With Red Sox Nation in full panic mode, a number of writers are surveying the wreckage in a 4-9 start that represents, to provide some clarity, just eight percent of the season.
- WEEI.com's Alex Speier discusses whether the Sox would have been better off keeping Casey Kotchman than signing Adrian Beltre, noting that so far, Kotchman has notched a .963 OPS to Beltre's .668 OPS. However, Speier does hasten to add how early in the season it is. Before a recent 4-for-7 streak, Kotchman's OPS was just .717.
- Theo Epstein has no excuses for the start, saying, "It's just what it is. It's been bad baseball. We haven't played well. There are no excuses for how we've played."
- With the addition of Darnell McDonald for the injured Jacoby Ellsbury, however, moves will be trickier. McDonald puts the Red Sox 40-man roster at 40.
- And things may get worse before they get better: Mike Cameron, also on the DL with an abdominal strain, didn't rule out surgery to correct the problem.
- FoxSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi piles on, saying that the White Sox have "a better chance at a rapid turnaround" than the Red Sox do.
- In a minor league move, the Red Sox traded Andrew Dobies, a Double-A pitcher, to the White Sox for a player to be named later or cash.
I’m hardly a RS fan, but it’s way too early to second guess any decision right now, although if Ortiz doesn’t hit they have to add a bat sooner rather than later.
Addition by subtraction. Ortiz is so bad right now that replacing him with an average hitter would be a large improvement.
They need to do something about giving up all of these stolen bases if they want to rebound. People are running all over them. The Rangers so far have 7 SB though 4 innings in tonights game.
make it a franchise record 10 stolen bags
Only the fifth inning too.
It’s pretty funny while being horribly embarrassment. I understand Wakefield is on the mound but Vlad has swiped 2 SB’s c’mon!
Yeah Vlad of all people.
ughhh,insane.
Look, I can’t even type properly. 😀
yeah it hasnt been to pretty this month. im sure they will start to win some games and its to early to start hating on the new guys. ortiz has to get going or be removed, enough is enough he has struck out 17 times. give it one more month before you throw in the towl
Ortiz .150
Drew .140
V-Mart .236
Youk .208
Not exactly what you want out of your 3,4,5,6 hole hitters
All it takes is a “a spark” to ignite the Sox offense, watch…
As for Ortiz, he looked pretty good in Spring Training.
Obviously, he is trying to hard to avoid a repeat of 2009’s early regular season. The proverbial…”the harder you try the worse you get” syndrome. If every one will just leave him alone until he finds his groove he will be fine…. Ufortunately, Boston’s sports reporting “blood suckers” smell bait in the water….and Popi knows it… so he is trying even harder…and doing worse…too bad.
Sample sizes. It’s the beginning of the season. The Pirates have a winning record. That should tell you something.
I hate to defend the Red Sox. Really, I despise the team. But you would be a fool to write them off right now. The team is just too good to play this bad. They are still a top 4 team in the AL despite an awful start.
Look, my team isn’t doing great. Last week they were sitting at 2-6. Getting beat up by the A’s and Rangers. A week later they go 6-1 beating up on hot Toronto and Detroit teams. While I’m not thrilled with their play yet, it goes to show that fortunes can turn in a very short period of time. The Red Sox will be just fine. The Rays will come back to earth. People are making way too much out of early results.
I get it that Ortiz might be done and that injuries are going to hurt them. But does anyone believe a guy like Youk will continue to suck? Or that Lester and Beckett won’t put it together? The team has too much talent to fail. Sure they might miss the playoffs but they are a much better team than people are giving them credit for. Especially that Morosi clown. I thought his article on Harper a few weeks back was bad … he’s only stepped up his suckiness game. The White Sox won’t come within 10 games of the Red Sox by seasons end unless there is an utter and complete meltdown in Beantown.
This may be the season where we find out if Theo is really the great GM he is hyped to be. Looks like some mistakes were made over the winter; emphasizing defense and pitching is great but doesn’t that start with the catcher? Vmart has always been poor defensively, thats why Cleveland moved him to first base on a part time basis. The guy is a solid middle of the order hitter and looks like the replacement for Ortiz who has looked washed up more over a year. Sox will be fine if they get a defensive catcher and some of the bats wake up. As long as Vmart is behind the plate teams are going to take advantage – look what the Rays did. Time for a trade or move Varitek back in the lineup, he’s got to be an improvement over what they have now.
