We’re just a little bit more than halfway through the 2010 campaign, and despite dropping guys faster than Ellen DeGeneres the Red Sox are right in the thick of things in the AL East. Let’s take a little more in-depth look at the team, shall we?
Record: 49-35 (Pythag: 48-36)
Scored 453 runs, allowed 385
Team OPS+: 114
Team ERA+: 103
Position players:
C – Victor Martinez: Started the year ice cold, both with the bat and his arm, but has come on very strongly since. After having a .632 OPS in April, he’s rebounded enough to get his line up to .289/.344/.480. He’s still struggling against righties (.642 OPS on the year), but overall I’m pleased with what we’ve gotten. He’s probably going to be gone at the end of the year, though, which makes me worry about the Sox’ longterm future at the position. Grade: B+
1B – Kevin Youkilis: He’s basically been 2001 Barry Bonds against lefthanded pitching this year. .367/.513/.833. Against righties, he’s “only” a .904 OPS guy, too. He’s got the highest walk rate and lowest strikeout rate of his career, and he’s still a good defender at first base. I guess that’ll do. Grade: A+
2B – Dustin Pedroia: His slugging jumped back up this year after taking a little bit of a dip in 2009, making him even more valuable than he already was. He turns 27 in August, is a legitimate power hitter and awesome defender at second base, and is locked into a ridiculously team friendly contract through 2015. All of these make the fact that he broke his foot and we’re playing Eric Patterson and Bill Hall in his place hurt even more. Grade: A
SS – Marco Scutaro: Last year’s offensive surge was an outlier for him, and anyone who expected him to repeat those numbers for the Sox has to be disappointed. Personally, I wasn’t expecting him to do that anyway, and his .279/.345/.377 line is more than fine from a guy with his good glove. He’s been what I expected, but nothing more. Grade: B
3B – Adrian Beltre: I kinda wish he walked more, and it would be nice if other guys on the team learned to get out of his way when the ball’s coming. Everything else has been Godliness on top of perfection on top of masterful. Even if his BABIP regresses (and at .372, it probably will), he’s still one of the best third basemen in the game. And on top of everything else, he’s not Mike Lowell. Grade: Marry me
LF – Jacoby Ellsbury: He’s played nine games. He’s apparently disappeared for weeks at a time. The stupid fans are starting to turn on him, which is nice because the stupid fans loved him way too much. He’ll probably come back eventually, which would be nice cause everyone who’s tried to replace him sucks. Grade: I
CF – Mike Cameron: He’s been hurt, too, which is why I want to give him a pass, but he’s been terrible this year. Batting line of .255/.311/.345, and the abdominal tear has robbed him of a lot of range. The sample’s tiny, and hopefully useless, but UZR has him at -7 runs this year, or -37.6 per 150. Yikes. Grade: D-
RF – JD Drew: After being incredibly great the last two years, he’s only been pretty good in 2010. He’s gotten hotter with every month, though, so hopefully the best is yet to come from him this year. He’s also providing excellent right field defense once again, and gets some bonus points for being the only healthy starting outfielder we have. Grade: B+
DH – David Ortiz: Last year, after he started off disgustingly bad, he heated up enough to have an okay overall season. This year, he started off disgustingly bad (again), and has heated up enough to be an All-Star. I don’t know why he can’t hit in the first month of the year, but if he keeps hitting like this the rest of the way I wouldn’t be opposed to bringing him back for 2011 or beyond. Grade: B+
Bench:
Jason Varitek: Hitting very well in limited playing time, broke his foot when the playing time looked to be less limited. I’m knocking him down a grade because his timing is fucking horrible. Grade: B-
Mike Lowell: Can’t hit. Can’t run. Can’t field. Can’t stay healthy. Can’t get surgery on things that need surgery, so he can’t get traded to teams that can’t tell that he can’t do anything. Fuck him. Grade: F
Bill Hall: He’s been pretty bad, but not as terrible as he could have been. Playing way too much, but at this point there’s nobody better. Grade: C
Darnell McDonald: Same story as Hall, really. He’s crap, but he’s playing over his head and it’s not like we have the bodies to get anyone better out there. Grade: C+
The rest: Nava, Reddick, Hermida, Sanchez, Romero, and anyone else I’ve missed. They’re all various degrees of bad, and none of them have played enough to stand out. Some, like Nava, have played over their head in a small sample, but they’ll regress soon enough. Grade: C
Kevin Cash and Gustavo Molina:
Starting rotation:
Josh Beckett: Pitched poorly, then got hurt. Going out on a rehab assignment soon, and will hopefully not pitch so poorly. Grade: I
Jon Lester: With Beckett hurt and everyone else being mediocre or worse, Lester has stepped up and been the ace that we desperately need. There can’t be enough great things said about this man. Grade: A+
John Lackey: After signing a contract that only made sense if he was exactly as good as he had been in Anaheim, Lackey has completely fallen the fuck apart. He’s striking out fewer batters and walking more than he ever has, and he’s signed through 2014. He is the anti-Beltre. Grade: F
Daisuke Matsuzaka: He’s doing the same “Walk everybody and hope BABIP and HR/FB break my way” bullshit that he did in 2008, and the results aren’t breaking his way that much. Watching him pitch is like Chinese water torture with a kick in the balls thrown in at random intervals. Grade: F
Tim Wakefield: He got unfairly put in the bullpen when Dice got healthy, then went right back into the rotation when Beckett got hurt. He’s responded by being the same guy he’s always been: Brilliant or terrible with a knack for throwing 7 or 8 innings when the bullpen desperately needs a rest. I hope he pitches forever, even though I know he won’t. Sigh. Grade: B-
Clay Buchholz: He’s not as good as his ERA would suggest, and I’m definitely annoyed that the Red Sox never traded him when he had a lot of hype, but he’s been a solid arm this season. (He’s actually been our second-best starter, but that’s mostly because Beckett’s been hurt and Lackey’s actually an Angels sleeper agent trying to take us down from the inside.) His xFIP is .8 or so lower than Wake’s, though, so he doesn’t deserve a lower grade. Grade: B-
Bullpen:
Jonathan Papelbon: Has a whole lot of SAVES but has also blown SAVES and if he didn’t have SAVES he wouldn’t be trusted to get SAVES because he’s been a replacement level pitcher this year and should be getting SAVES for some other team but there’s no way we trade him midseason because the stupid fans would revolt if we traded a guy with that many SAVES. Grade: SAVES
Daniel Bard: He has been very good this season. He is literally the only relief pitcher about whom I can say this. His strikeouts are down, but his walks are down at a higher rate, and even if he won’t maintain a .203 BABIP he’s still a very talented young reliever who should be closing games for us sooner rather than later. Grade: A
The rest: Manny Delcarmen, Ramon Ramirez, Hideki Okajima, Scott Atchison, and everyone else. These guys have been interchangeably terrible this year, with any one of them capable of blowing up at any given moment. Assuming that Beckett, Martinez and Pedroia are back and contributing by the deadline (or around there), the bullpen is by far the biggest need on the team. Of course, there’s no way we trade any of our can’t miss prospects for bullpen help, so here’s to the hope that Cleveland dumps Kerry Wood’s salary on us or something. Grade: F
Summary: The offense has been incredible, particularly considering the injuries that they’ve suffered. The pitching, particularly the back of the rotation and the bullpen, has been miserable. We need to get healthy, and we need to get a reliever in order to maintain the level of competitiveness that we’ve had to this point. In a perfect world we’d also sell Matsuzaka for some magic beans and leave Wake in the rotation forever, but that’s probably not happening.
Team Grade: B+
