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The Drew Pomeranz era in Boston has officially concluded. The enigmatic left-hander is on his way to the West Coast. How do we feel about it? Meh, most likely
Pomeranz and the San Francisco Giants agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.5 million guaranteed with a bunch of incentives to give the chance for more money, officially putting an end to what was … I guess you could say an interesting two and a half-year tenure with the Boston Red Sox. When he pitched for the Sox, sometimes he was good. Plenty of other times times he was frustrating. And then there was 2018, when we barely saw him at all.
Pomeranz was always an interesting character on the mound for Boston. We could never really figure him out. And honestly, I’m not sure we ever really truly cared to figure him out. Fortunately, the Red Sox got what was at least close the absolute peak of Pomeranz’ career to this point. In 2017, he put together all of the positives in his game for a full season and turned in an incredible 17-6 season with an ERA of 3.32 and a strikeout per inning. He was a legitimate number two in a division-winning rotation. For stretches, Pomeranz even looked like an ace-type pitcher — something many could’ve never imagined when the Sox acquired him from San Diego at the 2016 trade deadline.
But the lefty’s success was relatively short-lived. He was a one-year wonder with the Red Sox, as the very next season was a wild disappointment considering what he accomplished the year before. Dealing with injuries in 2018, Pomeranz appeared in just 26 games, starting 11 of them, and recorded an ERA of 6.08 riding with a fastball. He was on the World Series roster as the Red Sox rode their historic season to a championship, but was nothing more than just another warm body on the bench.
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Although Pomeranz was sensational in 2017, there were certainly many Red Sox fans never really fell in love with him. They could never fully trust him. They just never knew what to expect from him, particularly last year. That’s why, as he leaves Boston for a fresh start in San Francisco, it’s not being given too much thought.
Hopefully for Pomeranz, though, this is an opportunity to get his career trending in the right direction again.
“The big thing for me was opportunity,” Pomeranz said, via ESPN.com. “My big thing is getting back on track to doing what I can do and just being myself again because it’s very frustrating when you have to fight through a year where you know this isn’t me, how do I fix this, what I can I do to make this never happen again? In that regard, this just felt like a great fit for me.”
Good for Drew. I hope that getting back to the National League, in an NL West division that he’s very comfortable with having pitched for both San Diego and Colorado, is exactly what he needs to make a comeback.
That said, Am I sad that he won’t be wearing a Red Sox uniform while trying to make his comeback? Not really.