If you told me at the start of Spring Training that the 2013 Red Sox were going to win the World Series, I would have shook my head and thanked you for the good laugh. Their starting rotation was rife with question marks, their lineup screamed "bridge year" and who knew how many games Big Papi's achilles would let him play? Middlebrooks was coming off a wrist injury, Ellsbury was coming off a shoulder subluxation, and Nava had developed a reputation for being an all-star in the first half and flaming out in the second half. Just how big a concern was Napoli's degenerative hip condition? Clearly it was enough to knock his contract down to one year instead of three. And was Ryan Dempster the best they could do to bolster the rotation?
Going into this season, the presumptive favorites in the AL East were the Toronto Blue Jays, who had gone on an offseason shopping spree that even outpaced the Red Sox' spending spree in 2010-2011. They got Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, and Jose Reyes from the Miami Marlins. They signed Melky Cabrera. They already had two big boppers in Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. Then there were the Yankees, whose roster was getting more geriatric by the year, but who always found a way to stay competitive to the end. The Rays lost James Shields to a trade with Kansas City. The Orioles proved in 2012 that they were nobody's doormat anymore, but was last year a fluke?
Those well-hyped Blue Jays finished last in the AL East at 74-88. The ailing, over-the-hill Yankees? Tied for third with the Orioles (85-77). The Rays finished five and a half games back, the half game because they played a one-game tiebreaker with the Rangers. The Red Sox won the AL East and finished with the best record in the league at 97-65. Only their World Series opponents, the St. Louis Cardinals, matched that record. The Red Sox were the only team to never have lost more than three games in a row. Their ability to avoid any significant losing streaks spoke to the resiliency that characterized this team from Game 1.
Their scruffy beards wouldn't win the 2013 Red Sox any beauty contests (they would be a serious contender in a Duck Dynasty cast lookalike contest), but they represented the unity this team personified throughout the season. The Boston Marathon Bombings of April 15 only galvanized that unity. This team wasn't a 25 men, 25 cabs team. They were more like 25 brothers, many of whom were bearded brothers. They were brothers regardless of where they came from or what language they grew up speaking. They kept each other accountable, kept each other focused, kept each other sane, and kept each other loose.
And what of the "father" to all those brothers? John Farrell rejoined the Red Sox after spending two years at the helm of the division rival Blue Jays. Before his stint in Toronto, he was Terry Francona's pitching coach. He had developed a rapport with the pitchers who were with the team from 2007-2010, such as Jon Lester, John Lackey and Clay Buchholz. Position players, such as Pedey and Papi respected his leadership as well. Farrell brought some of his Toronto staff with him, including bench coach Torey Lovullo and third base coach Brian Butterfield. Some of Farrell's in-game decisions, especially during the playoffs, got him in hot water with the fans and media, but Farrell was the first to admit when he made a mistake (think sending reliever Brandon Workman to the plate in Game 3). He re-established the trust between the players and manager that was lost under the disastrous year with Bobby Valentine.
The architect of this team also deserves some mention. Ben Cherington had his work cut out for him after being named General Manager in October 2011. In the offseason that followed The Collapse, he was handcuffed by some albatross contracts and could do very little to help a team that was in need of an overhaul. As a result, problems with the starting rotation, among other issues, could not be addressed in the way they needed to be. Popular shortstop Marco Scutaro had to be moved in a salary dump. Aaron Cook was what passed for rotation depth. Alfredo Aceves was the closer after Andrew Bailey, predictably, got injured in Spring Training. Is it any wonder no lead was safe?
In August of 2012, Cherington got the opportunity to do something few teams get a chance to do. The Dodgers, desperate for a playoff berth, coveted Adrian Gonzalez and were willing to do whatever it took to acquire him from the Red Sox before the waiver trade deadline. They were desperate enough to bail the Sox out of Gonzalez' hefty contract, plus Josh Beckett's and Carl Crawford's. Nick Punto was thrown in for good measure. Beckett, Gonzalez, and Crawford couldn't be happier to be granted a "Get Out of Boston Free" card. This move pushed the plunger on 2012 and freed up payroll space for the likes of Victorino, Drew, Gomes, Napoli, Uehara, and Dempster. These guys were by no means superstars on the level of, say, Josh Hamilton, but they were solid major league players with the reputation of being likeable guys who would seamlessly fit into the clubhouse and help repair the damage done by 2011 and 2012. They could also be had on shorter term deals that wouldn't land the Red Sox in the same position from which the Dodgers had just rescued them.
Cherington's team chemistry plan worked so well that the team became greater than the sum of its parts. They were a talented team, but they were not the juggernauts of 2004 and 2007. They had a veteran presence balanced out by young players that represent the future of the franchise, such as Brandon Workman, Will Middlebrooks, and Xander Bogaerts. They proved the doubters, myself included, wrong at every turn. Every time it looked like the other shoe would drop, the 2013 Red Sox caught that shoe in midair and put it back on the shelf.
Thanks to a restocked farm system with no shortage of talent in the upper minors, the Red Sox have a bright future. Jackie Bradley, Jr. is waiting in the wings should the Sox find Ellsbury's price tag prohibitively high. Bogaerts is the team's top prospect and he already made an impact in the postseason. Workman has a future either as a starter or a reliever. Lester has found his ace form on the biggest of all stages. It would be a tall task to repeat what the 2013 Red Sox accomplished, and it's sad to see such a magical season come to an end, even if it did end in the best possible way that no one could have ever imagined.
Congratulations to the World Champion 2013 Red Sox for an unforgettable season!
No comments:
Post a Comment