The 2012 season was disgusting and the 2011 season ended as badly as a season could end. The 2013 season is made of rainbows, walk offs and wins. The 91-59 Red Sox who still have 12 games to play this season, have surpassed the win totals of the previous three seasons. The problem with past seasons like 2011 weren’t the runs scored, because the Sox scored a lot (875). It was the runs allowed. Through the 2011 season, Red Sox pitching allowed 737 runs while this year, with 12 games to go, the Sox have only allowed 606. Let’s head back to October 4th of last year for a second.
The Red Sox are struggling badly. They’re in no position to move into a playoff spot and the season is dubbed a disaster. In an attempt to unload unwanted contracts, the Sox trade washed up ace Josh Beckett, team RBI leader Adrian Gonzalez, Nick “Shredder” Punto and biggest mistake in Boston since Chad Johnson (both of them), Carl Crawford are traded to the Dodgers for almost no notable with the exception of Dodgers prospect pitcher, Allen Webster.
Flash forward to October 21st. Bobby Valentine is out as Sox manager and the Red Sox trade Mike Aviles for David Carpenter (no longer with the team) and John Farrell to Toronto. The Sox have a new manger! Everything is looking better already. Eight days later, Dice-K is a free agent. On November 5th, the Sox resign David Ortiz. By the end of December the Red Sox had acquired David Ross, Jonny Gomes, Shane Victorino, Koji Uehara, Ryan Dempster, and Stephen Drew along with some other minor league pieces. Later in the offseason the Sox had gotten Mike Napoli and Mike Carp. Queue the season!
Let’s take a look (as of today) how these new players have fared in Boston along with the expectations, which are underlined.
David Ross. Solid backup to Saltalamacchia. Suffers two concussions during the season but is now back and batting .207/4/7. Not the greatest of acquisitions.
Jonny Gomes. Clubhouse guy, utility guy, extra piece on the bench. Walk off hero, insanely good pinch hitter, above average fielder, awesome beard. Hitting .234/12/48.
Shane Victorino. Hawaiian, experienced outfielder, age may show. Batting .291, with 14 home runs and 57 RBIs. Not showing his age. Still Hawaiian.
Koji Uehara. People loved to complain about adding another reliever after Hanrahan (how’d that go?). High expectations after season in Texas. Koji is having one of the greatest seasons a reliever has had in baseball. 67.3 innings, he’s allowed 29 hits. He’s struck out 94 and has only truly walked seven batters (an additional two were intentional). As of today he’s not allowed a hit to 37 consecutive batters. That’s four shy of the all time record. He’s so fun to watch and he gives high fives. There’s nothing better than this.
Ryan Dempster. Great pitcher on a bad team. Strikes people out. 8-9 with a 4.70 ERA. Not a great pitcher but he’s getting wins behind the Sox offense.
Stephen Drew. Another extra player as a backup shortstop. After the Sox trade their starting SS during the season, Drew steps up to the starting role and hits .249/12/62. Above average on defense, as he was marketed to be.
Mike Napoli. Power hitter with an injury problem. He’s stayed healthy most of the season and played pretty well at first base. Batting .251/21/87.
Mike Carp. Extra piece from Seattle. Depth in the outfield. Batting .309/9/38. Great pinch hitter with a clutch bat.
Those are the new faces to compliment the .309/27/92 line from “washed up” David Ortiz and .297 average from Pedroia. Throw in 14-8 Lester who finally came around at the end of the season, 11-0 Clay Bucholz and a finally decent John Lackey and the Sox have World Series potential.
The Red Sox farm system is still very strong. The strongest in the AL East and probably among the tops of the American League. With the steady stream of young talent and veterans with long contracts, the Sox can contend again next year and hopefully eliminate the memories of past seasons. John Farrell’s new look, new attitude Red Sox are playoff bound for the first time in the past three years. Things are finally looking good at Fenway.
Dunkfaced 