Changing their Sox to green
Cora points to Celtics in preaching patience
If he needs some inspiration, all Red Sox manager Alex Cora has to do is look across the city to see what the Celtics are doing this season.
The C’s were worse-than-expected to start the season under first-year coach Ime Udoka as they struggled to gain cohesion. They carried a 1719 record as the calendar flipped to 2022 as some circles called to break up stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
But behind a defensive-focused identity, the C’s flipped a switch and turned it around, and are now in the Eastern Conference finals after Sunday’s Game 7 victory over the Bucks. Cora — who managed a 13-21 Red Sox team into this week’s series with the Astros — has paid close attention.
“At one point, people were screaming to break that team up,” Cora said. “And now, they’re in the conference finals. I think patience paid off. They were very patient with the kids. Having (Al) Horford, that calming influence in the clubhouse, the locker room, whatever they call it, it’s been great. And they decided to start playing defense. I think it was December 31 if I’m not mistaken. And that was the day everything changed.”
That kind of patience is being preached with the Red Sox. Chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom recently said as much, saying they were going to make panic moves after their poor start to this season.
“Everything. 100 percent,” Cora said when asked if there are lessons he can take from the Celtics’ season and apply them to the Sox.
“That’s something that we’ve been talking about today. National TV people are here. Bob Costas is here. They’re talking about the standings and this team and that team, whatever. At the end of the day, you’ve got to play consistent. When you start playing consistent, you get to certain points for us. Let’s get to .500 first. And then from there, we take off, we see where we’re. It’s a long season, and everything can happen, right? We’re very talented.”
As for the Celtics, Cora is excited for them. He texted Udoka and C’s general manager Brad Stevens — the latter he’s developed a relationship with over the years — after Sunday’s win. He’s even hoping to go to Game 3 on Saturday at TD Garden, which is scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. tip. The Red Sox play the Mariners at 4 p.m. that day at Fenway.
“Can we move it up to 1 so we can go?” Cora joked. “Very proud of what
they’ve done. … It’s great and everything they got they earned. Hopefully they beat the Heat — it’s kind of hard for me to say probably 25 years ago (Cora went to the University of Miami) — and we have another final here. It should be fun.”
Bello earns promotion
Brayan Bello is heading to the next level of his professional career.
Bello, the Red Sox’ top pitching prospect, has been promoted to Triple-a Worcester, a source confirmed to the Herald, after the right-hander dominated to start the season in Double-a with Portland.
Bello — signed as an international free agent in July 2017 out of the Dominican Republic — was named the Red Sox’ minor league pitcher of the year last season after being promoted to Portland midseason. This season, he’s proven worthy of a call-up to Triple-a with a dominant start in Portland, producing a 1.60 ERA and 42 strikeouts to 12 walks in six starts, which included a seven-inning no-hitter on May 5.
Bello, who turns 23 on Tuesday, is the fourth-ranked prospect in the Red Sox system by Baseball America, behind Marcelo Mayer, Triston Casas and Nick Yorke. He’s ranked as the 84th overall prospect by Baseball America.
“Bello is likely to progress to Triple-a during the 2022 season and could emerge as a big league rotation option by the end of the year,” Baseball America’s scouting report says of Bello. “He has mid-rotation potential as long as he maintains his velocity jump and improves his fastball command.”
Andrew Politi was also promoted from Portland to Worcester, a source confirmed. The 23-yearold right-hander has a 2.03 ERA, 20 strikeouts and just three walks across 13 1/3 innings this season.
Sale makes ‘big step’
Chris Sale has resumed playing catch after having a personal setback recently, which is significant progress as the Red Sox left-hander targets a June return.
“Where we were a few weeks ago, to that, that’s a big step,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.
Sale suffered a stress fracture in his right rib cage in March, which eventually led to the Red Sox placing him on the 60- day injured list to start the season. He was eligible to return in early June, but Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said on May 7 that Sale had a “personal medical issue” that required him to stop throwing. Bloom said that pushed Sale’s return timetable at least a few weeks, making it likely Sale will be back in late June at the earliest.