The Red Sox Are Killing Me! (Revised)

I chose to revise this particular one based on the increased performance of several players since writing this while others have come to the forefront of my dissatisfied demeanor. My opinion has remained the same whilst my eye is fixed on a new set of players.

Old Post

*I would like to formally apologize in advance for the post you are about to read but sometimes my love of sports makes me go a little crazy and the only way to alleviate the insanity is to release one whirlwind of a rant.

I am a huge Boston Red Sox fan, I can’t stress that enough. They are my favorite team in all of sports, I watch every single game on NESN and I have been to more games at Fenway than I can count. Unfortunately, I am also a realist and although I really hate to say this, they are doomed to a year of mediocrity. They just don’t have the “It factor” that they have had in the past. It is early, the season just got underway a mere 20 games ago, but the writing is clear on the walls. At 10-10 they clearly aren’t out of it, but it still doesn’t look too good.

Normally a time to sign big-time free agents, Red Sox management took the term off-season a bit too literal. No real rosters moves were done to improve a team that collapsed at the end of the year missing the playoffs in dramatic fashion. There were big free agents out there, ripe for the picking, that would have had a tremendous effect on the outcome of the season. Instead, Red Sox fans are stuck with a team that really doesn’t seem have what it takes to contend in their league. The Red Sox were not completely dormant in the winter months. One free agent acquisition has looked like a real winner so far this season. An unlikely source, outfielder Cody Ross has showed some great stuff early on and has provided when bigger name players have left us wanting more. Ross, as of today is second on the Sox in homeruns and RBI. Even with the Ross being such a pleasant surprise, this season has all the makings for a ridiculously disappointing 162 games (If you didn’t know that’s how many games are played in a baseball season).

Beckett and Lester need to perform

Along with the players they didn’t go out and get, the ones actually on the roster need to step it up an make some things happen. The most glaring disappointments have come from the pitching staff. Normally sources of wins and game stability Josh Beckett and Jon Lester have looked anything but reliable in the early going. So far the two are subpar, mirror images of each other. Neither Beckett nor Lester’s stat line resemble anything close to the ace status we expect from them. What is weird about their performances thus far is how equally bad each of them are doing.

Stat Lines 

This here is a link to the Red Sox pitching stats so far this season provided by  Yahoo Sports. This chart goes by ERA and about halfway down the page you can see both of them clumped together. After a quick analysis you’ll begin to understand what I am talking about when I say mirror image.. Their win/loss, ERA, earned runs, k’s, hits and innings pitched are all about the same. What I am getting to with all of this is that the Red Sox need these two guys in particular to turn it around or else there is no way the Sox are going to be able to compete. These guys have proven in the past that they can get it done and they need to do so once more. If Beckett and Lester keep this up, look for Red Sox players in October, coming to a golf course near you. 

Interim closer Alfredo Aceves

 As bad as these two have been this year, things have actually gone worse for the Red Sox when these guys come out of the game. This relief pitching staff may be the worst in baseball. I use the word “may” loosely, due to the fact that most baseball experts would concur with this suggestion. Although shaky at times the Red Sox had a stable enough closer for the last seven seasons in Jonathon Paplebon. This winter however the two parted ways and now he plays for the Philadelphia Phillies. The man they got to replace him, Andrew Bailey, injured his thumb this spring and is out for the better part of the summer. Now they are left with basically no proven guys in the bullpen and it shows. Alfredo Aceves has been given the interim closer position and has looked abominable. In seven save opportunities he has converted five, blown two and posts an ERA of 10.29.

I feel like I keep using terms like ERA all willy nilly, expecting everyone to know what I am talking about. ERA stands for earned run average and is the average number of earned runs a pitcher allows per nine innings. Basically it tells you what someone would average if they pitched the entire game. In the case of Aceves you can see how his 10.29 ERA would be problematic.Although I am picking on Aceves, he isn’t the only Red Sox pitcher stinking it up in the bullpen, Franklin Morales, Vicente Padilla and Mark Melancon have all been sources of frustration late in games. Every time a starter hands off the ball to a reliever I start to feel a bit squeamish.

Papi showered opposing pitchers with hits in April

At the start of the season I would have complained that the Red Sox offense wasn’t showing up to games, but of late that they have been on an absolute tear. “Big Papi”, David Ortiz had his best April in his career, batting .405 with 6 homeruns and 20 RBI. It’s great to see Papi have such a ferocious month to start the season. The last couple years he has struggled in the early going to shake off the rust that accumulated in the off-season. This year he just came out guns blazing and it’s a real testament to his conditioning being that he turns 37 later this year. Another bright spot is second year shortstop Mike Aviles, who has also been a force at the plate. I remember last year all of the grumbles I heard from Red Sox fans when we traded to get him from Kansas City. Now his 5 homeruns and 17 RBI have former naysayers chanting his name.

With the bats coming alive the status of the season seems less dire, but I’m never going to feel comfortable with the pitching staff  they have now. We'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

Phew, that was one heck of a rant, but I kind of feel a little better now.