From Ian: I am sure you have all noticed the most excellent job that Steve has been doing around these parts. I know it’s highly appreciated by me and I am sure it is by you. Love him or hate him, leave some comments for Steve. Let him know what a bang up job he’s doing here at SOX & Dawgs.
Last month, Steve sent me an April review with his grades of the Red Sox team for the month of April. Well, with the Red Sox off on this final day of May, Steve brings you his monthly review.
Well the second month of the 2007 season has gone by and the Sox stand at 36-16 (20-8 in May), the best record in baseball. You always hope your team will be a buzzsaw that just cuts through its competition but in your wildest dreams do you ever think it will happen? The Sox entered May with a 3.5 game lead and now have an 11 game bulge at the end of the month. Who would have thought that our chief rival, the New York Yankees, the Evil Empire, the owners of what 26 World Series trophies would be so bad? At first they had bad luck with their starting pitching but now the wheels are just falling off and Jeter and Damon are mad because A-Rod may actually have had sex with a woman. Dennis Eckersley said on NESN the other night by the end of the weekend, the Yanks could be 18.5 games out. I actually feel sorry for their fans. Did I just say that?
Well now it’s time to take a little whirl through the Boston roster including the manager and give each player a quick review of how things are at this point in the season. I will also include their April grade so you can see if they went up or down.
Manager Terry Francona: I said it before, I’ll say it again. In all the years I have been following the Red Sox Francona is the best manager this team has had. He always seems to know when to give a guy a break, when to get someone else into the line up, which pitcher to bring in etc. A huge example of this has been the break he has given David Ortiz in the last week. Pretty much everything he and his staff have done have turned out right.
Grade: A (April Grade: A)
Starting Nine:
Shortstop Julio Lugo: Hitting .230 through 52 games. That’s not good for your lead off guy. His OBP is only .291 again not good. He’s really struggling in May as his average has dropped from .265. An interesting Lugo fact is that he leads the team in infield hits (10) and he leads all lead off hitters in RBI. Has 15 stolen bases in 15 attempts but has been picked off first twice. He along with Coco Crisp give the Sox a speed threat at the top and bottom of the line up. I never recall a Boston team with this much speed on the bases and when they did have speed (Johnny Damon, Carl Everett, Dave Roberts, et al) they’ve never used it like Francona has this year.
Grade: C (April Grade: B+)
First Baseman Kevin Youkilis: Last month I talked about seeing better power numbers from a corner guy. He hit 5 HR’s in the last two weeks of May and as a whole has been “en fuego”. Nine multi-hit games in a row has him tied with Jim Rice’s team and has a career high 22 game hit streak to end the month. Tops AL first basemen in average, hits and OBP. Having an all-star season and is a Player of the Month candidate.
Grade: A (April Grade B)
Designated Hitter David Ortiz: Has been contained a bit in the last week with the sore hamstrings. His power numbers dipped in May with just 2 HR’s and 15 RBI but he has continued to hit and is up above .300 for the season. Has 201 career HR’s as a DH good for 6th all-time; former steroid abuser Jose Canseco is 5th with 206.
Grade: B (April Grade: A)
Left Fielder Manny Ramirez: Manny is starting to heat up after a really slow start. He has 8 HR’s and 20 RBI in May and has raised his average to around .275. Has 478 career HR’s tying him with former Cleveland teammate Jim Thome for 25th all-time and is 38th all-time with 1,547 RBI.
Grade: B- (April Grade: D)
Right Fielder J.D. Drew: This guy seems to be a legit five tool player, but for the most part all the offense in him went away as his
average dropped nearly .200 points. He has no power numbers to speak of with only 2 HR’s and 16 RBI. Hasn’t hit a HR since April 22nd when he was part of the four HR’s in a row against NY. Has had several long 0 for streaks his latest was an 0 for 17 before he got a hit Sunday in Texas. Still plays good defense and doesn’t give up as he hustles all the time. The only thing I’m starting notice besides the slump is he has no fire, no passion he is very even emotion wise. I want to see J.D. take a bat to the water cooler but I know it’s not going to happen.
