Wednesday, November 28, 2012
A Sox and GYS Reboot?
Well, it has been a while. I am thinking that this off-season might have the flavor of some of the original posts here at GYS. The Red Sox had a terrible season. Their roster is gutted. They've got to make some moves.
So where to start? How about a typical Grieve-ous posting?
The big complaint is that the Sox cannot compete this year. While I say that it was disastrous last year, I do not see why they can't drastically improve. Here's how the lineup stands right now:
CF Ellsbury
2B Pedroia
DH Papi
3B Middlebrooks
LF Gomes
C Salty/Lavarnway/Ross
RF Kalish/Nava
SS Iglesias/Ciriaco
1B Mauro Gomez
The top of the lineup is solid, and while the free agent market is thin, there are some opportunities out there. Right now there is active discussion about Nick Swisher and Mike Napoli. Let's plug them into the lineup...
CF Ellsbury
2B Pedroia
DH Papi
3B Middlebrooks
RF Swisher
1B Napoli
C Salty/Lavarnway/Ross
LF Gomes
SS Iglesias/Ciriaco
That's a pretty good 1-7. Weak hitting at SS, and LF is unpredictable. There are many teams that would take their chances with this lineup.
There is also talk about the Sox going after Hamilton. That would either make Ellsbury trade-able or he could be moved to left field (making Gomes a platoonable outfielder for the Sox). The lineup then is DANGEROUS.
LF Ellsbury
2B Pedroia
DH Papi
CF Hamilton
3B Middlebrooks
RF Swisher
1B Napoli
C Salty/Lavarnway/Ross
SS Iglesias/Ciriaco
Now the starting pitching as it stands today.
Lester
Buchholz
Lackey
Doubront
Morales
If Lester can bounce back (and this is more likely than not...Farrell is returning), this could be an imposing 1-2-3. Doubront was very good until late in the season when he tired. Morales is the number 5...they could go with him or look elsewhere to strengthen the rotation.
The pen is a bit of a mess, but they still have some quality out there. Farrell might be able to do something with Bard as a setup guy or closer, and Bailey should be healthy out of the gate.
In a division with an aging Yankees team (that will still be good and most likely win the division), an Orioles team that rode a large wave of 1-run wins, and a Rays team that can't hit all the well, the Sox have a shot at number 2 in the division. How will the other divisions play out? Who knows? At this point, I would look at the possibilities and say that they could very well contend this year.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Friday, April 06, 2012
Monday, July 25, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Then that happened.... Catching up
Sorry about the lack of attention. So here is a quick catch up on what happened while we were out:
We had just started June with 10 straight wins. Entering the "easy" inter-league stretch of the month, we were 11-2 for the month and in first place. We took 2 out of 3 against the Brewers and then promptly fell apart, blaming it on the stupid "rules" of the game. Yes, that is right. We complained about the fact that Papi couldn't play DH in the national league parks. (This was not my proudest moment as a Sox fan). The embarrassment amounted to considerable egg on our face as we went 2 and 4 against the lowly Padres and Pirates. (The Pirates to their credit are 1 game out of first in the NL Central). We didn't do much better as we rolled through Philly. In the end, we made the NL road trip respectable by sweeping the H'astros and going 6 and 6.
For June we ended up 16 and 9 (.640 winning percentage). That still rocks, but we did lose our grip on first place.
We are now at the All-star break and we've have started July with a blazing 9 and 1 record. Once again we're back in first with an overall record of 55 and 35. Will we have another mid-month slump?
Our pitching situation is looking bleak. Beckett's knee is sore, Lester isn't 100%, Bucholz is working through a back strain, Lackey is working through a severe case of the SUCKS and DiceBB's arm has fallen off. Wakefield has regressed from previous years and while Andrew Miller has added some spark, I don't see him making a lasting contribution to the Red Sox second half. Through 2011, the Sox starting staff has been entirely mediocre netting 7.0 wins above replacement (WAR) value. In comparison the Yankees have netted 8.7. (The Phillies led the league with 15.4).
One ray of hope is the bullpen. It hasn't been as streaky as last year and overall the team is the second best in the league (WAR), netting 3.7. The Braves have the top spot in the majors with 4.9 WAR.
All said and done, I think we might be in the market for an arm as we approach the trade deadline. I think we will be fine in a 7 game series with Beckett, Lester and Bucholz, but to get there we will need some help.
We had just started June with 10 straight wins. Entering the "easy" inter-league stretch of the month, we were 11-2 for the month and in first place. We took 2 out of 3 against the Brewers and then promptly fell apart, blaming it on the stupid "rules" of the game. Yes, that is right. We complained about the fact that Papi couldn't play DH in the national league parks. (This was not my proudest moment as a Sox fan). The embarrassment amounted to considerable egg on our face as we went 2 and 4 against the lowly Padres and Pirates. (The Pirates to their credit are 1 game out of first in the NL Central). We didn't do much better as we rolled through Philly. In the end, we made the NL road trip respectable by sweeping the H'astros and going 6 and 6.
