Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/30/2009 12:50 pm

The New York Times is reporting that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are included among the 103 names of players who tested positive for performing-enhancing drugs in 2003.

The moral high-ground was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it?

PEDs don’t really press my buttons they way they do most other folks, so I’ll only touch on this briefly.  For many many, this will take a bit of the luster off of those World Series trophies from 2004 and 2007.  As far as I’m concerned, the only thing that upsets me about this whole situation is the tidal wave of insane reactions and irrational sanctimony that is is sure to drown us all over the next few days.  Or, maybe it will be a slow drip, like Chinese water torture, as the 103 names are released one-by-one?

If this Times article is shocking to you, it means that you are either a) not paying attention, or b) not very perceptive.

I’m headed down to Baltimore to see the Sox play in “Fenway South” tomorrow and Saturday.  Just yesterday afternoon, I bought a brand new authentic home jersey to wear to these two games at Camden Yards.  Can you guess what number is on the back of my jersey?   Of course you can – #34.

If I were in the souvenir store right now, and I had to choose my jersey all over again…I’d pick the same fucking one.  And I hope most other Sox fans feel the same way I do.

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/29/2009 9:06 am

Despite Jonathan Papelbon’s All-Star selection and gaudy save totals in 2009, he hasn’t been quite as dominant as he has in the past, and I think that has been something of an elephant in the corner among Red Sox fans.  Well, last night, the elephant finally lumbered from out of the corner, trampled the family dog, and took a huge dump on our carpet.

He’s walking more people, getting fewer strikeouts, and giving up more hits. He’s throwing his split-fingered fastball less often for some reason (at least partially related to his troubles, I’d say). Yeah, not good. Frankly, I’m surprised instances like last night haven’t occurred more often this season.

"The streets are ours, suckas! CAN YOU DIG IT?"

Oh, and before I forget. Keeping Nick Green on the team is a mistake. I’m starting to sound like a broken record, and that’s fine, because I’ll keep harping on it until the issue is rectified. Red Sox fans (and perhaps the front office) got a little too caught up in the contagious groupthink that was Julio Lugo’s lynch mob, and now we have an outrageously unqualified player starting half of the team’s games at the most critical position in the infield.

Think about it this way: how bad of a hitter do you have to be for the manager to ask you to bunt when the team is down by two runs in the bottom of the 11th?

I wonder what Pittsburgh is asking for Jack Wilson?

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/28/2009 3:48 pm

The Red Sox and White Sox have agreed to a deal sending Mark Kotsay to Chicago for outfielder Brian Anderson.

The Sox had already DFA’d Kotsay, so a lousy return on this trade is expected.  If I were a Suffolk Country judge or magistrate of some sort, the first thing I would do (aside from granting voting rights to robots) would be to write a Temporary Restraining Order prohibiting Brian Anderson from coming within 50 miles of Fenway Park before September 1st.

Anderson is a career .238/.322/.319 hitter who has a decent glove.  He’ll probably get called up when the rosters expand in a month, and will hopefully be used strictly as an 8th-inning replacement for Bay, Drew, or Baldelli when the Sox are up by 4 or more runs.

Comments Off

By Jimmy,

I was bumming around Fangraphs.com this morning when I noticed something odd: the American League leader in home runs (Justin Morneau) had only hit 26 of them thus far.  Through 100 games, he’s on pace to finish with 42, a modest amount for a league HR champion by modern MLB standards.

This prompted me to take a quick look at the HR/G trends in the American League.  It looks like there are still plenty of dingers being hit, despite all of the anti-PED measures undertaken by Major League Baseball.  In 2009, AL teams are averaging 1.12 home runs per game.  This is an increase from last year and the year before, and is roughly the same rate as 2001.  The all-time record is 1.21 HR/game (from 1996, the year Brady Anderson managed to hit 50).  Lo and behold, HR totals were always on the rise, even way before the word “steroid” entered our lexicon. There has been a relatively linear increase in the frequency of home runs since the American League was formed. Maybe, just maybe, some of these HR records were destined to be broken, even without the help of illegal substances.

