This is the fourth installment in what will be a series of articles that will cover all 30 teams,going in alphabetical order
Consumers of British comedy will be familiar with the sketch series, The Catherine Tate Show. One of the recurring characters that the actress whose name the show bears plays is an elderly woman who speaks her mind regardless of the consequences. The character’s name is Joannie “Nan” Taylor. One minute she can be sweet, then the next second pull a complete 180 and speak to all the less attractive qualities of a person, either behind the back or to the face.
This is what the Boston Red Sox are. One minute they are winning a World Series, the next they are losing 91 games. Like Nan, what’s going to come out of them next really can’t be predicted.
Bostonglobe.com
An offense that led the majors in runs in 2013 tied for 22nd-best in that same statistic in 2014. In a matter of months, the starting pitching went from a robust front-end featuring a good Clay Buchholz, John Lackey and Jon Lester to a bad Buchholz and Joe Kelly. Boston at one time had the next Nomar at shortstop, then turned around and was left wondering where the real Xander Bogaerts went and what this imposter did with him. Craig Breslow transformed from automatic against lefties into giving up hits like Nan does insults.
Now enter Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez, Rick Porcello, Wade Miley, Allen Craig, Burke Badenhop and Justin Masterson. It’s easy to think that these additions have to be part of an upswing for the Red Sox. If you follow the trend of recent history, an even year with a terrible Boston team and a San Francisco Giants World Series win means improvement for the Red Sox. Holes can be poked in that theory.
Miley’s base-on-balls skyrocketed in 2014 and his fastball has become long ball fodder. Masterson is a shell of his Cleveland Indians glory. Badenhop’s year-to-year numbers jump like Rush Limbaugh’s blood sugar at meals. The only thing of note Kelly has done recently is guarantee that he will win the American League Cy Young in 2015. When you look at Porcello’s similarity scores, three names jump out at you: Dontrelle Willis, Mike Leake and Trevor Cahill. Ramirez is healthy about as often as Saturday Night Live is consistently funny. Boston did the St. Louis Cardinals a solid when they took Craig off their hands. Sandoval is postseason magic, but you have to get there first.
All the moves could work out for the Red Sox in 2015 and they could see a few more moments of sweetness. The downside to that, however, is that could signal another dismal season to follow. Like Nan, they will always be spectacularly great or terrible depending on the time that you catch them. What a f*&%^$g liberty.
Next up: the Chicago Cubs. Interested in the Baltimore Orioles edition?
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Filed under: Boston Red Sox, Clay Buchholz, Hanley Ramirez, John Lackey, jon lester, Justin Masterson, Opinions, Pablo Sandoval, Uncategorized, Wade Miley, Xander Bogaerts Tagged: Allen Craig, Boston Red Sox, Burke Badenhop, Clay Buchholz, Craig Breslow, Hanley Ramirez, John Lackey, Jon Lester, Justin Masterson, pablo sandoval, Rick Porcello, Wade Miley, Xander Bogaerts
