Gotta say, I’m pretty jealous of Righty right about now. Guy gets to write about this awesome Opening Day win with five home runs and a dominant Buchholz performance and everyone’s dancing and la di da, we’re going to go 162-0!
No, the way life really works is Rick Porcello gets outpitched by Aaron Harang the day after getting an $80 million contract extension, the infield’s two best fielders show that they’re not infallible, both committing errors behind the first sinkerballer in the rotation, and the offense doesn’t show up. We’re going 81-81. Book it.
Okay, so hopefully the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But in the meantime, what went wrong here?
Oh, the weather outside is weather: There were a lot of bundled up Sox tonight, a lot of long sleeves out there, Bogaerts was wearing that goofy head shell thing, I think Nava might’ve been wearing a full-on hoodie…I’m probably projecting here because I hate playing sports in cold weather so much myself, but it’s possible that some guys were just tight tonight because of the cold. EXCELLENT ANALYSIS LEFTY, GROUNDBREAKING STUFF.
Aaron Harang: That’s right, this big sleepy-eyed dude had eight strikeouts, getting everyone but Betts and Nava (he Nava struck him out…). It felt like Harang was leaving stuff up in the zone all night, but he got away with it, as the Sox just couldn’t seem to drive the ball and, when they didn’t swing, home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi was calling high strikes all night (for both sides, to be fair). Classic Harang: doesn’t look like someone who would ever be called dominant, occasionally somehow is anyway.
Rick Porcello: I dunno. He looks like a perfectly fine pitcher to me. But I’m not sure that he’s a guy with the potential that an $80 million contract extension indicates. He feels like a high-floor, low-ceiling kind of guy. He was hittable but definitely in control until the sixth inning, when Howard worked a full count before striking out and Ruf worked a full count before walking. He was up in the high 80s of pitch count at that point. The home run by Francoeur, one batter (Asche, with a single) later, was just a slider left hanging out over the plate. Too easy.
Anyway, Porcello looked powerful and fresh up there most of the night, but his stuff isn’t exactly lightning and smoke, so he has to be mentally sharp – he’s not going to be able to get away with mistakes like someone with more dynamic stuff might.
Bad Luck/Missed Opportunities: Call it whatever you want, but by the time the Red Sox offense showed up in the 7th inning after six innings of utter futility, things just weren’t bouncing in the right direction. Harang, on apparently strict instructions not to give Pedroia anything inside, got him to a full count but eventually gave in, conceding first base, and then gave up his second hit of the night to Sandoval, who’d also been responsible for Harang’s first surrendered hit. Looking good, right?
Next, Hanley stepped up and worked a nine-pitch at-bat, eventually getting solid contact on a ball that tailed off away from center fielder Ben Revere…who ended up tracking it down anyway, covering a lot of ground to get to it. Ramirez would be Harang’s last batter of the game. To replace him, the Phillies brought in Jeanmar Gomez, he of the Venezuelan last name and the…French (?) first name, to get the last two outs of the inning. Napoli, like Ramirez, also had a long at-bat, but it ended in pretty much the worst possible way: a sharp liner to short with Pedroia running the bases the slightest bit too aggressively, getting doubled off at second to end the inning.
In the 8th inning, after the Phillies added an insurance run in the bottom of the 7th (which I’ll get to momentarily), Boston missed its chance to capitalize on Ken Giles pooping his pants on national television. The Sox got three walks and two runs out of him, true, after Sandberg’s decision to move Darin Ruf to first base backfired immediately when Nava reached on Ruf’s bobbled attempt to field a relatively routine groundball. But Ortiz’s pinch-hit strikeout and Betts’ third fly-out of the night quickly put two outs on the board, and yeah, Hanley’s inning-ending almost-grand slam would’ve probably been out of the park on a less windy night, but it just wasn’t tonight.