Some of you were probably already aware of this, but I figured this might be interesting to some who are not as familiar with the evolution of the game:

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/27/2009 9:17 am

I could probably just cut and paste sentences from a couple of recent posts, and it would capture yesterday’s story well enough.  John Smoltz displayed flashes of dominance mixed with flashes of putrescence, as has been his standard practice this season.  A relatively unknown pitcher baffled our $100 million dollar lineup.  Deja vu, anyone?

We’ve been seeing the Smoltz Face far too often.  You know the Smoltz Face: eyes clenched shut, screaming in rage, veins popping out of his neck while an opposing batter circles the bases in the background.  Frankly, this sort of thing can’t be very good for a guy his age.  Since we now know that celebrities die in groups of seven (inflation has apparently taken its toll on this law in 2009), it would benefit Smoltz greatly if he started giving up fewer hits, thereby limiting the occurrence of the Smoltz Face.

In case you were interested, Smotlz’s ERA minus FIP is now a whopping 3.43 (more than twice the qualified league leader), and his BABIP resembles something you would expect to see on the back of a Ty Cobb baseball card (.396).

PGA Tour...yeah, that sounds nice.

My stance on Smoltz doesn’t really change.  His current problems present a perfect example of the difference between command and control.  His control is just fine, as exhibited by the fact that he hasn’t been walking very many hitters.  However, his command has experienced some severe lapses; fastballs over the heart of the plate just begging to be tomahawked by opposing batters.   Sometimes, this sort of thing will correct itself.  There is a very thin line between a well placed pitch and a poorly placed one, and Smoltz has done a horrid job of walking that line.  They need to just send him out there again in five days, and hope (again) that his fastball placement is a little better, and some batted balls start finding gloves.

There is plenty of favorable quantitative and qualitative evidence that suggests he can still pitch at a high level, despite the ERA.  I think the hysteria is starting to build up a little bit; the impending trade deadline coupled with the team’s recent struggles in certain areas are forming the perfect storm of overreaction among fans and media.  Fortunately, Terry Francona appears to be approaching this situation with prudence and reason, and will not be making any rash decisions regarding Smoltz.

As for the pitcher who shut down the Sox, he might be a relative unknown here in Boston, but the guy has plenty of talent.  He had pitched 57.1 innings in AAA this year, and had struck out 79 batters with only 18 walks while featuring a fastball in the mid-90′s. This is a guy who will probably put together a decent MLB career if he remains healthy.

Hey, these games are incredibly frustrating to watch.  There’s loads of talent here that just happens to be dormant at the moment.  These days it seems whenever I put NESN on, I end up with fewer ceramic objects around my house.  I would prefer if that stopped happening.

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/23/2009 9:02 am

When I originally heard that the Sox traded Julio Lugo to St. Louis, I was expecting the deal to be in exchange for a partially-used jar of talcum powder, a bonsai plant, and a handful of expired Baconator coupons.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the trade was actually for St. Louis outfielder Chris Duncan.

Chris Duncan is the younger brother of Shelley Duncan (that “Sloth from The Goonies” looking fellow Brian Cashman keeps locked in an abandoned copper mine in Scranton).  Duncan has been a disappointment in the past couple of years after initially showing some promise, sort of like the guy he was traded for.  He was an offensive force in 2006 (.952 OPS), but his performance has been on a steep decline since then, as a neck injury has hampered his ability to drive the ball with any consistency.

He’s a left-handed hitter who can play left field and first base, and will move ahead of Jeff Bailey and Chris Carter on the AAA depth chart as the first name called whenever J.D. Drew or Rocco Baldelli go on one of their 15-day vacations.

Duncan is still only 28-years-old and he’s under Red Sox control until 2012, so the possibility of him regaining some of the offensive prowess he displayed 3 years ago isn’t out of the question.

Comments Off

By Jimmy,

The Ballpark in Arlington has been known to induce more runs than a burrito stand with health code violations, so for the Red Sox to score only 6 runs there in a three game span is sort of disgraceful.  Granted, the park factors at TBIA have been inching more towards neutral, but the Sox were facing a starter who before last night’s game had a career ERA of 6.35, and a long reliever with a career K/9 of 3.3.  Being held to 1 run on 6 hits is just criminal.

