Normally I am never "out" on the Red Sox. Despite the title, I will still watch the games and pay attention like no other, criticizing and praising when necessary. However, any delusion I had about this team making the playoffs is gone. The wish that an ace would emerge? Not granted. The hope that Bogaerts' power would show up this year? Smashed. The desire for Ortiz to age in the other direction? Time is undefeated. The burning need for John Farrell to be fired? Well, that one could still happen. Things have just not gone their way.
You know what though? Things don't always go an MLB team's way. As a matter of fact, they rarely ever do. Good teams figure out a way to play through their problems. They win some scrappy games. A player off the bench steps up or an unsuspecting starter gives a solid outing. You expect that kind of effort from veteran players and guys who have made deep post-season runs. The St. Louis Cardinals lost their ace Adam Wainwright in the first month of the season. Currently, they have the best record in baseball.
Finish strong! Go out on a high note! Sprint through the finish line! Play til the buzzer! It ain't over til the fat lady sings!
Chalk those up as five expressions the 2015 Boston Red Sox have never heard... unless maybe Mike Napoli was singing in the shower after the series loss to the Yankees last week - truly signalizing the end. The Red Sox have been embarrassing. Since the All Star Break, Hanley Ramirez is 1-for-17. Dustin Pedroia? 0-for-18. Pablo Sandoval? 4-for-18. Our
ALL STAR Brock Holt? 1-for-8. How many RBI between these four studs? You guessed it!
Zero.
It isn't just those suckers, though. The whole team other than Xander Bogaerts has come out of the All Star Break as flat as the Eucharist at Sunday Mass. Entering the series against the Yankees, the Sox had won 14 of their previous 21 games. They were scorching! They were 5.5 games behind the Yankees in the division. While that still looked like a lot, it seemed as though we'd have exciting July and August baseball in Boston. Some of us thought, "Hey, it's OK that Holt is our only All Star. Everyone else will get a break and we'll be ready to keep going afterwards!" Then they drop 2 of 3 to the Yankees... and then... well... 5 more in a row after the break. Now they're 10.0 games back of the Yankees and equally as much under .500.
Great work, spineless...
No worries, though. The manager will get fired and the GM will swing some deals to improve the club for next season. Oh wait, owner John Henry already gave a vote of confidence in the manager and essentially stated the GM, Ben Cherington (for those who can't keep up), is his own puppet. This is depressing!
“John has provided the kind of leadership that we need through a really
tough period,” Henry said. “I just don’t think you can blame the manager
for this. I watch these games. They’ve been painful games to watch. To
me, it's not the manager's fault the way that we've been playing. I just
don’t see that.”
I know that was June 2 so... can I assume he now blames the manager at least a little?
The Sox have got worse and clearly this crew of spoiled imbeciles won't play for their poor-decision-making manager anyway. A change is imminent. Still, there is reason to be concerned about who they would potentially replace Farrell with. After all, Cherington was a product of Theo Epstein and John Farrell was a product of Terry Francona. Does this front office trust their ability to make a decent out-of-house managerial hiring, especially after the dreadful Bobby Valetine debacle? This question is worth asking. They cannot honestly go with someone in-house, especially after they already tried using the pitching coach, Juan Nieves, as a scapegoat for this terrible season by firing him. The whole regime needs to be revamped.
I would also question why Ben Cherington is so safe. He took over the GM position after the 2011 season. Since then, the Red Sox finished in last place, then won a World Series, then finished in last place, and now it looks like they will finish in last place again. He traded away a franchise corner-stone in Jon Lester and couldn't sign him back afterwards as planned. He traded away a key starter who would be the best on the team at the moment for two players who can't even cut it at Pawtucket. I won't rail on Cherington for the Ramirez and Sandoval signings, because I still can't admit to myself that those are bad, but this pitching staff? Give me a break. The bad moves are mounting.
“The general manager is going to be the general manager of this club for
a very long time,” Henry said. “I have nothing but respect for him and
the job that he does. I think we've been on the same wavelength, so you
have to blame ownership as much as you can blame the general manager."
I think it is time we have an actual "baseball guy" as the GM of the Red Sox. Hey, I'm not saying they should hire me (yet). I'm not even saying they need to fire Cherington. The point to be made here is that ownership needs to back off and someone that understands a rotation of Buchholz-Porcello-Miley-Kelly-Masterson, no matter how economically viable, isn't one that can last even three weeks needs to be in charge.
