Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 24, 2008
Nick'en Little

Nick Carfardo pens "The Sky is Falling" piece on the Red Sox:

Is the sky falling?

Well, not yet. But it's dangling. The Sox could use a reinforcement or two right about now (Tim Wakefield's expected return Tuesday should be huge), but the waiver wire just isn't packed with players who are better than what they have. Brian Giles was their best shot at landing a hitter who could make an impact, but he elected to exercise his no-trade and continue his surfer-boy lifestyle. Jeff Bailey has had a very good Triple A season, but every time he gets called up to the big leagues, he looks like a big guy with a slow bat.

So the Sox are likely to go with what they have.

The Red Sox came into the season with some of the same concerns as the Yankees. They had some older players who might decline (Varitek, Lowell, Ortiz, Ramriez, Wakefield), some injury risks (Drew, Beckett) and some dependence on youth (Ellsbury, Pedrioa, Lester and Buchholz). The Yankees problems manifested themselves early, so New York had time to deal with them. The Bronx Bombers are better now than early in the season, although probably not good enough to make the playoffs. The Red Sox faced some problems early (Ortiz, Buchholz) but had the depth at that time to weather the adversity. Now, with a number of injuries coming at once and most avenues for change closed, Boston finds itself in a tough position. Instead of just worrying about the Yankees, they find themselves challenged by two teams from the midwest.

Boston, Chicago and Minnesota are 2-3-4 in the AL in runs per game in August, all around six runs per game. The Twins are tied with Tampa Bay at 3.38 for the best ERA in AL, however, with Chicago 0.8 runs back in 5th and Boston another 0.6 back in 8th for the month. The Red Sox are scoring enough to keep winning, but they may be allowing too many to keep pace with the Twins and the White Sox.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:52 AM | Team Evaluation | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Tampa Bay's ERA's about half a run better than the Twins, too. It's Toronto they're tied with.

Posted by: Syd at August 24, 2008 02:46 PM

Never mind. You mean August alone.

I don't think Tampa Bay's ae much of a surprise as Carfardo makes out. They were expected to be contending for a playoff spot. The only surprise is that they're running away with it.

Posted by: Syd at August 24, 2008 02:51 PM

But the Red Sox don't have to keep pace with the Twins and the White Sox. They only have to stay ahead of whichever one of them plays WORSE down the stretch. Big difference IMO.

Posted by: Gary from Chapel Hill at August 25, 2008 10:38 AM

Boston needs Lester and DiceK to win about every time thru to have a chance. In '04 and '07 they led the AL in pitching and they're not going to this year but their pen looks better now with Masterson doing the job. Maybe Beckett will show up in shape next spring.

Posted by: Bandit at August 25, 2008 11:41 AM
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