Edes previews Red Sox for 2009

by Randy Booth on Jan 22, 2009 3:38 PM EST in News

Old friend Gordon Edes of Yahoo! posted his preview for the Red Sox last night:

This will be the first time since 2001 that the Red Sox begin a season without Manny Ramirez in the middle of the lineup. No one is pretending that Jason Bay is Ramirez, but Bay’s 128 OPS+ in his two months with the Red Sox compared favorably to Ramirez’s 136 OPS+ before he was traded to the Dodgers. The Red Sox rattled off 18 wins in August, with the Ramirez soap opera behind them.

The Red Sox run differential of 0.94 was first in the AL and second in the big leagues, while the team’s .699 defensive efficiency was fifth in the majors. Second baseman Pedroia did not make a single throwing error. Boston expects starter Josh Beckett to return to his 2007 form, and Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka could be No. 1 starters on other clubs. The Red Sox have young alternatives (Buchholz, Bowden and Masterson) if their gambles on Penny and Smoltz do not work out, and the bullpen is deep and balanced.

The cheat sheet to Edes' story: The Sox will still be pretty good, despite not spending a lot of money this offseason. I can't pretend to not agree with him. We've been on this "low-risk, high-reward" road for months now and we'll soon see if it will pay off.

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Solid preview

Edes’ view of the team is far more balanced than Massarotti’s.

I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.

by Drugs Delaney on Jan 22, 2009 6:08 PM EST reply actions

Agreed

Mother---- him and John Wayne!

by MerryGoByeBye on Jan 22, 2009 10:32 PM EST up reply actions

The simple angle...

Its a 95 win team. Every year of the Theo reign, their objective is to build a 95 win team, make the playoffs(wc, div. winner…doesn’t matter) and then worry about winning the series. Its a great philosophy as it emphasis to everyone in the organisation that’s its about winning the series….not just making the playoffs.
I know longer trust Wake though and the catching situation needs to be sorted(preferably no Tek). A catcher and some success from one of the young guys in the rotation(I’m speaking to you Buccholz) will go a long, long way to making this a very easy season to follow.

by sydneysox on Jan 22, 2009 7:42 PM EST reply actions

The season will be easy to follow no matter how well or poorly the Sox do.

Even if we lose 100 games (it’s not impossible), I believe that almost all of us would still be sporting the B on our hats well past October. We’d be calling for Theo and Tito’s heads, but still, we’d root for them next season regardless.

For those children who claimed they’ve been a fan of their favorite team all their life, or even since they were about four or five years old: bullshit. There’s always that certain event or certain player that draws to the sport and draws you to a team. For me, Nomar Garciaparra was that reason. - Nick Coviello: I Try To See Rocco, But All I Think Is Nomar; 1/9/09

by bdalebs on Jan 22, 2009 9:27 PM EST up reply actions

I meant...

Easy, as in low stress levels. The Sox are always fun to follow, even back in the early 70’s when I started. They’d break your heart, but were still fun to follow.

by sydneysox on Jan 22, 2009 10:29 PM EST up reply actions

Try getting ragged on at your high school's homecoming game for wearing a Sox hat...

when at the time BJ Upton was feasting on Fenway. At least I got to gloat when we had that little comeback that night. :)

by bdalebs on Jan 23, 2009 11:14 PM EST up reply actions

Tito

Speaking of Tito, I wanted to get other Sawx fan’s thoughts on him. I think he is a HORRIBLE manager who makes way too many bad plays. Last year, for instance, in a huge series against TB, he “rested” some of our best players. He did the same stuff when he was in Philly (he benched Rolen on Rolen bobble-head night!). He always leaves Oki in for too long; I love Oki but once he ends an inning, you can’t send him back out. Sitting between innings kills him. How can I notice that and not Tito?

by rmarx01 on Jan 23, 2009 12:30 PM EST reply actions

by "bad plays" I meant "bad decisions"

by rmarx01 on Jan 23, 2009 12:30 PM EST up reply actions

I'm a huge Tito fan

He is easily the best Sox manager in my lifetime, and I think he is one of the best managers in baseball.

I gotta go 'cause I'm probably definitely gonna nod out again.

by Drugs Delaney on Jan 23, 2009 12:53 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

+1

The rhythm is the bass and the bass is the treble

by DirtySouthSox on Jan 23, 2009 3:54 PM EST up reply actions

+1

Love Tito, he’s great. He fucks up from time to time, but every single manager does that. Other than that, he’s wonderful.

Mother---- him and John Wayne!

by MerryGoByeBye on Jan 23, 2009 4:47 PM EST up reply actions

He does a good job of taking account for his mistakes and explaining why he made his decisions though.

And I think he’s still adjusting to Theo’s love of sabermetrics.

by bdalebs on Jan 23, 2009 11:15 PM EST up reply actions

+1

by walkoff baltimore chop on Jan 23, 2009 5:39 PM EST up reply actions

+1

Agreed. He can be maddening with the slow hook on the pitchers, but we only notice it when it doesn’t work out – which I would wager makes it seem like a more failure-prone strategy than it actually is (like Wake’s noticeable bad games make everyone think he’s a worse pitcher than he is).

I’m anxious to see him start a year without wondering about what Manny’s going to that he has to pretend to be okay with…

Rock me, sexy Jesus...

by nuthinboutnuthin on Jan 25, 2009 5:42 PM EST up reply actions

*

“…what Manny’s going to do that he…”

Rock me, sexy Jesus...

by nuthinboutnuthin on Jan 25, 2009 5:43 PM EST up reply actions

I think some people’s complaint about theo is actually his strength, and people don’t realize that (not to say I am directly responding to anything you said), that is that he looks at the season as a whole, and doesn’t make jerk reactions to one game or one week (and obviously this applies to the season, not the playoffs). A lot of time people seemed to rant when he left x in even though they were struggling, or point out what he could have done different to win a game, ignoring the fact that it was better to let whatever starter work through the slump, or not risk bringing in Paps for the 4th game in a row in interest of keeping him healthy. I think Tito does a great job of utilizing our bench to keep everyone fresh, and making decision based on how it effects the season, and not just the game at hand.

That being said, he’s not a god, he’s not perfect. No one is. Sure there are mistakes you can point to, but that’s true about any manager. At least he’s not wasting outs trying to play what the media loves to call aggressive (moving base runners with a bunting out, using the hit and run too much etc.) or killing our pitcher’s arm pitching them all the time (imagine if Dusty was our manager? Think of all the pitchers arms that would have fallen off at this point)

by Realistic on Jan 23, 2009 2:11 PM EST up reply actions