in and deserves to have added to at this trade deadline and Craig Breslow has kind of indicated before that he's leaning towards being buyers at the deadline you never really know and one of the biggest criticisms surrounding high and bloom who was Craig Breslow's predecessor was that he was never truly decisive when it came to picking a lane at the trade deadline whether he was going to buy or whether he was going to sell and we saw a lot of scenarios in which he kind of did a mix of both and it wasn't overly effective and last trade deadline he added a piece but it wasn't a major piece so there were a lot of confusions surrounding how the front office actually views this team and it would just be very gratifying to this team if Breslow invested in them and decided to buy pieces and it doesn't need to be anybody overly expensive I talked about the potential of adding Justin Turner as a rental for the rest of the season somebody who's very familiar with Boston and succeeded in Boston and could DH against left-handed pitching that could be absolutely huge for this red Sox team and he wouldn't be overly expensive because he's not having a great season and he is on the older side so the Blue Jays wouldn't be asking for as much in return so that could be a possibility but the Red Sox also do need pitching having another reliable starting pitcher in the mix would be fantastic yes Carter Crawford has been good this year but when it's all said and done is there a starter in this rotation right now that you would trust the Red Sox to put into a playoff game after Tanner Howe it's a hard question to answer because I know you want to say yes with how good overall this rotation has been this year but there isn't really anybody that I could confidently feel going into a game two of a playoff scenario and say they can confidently get the job done so if you add a starting veteran pitcher into there who could be trusted that could be a game changer and an interesting name that I found that has popped up is Detroit Tigers pitcher Jack Flaherty he's 28 years old and he's having one of the best seasons of his career to this point right now and he was already mentioned as a trade target to watch I mean the Tigers are 47 and 50 under 500 fourth in their division likely not going to be a playoff team this year and if they somehow miraculously make a run to the playoffs they don't really have the depth right now to make a world series run so it makes sense that they would be sellers this year and the thing with Flaherty is he hasn't really stayed in one place in a while last year at the deadline he was sent from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Baltimore Orioles and then he signed a one-year 14 million dollar deal with the Tigers after that because he really did have a subpar 2023 so because he wasn't super impressive he knew he probably had to take a smaller deal but he has bounced back in a big way this season posting a 3.13 ERA over 95 innings pitched which is 16 starts prior to the break in a market that's largely desperate for rotation help he could be a huge trade piece for Detroit and they could use it to get some pieces back and the interesting thing is the Red Sox were actually linked to Flaherty and free agency last offseason but didn't get a deal done with him so now could be the time to bring him in to give the rotation from much needed breathing room down the stretch which could be huge in terms of their chances to qualify for the postseason and actually make a run when they get there the good thing about Flaherty is he's giving his team innings he's averaging six innings per start right now which is huge and the Red Sox have been getting a lot of length from their starters this year which I will say and has been great in terms of resting the bullpen so they could add somebody else into the mix who will give them innings and has been having a good season that could be a really reliable piece for Boston and not only that but if he comes to the Red Sox at the trade deadline this year and he's pitching well then they could consider bringing him back you know on a small deal next year too to stay in the rotation and when you look at the pitching staff as a whole the rotation and the bullpen combined have had a good season and the bullpen is expected to get a little bit better because Liam Hendrix is emerging his return he's very close to when he's going to be able to come back and he's expected to help lift that bullpen even more as the Red Sox are looking to make a run here so if you add Flaherty to this rotation with some young pitchers that are still trying to find themselves and find their identity like Brian Beow that could be a very very solid piece to add. Carter Crawford as well even has shown a ton of improvement on the mound going into this season but from a reliability standpoint would he be able to buckle down in the high pressure games and Flaherty has the experience and could really help balance out this rotation and if you have help as your number one guy he could be a great guy to put in there at number two and then you're looking at Carter Crawford at three Nick Pavetta at four and Brian Beow at five and that is a solid starting rotation and yes you have Brian Beow who has been struggling this year but that only further solidifies that they could use another starter to add to the rotation so that Beow doesn't have to be anything more than the fifth starter and doesn't have to be used as much in the playoffs if the Red Sox do get there and you know in regards to Brian Beow I really hope that he shows some improvement and that he finds himself again as a pitcher because we know he has the potential we've seen what he can do as a starter in the past and we know that there's a very dominant version of Brian Beow in there I mean last year on this show I was having a conversation about how Brian