So, it’s time to tweak our training regimen a bit.  I have a perfect idea for an acquisition.  No, it’s not a bat or a stud pitcher.  Here is what the Theo Epstein needs to add to his July shopping list:

Yes.  Steroids.  Lots and lots of steroids.

Eat up, boys!

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/22/2009 1:02 pm

Some breaking (and incomplete) news to report.  The Red Sox have acquired first baseman Adam LaRoche from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

There’s no word yet on exactly what was given up for LaRoche in the trade, but hopefully it isn’t much.

LaRoche, 29, is a lumbering left-handed hitter with decent power and solid plate discipline.  Offensively, he’s like a left-handed Kevin Millar; he’ll come through with a walk and a HR here and there, but he’ll also provide his fair share of Ks and GIDPs.  He’s mired in a bit of an off-year, and will be playing in the American League for the first time in his career.

While the other moving parts in this trade have yet to be revealed, it looks like LaRoche has some value as a platoon mate for Mike Lowell:

• Lowell vs LHP: .903 OPS
• LaRoche vs RHP: .833 OPS

The trade may involve Mark Kotsay being shipped away, since LaRoche would presumably take Kotsay’s place on the roster, but that’s just speculation on my part.  I doubt that any notable prospects will be involved in this deal.

The deal gives a small offensive boost to a team whose bats have been performing an Oscar-caliber impersonation of Terri Schiavo since the All-Star break.

Stay tuned.

****UPDATE****

Pittsburgh is getting 2 minor league players in return: Argenis Diaz (SS) and Hunter Strickland (P).  Both guys are fringe prospects (ranked #29 and #38 in the organization by Soxprospects.com, respectively).

Diaz was a favorite of mine; I had seen him play once in Portland and was impressed with his defense.  This was during one of Julio Lugo’s prolonged lapses in fundamentals at SS, and by contrast Diaz looked like Ozzie Smith.  However, the rise of Yamaico Navarro and the international SS free-agent binge the Sox front office recently engaged in made Diaz redundant and expendable.

Seems like a reasonable price for a guy like LaRoche (who might be a Type B free agent next year).

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/21/2009 9:19 am

It has begun.

People all across Boston are standing on the ledges of their office buildings, they are lining up at the base of the Tobin Bridge, they are sticking the key in the ignitions of their SUVs parked in sealed garages, fully prepared to embrace the warm comfort of eternity.

John Smoltz has yet another rough outing, and that ERA is again creeping towards Dice-K territory.  Should we cut bait on the 42-year-old, or allow him to work his way out of this funk?

Some things to consider:

Smoltz has an FIP of 3.55.  His ERA minus FIP (a rough measure of bad pitching luck) is 2.76.  If he had pitched the qualifying amount of innings, this would lead the American League (the current qualified league lead is Carl Pavano with 1.54).

Smoltz has yielded a BABIP of .373.  Again, this would league the American League if Smoltz had qualified.

The one tidbit that would have me slightly worried about last night is a noticeable decrease in velocity.  If we compare Smoltz’s outing last night to his previous outing (in which he allowed only 1 run and struck out 7 in 5 innings) we can see an approximate drop in velocity of 2 MPH in both his fastball and slider.

Watch the Captain, kids. This is how it's done. This is how you give up outs.

Hopefully, this is mainly due to the abnormally long rest in between starts (9 days due to the All-Star Break), and not a sign of a deeper problem.

I think we need to be patient here, and give the guy a few more yards of slack.  Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Brad Penny, and Daisuke Matsuzaka all sputtered out of the gate this year.  In three of those cases, they pitched themselves out of the funk and are now operating as expected.  In the other case, there was a problem that caused the organization to pull the emergency brake and take action.  We need more time to evaluate this guy, to determine which of the two buckets he falls into.

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/20/2009 4:38 pm

I usually think J.D. Drew is a terrific guy to have in the lead-off spot…when he’s hitting.  Right now, the J.D. you are seeing at the plate is the same guy who in 2007 inspired a staggering phalanx of drunken idiots (or, as WEEI refers to them, “callers”) to label him a failure while completely ignoring his prior track record.

