Last week, Red Sox manager John Farrell assessed the club's woefully underperforming starting rotation by explaining that he typically withholds judgment on a struggling pitcher until after the sixth, sometimes the eighth, start of the season.
Apparently, it doesn't take as long to evaluate a pitching coach.
Twenty-eight games into a season that is quickly unraveling, the Red Sox fired pitching coach Juan Nieves, with both Farrell and general manager Ben Cherington citing the need for a "different voice" to get through to five starting pitchers who have combined for a 5.