There’s no such thing as an intangible statistic in baseball. Let’s get that straight right off the bat. Things like “heart”, “grit”, and “mental toughness” are simply qualities conjured up by the media to make for better stories and articles. There are plenty of examples of this throughout baseball. Perhaps most prevalent to Red Sox nation is the right-fielder of yesteryear, JD Drew, a player whose perceived “bad attitude” detracted from his popular opinion and ultimately his talent evaluation. In all realty, Drew was a very solid player for Boston when he could stay healthy. Meanwhile, a player like Dustin Pedroia, who is admittedly one of the all-around best players in the game, receives a boost in popularity because of his sense of humor, his height (or lack thereof), and his hustle. Is Pedroia a better player than Drew? If you randomly polled citizens on the street of Boston, the answers would be 100% in favor of Pedroia, in fact it wouldn’t even be close. And that’s not to say that Drew is a better player than Pedroia, because he’s not, but the point I’m trying to make is that it’s closer than you might think. Yet, on “intangibles” alone, Pedroia would come out on top in a landslide.
Now, I preface this weeks article with that little disclaimer, because what I’m about to present goes against many of the things I believe in both as a fan of the game and an evaluator of players and teams. Last week, I wrote a piece about this Red Sox team needing to find an identity. Well, a week later, a piece of Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s ear is missing, Ryan Sweeney has a mild concussion, and the duo of Adrian Gonzalez and David Ortiz were featured on Sports Center for their defensive plays in right field and first base respectively. The team has won nine of their last eleven games, after capturing a hard-fought victory in Baltimore last night.
There are certainly reasons for the turn around. Primarily, it has been the excellent work of the bullpen, a group that finally seems to have established roles. Compared to the way they were pitching in the early part of the season, the past few weeks (a 1.59 ERA since April 23rd) have been incredible. On top of that, Boston has gotten unexpected production from shortstop Mike Aviles, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and (perhaps not so unexpected) rookie third baseman Will Middlebrooks. The starting pitching has been decent almost three times through the rotation as well. Essentially, Boston is doing everything (besides keeping Clay Buchholz on the major league team) right at the moment.
Yet, watching this team over the past week leads me to believe that there’s something else going on. It’s public knowledge now that David Ortiz held a closed doors, players only, meeting after Josh Beckett was lit up by Cleveland, and many are citing this as one of the key points in Boston’s turnaround. Usually this type of thing is overhyped by the media, serving more consequential in the newspapers than the actual playing field, but in this instance, well, I can’t help but kind of agree. I don’t think there’s a better way to say it then, this team has become fun to watch. Sure, a lot of that has to do with the fact that they’re actually winning, and a lot of that has to do with the factors I mentioned before, but I think some of it has to do with something more. And that something more is this: the team is starting to come together, starting to develop chemistry, and starting to develop stable roles.
Chemistry isn’t something that can be measured, but it certainly is something that can be observed. It’s pretty safe to say that last September the Boston Red Sox had little to no chemistry. The players didn’t seem to enjoy each other, the manager didn’t seem to enjoy they players, etc. Over the past week, the dugout has seemed energized, the players generally happier to be around each other, they even have had more twitter activity with each other than I can ever remember. Yes, these are subtle things, perhaps even absurd observations, but they are ones that I think matter.
One of the biggest factors in Carl Crawford’s mess of a season last year had to do with the fact that his role on the team was so up in the air. He started the season hitting third, only to be moved seven at bats later. This was a trend that continued throughout the season, he hit in every spot in the lineup except fourth and ninth. And when Francona finally settled on the sixth hole for him towards the second half of the year, he produced a solid .280 avergage, obviously better is still expected of him, but it sure beats the .094 average from the leadoff spot. Stability is, by human nature, comforting. So maybe that’s part of the reason for Vicente Padilla’s unexpected success. Now that Adrian Gonzalez is solidified in the cleanup spot instead of third, he’s starting to pick it up. It is important for Valentine not to change a player’s routine everyday as he was doing early in the season.
Here’s the thing: winning creates chemistry. People are happier when they win than when they lose, that’s just a fact. So maybe it’s unfair to say that the chemistry is the reason that the winning has become more consistent, it’s more of a guess. Either way, it’s nice to see the team finally develop a bit of an identity, a bit of a backbone, and a bit of character. Maybe this started with Ortiz’s player only meeting, maybe it didn’t, either way things are starting to click for the 2012 Boston Red Sox. And that’s a scary thought for the rest of the league.