Defensive Miscues: In the 4th, you could tell Pedroia was feeling particularly slick after he made a great play to throw out Howard. The next batter, Ruf, grounded one towards second base, and Pedroia tried to do a little too much, or thought he had enough time to not totally step into it, or…well, I don’t know what happened, I’m just some guy. But he didn’t step into his throw whatsoever and tried to flip it almost 90 feet from a casual-looking sidearm, ending up landing the looping throw well short of first base. Not his best. He was otherwise great defensively – he just made a mental mistake. Still, Napoli’s picked worse throws before, so he might’ve gotten away with it on another day.
Speaking of worse throws, Sandoval’s double-clutch, crow-hopping throw into the dirt on Ben Revere gifted the Phillies a man on third base with no outs, leading to the eventual insurance run by way of a Chase Utley sacrifice fly. For a guy who’s supposed to be a pretty good defensive third baseman, that was about as ugly as it gets.
Bright Spots:
– Robbie Ross, Jr. and Alexi Ogando both looked very competent. Ross got screwed by Sandoval’s botched throw in the 7th, but struck out two after that (although the sacrifice fly he gave up to Utley was right in his wheelhouse and went a little too deep for comfort*). Ogando was particularly efficient, going three up and three down in eight pitches, though he may have benefited from the free-swinging bats of a home team with a two-run lead in the bottom of the 8th.
– Bogaerts looked good on defense, charging a soft liner, making a couple quick tosses to Pedroia on fielders’ choices, etc. Nothing choppy to report so far on a guy with some defensive question marks coming into the season.
– Sandoval was the only guy with a multi-hit game (two singles) and he drew a walk to bring in the Sox’ last run of the night. That said, the walk was probably the easiest he’ll draw all year, with all four pitches high and away. No, it was not an intentional walk. Just a very shitty one.
– Don and Jerry putting on gloves and hats:
Highlights: 1. I’m pretty sure Don was wearing batting gloves. 2. “Yes…it’s for my dome.” 3. Later, Jerry says he’s perfectly fine, that his head is the only part of his body that is not cold and doesn’t need any protection. 4. The next inning starts and Jerry is now wearing a hat and talking about how warm it is.
*That’s what she said.
P.S. This got really wordy. Sorry about that. Brevity is the soul of wit, etc. I’ll tighten it up next time.
Congratulations Boston! You survived the snowiest winter on record and Opening Day finally arrived. And what a day it was. It’s really hard to temper expectations on Opening Day, especially when everything goes oh-so-right, but I will do my best to offer an objective analysis of Game 1.
At least for one day, Ben Cherington’s plan for the 2015 Red Sox worked perfectly. A great pitching performance from one of the “#3” starters, and five homers from the offense, 4 of which were solo jacks off of oft-discussed potential Red Sox “ace” Cole Hamels. Some of the highlights:
Clay Buchholz: All of the naysayers chirping about the Red Sox not having an ace look like idiots (for now, at least). ACE went 7, gave up 0 runs, 3 hits, struck out 9, and walked only one, on 94 pitches.
He had good command of (and confidence in) all five of his pitches, featuring a biting breaking ball, and a devastating changeup.
Clay didn’t give up a hit until the 4th when he left a fastball up to Ryan Howard, who smacked a double on the offending pitch. Obviously it’s unrealistic to expect him to be this sharp for every start this season, but I’ve done some math and here are Buchholz’s projected numbers:
Dustin Pedroia: I recall a certain handsome prognosticator having this to say about Pedey on yesterday’s roster breakdown:
The wrist [injury] sapped his power and really hampered his ability to turn on inside pitches and keep them fair (the ones he did turn on, he hooked foul)…He’s been talking shit to Shaughnessy (and anyone else who will listen) about how great he’s going to be this year. Good sign. And of course, Pedey will play Gold Glove defense, sacrifice his body, and make you say “wow” almost nightly. – Righty
Well lo and behold, Dustin’s wrist is fully healed. He cleaned out two inside fastballs from Hamels for a pair of dingers, his first multi-homer game since 2011. We even got a “La Luna!” from Orsillo on the second one.
Hanley Ramirez: A solo job and a broken bat grand slam. He also caught a fly ball in left field, so he’s clearly adjusting well.
