So? You expected an insufferable Boston homer and Yankee hater to predict something else? Just to burnish my reputation for consistency, I was also predicting the Sox would win when Don Buddin and Pumpsie Green were the Sox middle infielders.
We are going to win it all this year for one simple reason, pitching. The Sox are deep in starting pitching and maybe even deeper when it comes to the bullpen. They are deep with out counting a couple of scrap heap pick ups that Theo has made for short money. It is hard to use the term scrap heap when talking about John Smoltz, a sure fire Hall of Fame inductee at some time in the future but still he is 42 years old and how much gas can he have left? Brad Penney is the other pick up and although a friend of mine came back from spring training saying he looks good, we can't put our hopes on sore shoulders.
Discounting any possibility of hope from the two veterans we can still look up and down the pitching staff from the majors to the minors and still find lots of depth. Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden and Daniel Bard will all start in the minors just waiting for an opportunity should any of the starting five falter. In addition, Our best young pitcher from last year Justin Masterson will start in the bull pen, probably in long relief but would be available to move in the rotation should it be necessary..
The starting five of Beckett, Lester, Matsuzaka, Wakefield and Penney offers a nice blend of horses who can throw deep into games. While the bullpen has been beefed up with Masterson, and the addition of former closer Takashi Saito and Ramon Ramirez. Hideki Okajima and Javier Lopez will provide lefty support. Manny Delcarmen who was a cog in last years pen will now be relied on for less of a load. Jonathan Papelbon continues as one of the top two or three closers in baseball.
The supporting cast on the field and in the batting order has not changed much and even with the departure of Manny (the cancer)Ramirez, this club will be near the top of the majors in run production. The only weak spot would seem to be at the bottom of the order with Varitek and Lugo but for the moment Lugo will be replaced with the heavier hitting Jed Lowrie.
The rest of the order of Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youkilis, Ortiz, Bay, Drew, and Lowell will be banging balls around Fenway all year long. The Yankees may have loaded up on some pitching but they are still very long in the tooth in the infield, outfield and at catcher. It is questionable whether or not they can remain healthy all season at some of the key positions. It also remains to be seen if Sabathia and Texeira can play on the big stage. In addition, it would seem hard to believe that a 300 plus pound Sabathia and a very brittle Burnett can be carrying the empire in October.
So you can take my prediction to the bank with one caveat, there is a reason why the games still have to be played.