Seven rage-filled paragraphs in and we haven't even got to the roster changes that need to happen. #problems
I would love if Ortiz's declining bat retired and he galloped off into the Dominican Republic's sunset with three large rings on his fingers and that grin on his face that has brought all of Boston so much joy over the last 10+ years. Unfortunately, that will never happen. We've got to accept that Ortiz's declining bat will be here for at least the next two years. We can live with that if Hanley Ramirez moves to first base. Yes, see you ****ing later Mike Napoli. Thank you for 2013, now please go. It is fair to expect even better seasons from Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, and Blake Swihart next year so the lineup is otherwise pretty set (and shout out to Shane Victorino, who is a personal favorite but most certainly a goner):
1. M. Betts,CF
2. D. Pedroia, 2B
3. X. Bogaerts, SS
4. D. Ortiz, DH
5. H. Ramirez, 1B
6. P. Sandoval, 3B
7. B. Swihart, C
8. R. Castillo, RF
9.
The theoretical 9 spot is left-field, left blank by Hanley. Daniel Nava is only hitting .250 in Triple A this season (very small sample size, but he was hitting .159 with the Sox this year through 63 at bats as well) and will be 33 at the start of next season. He will be arbitration eligible, but I think he is most certainly out of the equation for left-field. Left-handed hitting Alejandro De Aza has become a fan-favorite (for those still watching), but both Jackie Bradley Jr. (who is hitting .315 at Pawtucket with 9 HR) and Brock Holt are also lefties. Since De Aza is a free agent and both Bradley Jr. and Holt will be looking for playing time, I think De Aza is out as well. The Red Sox could opt to trade Bradley Jr. to improve their pitching, in which case they would need to sign a right-handed (preferably powerful) bat to platoon left-field with Holt. For this role, I would love the Yankees' Chris Young. Young is a righty, will be a free agent, and has 11 HR so far this season.
Whichever of those players lands left-field, Rusney Castillo
has to be starting in right. Castillo is not some young rookie, he is going to be 29 half-way through next season. He's' hitting a respectable .281 in Pawtucket and has shown off his speed with 10 stolen bases. Find out what you have in him, Red Sox, or stop wasting your money.
And finally... the pitching...
This is a disaster. There are three rookies I would prefer to see in the rotation unless one (or some) is traded - Eduardo Rodriguez, Henry Owens, and Brian Johnson. No matter how much worse Rodriguez's and Johnson's ERAs get at the major league level this year, they can be no worse than Joe Kelly or Justin Masterson.
Ideally, either Rick Porcello or Wade Miley will be dealt. Porcello is no where near as bad as he has pitched this season. Which is good, since his contract probably makes him immovable. Wade Miley has been a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde this year. He hasn't been completely putrid like many of his teammates but his contract isn't as bad as Porcello's, which makes him movable, and room in the rotation needs to be made for better talent. For this reason, I'd like to see him gone.
Then, of course, there is the glassman himself Clay Buchholz. For all of his negatives, Clay's contract is pretty reasonable. He should stay. (yes, I just threw up a little)
This would mean the rotation I'd be rolling out would be: Buchholz-Porcello-Rodriguez-Johnson-Owens, given the current makeup of the team. The problem is that there is still no ace, despite what those dumbass shirts say.
So let me get this straight, we have a young Gold Glove-caliber, hot-hitting outfielder in Jackie Bradley Jr. We have a decent major league starter on a reasonable contract in Miley. And lastly we have three highly-touted pitching prospects when we only have room for two. Hmmm... maybe find a trade partner? Maybe talk to Philadelphia about some guy named Cole Hamels?
Hamels-Buchholz-Porcello-Rodriguez-Owens? I can deal with that. If that is unreasonable, then they need to find a way to get an ace in this rotation. They just do. This cannot happen again in 2016. It can't. Even that rotation is too reliant upon very young talent but which do you feel better with? That one or the band of jokes we rolled out at the beginning of this season?
The bullpen can be dealt with. Koji Uehara is under contract for next year but as lovable as he has been, I'd like to see him dealt at the deadline. Koji could bring in some decent assets. He's very old in baseball years and I'd prefer to find a long-term solution at the closer position as soon as possible before this turns into the post-Papelbon-pre-Uehara dilemma we dealt with before. I'm looking at you, Andrew Bailey.
Junichi Tazawa will be back and I would like to see the Red Sox give Craig Breslow another chance. I understand he had a dreadful 2014 but his career numbers are great and he was a hugely underrated part of the 2013 World Series run. As for a closer, Neftali Feliz and Tyler Clippard will both be free agents and I'd love to see one if not both in a Red Sox uniform in 2016. Darren O'Day and Antonio Bastardo are two great options for late-innings as well. O'Day hasn't had an ERA over 2.40 since 2011 so his price-range might be above what the Red Sox would want to pay for a non-closer but Bastardo would be much cheaper. His numbers don't look super only because he's simply struggled in Pittsburgh. They're much flashier away from Pitt and lefties hit under .200 against him this season.
...anyone is better than Robbie Ross Jr.
The bottom line is that the Red Sox have completely sucked for two seasons now and drastic changes need to happen. Not simply to the pitching staff but to management. Betts and Bogaerts should thrive on a successful team here for years, please don't mess this up John Henry & Crew.
