Here are my grades for the team as they head into the second half of the season:
Position Players
Jason Varitek, C: B Tek has had a nice rebound season offensively and while his average will most likely remain between .225 and .250, he's showing more power at this point in the season than he did a year ago. He has trouble throwing out baserunners, which is part of the reason why the Sox have been struggling against running teams like the Angels and the Rays, but part of controlling the running game lies with the pitcher, so he's not entirely to blame in this.
George Kottaras, C: C Kottaras has done a good job catching Wake, which is his primary job on the team. However, he hasn't been as effective in catching some of the other pitchers on the staff. The pitchers not named Tim Wakefield seem to do better when Tek's on the mound. It could be that he doesn't have to do as much setting up for Wake since you really can't set up much for a knuckler. The batting average is on the low side, but he only bats every five starts.
Kevin Youkilis, 1B/3B: A- Youk was on fire to start the season, batting over .400 out of the cleanup spot and knocking a bunch of dingers to boot. He got injured in mid-May and he's tailed off some since then, entering the month of July in Slump City. He started to pick things up at the end of the homestand and hopefully this will carry through to the second half. Defensively, he has no problem toggling on the diamond between first and third.
Dustin Pedroia, 2B: A- Pedey's having another Pedey-esque season, albeit with a bit less pop than last year. Like Youk, he slogged through a recent slump, but his bat's been burning lately.
Nick Green, SS: C+ For a guy I'd never heard of before this season, Green has certainly made an impression on the Red Sox. When Lowrie and Lugo were both on the DL, Green stepped in and got the job done. There were some defensive hiccups, that's for sure, but his D has improved and he has (per Mike Lowell) a bazooka for an arm. Though he's had some clutch hits, his plate discipline could use some work.
Mike Lowell, 3B: B- Mikey was a big question mark at the outset of the season after needing major hip surgery last October. He brought the power for the first three months of the season (especially in April and May), but his defensive range and running ability were compromised by the still-healing hip. One problematic trend that developed because of his reduced speed (not that he was ever fleet of foot to begin with) was the penchant for hitting into double-plays. There was virtually no chance he could beat one out, so any sharply-hit ball to an infielder was an automatic GIDP for him. That said, I am hoping Mikey comes back feeling strong for the second half because he can bang out those four-baggers and knock in runs with the best of 'em.
J.D. Drew, RF: B+ J.D. is a guy who goes about his business in a quiet, understated way and he's doing a fine job as the Sox right fielder. He works counts and gets on base at a clip which recently earned him a spot as the leadoff hitter while Jacoby Ellsbury has been moved down in the lineup. As a consequence of his work-the-count philosophy, he strikes out a lot, often looking. Perhaps he could stand to be a little more aggressive, but he does his job in getting on base and he'll knock some dingers too. His D is strong and so far this season he's been healthy (knock on wood).
Jacoby Ellsbury, CF: A- Jacoby's been quietly consistent this season and his OBP's improving. He's batting just under .300 and playing nice D in centerfield. And boy, can he burn up those basepaths! He has 40 stolen bases so far this season and if he can keep getting on base, he has a chance to reach 70 or 80. Having a full major league season under his belt, he's having a much better season this year than last.
Jason Bay, LF: A It's kinda hard to critique the guy who leads the team in home runs and leads the league in RBI, but if there's one thing J-Bay can improve upon in the second half is to get the batting average up a little (at least to his .280 career norm) and the strikeouts down a little. I've heard comments on other blogs that his D left a bit to be desired, but in comparison to his predecessor, that dude now occupying left field in LA, who just came off a 50-game drug suspension, J-Bay's glove work clearly comes out on top.
David Ortiz, DH: C This was a tough one. Big Papi has turned his season around so well since the beginning of June that he's starting to look like the Papi of legend again. However, his abysmal April and May cannot be overlooked. Some may think this grade is too high, given how deep his slump was at the beginning of the season, and some may think it's too low, given how remarkably he's turned it all around. However, I think this is a fair grade, taking both his struggles and his improvement into account.
Mark Kotsay, 1B/OF: B+ Kotsay was out for the first two months of the season after having back surgery in January, then hurting his calf while on a rehab assignment. Since he's been back, he's been playing a solid 1B and getting his hits. Not much pop to his bat, but he's never really been a power guy.
Rocco Baldelli, OF: B He's doing the job he was brought aboard to do, which is to be the fourth outfielder and to hit lefties, which he does very well. His grade would be a little higher if he could hit a better against righties, since he may one day need to spell an outfielder against a RHP.
Julio Lugo, SS: D "D" in this case may as well mean lack thereof. Poor defense, compromised even further by recovery from knee surgery, has plagued Lugo since returning from the DL in mid-April and it has cost him his job as the starting shortstop. His bat is very streaky; he's either on fire or in the subzero, with very little middle ground. Of course, limited at-bats due to being a defensive liability don't help in that matter.
Jeff Bailey, 1B: C Bailey filled in at first when Youk went down with an injury in May and Kotsay was still on the DL. His bat has some pop, but the average (at least at the major league level) was kinda brutal. The D was adequate for the most part, but a definite downgrade from Kotsay and, of course, Youk.
Jed Lowrie, Jonathan Van Every, Aaron Bates, Chris Carter: Incomplete Sample size too small to grade these guys.
Pitchers
Josh Beckett, SP: A- April was the cruelest month for Beckett, but since then, he's returned to his 2007 form and that's great to see. He comes into the All-Star Break with an 11-3 record and a 3.35 ERA and was chosen as a member of the 2009 All-Star team. He has thrown two shutouts this season and, after a rough year last year, he has reclaimed his role as the staff ace.
Commander Kick-Ass is back!
