The Red Sux...I mean Red Sox...No I Don't...

Seriously? What happened with the Boston Red Sox? Are you kidding me? $160 million can't even get you into the playoffs? Well there's plenty of blame to go around so...

1. John Lackey: He is the second highest paid player on the team; $15.95 million in 2011. What does that get you? 12-12 6.41 ERA. Not good enough Big Hoss. Honestly, any bum off the street could do this for fifty bucks and a case of beer. Two more wins and Boston would be primed for playoff baseball once again.

2. JD Drew: Another overpaid bum. At least Lackey proved he could do it at one point. With Drew all the Red Sox paid for was "potential." Before joining the Red Sox, he only eclipsed ninety RBIs twice and twenty home runs three times. He was a 2008 All Star, his only All Star appearance, meaning that he was never an All Star before he joined the Red Sox.  He only played in eighty-one games and hit .222 with four home runs and twenty-two RBIs. Curtis Grnaderson, an MVP candidate for the hated New York Yankees made $8.5 million. Seriously.

3. Carl Crawford: See JD Drew. His stats were .255 eleven home runs and fifty-six RBIs. That saying, "you get what you pay for" does not apply to this team. Crawford has been one of the most dynamic and consistent players in baseball since his major league debut in 2003. Maybe he is still getting used to being under the microscope playing in Boston. Maybe he is adjusting to playing in a real stadium rather than the monstrosity of a dome that they have in Tampa Bay. He has to be better next year for this team to succeed.

4. Theo Epstein: Once looked upon as one of the best general managers in baseball, a slew of bad signings have brought his ability to assess value to veteran players into question. No question he can draft and develop players, but he seems to have a hard time evaluating established players. JD Drew, John Lackey, Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Julio Lugo are all considered busts and fans have been dreaming of the day when their tenures with the team would be over (Lugo's contract expired after 2010). All, except Matsuzaka who played eight seasons in Japan before joining the Red Sox, were drafted and developed by other tams. All enjoyed varying degrees of success with those other teams, and by "varying degrees of success" I mean some good years, other not so good years. In all, Epstein committed $308.7 million to these five players and got very little in return.

5. Jonathan Papelbon: Personally, I like Papelbon as a player. I think he is a solid closer and can be effective in securing wins. In an age when there is only one elite closer in baseball (Mariano River, New York Yankees) and possibly three or four others who are better than Papelbon, the Red Sox could do worse. Remember the "closer by committee" in 2003? The problem with him is one that has developed since his meltdown in game 3 of the 2009 American League Division Series (ALDS) against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: when the lights are the brightest, he cannot produce. He blew game 162 of the 2011 season, in other words leading by one in the ninth inning, three outs away from a playoff spot, he caved. He could not take the pressure and it cost this team.

***Note: Manager Terry Francona, who will not be back in 2012, was excluded from this list. Many feel that he did the best job he could with the team he was given and he should be remembered as one of the best managers in Red Sox history.

Can't Wait for Hockey Season

It seems like just yesterday. June 15, 2011. Game 7 Stanley Cup. Bruins win. Canucks lose. Justice done. Well, a new season starts in the Hub of Hockey Thursday, October 9th. Guess what? The Bruins have a pretty good chance to repeat as champs. Last year's Cup winners, the Chicago Blackhawks, had trouble fitting player salaries under the Salary Cap and had to trade key players. Not this year. The Bruins lost three players: defenseman Thomas Kaberle (who was a liability both offensively and defensively throughout the playoffs), right wing Michael Ryder (who was the most frustratingly inconsistent player in recent history for the Bruins) and left wing Mark Recchi (who was one of the greatest players of a generation and a class act in his year and half in Boston). Kaberle was grossly overpaid by the Carolina Hurricanes as a free agent. Ryder took his talents south (no not Miami) to Dallas for a hefty contract. Recchi retired and is awaiting his all but sure induction into the Hall of Fame. The Bruins picked up Joe Corvo to replace Kaberle. Jordan Caron, a former first-round pick of the club, should be ready to step in for Ryder. Rich Peverley, a mid-season acquisition from the Atlanta Thrashers last year, could bring a new dimension of speed to the second line.
It should be an exciting year on Causeway St. and hopefully we will have another "rolling rally" through the streets of Boston next June.