Heroes, Joes, Ghosts and Goats

[Dojji]

Definitions:

 

Hero: Someone who went above and beyond in a way that really helped define them this year

 

Joe: A workmanline performance based on showing up, doing what was expected , and limiting the number of negative surprises.

 

Villain: The enemy among us. Those whose failures cost the team.

 

Ghosts: Nonfactors, or present but irrelevant players.

 

 

Catchers:

 

Varitek

 

Villain. Provided some redeeming value, but his lack of offense was a decisive factor against his own team. Thanks for the great memories, Tek, but you did some damage this year.

 

Cash

 

Joe. Did his work, caddied his knuckleballer, and even hit a little more than I thought he would. Kevin Cash was your basic standard run of the mill backup catcher. Did nothing unexpectedly well or unexpectedly poorly.

 

Ross

 

Ghost. Practically a nonfactor except that his presence allowed Varitek to be pinch hit for.

 

Kottaras

 

Ghost. Probably should have been used more since he had 20 HR's and a good OBP in Pawtucket, but apparently Sox brass aren't quite sure of him yet.

 

1B:

 

Youkilis:

 

Hero. Went from short of 20 HR's last year to 29 this year and spent the last half of the year batting cleanup. A huge part of our offense in the stretch run, and for the first time didn't have his value compromised by late-season struggles. Also came up big a couple times in October.

 

Casey:

 

Joe. Could have been a hero but fell off in the second half and was a ghost in the postseason. Still, not much more you could demand of a backup 1B. Maybe a few HR's but if what you wanted was a LH contact hitter who could provide some depth at 1B, well, that's what you should have expected from Casey anway so he did his job.

 

Kotsay:

 

Joe. He's on the borderline between joe and villain because we counted on him to hit a fair bit more than he did. That said, he provided great defense and made a bit of noise in the postseason and for a waiver deadline pickup not much more you can ask.

 

Bailey:

 

Hero. No one really expected anything out of a 28 year old rookie 1B but in limited playing time Jeff Bailey was surprisingly solid. If the team finds itself in need of a righthanded PH who can play 1B, LF, and emergency C they could do worse.

 

2B:

 

Pedroia:

 

Hero. And then some. 17 HR's, 20 stolen bases, and a dynamo in the postseason.

 

Shortstop:

 

Lugo:

 

Joe. This might surprise some people but to be honest, Lugo did provide OK value when healthy. His OBP was fairly high and he had some speed on the basepaths that made that OBP mean something. I wouldn't be surprised if someone called him out as a villain for a simple reason though: a man as fast as Lugo has no reason to be grounding into as many double plays as Julio did this year.

 

Still, until he went down Julio was adequate, and I'll write his bad defense this year off as a symptom of the injury that eventually ended his season. I wouldn't be too broken-hearted if Theo somehow failed to dump Lugo in the offseason, although I'm sure we have better uses for the money tied up in his contract than a dink-and-dunk shortstop with an inaccurate throwing arm

 

Lowrie:

 

Joe. Borderline hero, but struggled from the left side and ultimately slumped his way down to average offensive numbers on the year. Pulled in a lot of key hits, including the seroes-winning hit in the ALCS. Also no errors and a better arm than we'd been led to believe. I donno how much more you could realistically expect from a rookie. Looking forward to watching this guy grow.

 

Cora:

 

Joe. Cora's job is to not totally suck at multiple positions and if he hits more than a little, fine. That's what we got out of him, and he threw in a pretty decent OBP as well, so, bonus. I wouldn't mistake him for a starter, but as utility men go he was meh. Not awful.

 

3B:

 

Mike Lowell: Joe. The man did everything humanly possible to stay effective this year but it wasn't to be. WHen he was out there Lowell was a pretty big contributor to Boston's offense and we felt his absence in the playoffs pretty keenly. Get well soon, Mike.

 

Left Field:

 

Manny Ramirez:

 

Hero. I'm going to catch some hell for this, but Manny bounced back from his first season since his rookie year with under 100 RBI and under a .300 AVG to be well on pace to beat both of those marks before he shot his way off the Sox roster. He was exceeding what a lot of people expected from him based on what we saw the previous season.

 

Jason Bay:

 

Hero. Bay made us feel Manny's departure far less keenly and did a great job of keeping the offense rolling. He was kind of a casualty of Youk's prospecity by the fact that he was batting 6th, the last hitter in our power alley and wasn't getting much protection himself. I'm kinda expecting that to change as we get to know him better. If Youkilis starts to spit the bit in the cleanup spot next year or if Bay just has a great year look for Bay to move up.

 

Center Field:

 

Crisp:

 

Joe. I was an open question who the better CF was between Ellsbury and Coco. It still is. Crisp acquitted himself well this year and even hit a little (.750 OPS). We expected more from him when we first got him, but since '06 and '07 have lowered our expectations a bit I'll take what he is now.

 

Ellsbury:

 

Hero. Ellsbury led the league in stolen bases. He had a poor OBP and faltered in the playoffs but he was a force at the top of the order when he was hitting, and I expect him to hit more as he grows.

 

 

Right Field:

 

Drew:

 

Hero. Undoubtedly and unequivocally. If we'd won Game 7 it would have been a tossup between Drew and Papelbon who the ALCS MVP was. And he carried the team for about a month and a half in the middle of the season when Ortiz was first hurt.

 

Brandon Moss:

 

Hero. We kinda forgot about him because of everything that happened at the deadline but Moss was doing great work as a backup during the first few JD Drew injuries. Despite the fact that he fell off the map after the trade I definitely would rather have had Moss than Kotsay at the end of the season and into the postseason. And Moss had some clutch hits for us before the trade too, starting with the HR off Houston Street that allowed us to win the opening day game in Japan.

