Am I the only one a bit nervous about John Lackey?

[a700hitter]

I'm worried about the bullpen. I'm worried about the Sox having a consistent offense. The two things I'm not worried about are starting pitching and defense.

Agreed. Bullpen is always a concern because there is always a lot of turnover from year to year.

[Plumpamania]

But dude' date=' we have Josh Reddick! :thumbsup:[/quote']

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JMOh-cul6M

[BoSox21]

As far as the offense goes, I think we've got one too many "B-/B" guys and one too few "A" guys. Whether the starting pitching and defense is improved enough to compensate for that fear, we'll see but at some point, I think we're all gonna get frustrated that the offense won't be able to get some much-needed late-inning runs.

[YeAuldBroade]

I never really thought of Jason Bay as an A guy and yes I know his power numbers were up there as league best but Jason always seemed to get that big hit or drive in those big runs when the game was well in hand. Statistics may prove me wrong but I just never thought "we need a big hit, woo hoo Bay's coming to bat".

[Dipre]

I never really thought of Jason Bay as an A guy and yes I know his power numbers were up there as league best but Jason always seemed to get that big hit or drive in those big runs when the game was well in hand. Statistics may prove me wrong but I just never thought "we need a big hit' date=' woo hoo Bay's coming to bat".[/quote']

 

That's because he's a very vulnerable hitter who struck out 30% of the time last year. Still our most productive hitter (when taking games played into account) last year.

[Dojji]

He was our best hitter, but not by a ton. Drew and Youkilis weren't that far behind him.

[Dipre]

Hence the "When taking games played into account". All things being equal, Youk would have probably been more productive.

[a700hitter]

He was our best hitter' date=' but not by a ton. Drew and Youkilis weren't that far behind him.[/quote']And Bay had a bit of an off year last year. His average was down about 20 points from his lifetime average and he was still our most productive hitter. The key point isn't whether he is a better hitter than Youk or Drew or even Ortiz. The key point is that he is a more productive hitter than Hermida and Cameron, his replacements.

[Dojji]

Bay's OPS was above his career average in OPS. He struck out more, sure, but he also walked a lot more.

[a700hitter]

Bay's OPS was above his career average in OPS. He struck out more' date=' sure, but he also walked a lot more.[/quote']He was in abetter lineup than he was with the Pirates. There's no reason not to believe that he could have done even better this season. He had a dreadful slump that brought his average down into the .230's at one point.

 

... and again, he is much better than his replacements. That's the key.