I've Got My Mind Set On 2010

Since June 24, the Red Sox have lost 12 ½ games in the standings to the Yankees (5 ahead to 7 ½ back). In that time the Sox are 22-23 (.488) and New York is 35-11 (.761). This turnabout would be remarkable except that it seems to happen every year. The .761 winning percentage would project to a 124-38 full season.

Stolen base. Stolen base. Stolen base. Stolen base. Stolen base. Stolen base. Stolen base. Stolen base.

Wouldn’t be so bad once in a while, but it seems to happen all the time. You expect runners like Carl Crawford to steal a bunch of bases against the Sox (Stolen base. Stolen base. Stolen base. Stolen base. Stolen base. Stolen base.), but players who have three stolen bases all year are doing it against Boston.

The Sox have used five shortstops this season (Green, Lugo, Lowrie, Woodward, Gonzalez).

It would be nice to say “OK, this is the problem,” and be able to fix it. Unfortunately, everything is a problem at this point. The general manager screwed up badly this off-season by signing players who can’t play. The manager still insists on resting somebody every day and never seems to have his best nine hitters in the lineup (best being a relative term with so many .250 and below hitters on the roster). The starting pitchers (with one exception) can’t throw more than 5 1/3 innings. The overworked bullpen can’t throw clean innings any more. There is no power and no speed (with one exception) in the lineup, and with a bunch of .250 and below hitters they can’t string together enough hits to cerate a big inning. The catchers can’t throw anybody out on the bases, thereby removing double play opportunities. The defense, which had been one of the best in the league, is now in the middle of the pack.

Is this fixable? Well, since just before the trade deadline, Theo Epstein has been moving players in and out on a daily basis and the situation just gets worse. So, I think we have to conclude the answer is “no.” There is too much deadwood, too many multi-year contracts to players who can no longer play, too many fringe players thrust into key situations (Tazawa against the Yankees, for example). It may take a couple of years to get out from under the big contracts to people who have turned to stone right before our eyes. Until then, keep buying those tickets and trinkets, because it’s not gonna to take just time, a whole lotta precious time, it's gonna take money, a whole lotta spending money, it's gonna take plenty of money to do it right.