Jon Lester, SP: B+ Lester struggled with the yips a little longer than Beckett, but he's turned it around in a big way, too. He is second in the league in strikeouts, trailing only Justin Verlander of the Tigers and he has become the lefty ace of the Red Sox staff. He had four consecutive starts where he struck out 10 or more batters. The 12 K game in Toronto could be called the turning point to his season. Before that, he would be plagued by that "one bad inning", where everything would unravel. Since taming the Jays at the Rogers Center, however, he seems to have returned to his 2008 form.
Tim Wakefield, SP: A- His ERA is higher than Jon Lester's, but his consistent performance on the mound from the beginning of the season through the break earns him the slightly higher mark. Wake was the rock of the rotation when everyone else was falling apart in the early weeks of the season. The 42-year-old knuckleballer and the guy who's been wearing the Sox uni the longest of any of the current team members was the unlikely ace in April. His bread-and-butter pitch has a mind of its own and when it's at its best, the knuckler baffles the best bats in baseball.
Brad Penny, SP: B- He was pretty scary to watch his first few starts as a Red Sox. The ERA was sky-high and the fans' confidence in him was sinking faster than the economy did last fall. The bats and the bullpen helped him avoid some Ls on the record during some of those starts and eventually, he settled down and turned into a solid #5 starter who gave his team a chance to win most of the time. It would be nice if he could go beyond 5 or 6 innings, however, and take some of the burden off the bullpen.
Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP: F I don't like to give out failing grades to anyone on my favorite team, but Dice-K has been lost all season. His ERA is a dismal 8.23 and after one DL stint didn't do the trick, he was placed on the DL again and is rehabbing in Florida as we speak. The WBC forced him to amp up his training a lot earlier than is healthy for a major league pitcher and resulted in his arm and shoulder fatigue and inability to pitch effectively this season. The Red Sox organization had little control over his workouts for the WBC in Japan, so now they have to essentially start from scratch with him down in Florida. If all goes well, he could be back in late August or September, but will there be room for him in the rotation at that time?
Justin Masterson, SP/RP: C Masterson filled in as a starter during Dice-K's first DL stint and had a good first couple of starts, but it seemed to go downhill from there for him in that role. His trouble getting lefties out would snowball the second and third times through the lineup. When Dice-K returned, Masterson went back to the bullpen and did very well there for awhile, but lately he, along with the rest of the pen, have hit the skids. Let's hope it's just a temporary bump in the road for such a talented group of arms, including the young Masterson.
Manny Delcarmen, RP: B- MDC, like the rest of the Sox bullpen, started the season lights-out. The pen was leaned on heavily in the early months of the season and the wear and tear is showing now, especially with MDC, who has battled inconsistency in the past. In recent outings, he's had trouble recording that third out of the inning and leaving messes behind for his teammates to clean up. Unfortunately, his teammates are just as overworked as he is and that has lead to some nuclear bullpen incidents of late.
Ramon Ramirez, RP: B This guy, traded to the Sox from the Royals for Coco Crisp, was Superman in the bullpen for the better part of the first half. Now, we're seeing more of Clark Kent, or is it the kryptonite known as overwork?
Hideki Okajima, RP: B Oki was giving us a 2007 nostalgia tour for the bulk of the first half and making us forget how he struggled last year. However, he too has become mortal after being leaned on heavily in April, May, and June.
Takashi Saito, RP: C Saito's worst enemy is the long ball, maybe more so than any of the other relievers on the team. He has also been getting a little walky on them lately. However, he has had some very strong outings to go along with the weaker ones and, although they've been careful not to overwork him, his age could be catching up to his arm and maybe his shoulder's staring to bark a little.
Daniel Bard, RP: B+ When Javier Lopez could no longer get anyone out, it came time to give rookie Daniel Bard a chance. So far, he has done pretty well in his time with the big club. His fastball can reach over 100 mph and he can reach 97-98 on a regular basis. He got handed his lunch in Philly, but to be fair, he was used in all three games, so the Phillies had enough time to figure him out. He's been the one guy to put out the fire in some of the recent bullpen implosions, including the ones against the Royals this past weekend. Of all the relievers, he's had the least wear and tear, something Sox management is very careful about. He was also still in Pawtucket for the earliest weeks of the season, when the 'pen seemed to pitch more innings than the starters.
Jonathan Papelbon, RP/CL: A- His outings are rarely easy 1-2-3 affairs lately, but he still gets the job done. I was tempted to bump him down to a B+ just for the toll he can take on my nerves in the ninth inning, but he has converted all but two of his save opportunities and has an ERA under 2. What team wouldn't want a closer with those numbers? Still, let's have some more drama-free innings. One Dice-K on the team is enough!
Javier Lopez, RP: F Javy struggled from the very start of the season and never could find his rhythm (or get anybody out, for that matter). I'm sorry to see things not work out for him this season because he seemed like a nice guy and he grew up in Northern, VA, my neck of the woods (Dang! I feel terrible about giving a local guy an F, but I have to be honest, just like with Dice-K). After being DFA'ed in May, he accepted a minor league deal and is now pitching in Pawtucket. I hope he can find his pitching mojo again.
Well, there you have it! As a team, I'd give the Red Sox an A- for the season so far. There have been ups and downs, but such is the nature of the beast known as a 162 game long season. The offense could use a little more pop, some of the starters could go a little deeper into games, and the 'pen needs to get back on track, but they are in first place in the AL East by three games and have the second-best record in baseball. One has to wonder how Dodgers, who have the best record, would fare if they played in a division as tough as the AL East (or if they played in the AL, period)
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!! GOOD LUCK RED SOX ALL-STARS!!! KICK SOME NL BUTT!!!!
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