Mookie Betts: A homer, a walk, and a single. On pace to combine with Pedroia for 486 long balls and be the greatest 1-2 combination of all time.
Seriously though, this was a great way to start the season. Everything went favorably for the hometown 9. Obviously they’re not going to hit five homers and play the Phillies every game, but Papi and Sandoval went 0-9 with 6 Ks so there was also some room for improvement.
Notes:
-Shortly after the game it was announced that Rick Porcello signed a four-year, $82.5 million contract extension. That’s a lot of money, and the Red Sox are gambling on his tantalizing potential. We’re essentially looking at 5 years and $95 million for his ages 26-30 seasons. That could either be a huge bargain or a monumental disaster. Or if he continues to be a decent innings-eater, it could be an okay contract. One of the three.
–Sandoval looked a little rusty. In his first AB he swung and missed on a 3-1 pitch and his bat ended up lying next to the shortstop.
-Buchholz has a pretty sweet lefty stroke. He squared up more balls than Papi and Pablo combined.
–Ryan Hanigan had few nice at-bats. Worked a walk and roped a single.
-Papi played Gold Glove defense and showed off his patented agility…in the dugout
We’re a day away from the start of the season (jumping right into interleague play – is that normal? I feel like that’s not normal) and the team is finalized. A couple dudes got sent down (Castillo, Bradley,etc.) and it’s time for us to do a Red Sox roster breakdown.
CATCHERS
Ryan Hanigan – Look, this isn’t ideal. We brought him in to be the backup, and here we are. This is a guy who’s batted .208 over the past two years. It’s not good. He’s 34, so we’re probably not looking at a career resurrection here. But the optimist in me thinks there’s a chance we get .240 or better and some solid defense out of him if he catches half the season. Over two years from 2012 to 2013 with CIncinnati, Hanigan threw out 47 of 99 runners. That’s really fucking good. On the other hand, last year he threw out 8 of 38 (that’s really fucking bad). Worst of all, Middlebrooks is raking in San Diego right now. He’d better crap the bed once he has to play in Petco. – Lefty
Sandy León – Traded a washing machine for this guy once Vázquez was out long-term. He has some upside, but he didn’t fit in with the Nationals, slotting behind Wilson Ramos and José Lobatón. He can’t really hit, but he does it from both sides of the plate. His career numbers in the minors are pretty good defensively. If you type his name into YouTube, the first result is a video that just says “Ground out.” – Lefty
INFIELDERS
Mike Napoli (1B) – Despite amassing 500 plate appearances, Nap was never fully healthy in 2014, battling a slew of injuries that kept him from performing at a high level. Combine that with the fact that the dude hadn’t dreamt in EIGHT YEARS due to his sleep apnea, and it’s no surprise that he had his lowest OPS since 2010 (.789) and a career low slugging percentage (.419). Thanks to a few surgeries, Napoli finally looks to be healthy entering the season. He’s dreaming with regularity, has ten straight fingers, and is lifting weights without feeling like he wants to die afterwards. He slugged 6 homers this spring, and I expect him to continue to rake once the season starts. – Righty
Dustin Pedroia (2B) – Pedey might quietly be one of the keys to the Red Sox 2015 campaign (the rotation obviously being the other). Similar to Napoli, Pedroia was bothered by a nagging injury last year (wrist) that had given him problems in the past, and required off-season surgery to fix. 2014 saw Dustin post career lows in almost every major offensive category. The wrist sapped his power and really hampered his ability to turn on inside pitches and keep them fair (the ones he did turn on, he hooked foul). If he can return to form and hold down the 2-hole, this Sox lineup will be downright scary. He’s been talking shit to Shaughnessy (and anyone else who will listen) about how great he’s going to be this year. Good sign. And of course, Pedey will play Gold Glove defense, sacrifice his body, and make you say “wow” almost nightly. – Righty
