Red Sox preview

So spring training officially starts February 19 for Red Sox fans, at least that is when the pitchers and catchers report. There is still a few weeks for the team to make moves but I might as well start the talk of how the sox will do with what they have now.

The starting pitching looks like it is in great shape, many of the sports websites list the staff as being number 1 in the league, especially the top three of Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, and John Lackey. Clay Buckholtz, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Tim Wakefield will have to battle for the 4 and 5 spots unless there is a trade. Relief pitching was a “small” problem at the end of the year last season and it is hard to say if it got fixed in the off season. Jonathon Papelbon and Josh Bard are a steady closer and set-up situation but other than that it is unsure how the rest of the staff will do. Hideki Okajima was off and on all year and was horrible down the stretch with a 7.36 ERA in September and October, 14.73 versus right-handed batter‘s. Manny Delcarmen did well the first half but it looked like he got tired towards the end and had a 7.27 ERA after the all-star game. The slide really started before that, his ERA by month are: April 0.00 in 10 games, May 3.00 in 11 games, June 4.00 in 10 games, July 4.66 in 11 games, August 5.25 in 12 games, and Sept./Oct. 14.14 in 10 games. Ramon Ramirez was a shining star of the relief core with a 2.82 season ERA in 70 games. After these three relievers the team is hoping that newly acquired pitchers Scott Atchison, Ramon A. Ramirez, Boof Bonser, or Fabio Castro will help to fix the problem. It is also thought that with the top three pitchers being innings eaters the relief pitchers won’t have to work as hard early in the season, if that happens then that will do more than anything else.

OK, so lets move to the rest of the team. The starting outfield consists of Mike Cameron, J.D. Drew, and Jacoby Ellsbury. While the loss of Jason Bay will be big to the hitting numbers, the defense will be much better as by all accounts he was not close to being in the same class as Cameron or Ellsbury. The backup outfielder’s are Jeremy Hermida and Bill Hall both are good players and will be able to pick up any slack if there is an injury. Cameron will be an upgrade in speed for the offense and obviously is a great defensive player but if you look at the numbers from last year there wasn’t a huge difference last year, Cameron’s avgerage was .250 and Bay’s was .267, Bay struck out more than Cameron but had more walks and RBI. Of course Cameron played on a team that didn’t score nearly as many runs as the Red Sox, in fact the Red Sox drove in 822 runs as a team and the Brewers 757, so Cameron should have had less.

As far as the infield the major issue is Mike Lowell and what will happen with him. We know he will have to be traded before Spring Training ends and the team won’t get much for him but at this point what can they do. Adrian Beltre is an upgrade in the defense and having watched him play as a Mariner he will shine at that part of his game. As far as batting goes he is good but not great, he did hit 27 points higher away from Safeco field which is a better judge of what he might do at Fenway. Scutero is also a new addition and was brought in more for his defense then his offense, he is a solid hitter with some speed. We know what Youk and Pedroia will give us both defensively and with the bat so there isn‘t any reason to talk about them. Bill Hall will also be able to backup some at third and second with Jed Lowrie available as well.

The only other question marks are what happens with Jason Veritek in his new role as back-up catcher and how will David Ortiz start the season. As far as Ortiz he batted .230 in April, .143 in May, .320 in June, .247 in July, .222 in August, and .284 in Sept./Oct. When you take out the horrible May numbers he actually did OK, but for a DH where the job is to hit OK is not what the team needs. I would rather trade Ortiz and keep Lowell for the DH then the other way around. Victor Martinez will do fine behind the plate defensively and great at the dish offensively.

Overall the team upgraded it’s defense at some key positions and also made a big difference in the starting pitching. Offensively the team will be better then everyone thinks when the season gets going. Cameron and Beltre are solid players and have some clutch hits in their bats and will surprise a lot of fans. It is hard to compare the offensive numbers that the Yankees can put out there but the Red Sox defense will make up for some of that and the should make the playoffs. That is all we can ask right now because once the team get’s into the playoffs then almost anything can happen.