By Michael Silverman
Another season dawns, another winter’s worth of waiting and wondering draws to a close, another crop of optimists and pessimists take root. How good are the 2009 Red Sox [team stats]?
Today, the first of 162 answers arrives. Today, the team plays. Today marks not the end of the hopes and worries of fans, but the first chance to put all that anticipation onto the backs of the players.
Today’s game kept everyone tossing and turning last night, and is the reason why getting out of bed was easier this morning.
This is what the hopeful hope for, and what the worried worry about:
Reasons to hope
1. Pitching depth
For a lot of people, the news last week that Brad Penny was good to go as the fifth starter pretty much cemented what we all suspected about the Red Sox staff. It is vast, and you will be hard-pressed to find another team with pitching this deep, never mind having John Smoltz waiting in the wings to be dusted off in June. The bullpen in particular, with new addition Takashi Saito wowing everyone in spring training, puts the Sox in the best possible shape in the most important department.
2. Healthy Josh Beckett [stats]
The whole staff is deep, but if there is one pitcher who deserves to be singled out, it is Beckett. The ace was not himself last season, battling injuries without complaint but never consistenty showing the dominant form he flashed in the run to the 2007 title. By the time the playoffs hit last year, Beckett was fatigued. He pitched ineffectively with an oblique injury, and by the time the Red Sox were eliminated by the Rays, nobody thought the better team lost. As Beckett goes, so go the Sox in 2009.
3. Ortiz, Drew, Lowell
It’s too easy sometimes to focus on the negative when it comes to the age and injury history of this critical third of the Red Sox lineup, but maybe it’s time to lighten up. The talent level of designated hitter David Ortiz [stats], right fielder J.D. Drew [stats] and third baseman Mike Lowell actually is elite, or pretty close to it, and each player has shown in varying degrees he can carry the team at crucial times. Don’t write them off.
4. Pedroia and Youkilis
There is something reassuring about how ticked off Dustin Pedroia [stats] and Kevin Youkilis [stats] get every time they make an out or the Sox lose a game. Failing and losing are personal affronts to this duo in a Paul O’Neill-type of way that is fun to watch. You know they are going to do whatever it takes to help the team avoid wallowing in any kind of funk. All teams want at least one guy like this. The Red Sox have two.
5. Payroll flexibility
Once Mark Teixeira slipped out of their grasp, the Red Sox went on a mini spending spree that barely would raise an eyebrow in the aisles of Wal-Mart - $5 million here on Brad Penny, $5.5 million there on John Smoltz. That’s chump change these days, and the fact those are one-year deals allows the Sox to be in pounce mode through the trading deadline. This is a position of strength that should not be underestimated.
Reasons to worry:
1. Youth not served
The Red Sox [team stats] did not pursue the switch-hitting, swift-fielding Mark Teixeira just for kicks during the offseason. The 28-year-old first baseman was the solution to the Sox’ problem of an aging offense, and as much as it sounded like no big deal when the deal could not get done, the age issue still is unsettled. The Sox might get by this year, but does anyone really believe they have stopped trying to get younger? They haven’t, and they can’t.
2. Gambling men
It’s not as if the Red Sox broke new ground when they took chances on three injured veteran pitchers - Takashi Saito, John Smoltz and Brad Penny - with hopes of bounce-back seasons. Tom Seaver, Ramon Martinez, Wade Miller - these guys come and go, often leaving as fast as they came. All the risks might pay off, but all three also could fail to pan out. If that happens, the Sox will put their faith in young arms like Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden and Daniel Bard? That’s too much to ask.
3. Ortiz, Drew, Lowell
One is a power hitter coming off a wrist injury, one is an injury-prone outfielder, the other is a third baseman coming off hip injury. At last check, the youngest of the three - David Ortiz [stats] and J.D. Drew [stats] at 33 - were about six years past their peak. Face it, there is some finger-crossing going on when it comes to a third of the Red Sox lineup. It could all work out fine, but maybe this is the year age takes its toll. Would it, could it happen all at once? A worrier would say, “Why not?”
4. Jacoby Ellsbury [stats]
The center fielder finished with 50 stolen bases, but his season ended weakly and without the kind of on-base percentage (.336) a team wants from its leadoff hitter. The cushion of Coco Crisp [stats] is gone, and the Red Sox have handed the keys to center field and the leadoff spot in the lineup to the fleet-footed sophomore. Until he proves he is up to the job, there are going to be questions of whether or not he is the right guy for the job. The suspicion is that he is the one, but the proof still is not there.
5. The Yankees
It’s a lot of fun to point and gawk at the free-spending ways of the Red Sox’ fiercest of rivals, yet you’d have to be pretty blind not to recognize how amazing the Bronx Bombers could be this year if everything clicks. That rotation, with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Chien-Ming Wang, and that lineup, with Mark Teixeira and eventually Alex Rodriguez in the middle, can do a lot of damage to a lot of teams. If and when the Yankees get on a roll this season, it will be hard to find a team that can stop them.
