Joe Sauer's Boston Red Sox fan blog

So David Ortiz is going onto the 15 day Disabled List. The team expects him to be out for about a month. It doesn’t look like surgery will be necessary. This isn’t going to be that big of deal for the Red Sox. Sure it hurts to lose Big Papi, the Major League leader in RBI over that past 5 seasons, but Boston can manage for a month. Afterall, Ortiz played so poorly for the first month of this season that he may as well have not been in the lineup and the team did okay. Sure it hurts not to have his leadership around, but the Red Sox still have enough offense that they’ll be able to get by. Everything will be just fine.

That’s what I kept telling myself over and over again last night when I first got the news about Ortiz. The truth is, however–and I hate to be an alarmist–that the situation is bad. This isn’t a pulled muscle that Ortiz will take some time off and come back as good as before. He tore the tendon sheath in his left wrist. Wrist injuries are bad news for hitters. Especially if surgery is involved. Nomar Garciaparra missed almost the entire 2001 season when he had to have surgery on his wrist to repair an injury similar to the one suffered by Ortiz. There is a distinct possibility that Ortiz could be done for the season. It is probably a near certainty that he will be out longer than a month.

Continue reading "Injury to Ortiz is Bad News for Boston"

Upon seeing Justin Masterson pick up his first Major League victory the day after Jon Lester pitched his no hitter, it got me thinking about the Red Sox’ non-trade for Johan Santana. Both Lester and Masterson were prominent names in the trade talks, along with Jacoby Ellsbury and Jed Lowrie (Clay Buchholz was deemed completely off limits). There was much debate over whether or not Boston would be better off going with the proven All-World pitcher in Santana, or sticking with the young prospects on the belief that they would develop into the prominent pieces of a championship franchise that they were projected to be. So often both front offices as well as fans fall in love with prospects who have never even played a Major League game based solely on their advertised potential. Almost as often, this ends up being an irrational love affair that falls short just as it has in the past with the likes of Brian Rose, Dernell Stenson and Steve Lomasney (anyone remember these guys?). In this case, Boston’s decision to hang on to its young talent has so far worked out very well to start the season.

Continue reading "Looking In On The Players Involved in the Santana Trade Talks"

Jon Lester has completely validated, for one night at least, Red Sox management’s decision to back off their pursuit of Johan Santana this past off-season and keep him in the fold for 2008. In reality, it will most likely take a couple of years to say for certain whether or not Boston made the right move to hang on to the young lefty, but after Lester blew his 130th and final pitch, a 96 mph fastball, past Royals batter Alberto Callaspo to complete his no hitter, it has to make Theo Epstein very hopeful for the future.

Truth be told, I was one who was of the opinion that the Red Sox should have given up Lester to acquire Santana. For me, like some others, Lester seemed more likely to be an ordinary middle of the rotation guy than the future Cy Young candidate that Boston pitching coach John Farrell was adamant he would become. Lester seemed to always nibble at the corners and his lack of command left him frequently falling behind hitters. He walked too many batters (74 in 144 innings entering this season) and his outings were typically done after five innings at most as his pitch counts rose as fast as gas prices. These types of performances certainly aren’t what you would expect from a pitcher whom the organization is claiming to be a future anchor of the rotation.

Continue reading "Lester's No Hitter Validates Decision Not to Trade for Santana . . . For Now"

Well, maybe they are a ways from the present day equivalent of the 1959 White Sox team of a similar nickname that ran and played small ball all the way to the American League Pennant, but compared to what we are accustomed to with the slugging Red Sox, this year’s team is practically making games look like track meets. Boston has always built its teams around lumbering sluggers, and aside from the fact that perhaps the most famous play in team history IS a stolen base, one would be hard pressed to name any prolific basestealer in the 100 plus years the franchise has been in existence. In fact, since Theo Epstein has had control of the general manager reins, he has built the team around the "Moneyball" philosophy of high on base percentage and not giving away outs. The team has not only ignored stolen bases, but has pretty much discouraged them not wanting to risk giving away outs.

Continue reading "The Go Go . . . Red Sox?"

Yesterday Justin Masterson delivered just what the Red Sox needed: relief. Well sort of. For a team that has been ravaged by the flu and already had to scratch Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka from scheduled starts, they badly needed some one to step in and give them quality innings, especially after spot David Pauley in a spot start and Jon Lester who pitched on three days rest failed to do so. Justin Masterson got the emergency call to jump up from Double A Portland to make his Major League debut and did so masterfully. The only problem was, the bullpen blew it.

Now normally I am one to preach patience with rookies and not spring to snap judgements based upon a couple of good games. But in this case, Masterson, who was optioned back to Portland after the game, needs to remain in Boston. But not as a starter, instead he should be kept in the bullpen. Start him out in middle relief to ease the transition to the Majors and then he should be ready to step into the set up role by mid season.

Continue reading "Get Masterson in the Bullpen, Now!"