Xander Bogaerts (SS) – After being a vital piece of the Sox 2013 playoff and World Series run, it was a rough 2014 campaign for the X-man. He showed flashes of brilliance, especially towards the end of the season (encouraging), but overall he posted meager offensive numbers while playing subpar defense. Not a winning combination, especially given the importance of his position to the team’s overall defense. HOWEVER. Given the strength of the starting 9, Xander should slot in around #7 in the order, taking a lot of pressure off his shoulders. Something would have to go terribly wrong for Bogaerts to not post significantly better offensive numbers. More cause for optimism: he’s still just 22, and reports out of the Fort cite Xander’s improved first step, range, and overall defensive instincts. This should make the Red Sox groundball-happy pitching staff smile. – Righty
Pablo Sandoval (3B) – Everyone knows the story here. His OPS has fallen for three straight years, but he still brings the noise in the playoffs, having won a WS ring in two of those three years of decline. Sox are hoping for a return to form offensively (seems like we’ve found a common theme amongst these infielders) for the big man who’s a surprisingly good defender at the hot corner. Cherington is hoping the next 2-3 years of production justify the money guaranteed to a hefty man seemingly already in decline. The Kung Fu Panda is sure to be a fan favorite, so be prepared to bear (get it?) with lots of kids wearing panda hats. I’m sure John Henry has some promotion in mind featuring the Fenway green paint and bamboo. Or something, I don’t know, I’m not Jackie Moon, you come up with something better. – Righty
Brock Holt (1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF) – Everyone’s favorite Matt Damon lookalike. The consummate professional (utility) player. A sparkplug. A dynamo. Did you know he finished 8th in Rookie of the Year voting last year?? Probably not, but you do now! It’s natural to expect a regression from the Brock Star, as he showed signs of slowing down even before his injury in September. Inconsistent playing time and competing for at-bats with not only the Sox’ starters, but also their stacked bench, will make it difficult for him to duplicate last year’s early-season success. But a trade of Craig/Nava/Victorino could help him get more consistent reps. I don’t see the Sox moving their most versatile bench player. – Righty
OUTFIELDERS
Hanley Ramirez (LF) – An old friend whose career has (sort of) come full circle. After ceasing to be the heir apparent to Nomar when he was traded in the Beckett/Lowell deal, Hanley has had his ups and downs. Incredible production mixed with inconsistent health and some off-the-field/attitude issues. Like Sandoval, the front office is banking on the first 2-3 years of this contract offsetting the back end. It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to playing the outfield for the first time in his career (playing in front of the Monster to boot). Given his athleticism and his ability to play a decent short throughout his career, he should be fine. If he stays healthy, there’s no reason to believe he won’t be batting 3rd or 4th and producing all year. – Righty
Mookie Betts (CF) – I keep trying to temper my expectations on Mookie, especially given the performance of recent rookie phenoms (coughJBJcoughXandercough), but I just can’t do it. Seems like the dude always squares up the ball, can hit it with authority to all fields, and rarely looks bad on a pitch. Despite playing just 52 games last year, he was 5th on the team in WAR. As a natural infielder, there will be a bit of a learning curve as he gets used to playing center field. During spring training, the Sox had him playing shallow so he could work on tracking balls directly over his head, so that’ll be something to keep an eye on when the season starts. He should benefit from having Shane Victorino playing next to him in right (at least to start the year). But seriously, we shouldn’t expect too much, the kid’s just 22 years old. Let’s just hope he’s ready and we don’t have another JBJ situation on our hands. – Righty
Shane Victorino (RF) – What can you say about Shane? I love the guy. We’ll always have 2013. Hearing all of Fenway sing Three Little Birds before a crucial at-bat in a series where he couldn’t hit a Henry Rowengartner underhanded lob, and then watching him hit a grand slam on an 0-2 pitch still gives me goosebumps.
