What else can the Red Sox do?After winning two World Series in four years, the question to ponder is: what else can the Red Sox do? The team has all the right aspects and keys to a winning ballclub. They have the offense, the defense and pitching in both starting and relief. When breaking down the club maybe we can find the chink in the chain.Offense: When the two main sluggers of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are not performing others like Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Lowell and yes, even sometimes J.D. Drew, can perform. Just the other night J.D. Drew was clutch against the Minnesota Twins by knocking a RBI double center field. Offense is not the problem. Defense: Julio Lugo, Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Coco Crisp, Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek and when David Ortiz plays 1B during inter-league play he can play very well. Kevin Youkilis has not made in error at 1B in a million tries (okay, a little exaggeration). Defense is not the problem.
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</body>Starting Pitching: They have experience, talented and promising starters in their rotation. Josh Beckett has been the club’s ace since coming off a tumultuous first season with the Sox. Curt Schilling is a clutch performer come playoffs time and deserves earning free money while being on the DL because; well...he has earned it. Daisuke Matzusaka has been paying off the $100 million this season so far by winning six games not to mention the strikeouts he has been getting. Tim Wakefield is his old knuckle-balling self with getting a decision every time he pitches. At the back end of the rotation is promising, more so than the New York Yankees future pitching in Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes. Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz and Justin Masterson will be key pitchers within five years. Starting pitching is not the problem.Relief Pitching: Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Papelbon are the top guys in the relief positions however, even though we would love them to pitch every night, that’s just not possible. Who can fill in for those guys? Well thankfully not Eric Gagne anymore! The Red Sox have some up and comers in Manny Delcarmen, Erich Hull and Craig Hansen but the one that is really getting on in years and is giving up the long ball too much is Mike Timlin who was key to the 2004 World Series run. Relief pitching, with a couple of minor tweaks, is not the problem. What is the problem? Maybe overpaying for a guy like J.D. Drew is the problem? Maybe signing Eric Gagne for no apparent reason in the middle of last season? In the end there really is no specific problem to the Red Sox because, well...they’re a perfect team. They have the chemistry, talent and future to be a successful ballclub for many years to come.
