2012 Season Thread

[Celtics_Champs]

Well. They started today. I was just as excited as in years past, but didn't catch this game. Had to listen on the radio.

Was stuck in traffic screaming when they tied it up. Then the bullpen fiasco happened.

[Joselo16]

Papelbon looked good for the Phillies. We have what looks to be a very flwed team for such a big payroll?! Why is Bard starting, and why didn't we go after starters, like a Oswalt, to eat up innings, and kept Bard in a relief role he thrived in. Couldn't our guys learn from the Joba experiment our rivals had going??? Only one game though and against Verlander, so our guys are bound to look better, at least offensively. Lester was good to, which when he began last season he didn't. 161 more to go

[Geoffrey P]

Anyone else see this game? First time Gonzalez was up against Coke and the guy throws it behind Gonzalez. Second pitch he ends up nailing him.

[Celtics_Champs]

2 blown saves in one game....

[Joselo16]

So that's 3 blown saves in 3 games....see a pattern?! Who is to blame for such a horrendous bullpen? How did we go from a good to great 30+ saves closer to now?! Hopefully our offense starts to carry us like the Pats or the starters pitch better to give the pen enough of a cushion. Thankfully the Yanks have suffered 3 losses as well, since I rather see another team win the AL East besides the Yanks.

[Dirty Water]

No need to hit the defcons. Finally got a win under the belt.

Love Ryan Sweeney. Big kid. real good patient hitter. Not a lot of power, but he's good defensively too. Makes the Bailey deal not look as bad, he might be better than Reddick.

[Geoffrey P]

They just flat out suck right now.
Oh and it's also a nice way to start the season after what happened last year so that's awesome.
Looks like the word WIN isn't in the vocabulary right now

[thesack12]

Sure its a really small sample size and I'm not one to over-react, but this team looks pretty bad right now. Boston currently holds the worst record in the majors.

The pitching staff has been terrible. The team's ERA is currently dead last in the majors and are also last in runs allowed. Boston is 28th in batting average against, and 25th in WHIP. So yeah the pitching has been awful.

Outside of Lester who has been good, and Doubront who was decent the starting pitching has been ugly. Beckett will probably ultimately be fine, but he's the only guy (besides Lester) who I have any confidence in.

Padilla has been solid as the long reliever and Morales has been good, but the back end of the pen has been a disaster. As I mentioned in a recent thread I was worried about Melancon, well all he has done is confirm and intensify those worries. Dude has been absolutely horrid. He has a long ways to go in order for the nation to confidently back him. Aceves is a very valuable and versatile asset, but closer is not the best role for him.

As a whole the offense hasn't been too good either. Sweeney has been great, and Pedey/Punto have been good. Youk/Ellsbury/Salty/Ross have been terrible. The team has struggled to score runs. Way too many strikeouts and not enough production with runners on. There has also been a serious power outage, with only 2 HRs through 6 games (dead last in majors).

Right now this team needs starting pitching, a SS, a set up man, a closer, and another solid OFer. Sure some of those needs have arised via injuries, and some guys will eventually be back and plug some of those holes. But it remains to be seen if the team can weather the storm and stay in contention while those guys are recovering, plus there aren't clear in house options to plug all those holes either.

The upcoming schedule doesn't afford any breaks either. 4 vs Tampa, 2 vs Texas, and 3 vs NYY. Boston will be fortunate to emerge from that stretch with an overall record of 5-10.

[thesack12]

Much better effort today.

Beckett rebounded nicely and was great today. Only allwowing 1 run in 8 innings.

The offense wasn't as good as the final score would indicate. Boston exploded for 8 runs in the 8th. But they did get to Price early, forcing his early exit. Shoppach in particular was really good today, as was Ellsbury (before he exited)

The black mark on the game was the shoulder injury Ellsbury suffered. He looked to be in extreme pain, and immediately exited the game. He never moved his arm when coming off the field. I also heard he went to the hospital after the game, so thats not real encouraging. Unfortunately, its looking like Ells is headed for a DL stint. We can only hope its of the 15 day variety. OF platoon for the short term will be Sweeney/Ross/McDonald and whomever they call up. Thats not real encouraging either.

Melancon came in to pitch the 9th, and was not good again. He gave up a HR, and nearly gave up another as Ross caught a DEEP flyball on the warning track at the center field triangle. I'm not liking Melancon at all right now. He should most definitely not be used in any pressure type situations for awhile.

