Offseason Evaluation

Boston Red Sox Offseason Evaluation

Sam Denomme

7-5 Frame

The 2010 season ended in bitter disappointment for the Boston Red Sox. After a highly anticipated 2010 campaign, the Red Sox failed to live up to the hype and expectations. They were hit by multiple injuries to Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matzsuzaka, Victor Martinez, Jason Varitek, and Kevin Youkilis. These injuries derailed the Red Sox season. They didn’t even make the playoffs. The season ended in dismay as the Red Sox tried to rebuild in the offseason.

On December 6th, Adrian Gonzalez was traded to the Red Sox for a handful of solid prospects, including the highly regarded pitcher Casey Kelly, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, speedy outfielder Reymond Fuentes, and a player to be named later, who was eventualy utility infielder, Eric Patterson. Then, about 11 days after opening day on April 15, he was signed to a 7 year contract extension worth $154 million, locking him up until 2018. Gonzalez was drafted in 2000, projected to be a late first round pick out of his high school (Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, California) in 1999. But, instead of electing to be entered into the draft in his junior year, he played in his senior year, and his talents made him the first infielder picked first overall (Florida Marlins) since Alex Rodriguez. However, an injury barred him from putting up the stats that he was capable of. In 2003, the Marlins were warry of his wrist and traded him to the Rangers in June of 2003. In Texas, he didn’t play much, and in early 2006, he was traded to the San Diego Padres with pitcher Chris Young and outfielder Terrmel Sledge in exchange for Adam Eaton and Akinori Otsuka.

With the Padres in his first full season, he lead the team in batting average and home runs, with .304, and 24 home runs and was named team MVP in 2006. In 2007, the now-feared slugging first baseman hit 30 home runs and 100 RBI, both leading the team. He also agreed to a contract extension into the 2010 season (club option for 2011) worth a mere 9.5 million. He over exceeded his expectations in 2008 by hitting .279, with a staggering 36 home runs paired with 119 RBI, also selected to his first all star game, and his first gold glove. In 2009, he lead the league in walks, 119, and hit 40 home runs. He was in the all star game again, and received team MVP honors the third time as a Padre. In 2010, he hit .298, but had a dropoff in home runs (31), and walks (93). However, he did have shoulder problems near the end of the season and ownership issues made the Padres not pick up his 2011 option. Instead, he was traded to the Red Sox.

The next acquisition the Red Sox made was signing speedy outfielder Carl Crawford. Only two days after they had gotten Adrian Gonzalez, they gave him 7 years and 142 million. He was drafted in 2002 by the Tampa Bay  (then, Devil  Rays) Rays. In that season, he only played 63 games, and was only 20 years old when he hit .260 with 9 stolen bases. In 2003, he was a full time player, and this time, at just 21-22 years old, he lead the league in steals with 55. In 2004, he did the same thing, leading the league with 59 stolen bases, and that was paired with a .296 average, 11 home runs, and 56 RBI, impressive stats for a speedster at the age of 22-23. He was also elected to his first all star game. In 2005, he had career highs in average (.301), home runs, (15), and was third in steals with 46. In 2006, he made history by being the eighth player in MLB history to reach the 200 stolen base plateau BEFORE his 25 birthday. He also set career highs in average (.305) and home runs (18). Again, he made history by tying Hall of Famer Roger Hornsby by increasing in average and home runs for five straight years.

In 2007, he was selected to the all star game again, the first Devil Ray (now Rays) to go to be a two time all star. However, a wrist injury in the second half of the season banned Crawford from hitting more home runs. However, he did have a great average (.315) and lead the league in stolen bases with 50. 2008, however, was a down season for Crawford. A .275 average with only 25 stolen bases and 11 home runs overshadowed a huge feat for Crawford. On April 11, 2008, Crawford hit his 1,000 hit, making him just the eighth player to have 1,000 hits and 250 stolen bases before he turned 27. He only played 109 games that season. 2009 was a better year for Crawford, as he got into the all star game for the third time. He was named the MVP of the all star game as well. He saved the game by robbing Rockies outfielder Brad Hawpe of a home run. His stat line was much more satisfying than 2008, producing a line of a .305 average, 15 home runs, and a career high 60 stolen bases. 2010 was a career year for Crawford at the plate. He had another .300+ batting average season, with a stunning line of .307, a career high 19 home runs, a career high 90 RBI’s, 47 bases were snagged. In addition, Crawford received a Gold Glove award, as well as a Silver Slugger award.

After the 2010 season, his contract had expired. With the Rays failing to win the World Series after coming close a couple times, they were looking to rebuild and didn’t want to pay Crawford an over the top salary. So he entered free agency, and was signed by the Red Sox.

The acquisitions of both Gonzalez and Crawford, along with the return of Kevin Youkilis, Jon Lester, Clay Bucholz, David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, and Jacoby Ellsbury, the Red Sox had the looks of a World Series team. They also added some arms to the bullpen, which was horrendous in 2010. They welcomed Dan Wheeler, Alfredo Aceves, and Bobby Jenks to the bullpen, and if Papelbon could keep his cool as a closer, the bullpen should be pretty close to unhittable.

