Grade the 2012 Red Sox

[a700hitter]

Something has to change for this team to make a run at the championship. I posted days ago that the formula IMO is obvious:

 

Beckett, Lester and Buchholz need to start pitching like top of the rotation starters and AGon needs to hit like the offensive threat we thought we had acquired. If those things happen, they should make a strong run.

[a700hitter]

You said we can't win the division. There's about an entire half left' date=' nothing's over. Why would you even watch if you know the results? It's ridiculous.[/quote']There is less than half a season left, and yes it is my opinion that we will not win the division. I think they will need to win 95 games to win the division. They would need to play .684 ball from now until the end of the season to win 95 games. I don't think that is realistic in light of their schedule. They have to play the Yanks 12 more times.

 

I was listening to the Red Sox broadcast on Friday night and no less a homer than Jerry Remy said that if the Red Sox ended the weekend behind the Yankees by double digits that it would be virtually impossible to win the division. It's not completely impossible, but very improbable IMO.

[Bellhorn04]

This team has problems on all fronts. As bad as things have gone this year, I thought maybe Beckett and Lester could step up against the Yanks, but no.

 

It was the Oakland series that really snapped me though. Especially that second game. That was as brutal as it gets. Punto blows the bunt, Kalish goes Psycho Lyons and gets thrown at third, Aceves blows the save. What a trifecta! That was awful.

[a700hitter]

This team has problems on all fronts. As bad as things have gone this year, I thought maybe Beckett and Lester could step up against the Yanks, but no.

 

It was the Oakland series that really snapped me though. Especially that second game. That was as brutal as it gets. Punto blows the bunt, Kalish goes Psycho Lyons and gets thrown at third, Aceves blows the save. What a trifecta! That was awful.

The offensive production in the first half was fine. Only the Rangers scored more runs. The pitching let them down and is the main reason why they are in this predicament. We had 4 starters perform like #5 pitchers and the other one was not up to any major league standards.

[a700hitter]

This team has problems on all fronts. As bad as things have gone this year, I thought maybe Beckett and Lester could step up against the Yanks, but no.

 

It was the Oakland series that really snapped me though. Especially that second game. That was as brutal as it gets. Punto blows the bunt, Kalish goes Psycho Lyons and gets thrown at third, Aceves blows the save. What a trifecta! That was awful.

When it rains it pours. Even if we split on that road trip, we would still suck. We were luckythat the Yankees insisted on giving away Saturday night's game. Their play was atrocious in that game. They handed us the game on a platter.

[Bellhorn04]

When it rains it pours. Even if we split on that road trip' date=' we would still suck. We were luckythat the Yankees insisted on giving away Saturday night's game. Their play was atrocious in that game. They handed us the game on a platter.[/quote']

 

Yeah, and then Jeter tried to gift-wrap the last game for us, but we were the Walking Dead so he got away with it easy.

[a700hitter]

Yeah' date=' and then Jeter tried to gift-wrap the last game for us, but we were the Walking Dead so he got away with it easy.[/quote']You would think when his shoulder was cramped up that we could have managed some grounders in the hole.

[Station 13]

"In Boston's 43 wins, Adrian Gonzalez has contributed one home run."

-ESPN

 

This season is a huge failure for Gonzalez.

[ellsburyforMVP]

Seen a couple more post about "ellsbury being prone to injury" ...... Seriously-Brennan? I think...... If you watch the game, you would know both injuries were "freak accidents".... Too imply that ellsbury is made of glass is ridiculous

[SCM33]

Last I checked we weren't even close to being eliminated.

 

You guys are pretentious, and act like you have a knowledge of the way the season's going to play out, it's a f***ing disgusting display, and makes this site unenjoyable at times.

 

The reality is that if they play the way they have been, they're going to finish with a .500 record or worse. The idea is that things can change, for better or worse.

 

Dont take it so seriously. Its just the state of things surrounding the franchise. You are lucky you don't live around here.....what you see on this forum is nothing compared to the media around here.

 

Seen a couple more post about "ellsbury being prone to injury" ...... Seriously-Brennan? I think...... If you watch the game' date=' you would know both injuries were "freak accidents".... Too imply that ellsbury is made of glass is ridiculous[/quote']

 

Why is it ridiculous? He has been injury prone. What else would you call someone who misses significant time in 2 of the last 3 years? Hes played 3 years and missed 1 1/2 years. Accident and injury are the same thing. They both require DL stints. In Tacoby's case, significant DL time.

[Designated Hater]

I actually think the "expert" ratings listed are pretty forgiving for whatever reason. Maybe they are reluctant to give a poor grade to a specific player but would likely give the team as a whole a poor grade.