But depsite Ells injury, it was a good to win the home opener and a great way to start off this difficult home stand.

[thesack12]

Boston takes the Rays series, 3-1. Great start to this difficult homestand.

Nobody had anything for Shields in game 4, but the offense woke up in a big way in the first 3 games, and the power returned. Ortiz has been on fire. Pedroia/Gonzo have been there usual solid selves. Aviles has shown some power in the leadoff position. Shoppach has performed well at the plate. Ross has rebounded decently, he's been piling up extra base hits. Sweeney has cooled down some. On the not so good side, Ross is also still striking out at a high rate. Salty has struggled mightily. Youk has been pretty bad all season. There still is next to no hope something good will happen when McDonald steps to the plate.

Now for the pitching. This series the starting pitching has been hit and miss. Beckett was superb in his outing. Buch was quite shaky to start, settled down in the middle innings, then they started to get to him again late. Doubront started out good, but he proceeded to get pounded and gave up several hard hit balls, 4 consecutive at one time. Bard had probably his best start ever. Had a good number of strikeouts, and only gave up one run. He also gave up a lot of walks. That said, the walks he gave up late and the run, was a direct result of Valentine not pulling him. It was quite apparent Bard was laboring, but for whatever reason Bobby left him in. A really bad decision, that directly cost Boston the game.

The pen overall has really rebounded. Padilla has been superb as the long reliever. Morales has given up a few hits, but he has kept the scoreboard clean. Aceves has settled down and been solid as the closer, however he has yet to be put in high pressure situation since the first series. On the bad side, Melancon should not be part of the regular reliever rotation right now. He has been truly terrible. V should only use him in no pressure situations, until he proves himself. Morales is fine as the set up guy for now.

Ellsbury has been put on the 15 day DL with a separated shoulder. However, its widely expected he will miss 6-8 weeks. Thats a big time blow. Ellsbury is probably the most important player on this team. He's the captain of the outfield, and kickstarts the offense as the leadoff man. Dude has a rare combination of speed and power, especially for a leadoff man. Hopefully he come back at full strength soon, Boston really needs him.

The result of the Ellsbury injury makes the outfield situation ugly. Even with Ellsbury the OF was relatively bleak. Now, a platoon of Ross/Sweeney/McDonald/Repko isn't too encouraging. Getting Crawford back will be a welcomed addition, but realistically its unknown how much he can be relied upon. He will be coming off a serious wrist injury, and off a very subpar 2011 season. It seems as though he has yet to feel comfortable in a Red Sox uniform. Hopefully he has settled in by now, because with Ells out there will now be even more pressure on Crawford. We can only hope that he responds nicely, and starts providing the impact he always had in Tampa.

In conclusion, the Sox aren't as bad of a team as they looked the first 6 games and aren't as good of a team as they showed in the Tampa series. They are somewhere between that. Hopefully, that between spot is good enough to keep them in contention while guys are healing up and trading season nears.

[Celtics_Champs]

Some good write ups thesack12.

I want Cody Ross going up to the plate in the ninth with two men on thinking game winning hit. Maybe even another monster clearing bomb. Instead he takes 5 balls, 3 of which the umpire called strikes.

I understand his frustration he was totally right, Rodney was trying to paint the corner and wasn't hitting any of them yet the ump was calling strikes. But Ross has to see by the 2nd strike he called that he was gonna keep it that way with the big strike zone. Step into one and drive it opposite field for the tying hit. Don't just leave the bat on your shoulders and expect rodney to walk you.

Minor complaint. Other minor complaint about this game was Bard couldn't hit the strike zone at the end there. This games in extra innings if Bobby V. took him out.

oh well, on to texas.

[thesack12]

^ I fully agree. True, those strike calls were quite iffy, perhaps downright bad even. But, Cody has to recognize that the strike zone was considerably widened there. Not to mention in any situation with 2 strikes, your own eye should be less discriminant. My high school baseball coach taught us to never take a called 3rd strike, if its close take a hack at it. For every called 3rd strike we took in games, the next practice we had to circle the base pads 3 consecutive times at full sprint. Cody, has to be more perceptive to whats going on there, especially in a critical situation like that.

I'm also with you on Bard. Dude was just plain out of gas, and couldn't buy a strike. That's all on Bobby V in my opinion. Got to know pay attention to whats going on...

