Drew and Who?

For you grammatical sticklers out there, yes I’m aware that the title should read Drew and Whom. Drew and Whom,…

Manny Delcarmen, Rockie

Yesterday, Manny Delcarmen — the Boston native who has been with the club since 2005 and in the system since…

The 2010 Arquimedez Pozo Awards

In July of 1996, the Red Sox called up a young third baseman from Pawtucket.  It was not his first…

Sox Farmhands Make Good: Buchholz, Kalish, Pedroia, and the Future

Last night's 6-0 victory over the Angels didn't gain the Sox any games in the standings. With the Yankees and Rays both victorious, Boston still sits five and a half games behind the AL East's co-leaders. You'd be forgiven, though, if you felt a surge of hope after the final out, because this game displayed all the reasons the Sox are still in contention this year, and a harbinger of the one recovery that might propel them ahead.

This season has been as trying as any in recent Red Sox history, but it has also been as inspiring. Going into the year, I anticipated this club to be one of my favorites, and it turns out I was right, but for the wrong reasons: while I was expecting a run-prevention monster with a solid, top-five AL offense, what I got was a ragtag crew beset by injury but still, through a better than expected offense and contributions from the most unexpected of places, managing to hang in contention all year. Between the strong and consistent pitching of Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester to the season-saving heroics of journeymen and minor leaguers like Darnell McDonald, Bill Hall, Daniel Nava and Ryan Kalish, this team has kept on the trail of a playoff berth when they should have been written off. And now, the day after Dustin Pedroia's emotional return, the most important cog in the team's machinery is back where he belongs. This season has defied every prediction so far, but if the Sox were to go on a tear from here on out, count me among those who wouldn't be in the least surprised.

Is This It?

For a brief shining moment there, it seemed like these Red Sox were poised for a legendary season. Beset by injuries, hampered by a slow and painful start, facing an uphill battle against two tough divisional foes, the Sox rode unlikely bats, some exceptional pitching by Lester and Buchholz, and the resurgence of David Ortiz to within four games before the All-Star Break. It was a hell of a story, but it appears that the story may finally be grinding to a halt.

The injury to Kevin Youkilis could be seen as just another blow to a lineup already held together by wishes and duct tape, but it's more than that. Youkilis has been the Sox most potent offensive force for at least two years now, and he was the glue that held this offense together for most of the season. His loss leaves the club a second rate power, and it leaves the offense without its most important player for the first time all year. 6.5 games out, with the Rays surging and the Yankees treading water, the team is not done, but they cannot afford to lose any more ground or waste any more time. They need a run of epic proportions, and that's what Youk's injury endangers more than anything else.

Showing Aces

The promise of this season, coming in, was pitching and defense. Instead, to this point we've seen a team riddled with injuries and dependent more on their offense -- despite a recent lull, the team is still second only to the Yankees in all of baseball with 521 runs scored -- than their bottom-third defense (tenth in the AL at 444 runs scored). Much of that blame has to be placed on the injuries to Beckett, Buchholz, Wakefield, and Matsuzaka; the mediocre performance from Lackey; and the the at-times awful bullpen contribution.

However, things appear to be looking up for the pitching staff: Beckett and Buchholz have both recently returned to action with strong outings, while Matsuzaka and Lackey seem to be hitting their strides. Shoring up the starting rotation would be a tremendous improvement for this team, but would it be enough?

Injuries Catching Up

I've already written this team off prematurely once this season, so I'm certainly not going to do it again. Still, this past week has shown exactly how badly the cavalcade of injuries suffered by the Red Sox have hurt them; without a major recovery or a major acquisition, the AL East will be a very steep hill to climb.

A recent Fire Brand poll asked which offensive player's absence would hurt the Sox the most, and the answer was both predictable and obvious: Dustin Pedroia is the leader, the sparkplug, and the heart of this offense in many ways. Still, other injuries -- some lasting nearly the entire season -- have been just as damaging.

Fixing the All-Star Game

Before I start, I wanted to acknowledge the passing of George Steinbrenner. He was a fun man to hate, and in his defense let it be said that he spared no expense to give his team's fans a winning ballclub -- that's more than many owners can say. If I go on any more, I'll veer toward speaking ill of the dead, though, so I'll move on.

Last night, the American League beat the National League by a score of 5-3, extending their win streak to an impressive 13 straight (not counting 2002's infamous tie). Okay, fine, I just made that up off the top of my head -- I'm writing this Tuesday afternoon, before the game's been played. But here's the problem: how many of you, reading that, simply went along because you didn't actually watch the game? I'm guessing more than half. The All-Star game, once a must-see event, has become at best an interesting exhibition and at worst a pointless, boring, and tedious 4 hour affair. Baseball's All-Star game is still, somehow, the most interesting of all the major sports, but its profile has been falling sharply for years, which is certainly a shame. I want to put forward a few suggestions that I think would help give the All-Star game meaning again without resorting to tactics like World Series home field advantage, which I think cheapens the World Series more than anything else.

The DL All-Stars

Kevin Youkilis left last night's game in the 4th inning with an ankle injury. At the moment, it appears he'll be fine -- the word out of Fenway is that he'll be in the lineup tonight. Still, the sight of Youk leaving the game yesterday must have caused remotes across New England to be flung in exasperated disgust as the injury bug appeared to claim another key player on this 2010 Red Sox team. In recounting the injuries that have plagued the club this year, it occurs to me that we could field a fairly talented club solely from our DL. In order to find out exactly how good, I decided to draw up a lineup (nine offensive positions, two starters, a setup man, and a closer) and see how well it would stack up given their projected 2010 WAR (I'm using CHONE projections for batters because they're the easiest to find, but the estimates shouldn't be too far afield; for pitchers it's a bit tricky, but I'll resort to using fangraphs.com's fan projections -- imperfect, but close enough). This is obviously a thought experiment more than anything else, but it's interesting to see exactly how much talent the Sox have lost so far this season.

The Replacements

In honor of the recent spate of injury-related call-ups, I wanted to take a look at some of the most surprising and productive replacement players the Sox have had over the years. This is obviously weighted pretty heavily toward the years I've been an active fan -- essentially 1987-present.

These selections are completely arbitrary; my definition of 'replacement' is essentially 'players who were not supposed to play a major role on the team, but did'. If you think I forgot someone (which I almost certainly did), mention them in the comments. Hopefully one of the current Sox replacements will be up here on this list a few years from now -- the team certainly needs someone to step up given the current injury bug.