Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff
Q: When is a baseball you season you didn’t expect to end in a championship a disappointment?
A: When that season includes a playoff series win over the team with the best record in the league and a stirring comeback that brought back memories of remarkable comebacks that led to World Series titles in years gone by.
Look, I had a feeling from the start that the 2008 Red Sox weren’t going to repeat as champions. There just seemed to be something missing from this squad, though I could never quite put a finger on exactly what that something was. Of course, once they trounced the Angels and crawled out of the grave in Game 5 against the Rays, I started to believe they were indeed destiny’s darlings. Jon Lester on the mound in a Game 7 against a shaken Tampa squad? I’ll take that any day of the week.
Too bad nobody told the Rays they were supposed to lay down and die. And too bad somebody forgot to tell Boston’s bats not to lie down and die.
There’s an old adage in baseball that pitching wins championships. That’s not entirely true. Pitching and clutch hitting wins championships. Except for three magical innings late in Game 5, the Sox didn’t have enough of either when it counted.
It’s easy to write the lack of a championship off to injuries (Beckett, Lowell, Papi, etc.), but the truth is, injures are a part of the game. The 2007 edition was remarkably fortunate on that front, so to expect back to back years of good healthy would have been a huge mistake. These things usually balance off, so you’d better have a deep enough bench to overcome obstacles. The 2008 Red Sox did not.
Sorry Red Sox Nation, but for $120-million payroll or so, you’d better not be relying on Alex Cora as your Game 7 starting shortstop. The Sox basically stood pat after winning it all in ’07, relying on improvement from the young guns to spearhead another title defense. Sure, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but in a nutshell, the Sox gambled the farm that inexperienced youngsters on the pitching staff could more than make up for an aging nucleus in the lineup (Ortiz, Varitek, Lowell). Ultimately, they were wrong.
The Sox are young and talented enough in key spots to contend for a long, long time. Players like Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury, Lester, Papelbon, Masterson and even aging youngsters like Beckett should ensure playoff contention year in-year out. However, if the Sox are to win more titles, they’ll need more help from the front office. The Rays are here to stay for a while. The Yankees will be back at some point, too. And one of these years, the Blue Jays or Orioles will break through.
Cutting payroll and going totally with the minor leaguers won’t do it. If the Red Sox want to win more championships, they’ll have to go out and bring in some big guns via free agency or trade.
That’s the view from here….how do you see things? Should the Sox have won it all this year? Where did they go wrong? Can they bring the same team back next year, hope for good health, and win a championship? Or do moves need to be made?
While the end was very disappointing I am proud of the Sox for coming back in game 5, winning game 6, and playing pretty darn well last night. It's not like they laid down and handed it to the Rays- the Rays earned it by getting a fabulous game from Garza/Price and timely hitting from Longoria and Upton all series long.
I still like the basic Sox philosophy... Would a deal of Ellsbury/Lester/Masterson for Johan Santana made any difference? I doubt it as those guys were key contributors to the 2008 team.
As much as I love the Captain for his defense and ability to call a game the Sox simply can't keep trotting an automatic out up every time to the plate. Gotta find a catcher SOMEWHERE who can hit and trust that the pitchers will adjust and he'll get better and better defensively. I thought I saw that the Mariners have a pretty strong crop of young catchers coming up through their system. Maybe do another Slocumb for Lowe & Varitek-type deal.
Crisp's value is probably as high as it will get so I'd trade him in the offseason to shore up some other position whether it be shortstop, starting pitcher, etc. I like Lowrie a lot but he should probably best be suited to be the utility man not the starter taking Cora's spot on the roster.
Need to get some more arms whether a call-up of Bowden or someone in the free agent or trade market as I imagine Wakefield and Timlin (at a minimum) are gone.
I'd like to see them pick up Teixiera but I bet he'll command mucho bucks and probably sign w/ the Yankees. CC Sabathia would be terrific but I'll bet he goes to LA or the Yankees but we thought the same about Dice-K so you never know...
Should be an interesting off-season. I don't think they should "blow up the team" as some hot heads seem to suggest as they are ready to trade Ortiz for a bag of baseballs the day after the season ends... So- I guess I'm for retooling with possibly one big free agent if the right guy is out there. At this point if I'm a free agent and the Yanks and Sox are bidding for my services and the money is close - I think I'd choose the Sox so they do have that working for them.
Oh yeah, Go Phillies!
The easy answer is always to spend more money to get more players. But I think the Red Sox organization has fulfilled its part in spending. Trying to get best bang for the buck rather than spending money on every starting position that doesn't have an established player like the Yankees. And thus put together a fantasy baseball team with no chemistry.
Hindsight is 20/20 and I have absolutly no complaints about the Red SOx front office. You win some and you lose some, and it seems to me that they've done pretty dam good and should continue to do business they way they have in the past few years.
I hate Philly fans but I like the Phillies team, so I'm torn as who to root for. I have a feeling the Rays are gonna be too happy to be there ala Detroit Tigers and the Phillies will win it. Although the Rays team is stacked and could pull it off, I have to go with the Phillies.
Let's take a peak at when they won and how they went about building those teams:
In 2004, after the disappointment of blowing that Game 7 against the Yankees in '03, they went out and traded for and paid for Curt Schillling. They then went out and signed the best closer available, Keith Foulke. They also went HARD after A-Rod. In other words, they REALLY wanted to win one that year.
In 2007, after missing the playoffs entirely in 2006, they went HARD after Dice-K, Drew and Lugo.
Now, maybe all the decisions didn't pan out, but the point is, when the front office REALLY goes all out to win, they do whatever it takes to get the best possible players, be it from the minors, free agency or through trade. When they sit back and decide to let the youngsters mature, they fall short.
Will I take 2 World Series titles in 5 years? You betcha! Would I rather have 3 or 4? Abso-freakin-lutely!
This team, as constituted, has had the ability to rule and continue to rule baseball since that 2004 season. I'd hate for that window to close and look back to see a team that more resembles the 90's Braves than the 90's Yankees.
The run the Sox have had in the last 5 years or so has been impressive. Each year they were arguably the best or 2nd best team in all baseball. Unfortunately for them the first couple of years they had to overcome the Yankees which I think took a lot of steam out of them before the playoffs even started.
The part that I enjoy is that just about all of the other teams that were good at the start of that time (or during that period) in the AL (thinking Yankees, Indians, White Sox, etc) have all had at least one or two bad seasons during that time (Yankees were not "bad" in 2008 but for their standards they were sub-par). So while the Sox remain contenders each year the teams against which they contend keep changing.
The Sox are in a "reloading" mode not a "retooling" mode. You're right, Teddy, if they go hard after free agents it does signify that they really want to win but I think, ultimately, Theo wants to prove he can win at least one title with "his guys" - guys he drafted, developed, and brought to Boston. Not to say it will ever happen that a completely home-grown team (I am thinking a ratio of like 70% home grown/30% trades/free agents would qualify as home grown in this age of baseball) will ever win but in Theo's mind I'll bet he'd rather win one as Tampa could this year- mainly with their "own guys" rather than by having to resort to outbidding everyone else for a key free agent that ends up being your main difference-maker.
So, it will be interesting to see what they do. The good thing is that free agents from losing teams see a great shot to win in Boston and the youngsters in the farm system see a major league team that will really take a shot at promoting from within. If I'm a hot shot at the higher levels of the Sox' system I think I feel like I'm with a team that will think of giving me a shot if a spot opens up...