:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59457407/usa_today_10791910.0.jpg)
When we last checked in, the catchers were the topic du jour. This time, I want to take a step back and look at our hot start to the season.
The Red Sox have done a lot of things right, and not a lot of things wrong. Outside of an Opening Day blowup, and the weirdest first inning I’ve ever seen from David Price, this team hasn’t really had many mis-steps. While you can’t take away losses for technical purposes, and have to accept them when they happen, it’s not a stretch to say it was possible this team could even be 18-0 right now.
It’s hard to learn lessons from success, however. Nineteenth century Scottish author Samuel Smiles once said, “We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery”.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10686669/usa_today_10783740.jpg)
So my challenge for you this week is thus:
What are the biggest takeaways you have from the first few weeks of action? What are the lessons you think we’ve learned? Is there anything that we can learn from a small sample size of 18 games? If so, what have we learned, and how can this team improve, reasonably, within our self-imposed financial limitations?
When I say self-imposed limitations, I’m not saying the Red Sox will refuse to add salary going forward, but that they’ve been pretty adamant about avoiding going beyond the current threshold for the more severe penalties. Do you think it’s possible this is the complete team, and all we have to do is wait for Xander Bogaerts, Drew Pomeranz, and Dustin Pedroia (among others) to be healthy, for our improvements? Or do you think that 16-2 is a mirage, and we’re in store for a lengthy drought?
Tell us all you’ve gained in knowledge from this first few weeks in a FanPost!