He’s in a slump, and has not performed well at all in the lead-off spot.  Maybe the correlation is spurious, maybe it isn’t.  Terry Francona has decided that he’s not taking any chances.

Here’s your lineup for tonight:

Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
Dustin Pedroia,. 2B
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
David Ortiz, DH
Jason Bay, LF
J.D. Drew, RF
Mike Lowell, 3B
Jason Varitek, C
Jed Lowrie, SS

Having Lowrie and Lowell in there instead of Green and Kotsay makes quite a bit of difference.  Stay healthy, gang.

Comments Off

By Jimmy,

Yeah, time for me to get the fuck out of Canada.

I don’t think the outcome of this game was too much of a surprise, since the Red Sox were shut down by the legendary  Marc Rzepczynski a day earlier.  This time around, they were facing Roy Halladay with a weaker lineup.  Predictably, the result of this matchup was a 135 minute Canadian snuff film, starring the Red Sox lineup as the 19-year-old Ukrainian prostitute.

So, what’s the deal?  Should the Sox make a run at this guy?  My short answer is: not a serious one.  We can go into this in more detail later, but my basic stance is that the incremental improvement Halladay provides over someone like Brad Penny or Clay Buchholz isn’t worth draining your farm system for.  If we’re reading the tea leaves while listening to the comments from Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi, it appears that he’ll be asking for multiple players from a pool of names like Casey Kelly, Lars Anderson, and Josh Reddick (if not all three of those guys, with or without Buchholz thrown in).

I’ll say that if the Sox are ready to unload prospects, it should be for a hitter, either a 3B/1B or a SS.  Halladay is terrific, but he’s just not what the team needs.

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/18/2009 11:06 am

Jed Lowrie has been activated from the DL, and Clay Buchholz was sent back down to AAA after his impressive audition (showcase?) in Toronto.

Lowrie’s performance in the minors:

Rehab statistics aren’t the most reliable litmus tests for MLB readiness, but it’s tough to not be a little concerned after looking at the above numbers.  Nick Green took a pitch off his hand, and while there isn’t any news of ill effects from that, it’s something to keep in mind.

According to Amalie Benjamin’s Twitter feed, Lowrie is in the lineup today.

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/17/2009 1:47 pm

Julio Lugo has been designated for assignment, ending what was undoubtedly the most maligned and uncomfortable tenure of any Red Sox player acquired under the Henry/Epstein regime.

Since Lugo will probably veto any assignment to the minor leagues, the “DFA” means the Sox have 10 days to either trade him (probably while paying all of the ~$15 million owed to him and getting shite in return) or release him outright (again, they’ll end up paying most of his remaining contract while another team picks him up for close to nothing).

Jed Lowrie returns on Saturday.  Hopefully, he’s ready to play just about every day.

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/16/2009 2:50 pm

According to Ken Rosenthal, the Red Sox are trying as hard as they can to jettison embattled infielder Julio Lugo.

Unless one of the other 29 MLB General Managers recently fell off a ladder and landed on his head, any trade will require the Sox to pay most or all of Lugo’s remaining contract.  This isn’t necessarily because Lugo is a bad player, it is due to the well known fact that the Sox are in a roster bind.  Jed Lowrie is just about ready to return to the team, and Mike Lowell’s fossilized skeleton could return as soon as this weekend.  While one of the spots will be opened by Clay Buchholz being sent back to Pawtucket after his start, the other opening requires a human sacrifice; and Julio Lugo or Nick Green will be the unlucky participant strapped to the altar.

I’ve hinted at this before, and I know I’m in an extremely small minority here, but I stand by my contention that the Sox should keep Lugo and release Green (he has no remaining option years).  Forget about Lugo’s contract; it’s a sunk cost.  No sober GM is going to bail Boston out of Lugo’s remaining salary.

Nick Green’s pixie dust is starting to wash off, and he is beginning to resemble the “AAAA” guy who has been kicking around 6 different franchises in 6 years.