Beow could potentially turn into an ace but he hasn't really been able to figure himself out this season I don't know if it's something about Andrew Bailey's strategy or he's just not adjusting well to that or if he's going away from what he knew and did best last year something's up with him that hopefully he can figure out in the second half because that would be a bonus for the Red Sox but they shouldn't be relying on that instead they should go out there and get a better in peace to add to this rotation who can say he's been through high leverage high pressure situations in baseball and can help guide some of these younger starters so it could be an interesting fit for Boston I mean there's no guarantee that he's going to come here and just be lights out for the rest of the season because again going to a new environment takes an adjustment period especially going to a place like Boston where it's just such a fun intense environment in the fans just make the atmosphere just such a fun place to play but there's a lot of pressure pitching in a place like Boston so it could be a lot on his plate for him to come to the Boston Red Sox and he'd be coming with a lot of pressure on him to come in and deliver out of this rotation from the get-go because the Red Sox now are at the point where they need to win some games and they actually have the hardest schedule in baseball in these games that are left to played after the break which is unfortunate for them but it's really going to test them and they're going to have to work for a playoff spot if they want one and I feel like you know they have a good head on their shoulders they're winning and they have a good mindset of we're only four and a half games out of first place in our division so we want to focus on winning the division and see what happens so I like that mentality that they have but they are going to need to work and it's going to be a grind to win some of these games so having a veteran starter in there who can help keep them above water as they start to get players like Casas and Hendrix back could be huge for a team that definitely needs to add so I'm hoping that you know Craig Breslow sees that I'm not necessarily saying flarity is the end-all-be-all solution but he is a potential piece that the Red Sox could add he could be slightly on the expensive side with the bounce back season he's having and the Tigers are going to want to get some return for him but it won't be the type of caliber player that would allow Breslow to venture into the level of the best prospects in the system that they see being the future of the team so that's definitely a plus side to that will it happen who knows but the Red Sox definitely do need to trade for a starter to add into this rotation if they want a formidable chance at a postseason run this year and I do trust Breslow to make those types of decisions especially from a pitching standpoint he is a pitching guy so he hasn't really given me a reason to doubt him or what he's about in terms of his process for trading for pitching and acquiring pitching so we'll see what happens but hopefully he does bring in a solid arm at the deadline to enhance this starting rotation coming up I'm going to be giving an overview of the Red Sox big series they have coming up this weekend that will be absolutely crucial for them to be able to come out strong out of the gate get supplies from the site that's made for the skilled trades supplyhouse.com supplyhouse.com is the reliable way to order plumbing HVAC and electrical products online they're easy to use website is packed with helpful resources and the latest product info to help you get the job done right shop a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from over 400 top brands and get your order delivered right to your 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The red Sox have a tough schedule for the rest of the regular season I'm not going to sugarcoat it it is what it is they have the toughest schedule with these remaining 67 games in major league baseball and it's not going to be easy for them to get through this part of the schedule and they're going to have to have all hands on deck next man up mentality like they've had in the last month plus and they're going to have to have everybody stepping up to the plate and doing their jobs the right way and I feel like they can do it but they have to come out of the gates strong and they are facing a tough opponent out of the gates in the Dodgers who are 56 and 41 lead the nls by seven games the Diamondbacks are in second place at 49 and 48 so the Dodgers are just again miles above everybody in their division like seems to happen every year so it's going to be tough I mean it's going to be a grind of a series it's at their place so the red Sox definitely are at a disadvantage because they're on the road but they do have you know the offensive numbers to be able to compete with this Dodgers team the Dodgers have more power than the Red Sox do right now in terms of home runs right now they have more than the Red Sox the Dodgers are number three in that category with 129 and the Red Sox are 8th with 112 total home runs so the Dodgers do hit lots of home runs which we can expect from them in this series Nick Pavetta is pitching the Friday night game four and six record for 18 ERA 88 strikeouts but his problem is he does give up the long ball and I am a little bit concerned about him going up against an offense that is very power heavy that generates lots of home runs and I anticipate that to be a bit of a concern for him in his start when you look at the Dodgers lineup right now just lots of talent there show Hayo Taney leads the team with 29 home runs Friday Freeman has 14 catcher Will Smith has 15 Tiaskar Hernandez home run Derby winner has 19 so they have guys up and down their lineup who can hit home runs they