Sox Won't Miss Middlebrooks

Middlebrooks seems unlikely to resurrect his career in San Diego (RantSports)

The rapidly improving Padres made another move yesterday, trading catcher Ryan Hanigan to the Boston Red Sox for third baseman Will Middlebrooks. In Hanigan, the Red Sox get a veteran catcher to replace David Ross and back up Christian Vazquez. Middlebrooks fills San Diego's third base hole left by Chase Headley, adding another righthanded power bat to a lineup that already includes righties Matt Kemp, Wil Myers, Justin Upton, Derek Norris, and Jedd Gyorko.

If the Padres are counting on Middlbebrooks to be their starting third sacker, they're going to be sorely disappointed. Given his recent struggles and injury woes, he's simply not a major league caliber third baseman, much less an everyday player. He's not the solution.

It's been a long fall from grace for Middlebrooks, who burst on the scene with a rip-roaring start to his big league career in 2012. Called up to replace an injured Kevin Youkilis, the 23 year-old hit so well that Boston traded Youkilis so he could be their everyday third baseman. One of the few bright spots in an otherwise miserable Red Sox season, Middlebrooks was hitting .288/.325/.509 when an errant Esmil Rogers fastball shattered a bone in his right hand on August 10th, ending Middlebrooks season Jim Rice-style and bid for Rookie of the Year (not that he would have won in the year of Mike Trout).

It's tempting to blame his subsequent struggles on that injury and call it a career-altering event the same way Nomar Garciaparra's 2001 wrist injury was. But a closer look reveals Middlebrooks was already in the midst of a prolonged slump, having batted just .240/.276/.416 over his previous 35 games when his season was cut short.

Middlebrooks has yet to reach the heights of his rookie season, much less deliver on the enormous promise he displayed in the first few months of his career. It didn't take long for pitchers to figure him out, and he hasn't been able to make the necessary adjustments. Middlebrooks appears to be a player, like Kevin Maas or former Red Sox Walt Dropo, who peaked as a rookie and was incapable of replicating his early success.

One of the few weak links on the 2013 World Series champs, Middlebrooks batted just .227/.271/.425 and spent much of the summer in Pawtucket following a terrible start to the season, which was compounded by a strained back. Boston's trade of Jose Iglesias gave him back the third base job, and he hit better upon his return to the big leagues (.805 OPS after the demotion compared to .617 before), only to disappear during the playoffs (.490 OPS and one RBI in 10 games), leading John Farrell to bench him in the World Series in favor of rookie phenom Xander Bogaerts.

One would have thought Middlebrooks could only improve upon his ugly sophomore campaign, but in 2014 he somehow regressed even further. He played just four games before being sidelined by a strained calf. He returned in late April, only to land back on the Disabled List three weeks later with a broken finger. When he finally made his way back at the beginning of August, he was given every opportunity to redeem himself and prove he deserved to be Boston's starting third baseman in 2015. He bombed, batting .188/.230/.236 without a home run the rest of the way (42 games).

That led the Red Sox to go out and sign Pablo Sandoval this winter, a huge upgrade over their floundering incumbent. Given Boston's ensuing logjam on the left side of the infield (they signed shortstop Hanley Ramirez despite still having Bogaerts at short), Middlebrooks became expendable. It was only a matter of time before he was dealt, and the Red Sox were lucky to find a suitor for their 26 year-old project in San Diego.

Middlebrooks's career, like many of the fly balls he hits next year, seems destined to die in Petco Park, which is even more unkind to hitters than Fenway is to pitchers. Middlebrooks has hit a mere .226/.269/.406 away from Fenway, which doesn't bode well for him or the Padres. The one thing Middlebrooks does well--hit for power--is going to be nullified by his home ballpark. As such, he's going to be a liability to a Padres club that needs all the firepower it can get in order to overcome the Dodgers and reigning World Series champs in their own division.

So if the Padres think they're going to get anything above a replacement level player out of Middlebrooks, they're terribly mistaken.

Middlebrooks Mashing

After a lengthy slump and a stint in Triple-A, Middlebrooks is back

As the Boston Red Sox storm towards a division title and possibly the best record in baseball, it seems like almost everyone on the roster--from Daniel Nava and Mike Carp to John Lackey and Koji Uehara--has contributed to the team's successful season. It's why they lead the league in chest bumps, fist pumps and bro-hugs.

There have been a few disappointments, of course (there always are). Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey got hurt early on. Clay Buchholz has once again proven himself to be incredibly fragile. Jackie Bradley Jr. didn't set the world on fire like we thought he would.

But nobody underachieved more than third baseman Will Middlebrooks, who spent much of the season trying to recapture the immense promise he displayed as a phenom in 2012.

Big things were expected from Middlebrooks this year, but that's what happens when you rake from day one and take Kevin Youkilis's job. One of the few bright spots to emerge from Boston's Bobby Valentine nightmare, Middlebrooks was supposed to be a fixture at the hot corner for the foreseeable future.