Today, the first of 162 answers arrives. Today, the team plays. Today marks not the end of the hopes and worries of fans, but the first chance to put all that anticipation onto the backs of the players.
Today’s game kept everyone tossing and turning last night, and is the reason why getting out of bed was easier this morning.
This is what the hopeful hope for, and what the worried worry about:
Reasons to hope
1. Pitching depth
For a lot of people, the news last week that Brad Penny was good to go as the fifth starter pretty much cemented what we all suspected about the Red Sox staff. It is vast, and you will be hard-pressed to find another team with pitching this deep, never mind having John Smoltz waiting in the wings to be dusted off in June. The bullpen in particular, with new addition Takashi Saito wowing everyone in spring training, puts the Sox in the best possible shape in the most important department.
2. Healthy Josh Beckett [stats]
The whole staff is deep, but if there is one pitcher who deserves to be singled out, it is Beckett. The ace was not himself last season, battling injuries without complaint but never consistenty showing the dominant form he flashed in the run to the 2007 title. By the time the playoffs hit last year, Beckett was fatigued. He pitched ineffectively with an oblique injury, and by the time the Red Sox were eliminated by the Rays, nobody thought the better team lost. As Beckett goes, so go the Sox in 2009.
3. Ortiz, Drew, Lowell
It’s too easy sometimes to focus on the negative when it comes to the age and injury history of this critical third of the Red Sox lineup, but maybe it’s time to lighten up. The talent level of designated hitter David Ortiz [stats], right fielder J.D. Drew [stats] and third baseman Mike Lowell actually is elite, or pretty close to it, and each player has shown in varying degrees he can carry the team at crucial times. Don’t write them off.
4. Pedroia and Youkilis
There is something reassuring about how ticked off Dustin Pedroia [stats] and Kevin Youkilis [stats] get every time they make an out or the Sox lose a game. Failing and losing are personal affronts to this duo in a Paul O’Neill-type of way that is fun to watch. You know they are going to do whatever it takes to help the team avoid wallowing in any kind of funk. All teams want at least one guy like this. The Red Sox have two.
5. Payroll flexibility
Once Mark Teixeira slipped out of their grasp, the Red Sox went on a mini spending spree that barely would raise an eyebrow in the aisles of Wal-Mart - $5 million here on Brad Penny, $5.5 million there on John Smoltz. That’s chump change these days, and the fact those are one-year deals allows the Sox to be in pounce mode through the trading deadline. This is a position of strength that should not be underestimated.
Reasons to worry:
1. Youth not served
The Red Sox [team stats] did not pursue the switch-hitting, swift-fielding Mark Teixeira just for kicks during the offseason. The 28-year-old first baseman was the solution to the Sox’ problem of an aging offense, and as much as it sounded like no big deal when the deal could not get done, the age issue still is unsettled. The Sox might get by this year, but does anyone really believe they have stopped trying to get younger? They haven’t, and they can’t.
2. Gambling men
It’s not as if the Red Sox broke new ground when they took chances on three injured veteran pitchers - Takashi Saito, John Smoltz and Brad Penny - with hopes of bounce-back seasons. Tom Seaver, Ramon Martinez, Wade Miller - these guys come and go, often leaving as fast as they came. All the risks might pay off, but all three also could fail to pan out. If that happens, the Sox will put their faith in young arms like Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden and Daniel Bard? That’s too much to ask.
3. Ortiz, Drew, Lowell
One is a power hitter coming off a wrist injury, one is an injury-prone outfielder, the other is a third baseman coming off hip injury. At last check, the youngest of the three - David Ortiz [stats] and J.D. Drew [stats] at 33 - were about six years past their peak. Face it, there is some finger-crossing going on when it comes to a third of the Red Sox lineup. It could all work out fine, but maybe this is the year age takes its toll. Would it, could it happen all at once? A worrier would say, “Why not?”
4. Jacoby Ellsbury [stats]
The center fielder finished with 50 stolen bases, but his season ended weakly and without the kind of on-base percentage (.336) a team wants from its leadoff hitter. The cushion of Coco Crisp [stats] is gone, and the Red Sox have handed the keys to center field and the leadoff spot in the lineup to the fleet-footed sophomore. Until he proves he is up to the job, there are going to be questions of whether or not he is the right guy for the job. The suspicion is that he is the one, but the proof still is not there.
5. The Yankees
It’s a lot of fun to point and gawk at the free-spending ways of the Red Sox’ fiercest of rivals, yet you’d have to be pretty blind not to recognize how amazing the Bronx Bombers could be this year if everything clicks. That rotation, with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Chien-Ming Wang, and that lineup, with Mark Teixeira and eventually Alex Rodriguez in the middle, can do a lot of damage to a lot of teams. If and when the Yankees get on a roll this season, it will be hard to find a team that can stop them.
Source: bostonherald.com
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