But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s our 4th best option in the outfield. Farrell said, “You don’t lose your job due to injury.” I agree with that somewhat, but I feel like that applies much more if it’s an in-season thing. The Sox signed Castillo to play in the majors now, and even with his oblique injury, he’s outperformed Victorino this spring, hitting over .300 and routinely making highlight reel plays in the field, while Shane hit below the Mendoza line. Granted, spring training numbers mean next to nothing, but it’s still a bit of a head-scratcher to show this much loyalty to an aging veteran. If he’s performing early, look for him to be shipped off to a contender. If not, this could get ugly. – Righty
Allen Craig (1B, OF) – Craig was an All-Star in 2013. In 2014 he was … not. It would almost be mean to post his numbers, especially after he got to the Sox (.191 SLG, that hurt just to type). Needless to say, he has nowhere to go but up from last year’s abysmal campaign. Another guy who’s gonna struggle to get consistent at-bats given the Sox’ talent and depth. This will make it tougher to demonstrate his value for a potential trade, but you’d certainly think he has to be the #1 candidate to be moved. – Righty
Daniel Nava (1B, OF) – One of my personal favorite players. After an atrocious start to 2014 and a trip down to the minors, Nava was one of the Red Sox’ best players upon his return to the big club. He posted a 3.3 WAR in 113 games, good for second amongst hitters on the team, behind only Pedroia. Nava (or “Thumb Faced Idiot,” as he’s affectionately known around these parts) can play multiple positions and is patient at the plate, but may not be as attractive to other teams as Craig, a known commodity. The most interesting storyline of his season will be the possibility of his abandoning switch-hitting. Nava has been much better from the left side in his career (.293/.385/.428 vs RHP, and .209/.287/.298 vs LHP), although he has about 1/4 as many ABs against lefties. I doubt we’ll get many chances to see him hit lefty against a lefty, but if we do…it could be cool. – Righty
DESIGNATED HITTERS
David Ortiz – “This is our fucking city,” complaining about money, clutch hit after clutch hit, complaining about steroids, three World Series wins, complaining about RBI attribution…Papi’s the man, and I couldn’t care less about the complaining. It just makes him more entertaining. Last year, though, was a slight dip down from the consistency of the previous three years, and as Ortiz nears 40, the possibility of that dip becoming a trend looms large. Even though he hit 35 home runs, he also had his lowest ever number of extra base hits in a season with over 600 at-bats. Then again, everyone thought he was done after 2009, right? Whoops. Side note: I will never get tired of Ortiz’s swing when he pulls a homer to right field. How fucking great is that? – Lefty
STARTING PITCHERS
Clay Buchholz – He looks the part of a lanky, dirty ace. I want him to be good so badly. But in 7+ seasons, we’ve got about a season and a half of great and the rest has ranged from good (2011) to diarrhea (2014). He’s got his fastball, he’s got his cutter. His curveball’s the only offspeed pitch he throws with regularity. He’s been okay this spring. We really just won’t know until tomorrow. Get ready to grit your teeth. – Lefty
Rick Porcello – He’ll usually throw a sinker and pitch to contact. After Scherzer, he was Detroit’s second-best option last year. Well, I’d take Anibal Sanchez over him, but he was hurt half the season. He pitched 200 innings for the first time last year, but he’s also never pitched less than 162 or started less than 27 games. So he grinds. The goal, I guess, with picking up the three free agent starters, was to reach for 550-600 innings of sub-4.00 ERA pitching. That’s the dream. But Porcello is probably looking at a regression to somewhere around 4.50. – Lefty
Justin Masterson – The prodigal son returns! If you want to look at Masterson with any sort of positivity, you’re going to have to completely erase last year. Pretend it never happened. It was an unqualified disaster. But from 2011 to 2013, Masterson (another sinkerballer, actually) averaged over 200 innings a year, and in 2013, he put up over a strikeout per inning, moving on from a more contact-oriented approach and making the All-Star team. Personally, I’m a big Masterson guy, mostly because he’s been really helpful for my fantasy team over the past couple years. I realize that this means I’m an idiot. This undeserved love also applies to the next man up in the rotation… – Lefty
