They may be just a .500 baseball team, but this year’s version of the Pittsburgh Pirates is looking very competitive. On Sunday, the Red Sox’ Andrew Miller held off the “still without postseason baseball since 1992” Pirates to capture his first win of the season. It was an encouraging outing for Miller, but it was the Pirates who took two of three from the Sox.
It’s hard to dislike the Pirates because they have not been a threat to anyone for 20 years. Almost back to the days where they had a role in the New England sports scene. Back in 1986, the AA-Nashua Pirates gave home to some of the best prospects in the Pittsburgh system. the roster included guys like Bobby Bonilla, Bip Roberts, Felix Fermin and Jose Lind. The Pirates have old ties to New England and there was a day you could see the Pirates ‘buccaneer’ logo on hats and shirts
Nashua, NH is just 45 minutes north of Boston but could not systematically support a growing franchise and the team left town. That was 25 years ago and since then, Holman Stadium in Nashua has been home to independent league teams.
Over in Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Phillies own all of the headlines while the Pirates organization is just not competitive enough to play with the big teams. Some suggest they shouldn’t even be in the big league; that they are a farm team to the rest of Major League Baseball. The baseball fans there have suffered since 1992. This is a far cry from their football counterparts the Steelers, who battle for AFC supremacy yearly with the Patriots.
Maybe this is the year that the Pirates shake things up. The Red Sox are just trying to clear their heads and make their way past this NL road stretch and get back home to American League baseball.
It’s not even so much as the Red Sox’ struggles with San Diego at home and Pittsburgh on the road, as it’s — what would they do if this team made the World Series? Regardless of Kevin Youkilis‘ opinion about the interleague rules being a disadvantage to AL teams (with which I agree), you cannot play both Adrian Gonzalez and Ortiz together on the road in NL Parks. If you think the Red Sox are going to win the World Series in 2011, then this is an obstacle which must be overcome. No Chicken Littles.
Perhaps no one of us could have predicted this level of resurgence from Ortiz, but if you believe Ortiz’ return to vintage skills is legitimate and that the Sox will make the World Series, then this is a question to be addressed. It doesn’t matter for today, but if Boston were to face Philadelphia in late October, how do you think that would play?
The Red Sox right-handed-hitting outfield depth is terrible. The combination of Mike Cameron and Darnell McDonald has combined for a full negative win (-1.1 WAR). Maybe McDonald’s performance can be defended by a 45 AB sample-size, but watching him leave 8 men-on-base on Sunday makes many of us want to see him DFA’d long-before Carl Crawford gets back.
Coming into Sunday, McDonald boasted a .119 BA and a .190 slugging percentage. His EYE (7%BB/71%CT) is a quarter on a dollar and he isn’t hitting lefties.
Cameron on the other hand, has had twice as many ABs as McDonald and features a superior .156 BA and a .278 slugging percentage. His 1.39 RC/G (runs created per game) says if you had nine Mike Camerons in your lineup, you’d score barely more than a run in a full game. Nine Mike Camerons would score 1.39 runs per game. That is terrible.
Given Cameron’s salary and the team’s need for RH-hitting outfielders, he certainly will continue to get limited ABs as depth, because there simply isn’t anyone else.
With JD Drew taking a ball off his eye Sunday in batting practice, the Red Sox’ OF depth will be tested. You might hate JD Drew (that means everyone including Mutt and Merloni), but this isn’t a test we want to take. Josh Reddick is a fine prospect but he’s a LHH and history says he will struggle against southpaws. Reddick is not a solution to this problem. Cameron better straighten his ship out at the plate or it will be high-time the Sox start looking for a productive RH-bat off the bench, before the deadline. Basically, Mike Cameron has a month.
Lastly, Peter Gammons is and always will be the man. He is a Red Sox legend and can talk as much he wants about the team forever as far as I am concerned. After overcoming a major stroke and battling his way back to what he loves the most — baseball and the Red Sox — we are lucky to have him. @pgammo #redsoxhistory
You can reach Darryl Johnston at [email protected].