The AL East: Boston Red Sox

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In continuing the look around the AL East, we stop off at Beantown today.

I don't think there's a team that created more noise due to bringing in new guys than the Red Sox. Carl Crawford, considered a top three free agent, and Adrian Gonzalez, a power hitting lefty bat, should provide a lot more punch to a good offense. But there's more to this team.

So Gonzo's at first, but there are a couple of guys that play infield coming of injuries that will add more to the Sawx offensive prowess. Dustin Pedroia missed over half the season and Kevin Youkilis missed about a third of the year. Marco Scutaro reamins at short. Yes, this infield will be able to score and produce a fair amount of runs. They're not too bad with the leather either.

Another guy coming off injury is center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury didn't even play in 20 games in 2010. His bat, speed and glove were sorely missed. He's healthy and between he and Crawford, I'm not so sure a ball will get between them despite that short porch in left field.

The lost guy is J.D. Drew. With all the talk from last season being about the injury bug, Drew put together a solid season. We all know his injury history, but he payed more games than any other outfielder last year. That is a surprising fact. With Drew, Ellsbury and Crawford, the three could combine for no less that 40 HR, 140 RBI and 60 SB. That's a bit of production. If another injury occurs, Mike Cameron can and will be ready to play.

Oh, and there's Big Papi at DH.


The biggest offensive question may rest with catcher Jerrod Saltalamacchia. If Saltalamacchia develops the yips again, struggles at the plate or with the glove, the Red Sox may be forced to rely on Jason Varitek. It's a risky proposition at this point. Red Sox fans can only hope things go as planned.

The offense will be just fine. The defense will be fine, too.

One thing that jumped out at me was that for 2010 the Red Sox staff ranked 22nd in ERA, 17th in WHIP and 13th in quality starts. Not numbers we're used to seeing from this staff by any means. John Lackey wasn't John Lackey. Josh Beckett wasn't Josh Beckett. Daisuke Matsuzaka had a decent record at 9-6, but had a high ERA and WHIP.

Two reasons Boston was able to finish third in this division last season: Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz.

A description of Lester can be summed up in one word: stud. In my eyes, he's one of the top three lefties in the game. Maybe even top two along with Cliff Lee. his 2010 stats bear that: 19-9, 3.25 ERA, 1.202 WHIP, 225 SO, 208 IP. I suppose you could also call him reliable, too. For the last three seasons combines, he's made 97 starts and pitched 621.2 innings.

Buchholz stepped his game to a different level last season. Part of that is due to the Red Sox keeping a watchful eye on him the two previous seasons. And Buchholz blossomed in 2010 going 17-7 with an ERA of 2.33 and a WHIP of 1.203. In his 28 starts, his shortest stint was the game in which he injured his hamstring. That outing lasted all of one inning. In his return, he only hurled four. After that, it was status quo for him.

Looking at this bullpen, you realize the major players are still there in Jonathan Papelbon, Daniel Bard and Hideki Okajima. But Okalima was off massively last season posting his worst numbers since joining Boston. As a possible backup plan, the Red Sox have brought in former White Sox closer Bobby Jenks and Dan Wheeler. Both can still throw well and will be called upon at any time. Jenks could be the backup plan in case Papelbon struggles. Or would that be Bard? Wheeler's closed before, too. You get the picture.

Almost everyone already has the Red Sox in the World Series. Not so fast. If they suffer the injury bug as they did last season, history will repeat especially if the starting staff (minus Lester and Buchholz) do not step up their game.

Yes, Josh Beckett, now's the time to show everyone that you're still a very relevant pitcher.