 

Look, these buffoon beat writers never want to say anything bad about the team or else they will get shut out of getting any dirt, not that they get anything to begin with.

 

It's all fluff.

 

This team gets a D and only because Papi is hitting and the bullpen is saving their asses. Otherwise, a big fat F.

[example1]

I'm the resident glass half-full guy, but I give them a D. The half-full part is not giving them an F. I still think this is an immensely talented team, but the combination of injuries, apparently not playing through injuries, and inexplicably bad performances from Pedroia, Gonzalez, Lester and Beckett make me want to give them a poor score.

[Emmz]

There is less than half a season left, and yes it is my opinion that we will not win the division. I think they will need to win 95 games to win the division. They would need to play .684 ball from now until the end of the season to win 95 games. I don't think that is realistic in light of their schedule. They have to play the Yanks 12 more times.

 

I was listening to the Red Sox broadcast on Friday night and no less a homer than Jerry Remy said that if the Red Sox ended the weekend behind the Yankees by double digits that it would be virtually impossible to win the division. It's not completely impossible, but very improbable IMO.

 

I agree that the odds are heavily stacked against us.

 

I never said otherwise, but you make it sound like this isn't a sport where something crazy like this happens almost every year. In context, it sounds like you think it's impossible, thats all I'm saying.

[a700hitter]

I agree that the odds are heavily stacked against us.

 

I never said otherwise, but you make it sound like this isn't a sport where something crazy like this happens almost every year. In context, it sounds like you think it's impossible, thats all I'm saying.

The division is essentially over. I am not expecting anything crazy to happen. If the crazy stuff occurred on a regular basis, it wouldn't be crazy. The only chance they have is to take 11 of the 12 games against the Yankees and play them to a dead heat in the remaining games. I think the division is such along shot that it should not be a consideration for the FO as it moves forward with its plans. At this point they should be considering how much, if anything, they want to invest in this team to get a wild card spot.

[a700hitter]

I'm the resident glass half-full guy' date=' but I give them a D. The half-full part is not giving them an F. I still think this is an immensely talented team, but the combination of injuries, apparently not playing through injuries, and inexplicably bad performances from Pedroia, Gonzalez, Lester and Beckett make me want to give them a poor score.[/quote']I always told you that I thought we agreed on more things than you realized. As reasonable people and avid Red Sox fans we have agreed on those issues about which reasonable people might disagree, but on the clear cut stuff there is usually agreement.

[a700hitter]

Seen a couple more post about "ellsbury being prone to injury" ...... Seriously-Brennan? I think...... If you watch the game' date=' you would know both injuries were "freak accidents".... Too imply that ellsbury is made of glass is ridiculous[/quote']Players that play the gamew recklessly tend to get injured more often. Do not equate reckless with playing hard. Ellsbury's play tends to be reckless. No one will ever convince me that the headfirst slide is not reckless. It leaves a player extremely vulnerable to injury. This last time he slid feet first in such a funamenatally unsound manner that he left himself vulnerable to injury. He did everything wrong on that slide except for going in feet first. I think people have a problem with the "prone" part of "Injury prone". Let's call it "oft-injured". There's no question that he has often been injured in the last few years, and because he plays the game a bit recklessly, he is a risk to get injured in the future. Injury prone doesn't mean that you have a pre-existing condition. It just means that you get injured a lot. Ellsbury does.

[Elktonnick]

I gave this team an F. The problem is some individual players are preforming and performing well. However as a team, once again this team isn't equal to the sum of its parts. Fundamentally nothing has changed since September. Beckett Lester and the other starting pitchers underperformed then and are underperforming now. I wanted Beckett traded over the winter. He wasn't and that was a mistake. It now appears that the FO is considering moving one or more of their starters. Another major mistake was not letting the manager, whomever it was, pick his own coaches. Clearly, McClure who was a last minute hasty choice as pitching coach is not the man for the job.

 

This team must play well over 500 to have a realistic chance of making the playoffs. I don't see that happening. They will be lucky to finish above 500 considering their remaining schedule.

 

They can blame the manager but this team has underperformed for two, a player's manger and one who is not. The problem is with the players, namely the core of veterans. I wouldn't mind seeing them all go including the Big Diva and Little Ceasar, the mighty mouth, who may be more trouble than he is worth.

[Guest]

You didn't as far as I know of' date=' pumpsie and Brennan keep saying it.[/quote']

 

Correct. Thats my opinion and I'm stickin' to it. Call it disgusting or pretentious if you want to, thats fine. I think that if you were honest about how you feel about this team you would, if you had to choose, also admit that our chances are not good-though you hold out more hope for an unexpected comeback than I do.