With the conclusion of the Red Sox’ annual Patriot’s Day game, Boston infielder Jed Lowrie has now completed his first week in the Major Leagues. It is safe to say that he has made a remarkable first impression, especially with three RBI in his debut. At this point nearly every Theo Epstein wannabe capable of dialing into WEEI are surely grumbling that Jed Lowrie needs to assume to the role of every day starting shortstop. They can certainly make a good argument in the fact that Lowrie is batting .375 and already has more RBI in only 15 at bats than Julio Lugo has so far this season. At some point Lowrie is going to force Boston to make a decision to make him the starter as he appears to be the shortstop of the future for the Red Sox. In this same blog earlier this spring, I touted that Lowrie could begin to challenge Lugo for his job by mid season. In fact, I still feel that way. However, Lowrie is still not ready to be the starting shortstop despite his early success.

Continue reading "Despite Hot Start, Lowrie Still Not Ready to Take Lugo's Job"

Two weeks into the 2008 season and the Boston Red Sox must be pleased with how the season has gone thus far. Granted they are only two games over .500 at 8 and 6 and have split their last 10 games, but things could be much, much worse. When the Yankees went to Japan to open the season, they proceeded to go 11-19 in the first month of the season before finally snapping out of it and going on to win the division. Boston is only half a game out of first place in the tightly packed American League East which is currently lead by the surprising Baltimore Orioles who do not figure to hang around much longer.

Things looked like they were about to get really bad after the Red Sox got swept in Toronto and capped off the second series of the season by committing four errors during a game in which ace Josh Beckett looked very ordinary in his return to the mound. Since getting swept, however, Boston has won 5 of the next 7 against such projected American League powerhouses as the Yankees, Tigers and Indians. Little by little, the Red Sox that we saw win the World Series last season are coming back.

Continue reading "Red Sox Should Feel Good About The Season So Far"

Boston fans don’t panic, the Red Sox will hit this year. After scoring only 14 runs and batting .268 as a team in the four games to open the season, I’m sure Red Sox Nation is thinking it was a good thing Boston has been playing against a team even more anemic offensively or else they could be 1 and 3 instead of 3 and 1. David Ortiz, the biggest bat of them all, went 0 for 11 before coming alive in the fourth game. Take heart Sox fans, Ortiz (who is hitting .188) and Mike Lowell (.133), last season’s leading run producers, will not finish the season batting below .200.

Unfortunately, the Red Sox hitters were victimized by a travel schedule that saw them go from Florida to Japan to Los Angeles to Oakland in the course of two weeks. While every other Major League club was still in the midst of Spring Training, Boston and Oakland had to travel to the other side of the Pacific Ocean to play two official games a week before anyone else did. To say either team looked rusty would be an understatement. To make matters worse, instead of being able to assume a normal routine, the teams then had to turn around and fly back to the United States and play more exhibition games before meeting up again in Oakland to complete a four game series.

Continue reading "Red Sox Hitters Just Need to Find Their Rhythm"

Here is part six of my preview of the 2008 season for Major League Baseball. This time I’ll look at the key questions for each team in the American League East.

Baltimore Orioles

Is Adam Jones ready to be a star?

The only difference the answer to this questions might make is whether the rebuilding Orioles lose 100 games or only 95. The 22 year old Jones, who was the centerpiece for the Erik Bedard trade, is still not quite ready for primetime. He is however, immensely talented and has shown flashes of brilliance so far in spring training. This is the same player, though, who struck out 21 times in only 65 at bats in his brief appearance with the Mariners last season and Baltimore should expects similar periods this summer where he struggles as he makes the adjustment to playing in the big leagues. Jones should succeed in teaming up with fellow outfielders Nick Markakis and Luke Scott to provide some punch to what will otherwise be a listless Orioles offense and give the fans some hope that this rebuilding project has a bright future ahead.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: American Leauge East"

Next up on my preview of the 2008 Major League Baseball season is the National League East. Like before, these are the key questions facing each team.

Atlanta Braves

How much do Tom Glavine and John Smoltz have left?

The Braves figure to be loaded on offense and their pitching could potentially be pretty strong depending on how this pair of 40 year-olds fair this season. Smoltz, who will turn 41 this season, is the safer bet as he has pitched over 200 innings in each season since returning to the starting rotation in 2005, each time with a sub 3.50 ERA. At his age though, a pitcher can rapidly begin to decline and he has experienced some shoulder problems already this spring. Nonetheless, I would expect him to put up another solid year.

Glavine, who just turned 42, is the bigger question. He has been good for at least 198 innings in each of the past three years, however, his ERA has gone up in each of the last two, including a jump from 3.82 to 4.45 from 2006 to 2007. The Braves should definitely get innings from Glavine, though often times he will really have to battle through them. Atlanta also hopes to get a boost from Mike Hampton who hasn’t pitched since 2005. Given his health issues it will be tough to count on him staying in the rotation and what he’ll be able to do when he is there. Most likely the Braves will be a big time player in the trade market for a starting pitcher this summer in order to keep pace with the Mets and the Phillies.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: National League East"