I realize most of you are wishing for Lugo’s excommunication.  For some reason, Sox fans have some sort of irrational affection for guys like Nick Green.  For instance, look at the sponsor quote on his Baseball Reference page.  Don’t bother clicking, here it is:

Heck of a defensive shortstop, and he bats .270. What more could you want. Ok he’s not Derek Jeter, the greatest shortstop of all time, but I’d rather Nick Green than Nomar!

Are you fucking kidding me!!!? That statement just gave me small pox.

“Heck of a defensive shortstop” – no he’s not
“and he bats .270″ – no he doesn’t
“what more could you want” – an average infielder
“Ok he’s not Derek Jeter” – Correct!
“the greatest shortstop of all time” – no he’s not
“but I’d rather Nick Green than Nomar” – please have your head examined

This is the type of thing rational fans have to deal with on an everyday basis.  “Nick Green – what more could you want?”…”J.D. Drew has no heart”…”Tim Wakefield should have started the All Star game”…how do people get this shit in their heads?

FYI – Nick Green’s last 54 plate appearances: .154/.264/.200.  This is the guy who will be splitting time with a hobbling Jed Lowrie.

Be careful what you wish for.

Comments Off

By TRic,

Looking at the New York Yankees at the half way point, I was wondering if the Yankees have enough right now to win the World Series?  

Their lineup is great, especially in a stadium tailor made for their lefty-packed lineup. I mean Yankee Stadium, the House that Roids Built, is a visiting right-handed pitcher’s nightmare.  The only two righties you are going to face are Derek Jeter, who can easily slap a ball over the right field fence, and A-Rod. It doesn’t get much better for lefties with three switch hitters in the lineup.

The Yankees don’t really have much of a bench to speak of. The bench players cannot really hit well and outside of Molina, aren’t particularly great fielders. But with the regulars being so good, outside of a huge injury, the bench can get by. Considering four of the starters are 35 and over, this isn’t too comforting.  

But the bench highlights the Yankees major problem, depth.

The pitching helps illustrate the Yankee’s depth problem further. Right now the Yankees don’t even have a fifth starter. They are going to be forced to use either Sergio Mitre, a career journeyman and accomplished leper, or a limited pitch count with Aceves. Using Aceves really hurts the Yankees because he has been a rock at long relief, which the Yankees have desperately needed this season. 

The Yankees have needed long relief because the middle of the rotation has just not been able to stay in games very long.   CC Sabathia has been typical CC-a complete workhorse.  Cashman must have sacrificed some animals or season ticket holders to Hygieia, Goddess of Health, because what can only be described as a miracle, A.J. Burnett has stayed healthy in a non-contract year. Beyond those two; however, the Yankees have not been getting quality starts. 

Joba Chamberlain has been nothing more than five innings per outing starter. His 1.56 WHIP leaves a lot to be desired and he spends more time shaking off Posada then actually pitching.  Andy Pettitte looks like he drank from the wrong chalice at the end of the Last Crusade.  After starting the year with four straight quality starts in April, Pettitte has only had four since then. Two of the last four starts have seen Pettitte leave before getting through five innings.  As for Chien-Ming Wang, well the best thing you can say about Wang is that he did eventually got his ERA under 10, before he hit the DL…again.

As the second half approaches, the race of the AL East has shifted to three teams: the Rays, Red Sox, and Yankees.  

At the moment, the Yankees will need to be extremely lucky the rest of the way with injuries, in order to keep up with the much deeper Rays and Red Sox. The Yankees are most likely going to need to pick up another starter too.  Right now, as is, even with the awe inspiring lineup, the Yankees look like they need Cashman to cash in and make some moves to prevent a second year of staying home in October

Comments Off

By TRic, 7/14/2009 1:47 pm

The Red Sox have one of the best systems in baseball.  This is rare for a team like the Red Sox that has so much success as well as so many players that have been graduated from prospect status over the last couple of years. 

The system’s absolute strength is its pitching depth.  There is still a lack of power hitters and shortstops in the system, though there is a lot of raw talent in the lower levels. (Note: The best pitcher in the minors, Clay Buchholz, is not considered a prospect anymore because he lost his rookie status last year.)