Actually, besides Varitek’s game-calling skills, I strongly doubt he’s going to be a major improvement over V-Mart. Besides, don’t get tricked by V-Tek’s strong numbers so far this year; I believe it’s mostly because he’s not dealing with having to play every day anymore. I do agree Martinez needs to either improve his game considerably, or be moved out of that spot. The problem is, he’s not really a pure DH either, although the argument could be made that part of that is because he gets worn down from catching. The point is, he’s not a 35-40 home run guy. He’s 25, 30 home runs tops. And that’s pretty weak production from the DH slot. Granted, it’ll be a major improvement from Ortiz right now (although Ortiz did bounce back to hit 28/99 last year). What I’m looking at, though, is somebody like Adam Dunn, who can get the home run totals, and was born for the DH slot.
The problem with V-Mart is not only that he’s a weak defensive catcher; it’s that there is no other really good place to put him. 1B is taken. The Sox would like a little more production from the DH (although that’s an option). Also, you have to try to think of who it is that would become the new “defensive catcher”. There’s Mark Wagner, but he can’t hit at all, and could probably do with more time in the minors anyway. In trades, the first catcher I think of that would be available is Ryan Doumit, who is equally terrible behind the plate. Who did you have in mind?
… Come on man. Home runs? Don’t you know that every hitter is measured by the infallible OPS statistic? It discounts the negative effect of strikeouts and counts walks the same as singles so its clearly more effective than rbi and home runs.
Just playing, but I agree that V mart might be a little weak of a hitter to DH in the red sox lineup given the numbers the Red Sox have come to expect form that position. They still have Lowell, too. He can’t run very well, but could still hit .285 and put up 90 RBI. He might not score very many runs though.
There is still the potential to rotate guys around. Catcher is flexible, first and third base are also very flexible, DH is obviously flexible if Ortiz is out of the picture. I was thinking that Hermedia could even see some games at DH once the outfield is back in order. Not to mention, Ortiz could still turn it around.
Doumit would be a good fit, and so would Mathis (or Napoli) of the Angels. There are also some young catchers playing at AAA that are blocked right now that look strong both offensively and defensively; obviously they are unproven, I’m thinking Ramos (Minnesota) and Montero (New York) for starters. Probabley not available anyway. I hope Theo is not afraid to pull the plug on Papi if things don’t change soon. Even though the Sox should have strong pitching all year and be capable of doing damage in the playoffs, they cannot get too far behind Tampa and NY. Vmart is still the best candidate for dh even if he doesn’t approach Papi’s numbers from a few years back.
All good points. Yes, yes, yes! I completely forgot about Mathis! That would be a perfect fit I think; the Angels don’t need both of the guys, and Mathis would fit perfectly with Sox as a much stronger defensive catcher who isn’t completely inept at the plate. Ramos sounds like the better defensively of the AAA catchers you mentioned; however those guys are major trade chips, and would take a lot from the Sox to make a trade happen.
After thinking a bit, and assuming Ortiz continues to struggle, this is what I could possibly see happening: Ortiz is released, V-Mart moved to full-time DH, and Mathis comes in to take over as catcher. Maybe Wagner begins to really hit in the minors, and is moved up instead. V-Mart would move though, if Ortiz goes. Lowell is a great guy, and can still swing the bat, but it’s clear he’s going to be minor production from the DH spot. On a good year he does .285, 25 hr, 90rbi. Not bad numbers, but not exactly what you want to see from a guy who’s only job is to hit. Martinez gets on base more often, has a bit more pop in his bat, and is generally a better all-around hitter. Heck, maybe he’d even become a real bona-fide power hitter if he doesn’t have to deal with the day-to-day stress of catching. Who knows.
One, Mathis is hurt last I recall.
Two, before getting hurt, he was putting up what border on fluke numbers.
Three, a defensive catcher is NOT hard to come by. Someone like Wagner or Brown could just as well come up and post a career .220 average while improving the catching defense.
In regards to the home run argument, going with a DH for homers primarily is becoming a thing of the past. Even the Yankees have moved on (I’m not usually one to tout them, but Johnson is a brilliant idea for a DH). A DH doesn’t need to be a power threat, he just needs to fill a valuable position batting, Johnson’s high OBP is a great fit for the Yanks and going with someone who gets on base a lot and hits for average would be more useful to a team like the Sox (Who primarily operate by wearing down pitchers, getting the starter out and feasting on middle relief) than a guy who slugs thirty-five homers and registers an OBP of .350. Given, it’s great if you can get both, but the high OBP is more easily come by. V-Mart would be a perfectly acceptable DH for ANY team.
To WAS: Kyle Weiland, Alex Wilson, Aaron Bates
To BOS: Adam Dunn
– Call up Mark Wagner, Send Down Darnell McDonald
1B Kevin Youkilis, Victor Martinez, Adam Dunn
3B Adrian Beltre, Kevin Youkilis
DH Victor Martinez
C Mark Wagner, Victor Martinez
C Mark Wagner, Jason Varitek, Victor Martinez
And Varitek?