Red Sox: Is it the end of the world as we know it with Giancarlo Stanton trade?
The Boston Red Sox took a hit with the Yankees trade for Giancarlo Stanton, but the dealing is not done. Before I hop off the bandwagon I will wait until Boston responds.
A depressive state had hit Red Sox Nation with the trade of Giancarlo Stanton to the Yankees. Bridges over the scenic Charles River are being carefully monitored for distressed Red Sox fans who may wish to take a frozen and distraught dive.
But enough – it is not the end of the world as we know it.
The Red Sox are in a precarious spot with a need for some demonstrated power to add to their lineup. When the Tampa Bay Rays (is that their correct name?) hit more home runs than the Red Sox you have an issue. Heck – the Rays even hit more home runs at home than the Red Sox did at Fenway Park. A world turned upside down.
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The blame game is easy to play and has been since prior to the start of a 93-win season. All knew the Red Sox needed a serious replacement bat for David Ortiz, but, hey that is all history and the brutal future awaits.
The good news is the Red Sox have excellent pitching that ranked third in the American League. The bad news? The Yankees ranked second in the AL. So, pitching is the most important part of defense and New York has that. Maybe a recovering David Price and Steven Wright will tilt the pitching scales.
Another positive is the Red Sox are a young team with players nearing their prime baseball years. The bad news is the Yankees have a similar abundance of youth and more talent on the way thanks to a burgeoning farm system. I guess that is a tie?
Baseball has a way of taking the promise of a bright future and dismantling it with injuries, complacency, internal strife and a myriad of other possible pitfalls. Remember the Red Sox vaunted rotation of 2009? A rotation that would be deep to the extent of a seven-man rotation was being discussed. By the end of the season, Paul Byrd and a young Junichi Tazawa were given starts. Brad Penny and John Smoltz did nothing. The rest underperformed or were injured.
I am not the type to wear the worry beads out hoping for a New York injury disaster as a way of balancing the scales. To balance the scales, you need an astute GM and ownership. Maybe that will surface at the winter meetings? The Sox will most certainly get some prospective power to energize their lineup, but just who is open for debate. The pressure is on and it is not the players, but management.
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What I do know is that if the season was starting this week the Yankees would be a clear favorite to win the division – a division that appears to have only two teams of note. The Beast of the East may be defanged, but baseball has a built-in life-preserver for the Red Sox and an ever-growing list of other teams – the bloated wild card option.
Each season the potential is there for a team to sneak in. What is most important in the short series adventures is pitching and here we go with more bad news. Our staff seems to have a giant fur ball when the real pressure arrives. Maybe 2018 will be different?
Anyway, the wait is on for the other shoe to drop and it will. Boston has a corporate responsibility to present a quality and competitive product, so an upgrade will take place. I just wonder what it will be?
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Thhe Red Sox response may make the suddenly giddy New York fans get a dose of the funk that Boston fans now have. New York’s big move may be not that big if Santa Dombrowski returns from meetings with a prize package for RSN. I’ll worry about forecasts when spring training is in the books.