Instead, he fell into a prolonged slump early on from which he was unable to recover. Pitchers quickly figured him out and exploited his weaknesses, namely his willingness to swing at anything remotely close to home plate. John Farrell tried dropping the struggling sophomore down in the order to take some of the pressure off, but Middlebrooks continued to flail. He was helpless.

As spring became summer and it became clear the Red Sox were going to be serious postseason contenders, it was obvious a change needed to be made. Middlebrooks wasn't helping the team win games. Jose Iglesias was. So Iglesias--a shortstop by trade--moved to third and Middlebrooks was sent down to Pawtucket to get his swing right and regain his confidence. At the time of his demotion in late June, he was sporting an unpalatable .192/.228/.389 batting line--a far cry from his .288/.325/.509 showing as a rookie.

Though Middlebrooks did not hit exceptionally well with the PawSox (.790 OPS), the time on the farm appears to have done him some good. Since making his big league return on August 10th, he's batted a jaw-dropping .368/.434/.621 with 6 home runs and 16 RBI.  He's been especially hot in the month of September with four big flies, nine RBI, and 13 hits in seven games this month to help Boston pad its division lead. With the Red Sox eyeing a postseason berth, his resurgence couldn't have come at a better time.

And it isn't just a random hot streak, either. The more mature Middlebrooks has shown signs of becoming a more polished, refined hitter. Before his demotion, his strikeout to walk ratio was a lopsided 60/9. Since returning, it's been a much better 20/10. Accordingly, his strikeout rate has fallen considerably, from just under 28 percent to 20 percent. He's not getting himself out so much by swinging at tough pitches, and so his newfound patience is helping him make hard contact more consistently.

With his sophomore slump behind him, Middlebrooks is back on track, poised for greatness not just in the coming weeks, but in the years to come. Yes, his 2013 campaign has been a trying year marked by growing pains and squandered potential, but it has also been a valuable learning experience that will shape the course of his career.

Middlebrooks Comes Back

The Red Sox recalled Will Middlebrooks from Pawtucket yesterday, a move that reaped immediate rewards when he keyed Boston's 5-3 victory over the red-hot Royals.

Middlebrooks, who had not faced major league pitching in seven weeks, didn't skip a beat in his return. Starting at third base and batting ninth, he went 2-for-4 with two runs soored and two more driven in. After flying out in his first at-bat, he was at the center of the Red Sox's four-run fourth inning. With two men in scoring position and Boston looking to build upon its 1-0 advantage, Middlebrooks slashed a single to right that plated Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Stephen Drew. He didn't spend much time on first though, coming around to score when Jacoby Ellsbury doubled into the right-centerfield gap.

By the time he came up again in the top of the sixth, Boston's lead had been trimmed to 4-3. Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie was still in the game, needing only to retire Middlebrooks to get through the frame. He would have no such luck. Though Middlebrooks didn't hit the ball hard this time, it was well-placed, and so he reached base via an infield single. He then motored home on another RBI double from Ellsbury, who was thrown out trying to take third on the play.

The bullpen took it from there and held on for the win, Boston's 71st of the season (most in the American League). Other notes from last night's game:

• Ellsbury had a big night, cracking four hits and swiping his ML-leading 42nd stolen base. (with an outstanding 91.3 % success rate) of the sesason. He started slow out of the gate but has been hitting like an MVP all summer. Since May 26th he's batted .353/.405/.527 with 28 steals.
• Speaking of hot hitters, Drew extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an RBI double. Drew's been terrible for much of the season but has come on strong as of late, batting .415/.510/.610 with nine RBI over the course of his streak. Perhaps he's turned the corner and can help his team win the division, as he did for Oakland last year.
• Another rough night for Mike Napoli, who went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. With just eight hits (and 24 strikeouts) in his past 15 games, the streaky slugger is mired in a horrendous slump. 
• Great work by Boston's bullpen, which came up big with five shutouts innings after Felix Doubront departed without recording an out in the fifth. Credit rookie Brandon Workman for stopping the bleeding to earn the win in his first high-leverage relief appearance. Still, it'd be nice if John Lackey could pitch deep into today's game and give the relievers some rest.
• Koji Uehara pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the save. He has not allowed an earned run since June 30th.
• Two more doubles for Billy Butler, who's amassed 196 two-baggers since the start of the 2009 season. Only Robinson Cano (with 204) has more. 
• With two hits last night, Eric Hosmer now has seven multi-hit performances in his last eight games. He's batting .299 on the year and is poised to push his average north of .300 for the first time in four months.

Middlebrooks Coming Around

Will Middlebrooks is heating up at the plate after a brutal start to the year

Will Middlebrooks continued his recent hot streak by belting a tie-breaking solo home run off Pedro Hernandez during Boston's 5-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins yesterday. Since May 10th, Middlebrooks is hitting .278/.316/.611 with eight extra base hits in nine games. He's still striking out too much (28.2 K%, same as Ryan Howard) and not walking often enough (a decidedly un-Kevin Youkilis-like 4.1 BB%), but at least he's providing power near the bottom of Boston's lineup. The 24 year-old appears to have put his early season slump behind him and will look to keep swinging a hot bat against the Chicago White Sox tonight.