The start if the season was horrendous with exception to a few bright spots. Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia, and Jed Lowrie were the only players who peformed well. Carl Crawford was barely hitting over .200, and the bullpen was horrendous. Daniel Bard and Bobby Jenks were awful. After the first 12 games, they were 2-10. They were 0-6 to start the season before they took 2 of 3 from the Yankees. Those were the only wins they got in the first 12 games. People had started doubting the acquisition of Crawford, and the slugger Adrian Gonzalez only had only hit one home run, however he kept a .300 average.

The bullpen was as bad, if not worse, as the hitting. On opening day, Daniel Bard gave up 4 runs in the eighth inning. Going into that inning, it was 5-5.  After the 0-6 skid, they won a couple games showing flashes of brilliance, but they went back to their losing ways. After this, the Daisuke Matzsuzaka (who needs Tommy John Surgery) pitched 8 innings of one hit ball on Patriots day, one start after a 2 inning, 11 run outing. This clearly sparked the Red Sox, as they went  on a 9-3 streak to “improve” their record to 11-13. There have been no setbacks for the red-hot Dustin Pedroia, who was on fire the first month of the season. Adrian Gonzalez wasn’t hitting home runs, but his batting average was well over .300. However, the pitching was still not doing well, the only reliable starters being Jon Lester and surprisingly, Josh Beckett. Beckett has kept healthy, and is now dominating batters like his former 2007 self. Another bad sign is Carl Crawford, who only had 5 stolen bases and was now batting under .200.

The next 12 games did answer a few more questions. However, their record over that span didn’t show it, going 5-7 with some really ugly pitching outings. Carl Crawford heated up, and was batting .230, which is a huge improvement than the .196 at the end of April. Adrian Gonzalez finally started ripping the ball, hitting 5 in 4 games at one point. Another suprise was David Ortiz, who had 8 home runs up to this point. It is a suprise because he is declining and usually has horrible Aprils. But again, their pitching let them down, and there were a few injuries. The bullpen, which hasn’t really lived up to its expectations, were hit by injuries to Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler. Now there were no reliable players in the bullpen with the exception to the closer, Jonathon Papelbon. Also, John Lackey had a few ugly outings, and was placed on the DL.

The next seven games were terrific for the Red Sox, winning every one of them, including a sweep against the Yankees. Adrian Gonzalez was hitting, Youkilis had started hittting, Jed Lowrie was hitting, Davis Ortiz was hitting, and it seemed the pitching had gotten better with great starts by Lester, Beckett, Bucholz, and even Wakefield pitched two great games. This lifted their record over .500, and were tied for first place in the division with a 23-20 record. They then lost to the Cubs, but won the following game with yet another great start from Wakefield. They then took two of three games from the Indians and swept the Tigers, giving them a 29-22  record. Amidst this fantastic run by the Sox, Carl Crawford had been very streaky. He could go 0-4 in one game, but go 3-4 another and steal 3 bases. However, he has driven in 3 game winning RBI’s (Runs Batted In). Up to this point, he has still yet to show us his full potency as a batter.

The Red Sox’s streak ended with the Chicago White Sox sweeping them in three games. It is now the month of June. This weekend, the Red Sox are playing the Oakland Athletics, a team with amazing young talent in their pitching staff with Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, and Brett Anderson. The Red Sox won the first game 8-6, Carl Crawford driving in Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis in the 7th inning to give them a 7-6 league. Jarrod Saltamalaccia, catcher, then hit a solo home run to give the Sox some insurance runs, and the Red Sox overcame a four run deficit (Buchholz wasn’t pitching his best) to win it. Today, they faced Trevor Cahill, and the Red Sox countered with Josh Beckett, who has been pitching really well this season. They ended up winning in dramatic fashion, winning in a 14 inning marathon. J.D. Drew, who had struck out in four consecutive at bats, singled to drive in Carl Crawford, and the Red Sox won 9-8, improving their record to 32-26, good for second in the AL East, a game behind the New York Yankees.

The Red Sox still have a long road ahead of them, but after the first 12 games of the season, the Red Sox are 30-16. If Crawford and Gonzalez can keep the teams hitting rolling, and the pitching starts throwing the ball better, I guarantee a playoff appearance.

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Pros and Cons this season

PROS	CONS
Adrian Gonzalez	John Lackey
David Ortiz	Daisuke Matsuzaka
Ellsbury	J.D. Drew
Beckett	Bullpen
Crawford since May	Crawford in April
Youkilis since May	Youkilis’ April
Saltamalacchia	Varitek
5-1 vs. Yankees	5-7 vs. rest of division
Pedroia’s April	Pedroia since May
Pitching rotation (Beckett, Lester, Bucholz)	Pitching rotation (Occasionaly Lester, Bucholz, always Lackey, Matzsuzaka)
Jed Lowrie	Scutaro (injury)