For June we ended up 16 and 9 (.640 winning percentage). That still rocks, but we did lose our grip on first place.
We are now at the All-star break and we've have started July with a blazing 9 and 1 record. Once again we're back in first with an overall record of 55 and 35. Will we have another mid-month slump?
Our pitching situation is looking bleak. Beckett's knee is sore, Lester isn't 100%, Bucholz is working through a back strain, Lackey is working through a severe case of the SUCKS and DiceBB's arm has fallen off. Wakefield has regressed from previous years and while Andrew Miller has added some spark, I don't see him making a lasting contribution to the Red Sox second half. Through 2011, the Sox starting staff has been entirely mediocre netting 7.0 wins above replacement (WAR) value. In comparison the Yankees have netted 8.7. (The Phillies led the league with 15.4).
One ray of hope is the bullpen. It hasn't been as streaky as last year and overall the team is the second best in the league (WAR), netting 3.7. The Braves have the top spot in the majors with 4.9 WAR.
All said and done, I think we might be in the market for an arm as we approach the trade deadline. I think we will be fine in a 7 game series with Beckett, Lester and Bucholz, but to get there we will need some help.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Check that box! Boston is official the best sports town
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Five weeks later
About 5 weeks ago, we had a bunch of dialogue on here about the Sox, the AL East, and particularly 95 wins. At the time they needed a .619 clip the rest of the season to win 95. And there was much consternation that this level of success could be achieved. Since that post they have gone 24-9 (a .727 clip).
So they are far exceeding that pace. Obviously they have played some great ball (the current 8 game winning streak, the two sweeps in NY, the 13- 2 stretch at one point), but this appears to be a streaky team. But now they have had three really long excellent stretches and only the bad start on the downside. And sure they will have one or more cold spells at some point. But, I'm saving my best for last......
As of right now, the Sox are 38-26, a .594 pace. Which over the full season works out to 96 wins. So even after the awful start they are on pace for 95, 96 wins. Right on pace.
So they are far exceeding that pace. Obviously they have played some great ball (the current 8 game winning streak, the two sweeps in NY, the 13- 2 stretch at one point), but this appears to be a streaky team. But now they have had three really long excellent stretches and only the bad start on the downside. And sure they will have one or more cold spells at some point. But, I'm saving my best for last......
As of right now, the Sox are 38-26, a .594 pace. Which over the full season works out to 96 wins. So even after the awful start they are on pace for 95, 96 wins. Right on pace.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Red Sox draft Matt Barnes with 19th pick overall
The amateur draft started yesterday. Besides the exciting news of drafting a decent looking pitcher, Matt Barnes (see below) in the first round as well as a switch hitting catcher Blake Swihart, the first round and supplemental first round featured a couple of interesting notes. Specifically, Tampa had a total of 9 picks in the first 60 and New York had 1, Dante Bichette Jr.. No joke.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Swept and Sweep - Not sure how I feel about that
So that was a little weird. I posted the other night that we needed 1 more win to exceed our expectations for May. Then we got swept by the Chi Sox. Only to make up for that by sweeping the A's in spectacular fashion. Although the series against the A's showed some holes in the Red Sox rotation as Bucholz finally came back to earth and PapelBOMB finally exploded.
Looking ahead, the rest of June consists of 9 games against our top AL East foes (NY, Blue Jays, and TB) and 12 games against random NL teams (Padres, Brewers, Pirates and Phillies). On top of that 15 out of 21 games remaining are on the road! On the surface June is going to continue to be a tricky month. Amazingly, we're 1 game out of first which is a huge improvement, but I really don't see us gaining any ground in June. Frankly, I would be happy to get out of this month 3-4 games back. My guess is that we'll go 4 and 5 against the AL East and we'll split the 12 games with the NL teams. Which means we'll end up 1 game under .500 for June.
Thoughts?
Looking ahead, the rest of June consists of 9 games against our top AL East foes (NY, Blue Jays, and TB) and 12 games against random NL teams (Padres, Brewers, Pirates and Phillies). On top of that 15 out of 21 games remaining are on the road! On the surface June is going to continue to be a tricky month. Amazingly, we're 1 game out of first which is a huge improvement, but I really don't see us gaining any ground in June. Frankly, I would be happy to get out of this month 3-4 games back. My guess is that we'll go 4 and 5 against the AL East and we'll split the 12 games with the NL teams. Which means we'll end up 1 game under .500 for June.
Thoughts?
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