Wade Miley – Another fantasy stalwart of mine. Dude eats innings. Is it possible that Cherington has just been bugging my computer over the last few years and decided that now is the time to steal my fantasy team’s strategy? Yeah, I think so too. Miley’s main pitch is also a sinker (I’m beginning to sense a trend). He upped his K rate to 8.2/9 innings in 2014 from 6.5/9 in 2013. Barring injury, he’s going to give this rotation around 200 innings, as he’s done every year since his rookie season. Same old story as the other two free agent signings, basically. Except I actually feel better about Miley than the other two guys. I love him. That said, he’s moving from the NL to the AL, so if he sucks, I accept no responsibility. – Lefty
Joe Kelly – The would-be 5th member of the rotation, he’ll start the year on the DL. After a rough start, he was pretty…pretty…pretty good for the Sox in the second half of 2014. Hey, guess what pitch he throws the most? Yeah, a sinker. I think it’s safe to say that Cherington designed this rotation to give the infield a ton of chances. An infield that’s made up of one Gold Glover, one very good third baseman, one former catcher, and one big question mark in Xander Bogaerts. He can’t really be that bad, can he? Anyway, Kelly throws gas, which is fun to watch. He should be fine as a 5th starter. A step up over Doubront in any case. – Lefty
Steven Wright – He’s likely just making a spot start, so he’ll either be lights out and make everyone miss Tim Wakefield or he’ll get lit up and make everyone miss Tim Wakefield. Baseball is weird: Wright was drafted in the 2nd round (!) in 2006, switched to the knuckleball in 2011, and is now 30 years old. His Twitter handle is @Knucklepuck23. He seems like a pretty cool guy. – Lefty
RELIEF PITCHERS
Koji Uehara – It starts and ends with Koji, obviously. High five city!
Everyone’s favorite 1-2-3 inning closer unfortunately also has a nasty habit of giving up home runs (10 in 2014), and his season went off the rails in August last year. He gives up a lot of fly balls anyway, but when his stuff isn’t 100%, one-run leads just aren’t as safe as they appear. That said, when he’s on, there’s no one I’d rather have closing out games. – Lefty
Edward Mujica – In one word: streaky. Not the ideal word to describe a closer. From April to August 2013 for the Cardinals, he was one of the best closers in baseball, despite not having electric stuff. But in September, the lack of strikeouts caught up to him (or his luck just ran out), and he managed an 11.05 ERA over 10 appearances. The most impressive part of this was that he actually earned two saves. Maybe he hadn’t gotten his confidence back yet, but when April 2014 rolled around and he found himself in a Red Sox uniform, he was still…just…awful, putting up a 10.00 ERA in 10 appearances. But by the end of the season, he’d cobbled together a 3.90 ERA, including a period from August to September when he was essentially untouchable (1.71 ERA) just as the wheels came off of Koji. So basically, who knows with this guy? – Lefty
Junichi Tazawa – Tazawa is my boy. I won’t hear a word against him. He had a rough July last year, but was great pretty much the whole time apart from that. He throws hard and has a good splitter. You can absolutely go to war with Junichi as your setup man. – Lefty
Craig Breslow – Ah yes, the old lefty Connecticut nerd Ivy League journeyman. Everyone knows that old cliché. He was lousy last year, and there’s really no way around it. He had the worst WHIP of his entire career. Until and unless he struggles this year, though, I’m hesitant to say that he’s washed up. Let’s chalk 2014 up to an outlier (hopefully for more than just Craig Breslow). – Lefty
Alexi Ogando – He’s got starter caliber stuff somewhere, it’s just a question of finding it. His ERA last year seems flukish, he’s not a 5.00+ ERA kind of guy. He’ll need to get back to his 2012 form (58 appearances, 3.27 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 9.0 K/9) to give the Sox some glue in the bullpen. – Lefty
Tommy Layne – Okay, we’re officially in the “Who?” section of the roster. But as the Red Sox’ season crumbled around him last year, Layne put up a 0.95 ERA in 19 innings over 30 appearances. He probably won’t do that again, but as a lefty specialist, he seems fully capable of putting up something sub-3.00 for ERA. He won’t miss as many bats as Andrew Miller, but on the bright side, he’s not Andrew Miller. – Lefty
