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Boston Red Sox

2012 – Finished last in AL East

Record: 69-93

The Boston Red Sox had a season to forget. In the 100th season at Fenway Park, they played like they had played the first season as well. It was the worst season in Boston since 1965. Boston made the change at the top when Terry Francona was fired, but Bobby Valentine’s appointment did nothing positive for the Red Sox.

April 21st 2012 versus the Yankees set the tone for the season when from a 9-0 lead through 5 innings, they lost 15-9. It would be from the beginning of August that the Red Sox imploded and finished the season 16-42.

2013 may not be much better for the Red Sox because of the competitive nature of the AL East. Making changes will help, coupled with the fact that the Red Sox cannot be that bad again for another 47 years. However, the other teams are tweaking to improve too so playoff baseball isn’t realistic in 2013.

INCOMINGS

C David Ross – Free Agent (ATL)
C/1B Mike Napoli – Free Agent (TEX)
1B Mike Carp – Trade (SEA)
1B/OF Jerry Sands – Trade (LAD)
2B Jeff Kobernus – Rule 5 (WAS)
SS Stephen Drew – Free Agent (OAK)
IF Brock Holt – Trade (PIT)
OF Jonny Gomes – Free Agent (OAK), Shane Victorino – Free Agent (LAD)
RHP David Carpenter – Trade (TOR), Rubby De La Rosa – Trade (LAD), Ryan Dempster – Free Agent (TEX), Graham Godfrey – Trade (OAK), Joel Hanrahan – Trade (PIT), Kyle Kaminska – Trade (PIT), Sandy Rosario – Waivers (MIA); 2x: Waivers (OAK), Koji Uehara – Free Agent (TEX)

OUTGOINGS

1B James Loney – Free Agent (TB)
1B/OF Jerry Sands – Trade (PIT)
2B Jeff Kobernus – Trade (DET)
3B Danny Valencia – Trade (BOS)
IF Mike Aviles – Trade (TOR), Ivan De Jesus, Jr. – Trade (PIT)
OF Che-Hsuan Lin – Waivers (HOU), Cody Ross – Free Agent (ARI)
RHP Scott Atchison – Free Agent (NYM), David Carpenter – Waivers (ATL), Josh Fields – Rule 5 (HOU), Daisuke Matsuzaka – Free Agent (CLE), Mark Melancon – Trade (PIT), Vicente Padilla – Free Agent (Japan), Stolmy Pimentel – Trade (PIT), Ryan Pressly – Rule 5 (MIN), Sandy Rosario – Trade (OAK); 2x: Waivers (CHC), Zach Stewart – Trade (PIT), Rich Hill – Free Agent (CLE)

Outfielders

A fit and functioning Jacoby Ellsbury will give the Red Sox fielding strength and batting power. His 2012 season was injury ravaged but a fit Ellsbury is Golden Glove and All Star material.

Shane Victorino will be looking for a settled 2013 for the Red Sox after being traded to the Los Angeles Dodger from the Philadelphia Phillies. A deterioration was seen in his batting average with it dropping to .245. It is also worth noting that he hasn’t played Right Field since 2008.

Jonny Gomes produced a health .262 average last season with a fielding percentage of .966 at Left Field.

Infielders

Second baseman Dustin Pedroia’s season was symptomatic of the Red Sox as a whole. His 2011 was stellar but his 2012 return wasn’t quite so. His batting average dropped to .290 and whilst his fielding percentage remained constant.

New acquisition Mike Napoli will claim First Base along with giving the Red Sox options as catcher. Napoli’s 2012 was spent at the Texas Rangers where his batting average dropped almost .100 to .227 whilst playing 28 games at First Base.

At Third, it will be Will Middlebrooks who will push hard for the start. In his rookie season, he hit 15 home runs and drove in 51 RBI’s. A broken thumb ended a promising start to his major league career.

Another new acquisition can be found at Shortstop in the form of Stephen Drew. The Oakland Athletics in the offseason made Drew a free agent after being traded in August 2012 from the Arizona Diamondbacks. He will be looking to improve on last years .223 average.

Catchers

Jarrod Saltalamacchia will be looking to match his 25 homers last season. Adding power to the batting line up, ‘Salty’ will be backed up by David Ross. Ross was acquired from the Atlanta Braves and batted at .256 for them.

Starters

If you are looking for reasons why Boston was so bad last year, Jon Lester’s 9-14 record is one of those. A poor return from a World Champion and two time All Star which will need rectifying if the Red Sox are to compete in the AL East.

Clay Buchholz’s 2012 wasn’t that much more successful. An 11-8 record went with a 4.56 ERA and giving up 25 homers into the bargain. 2013 needs to be much better for Buchholz and, now his health issues are treated, I believe they will.

Veteran pitcher Ryan Dempster was acquired in the off-season and will, undoubtedly, give some leadership and experience to the rotation.

Felix Doubront will be one of those pitchers who will benefit from Dempster’s arrival. Doubront was 11-10 last year, having won the right to be in the starting rotation.

John Lackey will return in 2013 after missing all of last season recovering from Tommy John surgery. At 34 and post operative, Lackey has to be a gamble for the Red Sox. His numbers have deteriorated since a great 2007. Was it a degenerative elbow issue? We will see.

Relievers

Two time All Star Joel Hanrahan has joined from the Pittsburgh Pirates along with Koji Uehara from the Texas Rangers (1.75 ERA in 2012) to restructure the bullpen. Andrew Bailey, Andrew Miller, Junichi Tazawa, Craig Breslow, Alfredo Aceves will make up the rest.

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