Was the 2013 Season a Fluke?

   With the 2014 Red Sox picking up where they left off in 2012, as if 2013 never happened, it begs  the question:  was that World Championship season a mere fluke?   The Red Sox last year were a talented group, but they weren't the most talented of all 30 teams in MLB.   They won with some luck, career years from the likes of Daniel Nava, Shane Victorino, John Lackey, Clay Buchholz before his injury, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and a defense up the middle that included Stephen Drew, Dustin Pedroia, and Jacoby Ellsbury.   They had a lot of team chemistry for sure, and a will to win that had not been seen in previous years, but all of that has disappeared with the change of the calendar year.

     Is the player turnover from last season to this one responsible for the return to futility?   Did all the mojo leave with Stephen Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia?   Or did Bobby V-style bad karma come with the likes of AJ Pierzynski, Edward Mujica, Grady Sizemore, Burke Badenhop and Chris Capuano.   Capuano is certainly not part of the problem and Sizemore, while he fooled the Sox into thinking he could be an impact player with a blazing Spring Training, isn't as big of a problem as Pierzynski, Mujica and Badenhop have been.   Pierzynski, in particular, had an unsavory reputation precede him.   Mujica and Badenhop have just been ineffective.  

      What of the young players that were supposed to make this season at lea st somewhat fun to watch?   It seems Jackie Bradley Jr and Xander Bogaerts have been dragged down with the rest of the team.   Bogaerts, in particular, is off to a disappointing start after being such a dynamic force in the playoffs and having a very solid Spring Training.   His fielding has been woeful and his approach at the plate has taken a step back (Pierzynski School of Plate Discipline, perhaps?).  

      Let's be clear on one thing:  I am not expecting the Red Sox to win a World Series every year.  I'm not expecting them to repeat this year.   I do, however, want them to at least be competitive, and by that I don't mean competing with the Astros for the top draft pick.   I want to see Bogaerts and Bradley start to live up to their potential and stop being dragged down into the morass of malaise that has ensnared the rest of the team.   It consumed the offense and defense first and now it's pulled the starting pitching right down with it.   Lackey, Buchholz and Lester have all taken turns playing pinata in the last four games, with the only reprieve being a solid start from Doubront.  

       Another depressing reminder of 2012 is this team's atrocious play at home.   So far, the last place team in the AL East has gone 4-7 at Fenway.   So much for home field advantage!   Like 2012, the 2014 Red Sox are one step forward, two steps back.   One great year, sandwiched between what's looking like two miserable ones.   It may still be early, but this isn't Spring Training.  Unless MLB has changed the rules, April games count in the standings as much as games in September and the deeper the hole the Red Sox dig early in the season, the harder it is going to be to crawl out.   Get your shit together, Red Sox, and get it together in a hurry.   What's the point of going worst to first if you're going right back down to worst again?