IT CAN’T GET ANY WORSE, RIGHT?

The Red Sox have played poorly in all facets of the game. As of games through April 22nd, they are ninth in run scored and thirteenth in runs against. Our eyes and the numbers tell us that the Olde Towne Team’s play has been ugly.

Even though most thought the Red Sox offense would suffer (I took a slightly different view), the other side of the ledger would make up for the drop off so professed the optimists of the media and the Nation. Run prevention -- pitching and defense -- was supposed to the strength of the Local Nine. Through April 22nd, the defense has been strong even with Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron missing multiple game. The Sox are second in Ultimate Zone Rating and eighth in Defense Efficiency. Hence, the biggest disappointment has been the pitchers and specifically, the top three starters.

4/19 Online Seats Game Thread: Patriot’s Day Turnaround

On the holiest (and most proprietary) of all state-wide holidays, the Boston Red Sox will try to turn it around against the Rays, who have taken the first three of the series. With the Marathon in the rear view, John Lackey looks to lead the Sox past their slump.

So Goes the Pitching…

So Goes the Pitching Staff In the midst of a four-game losing streak that has dropped the team to 4-8, Sox fans have begun the multi-annual ritual of name calling and finger pointing as to where blame lies on the club’s current skid. While the hitting has been poor by the normal standards, perhaps the most alarming development of the season has been the utter failure of the starting pitching staff. Of particular note is how easy the hurlers have been to hit and how often they have been falling behind early in the count. Jon Lester (5.40 BB/9, 1.5 K:BB ratio), John Lackey (4.26 BB/9, 0.83 K:BB), Jon Papelbon (8.44 BB/9, 0.40 K:BB), and Clay Buchholz (5.40 BB/9, 1.33 K:BB) have been the poster children for this trend -- seeing a precipitous deterioration in their first strike rates, zone percentages, and their contact rates.

4/14 Online Seats Game Thread: Sox Slide Continues

Now that the Twins have had their home opener celebration, the Boston Red Sox look to rain on the parade in Minnesota.

John Lackey’s new approach

Sometimes a pitcher will make adjustments and one game will result in a large jump in one pitch or perhaps they can't control it so they just get rid of the pitch. That doesn't seem to be the case as John Lackey made a huge change to his pitch breakdown last night. Lackey has largely been a four seam fastball pitcher throwing more than 50% for three straight years. In 2008 and 2007 it was 59%. Last night though he broke from the mold and became more unpredictable in his approach. He largely stuck to three pitches through the game using his four-seam fastball, curveball and cutter. When I say he stuck to those pitches he threw 100 pitches of which 30 were four-seamers, 29 were curveballs and 29 were cutters. To put those 29 cutters in perspective we can see in 2009 he threw 81 cutters all year long for a 2.6% of total pitches. Before we go to far though we should see if there is any possibility that these are just misclassified fastballs. First we can see that from his 2009 chart his cutters(FC) are similar to the four seamer with less horizontal movement but similar vertical break.

4/7 Online Seats Game Thread: Sox Set to Rebound Against Yanks

A night after the Yankees battled back to even up the opening series of the 2010 season, John Lackey looks to make his debut with the Boston Red Sox a memorable one.

John Lackey walks like a sabermetrician

After pitching a game against minor leaguers yesterday and giving up his first home run, which was also his first earned run, of the spring John Lackey made some very good comments. The topic was raised after striking out six and walking none in the match-up with minor leaguers.

"That’s my game," he said. "Especially coming over here to the East, you can’t walk people. Guys are such good hitters, you’re going to give up hits. If you give them baserunners, that’s when those hits are really magnified."

Wrapping Up the Offseason

Spring Training is only a day away, and it's been a busy offseason for the Red Sox in 2010. The team struggled in the playoffs last year after putting up another solid regular season; tweaks were made to sew up the loose ends on the team's defensive deficiencies. Another front line starter was brought into the fold. Is Lackey here to supplant Josh Beckett in 2011 and beyond, or simply be another high priced compliment to the rotation? With the Olympics currently underway, let's review what's happened this offseason, and see what moves the teams made deserved a spot on the podium. Third Base: Adrian Beltre replaces Mike Lowell While the Lowell trade was derailed by an injury the fan base is still scratching their heads over (was Lowell hiding it, was the organization?), the acquisition of Beltre signaled the end of Lowell's regular playing time. Arguably the most talented defensive third basemen in baseball, Beltre brings his slick glove to Fenway to provide the teams with the defensive wins they had lacked all last season. Even returning just to his 2008 level of offensive woudl make Beltre a 4 WAR player, a huge bonus for the Red Sox with minimal risk.

The Boston Red Sox and What It Means to Spend Wisely

There is a difference between the Red Sox and nearly every other team in baseball - and it’s pretty obvious. How lucky are our home town fans, that our very own Boston squad has significantly more money to spend on players most other teams. Actually, all but one - but who's counting. Too bad they’re in our division. But that’s alright, so long as we use our resources wisely. So, what is using our resources wisely? From the Red Sox’ perspective, it’s much different from most teams. Over the past five seasons, the team’s highest budget was $143 million, registered in 2007. We’ll save spectulating on this year’s budget, which will be quite high, as there could still be some maneuvering left to go, and the value of free agents and draft picks in this economy is yet to be determined. Therefore, we’ll treat 2007 as the team’s theoretical budget through which to speculate on how the team can formulate its spending practices. Citing the research of analyst Keith Woolner, a theoretical replacement level team would win approximately 44 games. Putting this in perspective, this standard of futility is comparable to the some worst teams of all time, including the 2003 Detroit Tigers (43-119), the 1962 Mets (40-120), and 1952 Pittsburgh Pirates (42-112). After seeing this, two thoughts come to mind. One, wow, how far have the Mets come since that disturbingly dreadful inaugural season 47 years ago. The other, what in the hell happened to the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who found a way to produce a 20-134 record (.130 win percentage) and be doomed to the annals of worst team in MLB history. Ouch. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, only 3,179 fans attended the team's first 16 home games...

The Red Sox’s Christmas List

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Holidays to everyone! While I celebrate both Christmas and Hannukah, there's no denying the holiday that stops America in its tracks -- that's Christmas. That's why I've chosen Christmas as the holiday of choice to reveal certain Red Sox personnel's holiday gift lists that were acquired in some unseemly ways. And away we go...