The elimination of the Yankees by the Angels last night makes the disappointment of the Red Sox failing to defend their championship a little easier to bear. In retrospect the signs of a weakening ball club were obvious all season yet because the Sox were in first place late into the year there was optimism that a repeat was possible.
The level of competition is so close that one or two cracks in your armor may hold up but when wholesale damage is done to key components of your ball club, then surely some one with better luck is going to exploit you. So it was in the Red Sox vs. White Sox series where you found the Chicago club hitting a nice stride at the end of the season by sweeping an upstart Cleveland club while the Red Sox were hanging on by a thread during an emotional season ending series with the Yanks.
So here’s to the White Sox and despite them having Carl Everett on their team I wish them the best in ending the Chicago curse of not having won a world series since 1917. They seem to be a solid club up and down the order and have some excellent pitching that should get them close to winning it all. The remaining clubs seem to be evenly matched so the White Sox certainly can’t be ruled out.
This loss for the average Red Sox fan seems to be much less traumatic than in the pre Championship era simply because we still had the memory of the 04 come back and excitement. Looking back on the season it was quite a tribute to the club that they performed as well as they did when you consider that two of the projected starting five pitchers (Miller and Schilling) were knocked out by injuries most of the year. Add to that disaster losing the closer (Foulke) and most other clubs might have folded long ago.
The performance of the Ortiz Ramirez duo was certainly one for the ages as we have not seen production at that level in the long history of the club. Ortiz by himself was worth the price of admission when you consider that in terms of clutch hits he had a season that might have eclipsed the great Yaz in 67.
So now it is time for speculation about next year. Who should stay and who should go and what shoring up do we need to do to be competitive once again?
Pitching is always place to examine first and this is a prime weakness for the Sox. Wells is 42 and headed for knee surgery. Wakefield and Schilling are 39, Miller is going in for labrum surgery and Clement might need psyche surgery after that disastrous game one performance. Jon Papelbon projects out as winning a job in the starting rotation next year and there seems to be an abundance of young arms in the minors. Jon Lester, Jeremy Gonzalez, Manny Del Carmen, Lenny Dinardo and Craig Hansen all look like contenders for the remaining spots. A young free agent flame thrower would be a nice addition but it appears as though the free agent ranks are somewhat thin.
The rest of the regulars need a little shaking up as both age and contract status will contribute to the decision making. Johnny Damon is an outstanding lead off hitter and a hard nosed ball player that any club would love to have. However, his agent is the insufferable Boras and he is talking about 5 years and 12 million per year guaranteed. If that’s the case Johnny will be playing some place else next year.
Kevin Millar’s contract is up and despite his clubhouse presence, his lack of productivity means that he will be moving on. The other first baseman, John Olerude is a serviceable starter/ bench player and should be kept if at all possible. Roberto Petagine wasn’t given much of a shot during the course of the year but what we did see of him should earn him at least a look for next year. It would be nice to add a very large right handed hitting first baseman but we hsall see.
Second base should be given to Tony Graffanino. Despite his game two error that changed the course of the series, this is a good hitting hard working guy that is a substantial upgrade at the position.
Edgar Renteria is our shortstop for the next three years at 10 million a year. Edgar was a distinct disappointment this year in almost all categories. He led the majors in errors and his hitting was spotty at best. To be fair there were a number of injuries Edgar battled during the course of the year so perhaps next year a healthy Edgar can provide more of what we expected.
Third base looks like it is finally going to be Kevin Youkilis territory as Bill Mueller’s contract is up and he is likely to be a hot commodity on the free agent market. Mueller was a stalwart player in all aspects of the game and was a joy to watch. In this case he and the Sox are victims of age and economics. He is likely to get more some where else and the Sox have a younger available replacement that needs to get in the line up.
The outfield will certainly need some shoring up. The Sox will surely shop Manny but unless they get tremendous value in return, Manny must stay. Despite any problems of the juvenile sort, Manny is basically a good citizen who is a good team mate and he is the second part of the best one two punch in baseball.
If Damon goes the Sox will have to trade or sign a free agent centerfielder and a serviceable right handed hitting back up for Trot Nixon in right field. Nixon could end up being trade bait of some sort since his production this year was not what it has been in the past.
At catcher the club is set as both Varitek and Mirabelli are signed into the future. Varitek had a noticable drop off in the last month of the season but the bottom line is that any catcher with that kind of a work load has a production drop off late in the season because of exhaustion. Varitek is worth the money solely for his handling of the pitchers and his defense. They shouldn’t be relying on him for big offensive production.
The last item for consideration is Theo’s contract. He has a championship to his credit and he has a farm system that is well on its way to being restocked with some exciting young talent. It is time to give Theo a nice raise and a longer term deal. Let’s give him time to see whether he is a one time wonder or is he the boy genius of the baseball world. The answer is probably some where in between but what we have seen so far is plenty enough reason to want him to stay at the helm.
In any event it should be a very interesting off season. Steinbrenner is in the same place as us except he spent 80 million more dollars than we did. His pitching staff is aging and so to is his outfield.
So, for the time being let’s shift our allegiance to another group of long suffering fans. Go White Sox!
