The Sox took two out of three games this weekend from an Orioles team that's off to an unbelievably bad start and are now 8-11 on the season, their struggles to even get to .500 continuing. That they had to work so hard for those two wins is troubling. Of course, being without their two starting outfielders and having to rely on two Quad-A players, regardless of said players' past heroics, puts them at a major disadvantage, especially when one of those outfielders is a dynamic player like Jacoby Ellsbury. Having Ellsbury healthy and producing is key to the Red Sox offensive production. They NEED him out there on the basepaths, making pitchers, catchers, and infielders nervous. The lineup looks sluggish without him.
The next issue is the pitching. When the Sox added Lackey to a rotation that already included Beckett and Lester, they figured they would have one of the best rotations in the American League and possibly all of the majors. So far, that hasn't even come close to being the case. The Red Sox are bottom-feeders in the ERA department and the starters are getting lit up on a regular basis. Why is this so? Beckett has been inconsistent, Lester has had his usual awful April, and Lackey hasn't exactly been lights-out either, save for his first outing of the year, against the Yankees where he didn't get the run support and the Sox lost in extra innings. Clay Buchholz has probably been the best pitcher on the staff so far, at least ERA-wise, but he only has one win to show for it. Wake has been a mixed bag, as he usually is. The bullpen holds the line in mop-up situations, but can't be counted on in close games. What's going on here? Is it the coaching? John Farrell is no Dave Duncan, but he did coach the staff that won the World Series in '07 and many of those pitchers are the same ones on the staff now. Is it the game calling? V-Mart puts in an admirable amount of effort to improve his game and, like Tek, he's a natural leader, so that doesn't seem to wash either. It's a mystery why such a talented starting rotation is off to such a terrible start and we can only hope they start to put it together in May.
Now for the offense, which has been inconsistent at best. To their credit, they have had to play a lot of catching up and coming from behind so far due to the underperformance of the pitching staff, but they have a habit of going into a collective slump at the worst possible time. It wasn't any different when Jason Bay was in the lineup--he could slump with the best of 'em. They are missing a key piece in Ells, but right now they need to find a way to work around that if they're to dig out of 4th place.
The defense is sorely missing Mike Cameron and Ells in the outfield, though Cameron still has to learn how to play CF at Fenway. Scutaro and Beltre are also still adjusting to the new park and, possibly, the fan expectations that come with playing baseball in Boston. One thing Spring Training does not do is allow new players on the team to get acclimated to the ballpark in which they'll be playing half their games. Defense behind the plate as far as holding runners on has been atrocious, but neither catcher has the best throwing arm and the pitchers are taught not to slide-step when pitching from the stretch.
Putting it all together--offense, defense, and pitching--has eluded the Red Sox so far this season for some reasons that are understandable and others that mystify. Perhaps things will click once the starting outfielders (at the very least, Ellsbury) return or perhaps this really is a "bridge year," following an offseason where the free agent market was thin and a couple of big veteran contracts (Papi, Lowell, Tek) tied the front office down. A possible trade for coveted power-hitter Adrian Gonzalez could conflict with the need to find a defensive catcher to reign in the stolen base problem. The Big Papi dilemma also must be resolved if the Sox were to add a catcher or Gonzalez. Adding a catcher would mean making V-Mart the DH. Adding Gonzalez to a team that already includes Youk and Beltre would mean Gonzalez would be the DH. Then what of Mike Lowell, who is a good candidate to take over Papi's DH spot if Papi is still batting under .200 and striking out like crazy in May? Perhaps trying to trade for Gonzalez would make more sense in the offseason, when there will be more room for him on the team. Still, it is difficult to watch the Red Sox struggle so much while the Yanks and Rays are rolling.
Whatever happens this season, I will always be a Red Sox fan. Naturally, I really, really want them to get it together and be competitive in the division, but if sitting out the playoffs this year brings the same results next year as sitting out the 2006 playoffs did for 2007...All we can really do as fans is watch it all unfold before us and hope for the best.
LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!
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