have Max Muncie with nine of Mookie Betz with 10 so there are guys who can hit that ball deep and I am curious to see how they approach show Hayo Taney in this series if they intentionally walk him sometimes or fail pitch to him but I am a little bit concerned with Pavetta's home run ball a problem that he's had this year if this lineup is going to be a lot for him but then you have Brian Bayo starting game two on Saturday this is a big start for him with the way he's pitched in this season so far he needs to have a big second half and it would be huge for him if he can come out of the gauge strong to start this second half and have a really solid start against a good Dodgers lineup I do have my concerns though because he hasn't been able to show a lot of consistency when he's been out on the mound and there have been situations where he's completely crumbled when he has runners on base so hopefully he's able to keep it contained and he could come out of the gauge strong with a fresh start and have a better second half that he did first half but I have my concerns with just his ability to be consistent and be able to keep cool, calm and collected if he lets Dodgers players on base this is the type of team that you cannot give free outs to because they will take advantage and I'm hoping Bayo can be locked in in that game game three on Sunday the series finale which the Red Sox hopefully won't be trying to not get swept and hopefully will have taken at least one of the other two games we have cut her Crawford pitching six and seven record with a 304 ERA at 110 strikeouts he has been solid this season I am curious to see how he stacks up against this Dodgers team but I would trust him the most out of all three starters that are pitching in this series it's going to be tough the Red Sox are going to have to generate lots of offense in this series because unfortunately they are going up against a team that will do that as well and they're pitching rotation the guys that are pitching in this series aren't the best pitchers the Red Sox have and the Dodgers are lucky they are missing Tanner how can the series so these guys are going to have to stay locked in the Dodgers have not announced their starters for the series yet but I am interested in seeing the capability of these starters and how they're able to contain this Dodgers lineup in terms of batting average the Red Sox are actually number four there with 255 team average and 833 total hits the Dodgers are just below that in sixth in that category with a 254 average and 842 hits so they actually have tacked on more hits as a team in the Red Sox have this year but the Red Sox are hitting slightly better in terms of their overall ability up and down the lineup but the Dodgers are a great team and on paper look like they should be winning this series lots of veteran talent there and the Red Sox you know went into their series against the Phillies earlier this season with people thinking that they definitely weren't winning that one and they did so you really never know but I'm looking for offensive productivity Deborah should bring his power back to match up with some of those power heavy hitters in the Dodgers lineup and I'm looking for Jared Duran and David Hamilton and Satan Rafaela to heavily utilize their speed to be able to put pressure on Dodgers pitchers and play small ball and manufacture runs because I feel like you know this is going to be the type of series where the Red Sox are going to have to capitalize on their ability to be so good on the base paths and they're going to have to make smart base running decisions in this series and they can utilize that speed like they've been doing so well to rattle some of these pitchers that they're going up against and they need to be able to stick to what they know when it comes to plate discipline there are some great guys in this lineup who have been very good about pressuring pitchers and not settling for the first pitch they see and really just waiting for their pitch and that's what I'm looking to see more of as we progress here through the season and in this series in particular is let's try to get these starters out of the games earlier let's take swings and take pitches before settling on which pitch you're going to swing at and Connor Wong is very good at that you know say down Rafael is getting better at that there are guys who just definitely know how to do that well and I'm looking to see that in this series from those players overall I think it's going to be a competitive series I hope that the Dodgers don't win it I would give them the edge due to how much talent is on that roster and how they execute things game to game however they haven't been playing great as of late they've been a little bit of a slump whereas the Red Sox have been playing well as of late so the Red Sox could be getting them at a good time in terms of their chances to win the series so should be fun lots of fun matchups that we're going to be watching in this series but I'm looking forward to it it's always fun playing the Dodgers just another marquee team and lots of Red Sox and Dodgers connections on this team right now former Dodgers players who play for the Red Sox now and former Red Sox players who play for the Dodgers now so just a lot of special connections between these two teams so it definitely will be fun and I'm certainly looking forward to it and seeing how the series goes but hopefully the Red Sox do win it and get themselves off to a good start coming back from the all-star break because you really never know how a team is going to look after having four days off so we'll see how it goes but happy Red Sox game day again finally as always keep the faith go Red Sox and I will catch you on the flip side a prime member you can listen to this lockdown podcast add free on Amazon music download the Amazon music app today
