FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Boston Red Sox Manager Grady Little says Casey Fossum’s slot in the starting rotation is secure.
But Little was clearly worried after Fossum struggled with his control and gave up six runs over 2 1-3 innings in a 10-4 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday.
“At first I think it’s probably mechanical, and then it maybe gets into his head and becomes a little bit mental,” Little said. “It’s something we’ve got to try to get him to overcome.”
Fossum is under scrutiny after the Red Sox refused to trade him for 20-game winner Bartolo Colon in a proposed offseason deal with Montreal. He was chased before the end of the third inning for the third time in four starts this spring. He walked three, and his ERA rose to 16.20.
“I’m disappointed with the results, but I still felt good,” Fossum said. “I had some really good breaking balls I threw, just off a little bit with my control of my fastball. I just wasn’t getting ahead of hitters, and seemed like I was down in the count, pretty much every hitter that got a hit, I was behind.”
Little said Fossum is not in danger of losing the job. Another potential starter, Robert Pearson, did little to make a play for the job, giving up three runs and two walks in an inning of relief.
But Little did express concern about Fossum, who is currently Boston’s only left-handed starter.
“It’s not a step forward,” Little said. “He’s just struggling with that command of that fastball. Any pitcher in baseball needs that. They’ve got to have it to survive.”
Fossum looked like he was off to a good start and got the first two outs of the second inning before walking Jack Wilson and giving up an RBI double to Mike Gulan and an RBI single to Pokey Reese.
In the third, Fossum gave up a leadoff double to Jason Kendall, who advanced to third on a sacrifice fly. Fossum then walked Craig Wilson and gave up an RBI single to Kevin Young.
Fossum gave way to reliever Jason Shiell, who allowed Wilson and Young to score. Both runs were charged to Fossum.
“(Little) just told me don’t worry about it,” said Fossum, who was 5-4 last season with a 3.46 ERA in 43 games, including 12 starts. “The results weren’t good today, but my fastball had a lot of life on it and my breaking stuff was really good.”
Part of the problem, Fossum said, was that he shook off signs from catcher Jason Varitek so he could work on his curve ball – throwing five in a row to Young, the final batter he faced. “Four were good and that last one I just left hanging a little bit, and he had seen it three times,” Fossum said. “In the regular season I’m not going to throw a guy three straight breaking balls.”
Fossum is likely this season to face frequent comparisons to Colon, who wound up with the Chicago White Sox. The potential Red Sox trade for Colon trade would also have shipped All-Star third baseman Shea Hillenbrand – hitting .500 this spring – to Montreal.
Little said Fossum can rest assured he’s still a starter.
“We’ve been talking about it for three or four months, I don’t know how much assurance he needs,” Little said.
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