its really too bad wake and dice k have been injured all year long because who knows if they been healthy we would be in 1st place. WAkefield is bound to coming back and nobody knows the deal with dice k. Also concern exist with the consistancy of our starters that are pitching now. Lester and Beckett have had bad years in my opinion (especially compared to some of the yankees pitchers)
If playoffs started today we would have beckett, lester, wakefield and i don't feel confident with that rotation thus far from what we seen all year long
Power hitting also has been a problem (ever since manny left). Jason Bay has had a good year but mainly seems to get home runs/rbi's when the game doesn't count anymore, ortiz i don't have to say and other guys like drew, lowell are not natually rbi players. Great year for ellsbury (he will demand max contract when he becomes a FA)
Bullpen superb and wagoner makes it even deadlier
So with our team right now with no upgrades to come do you feel confident getting a chance to pass the yankees or even win it all? I don't have that good feeling i had before we won it all in 2002 and 2004
This is gonna be tough to break down but ill try, will be a long post however
Lester has been our best pitcher this year by the stats, and his season is right there with CC Sabathia, the Yankees ace. Lester is 11-7 with a 3.58 ERa and 196 K's, CC is 16-7 with a 3.48 ERA and 167 k's, Lester has pitched much better than his record and should have 14 or so wins. Jon has given up 3 ER or less 16 times in his last 17 starts and has a 2.32 ERA over that time. So CC>Lester, but its a VERY slight advantage
Beckett has been dominant up until his last 4 starts, he is 14-5 with a 3.87 ERA and 172 K's, Andy Pettite is 12-6 with a 4.03 ERA. So Beckett>Pettite. Burnett has been worse than Pettite so i went with Andy as their #2. So what are you talking about when saying they have been bad compared to the Yankees top pitchers?
Also like everyone else has said, Buchholz is the #3 pitcher now and has looked VERY good over the last month. Has 3.37 ERA over his last five starts and thats skewered bigtime because of the game where he went 4.2 inning and gave up 7, would be a 1.66 ERA over his last 4 if you take that game out.
You say we have no power hitters, yet they Red Sox as a team have the 5th most HR's in baseball and the 3rd best slugging %. You are wrong about Jason Bay, just like you were last year when you said theyd trade him and Buchholz for Holliday. Bay in late and close situations this year has hit .311 with a 1.055 OPS, so that means he is elite in clutch situations. The stats actually show he gets WORSE when the game doesnt matter and is at his best when it does. Here you go, look at clutch stats halfway down the page
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=bayja01&year=2009&t=b.
Ortiz isnt what he was, but he has hit the 2nd most homers in the AL since June and has an OPS of about .900 since then.
Drew may not be a natural RBI guy, but he has a .880 OPS from the back of the lineup, no other team in baseball has a 8 hitter that good.
Saying Mike Lowell isnt an RBI guy is amusing, his last 3 years he has had 120 RBI's in 154 games, 73 RBI's in 113 games last year, a good amount which he was hurt during, and 66 RBI's in 100 games so far this year, thats a very good RBI guy.
Ellsbury is about 3 years away from being a FA, and although theres no max contract in baseball he won't get anything close to a top level contract.
As for this year, just make the playoffs and ill feeel good. Beckett needs to get right for them to make the playoffs but if they make it i feel very good about their chances. A Lester/Beckett top two would be tough as hell to beat and the lineup is one of the best in baseball since getting Victor, especially when they have him at catcher to take Tek's awful bat out of the lineup. Also, the Red Sox didnt win the WS in 2002.
Topic: bullpen amazing, offense good, power hitting and starting pitching? (Read 3790 times)