 

Designated Hitters:

 

David Ortiz:

 

Joe. I can't call Papi a villain and he still had what would be an OK year for a lot of people but... *sigh* I wish he could have really gotten his legs under him and his wrist working this year and see where we could have gone. If Ortiz was in the lineup and doing his usual while Drew was also hitting we could have taken this division.

 

Chris Carter:

 

Ghost. We've seen some potential for the future in Carter but he doesn't field well enough to be anything but a DH and there's no way he replaces Big Papi unless the big man goes down. Still, he's a nice guy to have around in an emergency and he can definitely hit.

[Dojji]

Pitchers:

 

Starters:

Lester: Hero

Daisuke: Hero

Beckett: Joe

Wakefield: Joe

Buchholz: Villain

Byrd: Joe

Schilling: Ghost

Colon: Ghost/Villain (he could have been available instead of Wake in a game we lost in the ALCS)

Pauley: Ghost

Zink: Ghost

Hansack: Ghost

Bowden: Ghost

 

RP:

 

Papelbon: Hero

Okajima: Hero

Masterson: Hero

MDC: Joe

Lopez: Hero

Hansen: Villain

Aardsma: Villain

Tavarez: Villain

Timlin: Villain

Snyder: Ghost

Corey: Ghost

Smith: Villain

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

I think Colon should be upgraded to Joe. He did fill in some valuable space in the rotation early this year, no pun intended.

[Dojji]

If he hadn't thrown his tantrum in September I'd agree, but his inability to look at the big picture and make himself available for the playoffs really grates on me.

[TheKilo]

Catchers:

 

Varitek - Villain - Regressed in nearly every facet of his game this season, came up incredibly small in the playoffs.

 

Cash - Joe - Exceeded offensive expectations (not hard to do when you have one of the worst OPS+ in MLB history, I believe his was 27 coming into this season - handled Wake well, don't want him on the team next season)

 

Ross - Ghost - Thought he'd be used more, disappointing he wasn't with Varitek's struggles.

 

1B:

 

Youkilis - Hero - MVP

 

Kotsay - Joe - His approach was infuriating at times, but he performed admirably in the playoffs at 1B - there was a three week stretch towards the end of September when he didn't hit anything but hit quite well in the playoffs.

 

Casey - Joe - Great 1st half, disappointing 2nd half, no flexibility in how to use the roster spot, bet he's gone.

 

Bailey - Joe - IL MVP, did all you can ask from a career minor leaguer, should have made the ALCS roster over Timlin.

 

2B:

 

Pedroia - Hero - MVP

 

SS:

 

Lugo - Joe/Villain - Sunk cost. Hope he's gone.

 

Lowrie - Joe - Started off gangbusters - overpowered by good fastballs, worrisome split from left side.

 

Cora - Villain - Getting hit by a pitch is not a skill, empty BA, terrible defense.

 

3B:

 

Lowell - Joe/Villain - Disappointing year. Couldn't stay healthy. Playing hurt was counterproductive to the Sox's success.

 

OF:

 

Manny - Villain - Sucked for the entire month of June. Disappointing end to a good run in Boston. Wonder what could have been if he kept his mouth shut.

 

Bay - Hero - Came in an performed in a tight spot exceedingly well. Look for a big year next year.

 

Crisp - Joe/Hero - Average start to his season, best offensive CF in baseball since August and handled being benched like a consummate professional.

 

Ellsbury - Joe/Villain -Shares the blame with Tito for his atrocious season in the leadoff spot. Had a good April, OK may, OK September, terrible summer. 50 steals is a nice number, awfully empty BA, good to great defense.

 

Drew - Hero - Team MVP in June, team leader in OPS for much of the season, clutch god in the postseason.

 

Moss - Joe - Great start to the season, appendicitis set him back IMO. Lost in the deal for Bay - probably the player that (a) sucked to lose the most [most talent] but ( was the most expendable [with Bailey, Carter, Van Every, etc]

 

DH:

 

Ortiz - Joe/Villain - Played hurt much of the year, but like Lowell, really hurt the team with lack of production. Terrible start to the season when healthy, too. Looking for a big year next year with the wrist healed.

[TheKilo]

Pitchers:

 

Starters:

Lester: Hero

Daisuke: Hero

Beckett: Joe

Wakefield: Joe

Buchholz: Villain

Byrd: Joe

Schilling: Ghost

Colon: Ghost/Villain (he could have been available instead of Wake in a game we lost in the ALCS)

Pauley: Ghost

Zink: Ghost

Hansack: Ghost

Bowden: Ghost

 

RP:

 

Papelbon: Hero

Okajima: Hero

Masterson: Hero

MDC: Joe

Lopez: Hero

Hansen: Villain

Aardsma: Villain

Tavarez: Villain

Timlin: Villain

Snyder: Ghost

Corey: Ghost

Smith: Villain

 

Pitchers:

 

DiceK - Hero

Lester - Hero

Wakefield - Joe/Hero

Beckett - Joe

Buchholz - Villain

Byrd - Joe

Schilling - Ghost/Villain

Colon - Villain

MiLB crew - Ghosts

Papelbon - Hero

Okajima - Hero

Masterson - Hero

MDC - Hero/Joe

Lopez - Hero/Joe

Hansen - Villain

Aardsma - Joe/Villain

Tavarez - Ghost

Timlin - Villain

Snyder - Ghost

Corey - Ghost

Smith - Ghost