So the Red Sox are Pretty Good.....

[User Name]

The numbers:

 

Major-league best 18-7 record.

 

3rd in MLB in runs, first in SB, second in Fangraph's baserunning rating, 2nd in OPS.

 

9th in ERA (4th in Starter's ERA), first in K's, 13th in WHIP.

 

They are also 5th in UZR and 1st in UZR/150.

 

I know it's early in the season, but every possible indicator so far suggests that the current Red Sox are one of the best teams in the league, even though several important pitching pieces and Ortiz have already missed time with injury.

[Youk Of The Nation]

Also, Mike Napoli.

 

That concludes my argument.

[Palodios]

The numbers:

 

Major-league best 18-7 record.

 

3rd in MLB in runs, first in SB, second in Fangraph's baserunning rating, 2nd in OPS.

 

9th in ERA (4th in Starter's ERA), first in K's, 13th in WHIP.

 

They are also 5th in UZR and 1st in UZR/150.

 

I know it's early in the season, but every possible indicator so far suggests that the current Red Sox are one of the best teams in the league, even though several important pitching pieces and Ortiz have already missed time with injury.

 

Not "So the Red Sox are pretty good at baseball" ?

 

And yet another great part of this team is that even if players do get injured, there is plenty of depth. Webster + Morales for the rotation. Iglesias at SS. Brentz and Bradley for the outfield. Lavarnway and Vazquez at catcher. There are also some high ceiling wildcards like Bogaertz, De La Rosa and Bard.

 

Not to mention that Wilson and Mortensen were never supposed to make the major league bullpen, and have contributed to the season.

[User Name]

Not "So the Red Sox are pretty good at baseball" ?

 

And yet another great part of this team is that even if players do get injured, there is plenty of depth. Webster + Morales for the rotation. Iglesias at SS. Brentz and Bradley for the outfield. Lavarnway and Vazquez at catcher. There are also some high ceiling wildcards like Bogaertz, De La Rosa and Bard.

 

Not to mention that Wilson and Mortensen were never supposed to make the major league bullpen, and have contributed to the season.

 

Saving it for when it's needed.

[RedSoxfanforlife305]

I was going to post similar facts in the optimism thread, but now I don't have to lol.

[jung]

Carp, Ciriaco and Nava and to some extent Vic are the guys that make this team look so deep in everyday players. Initially part of the attraction for Naps was that he could play 1st and Catch. Nava is a multi-position player by virtue of being such a good practitioner of the game of baseball. I suspect that if you needed him to do it, he could put on the tools if ignorance and a month later not embarrass himself for at least a few games. Ciriaco plays multiple infield positions and Carp plays 1st and LF. I don't think you would want to see Carp in RF too often and don't even think you want to see Nava there too often. Gomes could even have been a RH DH if they needed him to be. Depending on how Ortiz's heels hold up they may still need him to be. The Sox clearly set out to get these guys. So it is not happenstance that it is paying off for them.

 

I have to admit that Carp has been a real surprise. He did not show any signs that he was going to hit as good as he has even over a short stretch.

[Youk Of The Nation]

Plus, the endless opportunity for fish and other assorted sea life-related puns. Which is just a bonus!

 

Honestly though, I agree. I thought he would be, at best, a pinch hitter we could count on to strike out 50 or 60 percent of the time. What the Sox have gotten from him so far is far in excess of what I would have been happy with.

[BSN07]

Too bad a bunch of people gave up on 2013 before game 1 was even played. They are missing some good baseball

[redsoxbeatz]

Grantland.com's Jonah Keri rankings

 

