Cracks in the armor

by coachluc on Aug 14, 2010 7:32 AM EDT

I love my Bosox, and that is why this season is driving me crazy. It looks like Beckett is either still hurt or dead armed, or washed up. You know my thoughts on Paps if you read recent post (trade him while he still has value, don't wait till he is poison). Injuries have been rampant but I don't know honestly if that would have made a big difference considering the Yanks and Rays were a better team before the injuries. The young stars are there for a resurgence but this may be the winter that Theo will have to show us his real genius or risk being left behind.

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I couldn't agree more

The jury is still out as far as how I really feel about this team. When I look at our infield when it’s 100% healthy I really like what I see. I still don’t know if I’m sold on V Mart being the answer as our Varitek of the future. The outfield is an all together a different story. As stupid as this might sound EVERYONE we have playing out there (starters and platooners) are suspect and not beyond being traded or simply let go at the end of the season and that’s a scary thought in my mind. The pitching is what is going to kill us for the next few seasons. It’s a sad thing for me to have to admit, but with our payroll what were we thinking by signing Lackey to that kind of contract and giving Beckett that kind of extension while he was on the DL? I love what Wake has done for us in the past, but it’s just what it was….the past. They never should have resigned him for this year. This is a business and you have to put feelings aside. Because of the mistakes the front office made during the off season next season may very well have to be a rebuliding year for this team. Right now it’s age and a lack of talent that is killing this team. Like you, I don’t think injuries were the only reason this year. We stunk on ice in April. If we had come out of the gates better we could have weathered the storm, but when you’re playing catch up in AL East that’s never a good thing.

by 75bandwagon on Aug 14, 2010 2:49 PM EDT reply actions

Drew suspect? He’s having a down year yes but even a down year is a pretty decent year and he doesn’t have many down years.

What was he doing signing Lackey? He was going out and signing the best FA pitcher available. Forgive me if I don’t believe you if you thought Lackey would be this bad when we signed him. No one did. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. We needed a pitcher and a good one was available, if he didn’t sign Lackey people would be pissed that Theo doesn’t sign enough big FA, if he does people complain that he made the wrong move. We signed Beckett before he went on the DL.

For Wake, we needed rotation insurance. No one knew what we were going to get in Buchholz this year, few thought he would be THIS good. Signing Wake to his minuscule contract was a great move. He costs us little and eats innings when he is healthy, we were going to need him if Clay sucked.

So you’re looking at this year as a negative? Sure we aren’t going anywhere but look at the tremendous depth the organization has, lose two outfielders? No problem, a minor league FA, a indy league star and a rookie are going to come in a play solid if not above average baseball. Lowrie has come back and raked so far, we’ve had a no name pitching prospect in Doubront come in and pitch well as a starter, we’ll see how the conversion goes and Bard has officially staked his claim to the closers role after repeating with another ridic season.

Injuries are the only reason we aren’t there. How many games do you think we’d have won if Youk, Pedrioa, VMart, Beckett, Dice-K, Buchholz, Varitek were playing instead of Patterson, Lowell, Hall, Doubront, Wakefield etc taking the field? Quite a few more. Sure you can point to April but if that happened in any other part of the season it’s just a bump in the road, they happen to every team every year, we happened to have one at the start and nearly completely made up for it by the end of June when injury-geddon struck.

This team is going to kick ass next year, with Kalish, Lowrie, Nava, Salty as bench players and a new pen. The best thing would be to re-sign our FA, Ortiz, VMart and Beltre. What VMart doesn’t provide in defense he more than provides with his bat. He’s an elite hitting catcher and the value of throwing out base stealers still isn’t known.

"We are not normal, We are Legends. People will tell their kids about us." - Deon Butler before Ohio State Game 2008.

by Rogue Nine on Aug 15, 2010 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions

As of right now, the Sox are 5 behind the Rays and 6 behind the Yankees. So if you sweep a head to head series, you’re within striking distance. That’s a pretty incredible feat when you think about the number of wins that have been riding the bench because of injury.

When you add up all of the marginal wins lost by not having Beckett, Youkilis, Pedroia, V-Mart, Ellsbury, Buchholz, etc for the amount of time that they were down, it’s very hard to say that a healthy (or even somewhat healthy) Sox team isn’t on the level of the Yankees and Rays. So, I’d be very surprised if there’s a ton of shake up over the off season.

Questions or thoughts? Email me at duggan2423(at)gmail(dot)com

by Lord Duggan on Aug 15, 2010 10:06 PM EDT up reply actions

"The pitching is what is going to kill us for the next few seasons."

???

For the next several years we have, at a minimum, the following starting pitchers under our control (in no particular order):

Lester, Buchholz, Lackey, Dice-K, Beckett, Kelley, Doubront, Wake, Bowden & Weiland

PLUS we have some position player prospects with which to potentially trade for more pitching.

Even if Lackey and Beckett turned out to be total busts, and Wakefield retires tomorrow, we still get to look forward to Kelley, Doubront and Weiland maturing and probably vying for time in that rotation.

And frankly, I would argue that it is a bit too early to write off Lackey and Beckett.

by mmmmm on Aug 19, 2010 12:34 PM EDT up reply actions

Sorry, but the posts are starting to sound.....

like the Mets of 2009. I don’t think the team is saying this which is what makes it different. But the fans are saying this. Injuries are part of the game, even if they affect key players. If we were in another division, then the storm could have been weathered, but we play in the AL East, the varsity division of MLB.

by coachluc on Aug 17, 2010 9:02 AM EDT reply actions