I understand that some people here find it less than enjoyable when we start discussing the demise of the franchise. We have not even made the playoffs for the past two years, and this year we are at .500, tied for last place, at the ASB. Objectively, from where we were, we ARE going down the tubes. I cannot sit here and type how happy I am with this team. Its time to move past that and discuss realistic ways to get it back on track.

[SoxFanForsyth]

The division is essentially over. I am not expecting anything crazy to happen. If the crazy stuff occurred on a regular basis' date=' it wouldn't be crazy. The only chance they have is to take 11 of the 12 games against the Yankees and play them to a dead heat in the remaining games. I think the division is such along shot that it should not be a consideration for the FO as it moves forward with its plans. At this point they should be considering how much, if anything, they want to invest in this team to get a wild card spot.[/quote']

 

Cardinals/Rays in 2011.

Giants in 2010.

Twins in 2009.

Rockies in 2007.

 

These are just off the top of my head. This s*** happens every year it seems.

[a700hitter]

Cardinals/Rays in 2011.

Giants in 2010.

Twins in 2009.

Rockies in 2007.

 

These are just off the top of my head. This s*** happens every year it seems.

The Cards didn't come back from 10 games back at the All Star Break and win the division in 2011. They were tied for first at the ASB. The 2010 Giants were only 4 games behind the division leaders at the ASB. The 2009 Twins were also only 4 games back of the division lead at the ASB. The 2007 Rockies were 5.5 games out of the division lead at the ASB. Even the 2011 Rays were only 6 games back at the ASB. Yes, they were behind the Red Sox by 10 games on August 10th, but it took a record-breaking epic September collapse for them to catch the Red Sox. So, tell me again how this type of comeback happens every year.

[Elktonnick]

Cardinals/Rays in 2011.

Giants in 2010.

Twins in 2009.

Rockies in 2007.

 

These are just off the top of my head. This s*** happens every year it seems.

 

None of those teams had the internal dysfunction that the Red Sox have, nor did they have to play the majority of their remaining games against the ALE.

[kapsis21]

None of those teams had the internal dysfunction that the Red Sox have' date=' nor did they have to play the majority of their remaining games against the ALE.[/quote']

 

having the majority of the games against the ALE looking from the optimistic side would be better to gain ground but at the same time we loose ground that fast as well.

[jung]

having the majority of the games against the ALE looking from the optimistic side would be better to gain ground but at the same time we loose ground that fast as well.

 

As the first of these series against actual ML baseball teams just before the ASB where we lost 3 of 4 should suggest, we look much more like a team that will lose games not gain them.

 

I am so disappointed in the way this organization has functioned and this team has played, I am getting close to the point where some folks appear to already be.....if it can't get better until it gets worse, maybe the getting worse is about to start and might not be a bad thing after all.

[User Name]

C: Thoroughly mediocre.

[SoxFanForsyth]

The Cards didn't come back from 10 games back at the All Star Break and win the division in 2011. They were tied for first at the ASB. The 2010 Giants were only 4 games behind the division leaders at the ASB. The 2009 Twins were also only 4 games back of the division lead at the ASB. The 2007 Rockies were 5.5 games out of the division lead at the ASB. Even the 2011 Rays were only 6 games back at the ASB. Yes' date=' they were behind the Red Sox by 10 games on August 10th, but it took a record-breaking epic September collapse for them to catch the Red Sox. So, tell me again how this type of comeback happens every year.[/quote']

 

Yeah. It was worse.

 

The Rays were 9 back on September 2nd.

The Cardinals were 8.5 down on September 2nd

The Giants were 6 back on August 28th

The Twins were 5.5 back on September 12th

The Rockies we're 6.5 back on September 15th.

 

It happens quite often. I would rather be 9.5 back with 76 games left than to be 6.5 back with 30-35 games left, no question about it. The odds are much, much better for us than they were for any of these teams and this happens almost every year for the past 5 seasons.

[SoxFanForsyth]

None of those teams had the internal dysfunction that the Red Sox have' date=' nor did they have to play the majority of their remaining games against the ALE.[/quote']

 

So you're telling me you would rather not play against the teams you're trying to gain ground on??

 

I would much rather face those teams than to have to rely on my team winning AND another team winning to gain any ground.

[iortiz]

The only thing I do not see in our team right now and that those teams had by the time is mystic and chemistry... Hopefully everything turns different for us in this 2nd half.

 

We need to start winning tonight. We need to go game by game like each one is the last.

[User Name]

Chemistry? Sure. Mystic? What does that even mean?

[Laser Show]

Chemistry? Sure. Mystic? What does that even mean?

 

Maybe he thinks Pedro Cerrano can still play?

 

Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. is very bad!

[Youk Of The Nation]

I knew we should have got the live chicken.