Anthony Varvaro – He’s coming off two good seasons with the Braves in relief. He brought his strikeout rate way up from 2013 to 2014, and he relies heavily on his fastball, throwing it about 60% of the time. It seems like an increase in the use of his curveball and changeup might have been a contributing factor to his K/9 rate’s improvement. Honestly, I know as much as or less about him than you do, so cut me some slack. This is a learning experience for all of us, jeez. Dude looks legit though. – Lefty
Robbie Ross, Jr. – Unless Anthony Ranaudo suddenly clicks in the Rangers’ system, this looks like a nice little trade that could pay off for Cherington. He’s a young 25 who’d been really solid and effective for the Rangers over two seasons of relief. Last year, they asked him to start and things kind of went to shit. Not that he was any better in relief appearances, but still. The advanced stats indicate that he wasn’t as bad as his terrible ERA (6.20), and at the very least, he’s another lefty arm for the bullpen and should be able to provide some solid long relief. – Lefty
BONUS – MINOR LEAGUERS
Rusney Castillo (OF) – Touched on this in Victorino’s write-up, but Castillo is in his prime right now. He’s 27 and the Sox are paying him $11.2 million this year, so it’s baffling that this guy isn’t starting in right field, especially given his spring performance. Why would the Red Sox want to waste part of a prime season (and money) by sending him down for an aging, injury-prone vet? If they’re hoping Victorino gets hurt or hits .400 in April and people wanna throw prospects at us I’d say it’s a pretty foolish plan. Look for a call-up at the first possible opportunity. – Righty
Jackie Bradley Jr. (CF) – I ripped JBJ a little in Mookie’s write-up, but the truth is I love the guy. He’s the best defensive outfielder alive right now (yeah, you read that right). My man is 5’10” and 200lbs (a generous listing) and can throw the ball OVER the centerfield wall at Fenway from behind home plate.
If he can hit .250 he’s an extremely valuable player, and I believe he can do it. He’s selective and willing to hit the ball to all fields. For what it’s worth, he hit .378 this spring, making it less likely that his stellar spring that got us all excited two years ago was a fluke, but he’s yet to figure it out at the big-league level. He will be with the big club at some point in the season, and if more than one of Craig/Victorino/Nava gets moved or hurt, he should fill that depth outfielder spot. – Righty
Blake Swihart (C) – After Vázquez’s unfortunate injury (another guy I was really high on), people wondered whether Boston would accelerate Blake’s timetable and perhaps have him break camp with the big club. Again, possibly hoping to avoid another JBJ situation, the Red Sox quickly put an end to that talk by acquiring León. But given the fact that Hanigan and León are both light hitters, don’t be surprised if Swihart gets a call-up sooner rather than later. His defensive game still needs to come around, but the kid can hit. Learning under a good defender like Hanigan could help make the transition a little smoother. – Righty
Brandon Workman – I just can’t imagine that we’re going to get through the 2015 season without seeing him. Just to give us some more workmanlike performances. Okay, I’ll admit that was the only reason I included him in this. Sorry. – Lefty
Just a couple of white males in their mid-20s starting a blog about the Red Sox. EDGY STUFF.
Will this be good? Maybe. Will it be award-winning? Almost definitely. I can actually 1000% guarantee that we will win the LeftyAndRighty.com Official 2015 Best Sportswriting of the Year Award. It’s very prestigious.
Here’s what we’re actually gonna do here:
Game recaps
Series analysis
…other Red Sox stuff?
Basically we’re gonna talk about all the stuff that happens this season
What we’re not gonna do here:
Be obsessed with breaking news updates and stuff – hopefully, you will not be using our blog to get breaking Red Sox news, because that would be sad
Super advanced analysis – we’d probably be in over our heads, and while we might quote FanGraphs or talk about Buchholz’s FIP from time to time, don’t look for a thesis on OPS+ and park effects here
…suck?
I mean, we might suck, but we will try not to
There will probably be various Celtics, Bruins, and Patriots stuff thrown into the mix. Deal with it.
Anyway, you should read our blog. We’re gonna try real hard to make it great. We don’t even care if no one reads it! (We definitely do care.) We’re giving it our best shot for one year, and if we’re not famous sportswriters by then, we’ll know the world has terrible taste.