Grade: D (April Grade: B+)
Third Baseman Mike Lowell: Pushing .330 with 10 HR’s and 41 RBI. Has hit in the .350 range since late April to bring his BA up from .233. He has cut down on the errors making only 1 this month. Along with Youkilis has been devastating at the plate and I foresee a possible flip with him and Drew in the order. Lowell is in the last year of his contract and makes about $9 million a year. I’ve heard he wants to stay but I don’t see Theo Epstein coughing up that kind of money for Lowell next year and beyond. Unless Lowell and the Sox meet somewhere around $6-$7 million a year and he stays.
Grade: A (April Grade: B-)
Catcher/team captain Jason Varitek: We all know about his contribution is to the pitching staff but he really stepped it up offensively this month, at one point he was hitting .333 but has dropped into the .270 range. Has had several key hits and continues to lead by example.
Grade: B (April Grade: C)
Center Fielder Coco Crisp: Still not hitting to his potential he’s only around .240 and has the potential to be a .300 hitter. Hit his first HR of the year in NY this month it was his first round tripper since last September 6th, 179 AB’s between long balls. His defense has been amazing saving at least one game and several other runs with great catches. Along with Lugo adds a great speed dimension on the bases.
Grade: C+ (April Grade: C-)
Second Baseman Dustin Pedroia: The rookie second baseman really came around in May, bringing his average to around .300 for the season and even taking Eric Gagne deep. He has a 10 game hit streak as well. I think he finally feels he belongs and it shows. Defensively he has been very solid and I like what I see.
Grade: B- (April Grade: D)
The Bench:
Catcher Doug Mirabelli: Plays once every five days to catch Tim Wakefield. His bat has cooled in May but his defense especially catching a knuckleball pitcher has been and remains very good. I’d like to see him hit more because it hurts to lose a bat in Wake’s games. I’m beginning to wonder how any more seasons they can go with Doug hitting sub .200. George Kotaras is in Pawtucket and the Sox have him catching knuckleballer Charlie Zink there.
Grade: C (April Grade: B)
Infielder Alex Cora: If you put Alex on many other teams he would start at second or short. Very solid defensively, has been above average at the plate and shows some occasional pop with 2 HR’s. He leads the team with three triples. His biggest contribution is what he brings when he plays. He does all the little things right and does all the little things to help his team win. Has become a Fenway favorite with his all out play and his .300 average. One of Theo’s all-time best deals.
Grade: A (April Grade: A)
Infielder/Outfielder Eric Hinske: Played more in May with a few day/night twinbills and with Ortiz getting a break and he hasn’t disappointed. His batting average won’t prove it but if you asked Sox fans how they feel about him I’d say you’d get a resounding positive response. Had the game of his Red Sox career at Fenway against the Tigers with a spectacular diving catch and then a HR. His value is that he can play 4 positions and he is a gamer.
Grade: C+ (April Grade: C)
Outfielder Wily Mo Pena: Seems to have had less playing time in May or maybe it was just that he wasn’t so noticeable with mistakes. Has struck out in 1/3 of his AB’s. Had a four hit game on May 3rd v Seattle. For all his ‘potential’ I just don’t see him having the chance to mature as a player in Boston. Right now the outfield is jammed with Ramirez, Crisp and Drew. There’s also talk of going for one of the big free agent CF’s on the market this year (Torii Hunter, Ichiro Suzuki or Andruw Jones) plus they also have three great outfield prospects (Brandon Moss, David Murphy and Jacoby Ellsbury) in Pawtucket all of which have more potential than Pena. This all adds up to trade bait. I always felt that Bronson Arroyo was too high a price to pay for him as well.
Grade: D (April Grade: D)
The Pitching Staff:
The Starters:
Curt Schilling: Had two very rough outings in May back-to-back but came back the other night and was vintage Schilling. We need more vintage Schilling and less suck-ass Schilling as the season goes along. He was 2-1 in May with three no decisions, 4.93 ERA and a 1.55 WHIP. He brings a lot to the table as a teammate and as a quality pitcher but he has to be consistent.