1. Boston Red Sox, 18-7 (+40 run differential) (Last week: 6)

2. Texas Rangers, 16-9 (+28) (LW: 2)

3. Detroit Tigers, 13-10 (+21) (LW: 9)

4. Atlanta Braves, 15-9 (+23) (LW: 1)

5. Baltimore Orioles, 15-10 (+25) (LW: 11)

6. St. Louis Cardinals, 14-10 (+24) (LW: 7)

7. New York Yankees, 15-9 (+15) (LW: 10)

8. Cincinnati Reds, 14-12 (+24) (LW: 5)

9. Arizona Diamondbacks, 15-10 (+19) (LW: 13)

10. Washington Nationals, 13-12 (-11) (LW: 8)

11. Oakland A's, 14-12 (+15) (LW: 4)

12. Kansas City Royals, 13-9 (+17) (LW: 14)

13. Pittsburgh Pirates, 15-10 (+10) (LW: 19)

14. San Francisco Giants, 13-12 (+1) (LW: 3)

15. Colorado Rockies, 15-10 (+19) (LW: 12)

16. Tampa Bay Rays, 12-13 (+6) (LW: 16)

17. Los Angeles Dodgers, 12-12 (-14) (LW: 17)

18. Philadelphia Phillies, 12-14 (-10) (LW: 21)

19. Los Angeles Angels, 9-15 (-22) (LW: 18)

20. Milwaukee Brewers, 12-11 (-5) (LW: 22)

21. Minnesota Twins, 11-10 (-1) (LW: 23)

22. New York Mets, 10-13 (+3) (LW: 15)

23. Chicago White Sox, 10-14 (-13) (LW: 25)

24. Cleveland Guardians, 9-13 (-10) (LW: 24)

25. Seattle Mariners, 11-16 (-32) (LW: 26)

26. Toronto Blue Jays, 9-17 (-35) (LW: 20)

27. Chicago Cubs, 9-15 (-15) (LW: 27)

28. San Diego Padres, 9-15 (-26) (LW: 28)

29. Houston Astros, 7-18 (-50) (LW: 29)

30. Miami Marlins, 6-19 (-46) (LW: 30)

 

really excited for what the month of May holds for the Red Sox. If we can take the series vs the Texas Rangers with the backend of our rotation, that will really say something about this team. Here comes May!!!

 

and cannot wait for JBJ's return to the majors

[wyo-sox]

I'm really excited for May. Another month of great pitching, timely hits, gritty play, a team on the same page, and we will be well beyond the "small sample size" and "its still early" stages.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

Grantland.com's Jonah Keri rankings

 

 

 

really excited for what the month of May holds for the Red Sox. If we can take the series vs the Texas Rangers with the backend of our rotation, that will really say something about this team. Here comes May!!!

 

and cannot wait for JBJ's return to the majors

Why would the Sox jump from 6 to 1 for beating up on the Astros?

[SoxFanForsyth]

Yup. This team is really good.

 

The three phases:

 

ERA: 3.39 (7th in MLB, 3rd in AL)

Runs per Game: 5.12 (3rd in MLB, 3rd in AL)

Fielding %: .989 (T-4th in AL and MLB)

 

You get a team that is top 3-4 in the league in every aspect, they're going to win a lot of games.

 

Not to mention the ERA is manipulated by a guy (Aceves) who isn't even on the team right now.

 

To be honest, I had high expectations for this team. I thought they would definitely be a post season team (as noted in my sig), and probably around 88-89 wins. This team is even surprising me as to how good they are.

 

18-7 right now, we're on a fresh turn of the rotation, and we're going up against the scuffling Jays sans Reyes (who, by the way, destroyed the Sox last time, 8 for 12, 2 2B, 1 HR, 1.776 OPS).

 

Keep rolling.

[crazydiamond]

Major-league best 18-7 record.

 

And some of the losses were really unexpected, to say the least - that Hanrahan hiccup, as well as losing both of the KC doubleheader games; so we needed to win a few important games to compensate for those bad outings.

 

Just hope that the Ellsbury talk doesn't start too soon.

[Dojji]

We had some unexpected wins to go with it.

 

And I wouldn't overreact to the KC losses and call them shocking or surprising either. Check the standings in the Central. That's a good team that knows how to pitch, and Lorenzo Cain was hotter than hell that series.

 

If it wasn't for Nava's clutch homer that could have easily been a 3 game sweep -- and the Royals would have thoroughly earned it.

[iortiz]

As I said, Nobody expected that this team finished April being this good. No one. As I said before, good pitching mixed with at least an average offense could make you grab more Ws than Ls. Our pitching have been outstanding. I still do not expect we keep this streak, if so, welcome and I will enjoy eating my words. Realistically, I fully expect that we could finish this season being a WC team at best – if healthy –, otherwise we could end up with +-80 W.

[BSN07]

I thought they be good, but they have been better then even I expected. It's been an enjoyable April, but the season is still long from over.

 

I agree about KC dojji, they are a quality team right now and losing 2/3 to them is nothing to be alarmed about.

[User Name]

Tell that to MANNYHOF24 who predicted 94 wins and an AL East crown.

[mvp 78]

They won't go 117 - 45 (projected season total of current winning %) and I'm still not sold on them making the playoffs. They've been fun as hell to watch though.

[italstallianion]

I think the playoff debate might be more related to the toughness of the division rather than any particular fault of the current team. The Sox would be slaughtering many of the other divisions at this point, but the Yankees and Orioles seem allergic to losing games, the Rays are a team founded on getting the most out of its players, and the Blue Jays were favored to win it from the beginning of the season.