Here is the midseason top 10:

1. Casey Kelly SP/SS – A/High A  7-5  2.08 ERA  95 IP  74 K  .85 WHIP

Casey Kelly topped off an impressive season by throwing a perfect inning in the Futures Game.  He will now transition into a shortstop role, but it is hard to see how he could be more valuable on the field then he was on the mound.  Kelly simply dominated competition in A and went to High-A and showed that he is well-advanced for his age.  Kelly has several different pitches that have plus potential and can generate groundballs.  He could be starting in Portland next year.

2. Josh Reddick CF/RF – AA  .271/.341/.542  12 HR  5 SB

Reddick is good defensive outfielder with an arm that can play in right field and enough range to be a full-time center fielder.  Reddick got injured in lat April and came back to a slow start but is starting to pick up his game again.  He can be a bit more selective at the plate and needs to improve hitting against lefties (he has 15 strikeouts in 48 at-bats against southpaws).  Reddick is looking like the heir-apparent to J.D. Drew in right.

3. Junichi Tazawa SP – AA  8-5  2.79 ERA  87 IP  79 K  1.11 WHIP

Tazawa was a major coup for Sox GM Theo Epstein.  It was like grabbing an extra first-round pick, though it looks like Tazawa is far more polished than any draft pick.  Selected as the starter for Futures All-Star Game for the World Team, Tazawa has shown himself a capable starter.  Tazawa also looked good in Spring Training.  A promotion to Triple-A should be coming soon for the talented Japanese Industrial League Import.

4. Lars Anderson 1B – AA  .272/.363/.413  8 HR  1 SB

Anointed “the chosen one” after having an unsustainable stretch in Double-A last year similar to Jacoby Ellsbury’s 2007 MLB stretch, people jumped on the talented left-handed first baseman.  This year he was hampered with an injury but tried to play through it, giving a line of .065/.147/.097 from May 3 to May 11.  Still, the power has not returned.  It looked last year that Anderson would be competing for a spot on the team this year, but it now looks like he’s a more than a year off.

5. Michael Bowden SP – AAA/MLB   3-4  3.32 ERA  81.1 IP  54 K  1.24 WHIP (in AAA)

Bowden pitched well in his cup of coffee relief stint.  He started the year off blazing hot competing with Buchholz for best starter in Triple-A.  Bowden has a rough June, giving up eight home runs in six starts.  He looks like he will be a major league starter; the question is if he is more mid-rotation starter or end-of-the-rotation guy.

6. Yamaico Navarro SS – Low A/High A  .300/.357/.507  2 HR  2 SB

The sure-handed shortstop has continued what he started in Lancaster last year.  Capable of playing a good second, third, or shortstop, Navarro has gap power and decent plate patience.  If he can continue to hit, his glove will make him web-gem staple in the big leagues.

7. Stolmy Pimentel SP – A  8-3  2.66 ERA  74.1 IP  68 K  1.39 WHIP

The 19-year-old Pimentel is tearing up Greenville with his considerable control and his biting curve.  Pimentel could stand to fill out a little more and probably will on his road to the majors but he controls his pitches already and can get by with his average fastball with his advanced changeup.

8. Tim Federowicz C – A/High A .332/.378/.539 11 HR 1 SB

Federowicz came out of college as a highly regarded defensive player.  He has more than lived up to that expectation.  What is surprising people is his ability to put bat to ball.  Now sharing time with Luis Exposito in Salem, the tandem is looking to be the catching prospects the team has lacked over the last couple of years.

9. Stephen Fife SP – A/High A   0-3  2.70 ERA  36.2 IP  35 K  .98 WHIP

Fife is an extreme groundball pitcher who is striking out his competition.  His repertoire includes his nasty sinking fastball as well as a good slider and curve.  Started the year off with shoulder weakness but is starting to come along now and has recently been promoted to Salem.

10. Ryan Kalish OF – High A/AA  .265/.352/.397  8 HR  15 SB

The newest minor league fan favorite, Kalish came back strong after a season where wrist injuries hindered him at the plate.  After initially struggling in Double-A, Kalish is starting to come around.  Kalish has great baserunning instincts and is good fielder with a decent enough arm to play right field.