Grade: C+ (April Grade B-)
Josh Beckett: Suffered a finger avulsion on May 13th and returned on May 29th after missing two starts and never ever skipped a beat. He has won his first 8 decisions and is one a handful of early Cy Young candidates and the best bet to start the all-star game for the American League in July.
Grade: A (April Grade: A)
Daisuke Matsuzaka: Much more solid in May than in April and gets better each and every time out. Had a bout with a stomach virus in Texas and gutted out 5 innings while being violently ill. Seemed to not be as sharp in his final outing of the month against Cleveland. Seems to be a one very tough guy both mentally and physically.
Grade: B+ (April Grade: B)
Tim Wakefield: May saw his ERA go to a 3.36 from a low of about 1.70. But Wake has continued to be really good and I hope it continues, he just needs more run support as he sits at 5-5 and could easily be 8-2.
Grade A- (April Grade A)
Julian Tavarez: Last month we were talking about him going back to the pen when Jon Lester returns but he has been so solid in May that they’ve been able to take their time with Lester’s return to the big club. Had a few big wins this month, none larger than winning the middle game in the Bronx. One of the ‘good guys’ who does stuff to get his teammates laughing including rolling a ball to first base on a come backer.
Grade: B- (April Grade: D)
The Bullpen:
Jonathan Papelbon: Only one blown save so far he is 13 out of 14. Has had a few games were he has let up a run or put runners on but part of that has been that he wasn’t worked very much in May. Needs to cut down the walks. But as far as closers go continues to be effective and dominant.
Grade: A- (April Grade: A)
Hideki “Darkman” Okajima: Went nearly 21 scoreless innings before yielding a run in the Bronx. Has given up another run since but continues to astound and amaze the Fenway Faithful. He has taken over the 8th inning role and has filled in admirably for Papelbon when he is unavailable going 4 for 4 in save chances.
Grade: A (April Grade: A)
Mike Timlin: Back on the DL for the second time. Should come off June 1st. Has had some so-so outings before he came down with some tendonitis. His rehab outings haven’t been very smooth either.
Grade C+ (April Grade: C+)
Joel Piniero: Had a huge relief appearance in Texas. Still needs that consistency to show up. Had a tough month when in 6.2 innings he gave up 9 runs and 13 hits. Has allowed a run in 7 of his 18 appearances on the season.
Grade: D (April Grade: D)
J.C. Romero: Went 9.2 innings scoreless even though he has given up 8
hits and 9 BB’s in those 11 games. Got a save on May 3rd v Seattle. Needs to cut down on the base runners as he constantly lives on the edge. LHB are hitting .345, RHB are hitting .281 and his WHIP is a whopping 2.02
Grade: C- (April Grade: D)
Brendan Donnelly: Allowed 4 inherited runners to score before stranding a base runner in Texas last Saturday. Had a streak of seven games when he allowed 6 runs in 6.1 innings for a 9.14 ERA in that span to run his ERA from 0.93 to 3.86.
Grade: D (April Grade: B-)
Javier Lopez: Called up with Timlin on DL. Has provided Sox with an additional lefty in the bullpen. Has allowed runs in 2 of 9 games since recall from Pawtucket on May 11, posting 5.40 ERA (4 ER/6.2 IP) and stranding 8 of 9 inherited runners.
Grade: C- (no April Grade)
Devern Hansack: Two games including a start and wasn’t really sharp in either. But he did what was needed before going back to Pawtucket.
Grade: C- (no April Grade)
Manny DelCarmen: one inning pitched before being sent back with Beckett’s return.
Grade: C (no April Grade)
Kason Gabbard: One start in May and was fantastic. This kid could start for a lot of teams and it just shows you the job that the front office is doing with stockpiling talent. Could possibly be trade bait at some point if he doesn’t fit into the long-term plans.
Grade: B (no April Grade)
Kyle Snyder: Talk about a guy who is dealing has his ERA down to 1.65. Has allowed just one hit to lefties in 23 AB’s. Is 1-0 .069 ERA in his last 11 appearances dating back to late April. Continues to do anything he is asked and comes through consistently.
Grade: A- (April Grade: C)