[seabeachfred]

Too bad a bunch of people gave up on 2013 before game 1 was even played. They are missing some good baseball

 

I think a lot of us were scarred from what went down last season and were very nervous about the upcoming season. So far this has been like a breath of much needed fresh air. Some of us may still have a little small doubt or two roiling in the back of their mind but I can tell you the team doesn't seem to feel that way. I get the impression from what I'm watching is that this team is not only on a mission but they actually believe they can take anyone on and beat them. The confidence I read from this team is amazing and they have played like that. Remember the game we blew against Baltimore? We came back strong. Remember when the A's slaughtered us 13-0? We came back stronger.

 

One thing jogs in my memory. The last few years I can remember the Red Sox moving in to play a team that was in a slump and that team got well at our expense. I remember this happening with the A's, Mariners, White Sox, and, dare I say, the Blue Jays. If we don't let this happen this year we will be in for a very pleasant surprise. This season we need to continue to make slumping teams feel even worse. What a different feeling from last year.

 

:D:D:D:D:D

[MANNYHOF24]

Tell that to MANNYHOF24 who predicted 94 wins and an AL East crown.

 

There is so much talent on this team, everyone under performed last year. I expected Buchholz and Lester to rebound in a big way.

[SoxFanForsyth]

There is so much talent on this team, everyone under performed last year. I expected Buchholz and Lester to rebound in a big way.

 

This is exactly what I was trying to preach this offseason too. Health and return to career norms and/or potential.

 

Good for you Manny - I didn't realize that we were in the same boat

[User Name]

The early backpedaling is both hilarious and sad.

[Bellhorn04]

Baseball is such a long season it's ridiculous. Of course that's also why we love it. But we've got 137 games left. In hockey and basketball they have 82 game seasons. We have those 82 plus an additional 55 left.

[Spitball]

Although the Sox have had an impressive offense (been getting on base at an impressive rate), I am most impressed with the starting pitching. Buchholz and Lester are both pitching like number ones, while Dubront and Dempster are pitching like strong middle of the order guys. You can't ask for much more than that.

 

I think Cherington put nice pieces together, and Farrell is obviously doing a great job of getting the performances from those pieces. It reminds me of 1967 when the Red Sox were coming off a ninth place finish in 1966 (half game up on last place Yankees), and put together a great and unexpected pennant winning season under Dick Williams.

[mvp 78]

The early backpedaling is both hilarious and sad.

 

And shat happens if they get off track for a few games? Back-backtracking?

[SeanJohn93]

The thing that scares me right now is that the Yankees are only 2.5 games behind us and this is without guys like Tex, Jeter, and Granderson. Mike Carp has been a very nice surprise for us. For the Yankees though, they have gotten a tremendous boost from the likes of Hafner, Wells, and Overbay (remember when we had him?) All guys who, from a general consensus standpoint, were in the decline of their careers and people thought, especially the first series against Boston, that these Yankees would be in trouble when they are right behind us. It is worrisome when they get all their guys healthy. To make matters worse, they open up a series with the Astros.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Baseball is such a long season it's ridiculous. Of course that's also why we love it. But we've got 137 games left. In hockey and basketball they have 82 game seasons. We have those 82 plus an additional 55 left.

 

I hear this a lot, and while its technically true, it's also very misleading.

 

From a story on Fangraphs today, titled The Blue Jays Are In Trouble:

 

The mid-season trade deadline gives teams with slow starts less time to fully realize their natural regression, since they have to make a buy-or-sell decision when April represents 25-30% of their season, not 16% as it will at season’s end. For Alex Anthopolous and his staff, this slow start and the big gap between them and BOS/NYY means that they’ll very likely be staring at a real deficit in both the division and wild card races come July, and they’ll have to make a decision on Josh Johnson and others while in a position where missing the playoffs is more likely than making it.

 

It's a very valid and often times missed point. Yes, the season is 137 more games, but the big decisions come in July, that's when you have to decide whether or not you're in contention. These slow starts for the Jays, or quick starts for the Sox, are a lot more meaningful than people realize.

[kapsis21]

The thing that scares me right now is that the Yankees are only 2.5 games behind us and this is without guys like Tex, Jeter, and Granderson. Mike Carp has been a very nice surprise for us. For the Yankees though, they have gotten a tremendous boost from the likes of Hafner, Wells, and Overbay (remember when we had him?) All guys who, from a general consensus standpoint, were in the decline of their careers and people thought, especially the first series against Boston, that these Yankees would be in trouble when they are right behind us. It is worrisome when they get all their guys healthy. To make matters worse, they open up a series with the Astros.

and the yankees got shellacked by the astros.. life is good:thumbsup:

[redsoxbeatz]

I read that fangraphs article bout the Jays, too. Very interesting how much weight is put on these first two months.

 

Middlebrooks looks to be exiting his slump. The Astros can do real wonders to get some players back into the swing of things.

 

Yankees drop vs Astros. Pettite got shelled.

 

And the Orioles are down 6-2 in Seattle right now.