The ever-infuriating and increasingly hopeless 2012 Red Sox find new ways to lose each night. Sure, they'll sprinkle in an 11-run rout and a couple of short winning streaks here and there, but those are aberrations. The team is riddled with flaws, from the horrendous hurling of the Putrid Pitching Posse (which encompasses pretty much the whole staff), to the feast-or-famine, no-clutch offense, to the AAA-level outfield defense (except for Sweeney), to the never-ending parade of injuries, to the deer-in-the-headlights rookie GM, all the way up to the out-of-touch ownership group. Who's in the mood for celebrating the 100th anniversary at Fenway when the team seems to be allergic to playing there? Then again, the team is allergic to winning, period.
At this point, there is little to do to turn this miserable season around except to hope certain players start to perform to expectations based on their talent level and past performance. Realistically, they've had more than a month to get their act together and show no signs of doing so in the near future. If they ever do start earning their massive paychecks, it will likely be too late as they will have fallen too far behind.
Why will they have fallen so far behind? There is a malaise about this team that has been building for several years and it comes straight from the top. After winning 2 World Series in a 4-year span, ownership appears to have gotten complacent and maybe even bored. They were content with those two titles and adding to the collection, to them, just wasn't necessary. In the meantime, teams like the Rangers, the Rays, and the Tigers, and more recently, the Blue Jays and Orioles snuck up and passed the Red Sox. Their arch-rival Yankees kept improving as well. Think of a car plodding along at about 20 miles under the speed limit. Of course the cars behind it are going to change lanes, speed up, and pass that slowpoke. It should be no mystery which teams are the passing cars and which team is the snail clogging up traffic.
While the Red Sox were idling, collecting albatross contracts for players who ended up underperforming, getting injured, or both. Is it the "Dirty Water"? Is it the antiquated ballpark? Does the sheer passion of the fans scare some players? After all, passion can go both ways. In a baseball-obsessed city like Boston, you're either a hero or a bum. There's very little middle ground. However, Philly and New York are no easy cities to play in either. Is there something lurking in the Red Sox clubhouse at Fenway that induces baseball amnesia?
How much responsibility does Bobby V have in motivating his team to play their best ball? I was all for his hiring and thought he could change the clubhouse culture, but maybe he's been out of the dugout too long, especially the major-league dugout. He can't hit, pitch, or play defense for his players and has to play the hand he has been dealt, but some of his pitching and lineup decisions have been disappointing. His hook might even be slower than Tito's (and that's saying a lot!). Until last night, he would leave McDonald in to face righty relievers, leaving the much better-hitting and fielding Sweeney on the bench.
All the blame can't be placed on the manager, however. Ben "overmatched rookie" Cherington put this team together, while limited in budget thanks to an ocean of sunk costs courtesy of Theo Epstein. The players could use a seminar or two on teamwork and the pitchers need to stop with the constant nibbling and develop an out pitch. I've long since lost count of the number of 0-2 counts that have gone full, then resulted in either walk or a hit. If I'm a hitting coach on the opposing team, I'm telling my hitters to wait the Boston pitchers out. Don't be afraid to get in an 0-2 hole because you have a good chance of working the count full, fouling off some pitches, and driving the starter's pitch count up early. For those who are awaiting Dice-K's return, he's been on this team this whole time, taking all 5 turns in the rotation.
In all honesty, I don't see this team coming close to making the playoffs this year. Call it rebuilding, a "bridge year" or whatever, but for one of the highest payrolls in the game, the 2012 Red Sox are the worst team that money can buy.
No comments:
Post a Comment