It's bad. It's very bad. It's the-baseball-gods-have-a-Red-Sox-voodoo-doll bad. It's a shame the team that commemorates the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park is just so unworthy of that honor, to put it mildly. Yes, some bad luck (Ells getting hurt in the home opener) played a part, but most of it is on the team and those who assembled it. Theo Epstein hamstrung the team with several albatross contracts, then jumped ship to the Cubs (look out, Chicago, he'll do the same to you!), leaving his befuddled, deer-in-the-headlights subordinate Ben Cherington to bumble his way through the offseason while the owners withheld the checkbook. Why did they feel they have to shop at the flea market this off season? Most likely because of Epstein's massive contract blunders, most of whom are on the DL right now, contributing nothing to the team.
The offense used to be a position of strength for this team. Now it has become a weakness. Sure, they can pour on in garbage time against mop-up relievers, but when they really need a run, they're nowhere to be found. Without MVP runner-up Ellsbury and Crawford, they're forced to trot out D-Mac and Repko, both batting well below .100 out there. I'd even take 2011 Crawford over those two, no matter how good they were in Spring Training. Of course, I'd much prefer the Tampa Bay version of Crawford, but we have yet to see him in a Red Sox uni. Then there's the catcher position. Lavarnway may not be lighting it up in Pawtucket a la Middlebrooks, but he can't possibly be worse than Salty. Perhaps he can frame pitches better than Salty (part of the reason Red Sox pitchers don't get the strike calls opposing pitchers do). Salty is also in the "below .100" club. If .200 is the Mendoza line, what is .100? The Ray Charles line?
The Putrid Pitching Posse of September 2011 reigns supreme on the 2012 Red Sox. If they don't lead the majors in home runs allowed, then it scares me to think there's actually a team who's done worse. The in-game BP to the Rangers, Tigers, and Yankees is downright mortifying. Being spanked by the Yanks on Fenway's 100th birthday is a disgrace! Clay Buchholz looks like the starting rotation's version of Melancon. Maybe HE needs to go down to AAA to straighten himself out alongside his teammate. Does gopherballitis qualify as a reason to put a pitcher on the DL? Is it poor coaching or just undisciplined pitchers? Given that they've gone through 3 pitching coaches recently, I tend to think it's the latter. I wonder how the Red Sox hitters would look if THEY got to face Buchholz or Tuesday night's version of Lester? Seems like that's the only way the Sox can win is if they face their own pitchers!
What of Bobby V, who is taking a lot of heat, some deserved, some completely unfair, for the Red Sox continuing their losing ways? While he needs to check his temptation to feed the media, he doesn't take the field, pitch, or stand in the batters box. His comments to the media about Youk may have some merit to them, the timing of the remark was poor. The Sox had just won their third game in a row for the first time since last August, but since he made that statement, the Sox have gone 0-4. The controversy, involving a counterargument by Pedey that undermined the manager and implied that the "inmates run the asylum", has proven to be a distraction much like the Manny debacle 4 years ago.
Would this team be doing any better if Terry Francona were still managing? Probably not. Remember last April? Last September? Tito let the players walk all over him, much like opposing base runners run rampant on Red Sox pitchers and catchers. Right now, I'm not sure who, if any manager, can turn this team around. The organization itself is so dysfunctional. Cherington never wanted V as Red Sox manager. He preferred a Tito clone. Lucchino is the guy supposedly behind the V hire, yet he doesn't appear to have his new manager's back in the Youk kerfuffle. John Henry just seems out of touch with the serious baseball fans and would rather focus on selling $400 bricks and watching his soccer team overseas while sailing on his yacht with his trophy wife. Ownership appears content with 2004 and 2007 and is in no rush to add another World Series trophy. The glory days of the Red Sox are over and now it's back to the way they were in the 86 years between championships. Until a complete overhaul, meaning ownership selling to someone who has a passion for baseball and who knows the sport inside and out (see what Nolan Ryan has done for the Rangers?), these are your father's and grandfather's Red Sox once again.
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