State of the Red Sox

The Red Sox are 31-40, in last place in the AL East and 8.5 games out of first place. To say they have been a disappointment would be a major understatement. So what gives? What's been the problem(s) and what should the Red Sox do going forwards?

Let's start with the pitching - a staff whose ERA of 4.46 is dead last in the American League. First there's the Rick Porcello in theory and the Rick Porcello in reality. I admit that I too was high on Porcello who has shown flashes of what he was last season. If Porcello was 7-4 with an ERA around 4.00 instead of 4-8 with an ERA of 5.61 then Boston would still be in last in the AL East but only 5 games out of first and talk radio would be hammering about a trade for Cole Hamels. Instead Boston has tied their wagon to a guy whose career ERA+ is not even league average (95). Sadly at this point Red Sox fans can only cross our fingers and hope for the best.

Justin Masterson has been a mess. The Red Sox gave him 7 starts and he gave them a 6.37 ERA in return. Those 7 starts should have gone to Steven Wright and now that Eduardo Rodriguez has taken Masterson's rotation spot for good - when Masterson comes back from his "rehab" in Pawtucket he may force Wright out of the bullpen as the long-relief guy. Wright can't buy a break. I'd prefer for Boston to just admit that the Justin Masterson reclamation project was a mistake and move on.

Then there's the case for Brian Johnson who has been pitching even better than Eduardo Rodriguez in Pawtucket and is 2-years older. Is it wrong to hope that either Porcello or Joe Kelly develops "fatigue" and has to be put on the DL so we can see what Johnson has to offer at the MLB level? Or here's an idea - with the Red Sox out of it why not trade Koji Uehara and see if Kelly can close?

Then there's the position players and hitting where there's been basically 3 sore spots for Boston - catcher, 1st base and right field. Not much you can do about catching. Christian Vazquez and Ryan Hannigan sounded like a great defensive combo before the season but injury ruined that. Now we'll see what Blake Swihart (who has been heating up at the plate) and Hannigan (once he's healthy) can do for the rest of the season.

1st base? Mike Napoli has been hitting well below his career averages but what's the alternative at this point? Allen Craig? Sure Craig has been hitting at Pawtucket but does anyone think if things had been reversed that Napoli wouldn't be raking on AAA-pitching? Best to leave 1st as is and hope Napoli gets on another hot streak that brings his numbers back to where they should be.

That leaves right field where the answer is simple - bring back Jackie Bradley Jr.

And for those of us optimists out there - the Red Sox magic number is an even 100!

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Red Sox owner John Henry tweeted this morning "Sox/Yankees biggest rivalry in US. LFC/MUFC biggest rivalry in the world. Typical match draws far more than triple the Super Bowl viewers." The LFC is Liverpool and MUFC is Manchester United. John Henry happens to own the Liverpool Football (soccer) Club. If this is really the case (and I'm not doubting it) someone should ask him if MLB should change the name from the World Series to the North American Series given the relative scope of the game... Southern lights from space... Is there anyone out there still legitimately steamed that Derek Jeter skipped the All-Star Game? Anyone?... Obama has a secret plan to take $4 trillion spending out of the budget just like John Kerry had a secret plan to get us out of Iraq... Richard Nixon's Humble Last Meal as President... It would be interesting to compare the number of albums and hits between Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band versus Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I would guess that they would be almost equals in terms of straight "stats"... Speaking of Springsteen - I have to think that the people not in loop in the recent Bruce Feldman / ESPN drama must have thought #FreeBruce was some sort of Springsteen MP3 giveaway... When good things happen for good people. Cleveland Indians starter Justin Masterson is now 8th in the American League in ERA (2.80), 13th in innings pitched, 20th in strikeouts (95) and 20th in WHIP. Good for him... What's not to like about Miguel Angel Jimenez? He loves golf, cigars and wine and has a stretching routine that would make any weekend duffer proud.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Glad to see ex Red Sox pitcher Justin Masterson off to a hot start for the Indians. Masterson is now 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA to start the season. Masterson is one of the nicest guys in baseball... Cool story. Rory McIlroy and the Augusta Entourage house... Happy 75th birthday to NFL icon John Madden... Chase who? The top 5 hitters in the Phillies batting order are all hitting better than .333 to start the season... He lives! Abe Vigoda is still alive! Long live the Vigoda... There is a slight chance that Johnny Damon gets to 3,000 hits and election to Hall of Fame while Manny Ramirez gets to be on outside looking in. Who could have guessed that? Damon is now tied in 72nd place on the all-time hits list with 2,574 along with retired Richie Ashburn and retired Manny Ramirez. Damon needs 9 more hits to tie Ernie Banks... RIP to Sidney Lumet one of the all-time great directors. Strange Lumet tidbit - he wanted to direct Death Wish (1974) with Jack Lemmon in the leading role. That would have been a completely different movie... VAN GUNDY!!!!!... The Skeleton in the Closet. You know this became a story just because people wanted to make gay Geiko caveman jokes... Strange Sidney Lumet tidbit 2 - the Lefty Lumet was once father in law to Righty humorist PJ O'Rourke... Happy 29th birthday to Dodgers all-star outfielder Andre Ethier... I think one of the effects Twitter will have on the English language will be the almost elimination of the word "the" and most articles in the grammar sense... I may be alone in this but my favorite Sidney Lumet film was Murder on the Orient Express...

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

I think CC Sabathia will be traded but I don't think the Red Sox will be involved. Why give up a Clay Buchholtz or a Justin Masterson for potentially only half a season of Sabathia? Starting pitching is not a major concern for the Red Sox anyway with a front four of Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield and Jon Lester followed by a pick your choice of Clay Buchholtz, Justin Masterson and Bartolo Colon as fifth starters. I think if the Red Sox do trade for pitching - then it will be for bullpen help and they won't be giving up too much in exchange. I'm guessing that just in the AL you'd have either Chad Bradford of the Orioles or Ron Mahay of the Royals available for the right price... Speaking of Clay Buchholtz - it looks like he's being very effective at AAA Pawtucket. He's 3-1 with a 1.87 ERA in 7 starts. It looks like he's also on a pitch count since he hasn't pitched past the 7th inning in any of his starts despite the low runs allowed. The idea is probably to keep him fresh for the second half of the MLB season. An idea I agree with... Is Jeff Kent a Hall of Famer? With one more RBI he will break his tie with Dave Parker and have 48th place on the all-time RBI list all to himself. Unless I'm mistaken - Kent has the most HR and RBI of any second baseman in history... If Kent sticks around for another year or two - he will most likely catch and pass Harmon Killebrew who is tied for 34th on the all-time RBI list with Rogers Hornsby (both players have 1584 RBI). Passing Hornsby would be important for Kent because Hornsby is considered the best offensive second baseman in history (although he played over 600 games at other positions - thus the reason Kent has more RBI as a second baseman). I won't argue that Kent was close to Hornsby with a bat (Hornsby had a career .358 BA and an OPS+ of 175) but passing Hornsby on the RBI list will be significant for Kent nonetheless... Speaking of Harmon Killebrew - today's his birthday! Happy 72nd birthday Killer. How screwed up is the Hall of Fame voting? Consider that Killebrew has 573 HR and in his first year of eligibility for the Hall he only got 59.6% of the votes. Killebrew had to wait 4 years to be voted in by the gasbags who call themselves baseball writers...