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/13/2009 4:23 pm

Join me, friends, as we travel back in time to the distant past.

The month was June 2009.    The nation was mired in a financial crisis, but bound together by our collective love of talking cats on YouTube.  Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, and Ed McMahon were all breathing the same air as you and me.  The immortal song “LoveGame” by Lady Gaga was at the top of the charts.  Yes, those were crazy, tumultuous times.  I lived it…I was there, man.  And on top of all of this hoopla, we had the 2009 MLB amateur draft.

How have the Red Sox draftees fared since?  Let’s take a look:
…

Comments Off

By Jimmy,

MMMM...MAPLEWOOD...OM NOM NOM

I always thought Bruce Chen was one of those phenomena that disappeared after the earlier years of this decade, sort of like razor scooters, boy bands, and people’s inclination to put the American Flag on their cars.  Well, I was wrong; he has actually pitched a few games this season, including last night’s.

I was glad to see him, instead of, say…Zack Greinke.  The Sox have had some trouble with decent pitchers lately, so facing the guy with an ERA of around 7.00 since 2006 was a breath of fresh air.

Boston now heads into the All-Star Break with a 3 game lead over the surging New York Yankees and a 6.5 game lead over Tampa Bay.  Given their iffy play before this weekend, I’ll gladly take the current scenario.

Coming up:

• An update on our draft picks (who has signed, who is playing) and some other prospect tidbits.
• Trade chatter.  What should the team pursue?

Comments (1)

By Jimmy, 7/9/2009 6:49 am

Oakland pitcher Trevor Cahill had bewildered the Sox with his youthful gooberesque demeanor and his assortment of 91 MPH fastballs and changeups for 5 innings, just like Brett Anderson two nights ago.  However, once the sixth inning arrived, the Red Sox were no longer impressed, and decided to let Cahill know this with their bats.

Finally, the Red Sox have beaten the West Coast in something other than June rainfall accumulation.  As Jeff says, teams from the AL West had been having their way with Boston like a pharmacist at a sorority house.  With last night’s victory, the Sox earn a long-awaited series win against a West Coast team.

The Nomar love was nice to see.  Things got a little hairy between Nomar, the front office, and some of the fans during his final moments in Boston, and this week it appeared that all of it was water under the brigde, for both parties.  Here’s hoping he can find a few more years of success as DH/backup corner man.

"Ah ha, I see what you did there..."

Comments Off

By Jimmy, 7/8/2009 12:14 am

I firmly believe the Red Sox are the best team in baseball, even with their recent struggles.

They are currently (at about midnight, on 7/8/09) a half game behind the Rays in Pythag, and three games behind the Dodgers for the best record in baseball. However, the differences between the leagues being what they are (Keith Law in a recent Bill Simmons podcast said he thought it could be as much as 10 games), and the fact that the Red Sox have played a tougher schedule than the Rays gives me some comfort in the face of these struggles.

Except for one thing…they cannot beat the American League West.

In April, the Red Sox made their first trip to the West coast and lost two series 2-1 to the Angels and the Athletics. The next time they went out west, they lost two series 2-1 again…this time to the Angels and Mariners. Texas came to Boston…and the Red Sox dropped the series 2-1 (after sweeping the Tigers in Detroit, and sweeping the Yankees in Boston).

The Mariners just left Boston, closing their season series against the Red Sox by taking 2 out of 3 at Fenway. Oakland has a chance to do same tomorrow.

Six series against the AL West…six lost series. Against some pretty crappy teams (every team in the West has a major flaw), the Best Team in Baseball is currently 7-13, and tomorrow night will determine whether or not the Sox go 0-7 in series against the ALW.

There is a statistical insignificance to all that…one of the trivialities that pop up when you grind a schedule every day for 6 months. However, the Red Sox can use those games to help tease out how to make the team more formidable going forward.

For some reason, the Red Sox have matched up poorly against the four teams that make up the American League Smythe. The Yankees and Rays are charging up the flank right now, and the Sox have 11 more games against those teams. If they just hold serve, rather than beat these weaker sisters, then the Red Sox would be the odds on favorite to be the “Top 3 in Baseball Team Watching the Playoffs from Home”.