At this moment I'm making this post, Lester is getting shelled by Texas. He's given up 4 runs in 2 innings, and just got pulled after loading the bases in the 3rd with no outs. Yikes

[thesack12]

Super ugly game tonight vs. Texas. A bad performance by pretty much everybody. But Jesus, words cannot begin to express how terrible Melancon is.

Melancon started the 8th inning in a 8-2 game, a no pressure situation. First batter he faces, Kinsler hits a double. Then he walks Andrus on 4 pitches. Next, Hamilton rockets a titanic 3 run shot. Then Beltre goes back 2 back with a bomb to center. Then he walks Murphy on 4 pitches, Then Cruz hits another HR blast to center.

So Melancon gives up 6 total runs, 3 homeruns, 2 four pitch walks, and a double without recording a single out.

His ERA is 49.50 His whip is 5.50 Batters are hitting .667 against him

This guy either needs to be optioned to Pawtucket or outright waived. He has no business being anywhere near a big league mound right now. I can't believe there was actually consideration into making him Boston's closer.

Also Youk was horrid as well, with 4 strikeouts. Youk has done nothing at the plate this season.

[thesack12]

Mark Melancon was indeed optioned to Pawtucket today. Junichi Tazawa takes his roster spot.

[thesack12]

You could drive a van through all the holes on this pitching staff. The rotation is proving to actually be worse than I expected (and I didn't expect much). Buch only have up 5 HR's the other day. The pen is an unmitigated disaster right now. Padilla and Morales were the only 2 guys doing anything positive to start the season, but both of them have proceeded to seriously get touched up in 2 consecutive outings. Bard has now been moved back into the bullpen, but that brings concerns. How long will he take to re-accustom himself to being a reliever? The last half of last season he struggled, has he figured out what was wrong? Who replaces Bard's spot in the rotation? My best guess is Aaron Cook, who by all accounts is looking great in AAA. Ideally Cook steps in and excels and sustains it, and Bard locks down one of the bullpen roles. But right now, I'm not confident in anything. Even if that does happen, there are still several holes to fill in the pitching department.

The outfield is a mess as well. Both Repko and McDonald are awful. Sox, recently made a move to get Marlon Byrd. I'm not real high on him, but he is better than both those other guys. Crawford and Ells can't get back soon enough.

It certainly seems as though Youk is on a steady decline. Not only has he not been able to get anything going at the plate, but he has continued to stay banged up as well. Its looking like 3rd base is going to need to be addressed sooner than anybody had hoped.

The team is in pretty bad shape right now.

[Dirty Water]

This team had a tough schecdule to start the year. Tampa, NY, Texas, Detroit are literally the 4 best teams in the AL. They'll bounce back. Twins series is showing it. They'll be a few games over .500 by the end of April. Schedule coming up.

@ Twins (1)
@ White Sox (4)
vs As (3)
vs Os (3)
@ Royals (3)
vs Indians (3)
vs Mariners (2)

That's a cake-walk if I've ever seen one.

Also, I refuse to let the Ryan Sweeney thing go until he comes back down to earth. Currently 4th in the league in batting behind Ortiz, Jeter and Hamilton. What a great surprise he's been.

[Geoffrey P]

Ehh more setbacks for Crawford. Now it's elbow problems. How great has that acquisition been lol

[thesack12]

^ Yeah, he's now expected to miss 8-12 more weeks. Ugh...

Well, another horrible homestand (1-5).

The pen is starting to turn it around, actually has been pretty strong of late for the most part. However, the starting pitching remains quite poor. Clay Bucholz in particular has been truly terrible all season. The offense has also stagnated once again. Today's 17 inning marathon featured especially ugly performances by AGon's 0-8 + leaving 8 on base + striking out on 3 pitches while facing a positional player, and Ross' 5 strikeouts.

Will Middlebrooks has been one of the select few bright spots. He has shown some defininte promise. Pedroia/Papi/Sweeney are the only guys to be consistently good this season, with honorable mention going to Aviles.

Time is rapidly running out to simply attribute this being a bad start. This team is in real danger of a lost season. They may not stay afloat long enough for the reinforcements to come off the DL.

[Celtics_Champs]

Middlebrooks for ROTY!

[Celtics_Champs]

It's gonna be interesting with what they do with Youk though. They may just have to ship him off with no value in return. Unless he agrees to be a utility guy when he gets back.