The Red Sox have fought valiantly in 2010, but Friday night’s embarrassing 16-2 loss essentially ends any chance the Sox had at coming back and making the playoffs. On a day that began with Dustin Pedroia being placed on the 15-DL again (and likely shut down for the season), Jon Lester and the Sox got pummeled with long balls (4) and allowed 20 hits to the 4th place AL East Toronto Blue Jays. Being an optimist, I always look for the silver-lining in a bad situation, but this may just be the final nail in an injury-riddled season filled with just too much adversity to overcome.
If I were to try and dig deep for a positive in this mess, it would have to be the fact that they now basically know where they stand. They know the playoffs are so far off in the distance, that it is all about resting those who need rest to make sure they are 100% for the Spring and allow those players without contracts in 2011 to earn them in the final 6ish weeks of the season. Pedroia was likely to be shut down for the season regardless, given the Sox cautious nature, but now it can be justified a little bit easier. Now that the Sox can look towards the 2011 campaign, it is a perfect chance to give some of their young talent a chance to prove their value.
In retrospect, the 2010 campaign has essentially been one big stage, providing opportunities for young talent to prove their future value in front of 40,000 rabid fans. Players like Ryan Kalish, Daniel Nava, Felix Doubront and Jed Lowrie have gotten significant playing time, allowing Tito and his coaching staff to get a better 1st hand look at their talent. Scouting reports can tell you a lot about a player, but watching them live with your own 2 eyes is something that can never be translated onto paper. Based on the success of these young guys, it is entirely possible the team will not pay as much to get a free agent outfielder such as Carl Crawford and choose to spend their money on other areas of the team.
The biggest area of concern going into the 2010 off-season is behind the plate. Both Jason Varitek and Victor Martinez are free agents and although Victor Martinez has been solid since joining the club, he has been terrible at throwing out potential base-stealers and hasn’t been as powerful at the plate as the Sox would have hoped. Another big question mark surrounds Adrian Beltre and whether the Sox should resign him for the future. One side of the debate sees how strong Beltre was offensively and defensively in 2010, but the other side believes it was a unique season and Beltre will not duplicate those numbers again in 2011.
There will be rumors galore beginning to build momentum as the days wind down and the Sox reach closer to the official end to the 2010 campaign. Never fear, I will spend plenty of time covering each player and option in depth, but right now it has allowed me a few minutes of solace from having to think about the unbelievably poor performance Friday from the whole Sox team. In some ways, I feel relieved that there has been a little closure to the season, because as the Sox tend to do, I was expecting this race to carry-on into September, only to be more devastating when they eventually were actually eliminated from the chase for the post-season.
Just because the Sox are falling into oblivion does not mean coverage of our beloved team will stop. As always, I will continue to break down performances and games as well as look into the future of the franchise. The remaining games of the season can be even more telling than the first 123, because we will get to see some new faces in September and see what mental strength and focus players bring to the table. In some ways, there is more to talk and write about in this part of the season and on into the off-season, because there are new players to watch and infinite directions the Sox front office can take the team and they all have benefits and downsides. Now we just have to wait for this nightmare to end…only 39 games left.
A special thank you to my Father-in-Law for suggesting the title of this post earlier in the week after he believed Sunday night’s loss to the Texas Rangers was the end of the 2010 season for the Sox. In some ways, I envy his ability to see what I try and ignore, the reality that the Sox just don’t have what it takes to overcome the New York Yankees and/or Tampa Bay Rays.
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