The planning is finished. The to-do list has been whittled. Boston’s makeover is complete.
And what does manager Terry Francona like best about his new-look Red Sox?
“What I like right now,” he said during an early-morning conversation in his City of Palms Park office here, “is their ability to get up in the morning and do what we ask them to do and try to prepare for the season.”
Now, the Red Sox are cutting edge. They have their own proprietary software for quantitative analysis of the game’s intricacies and nuances. They employ some of the game’s most brilliant minds.
But I’m pretty sure as the Sox sunk their teeth into their winter maneuvering, “rising with the alarm clock” wasn’t atop the player-evaluation checklist.
And yet, Francona’s answer is dead-solid honest.
And perfect.
There is a culture change afoot in Fenway. Gone are the big bopper days of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Disappeared is Jason Bay and his 36 homers. In place of the thunder and lightning is a new-fangled phrase that sure wasn’t employed back in the days of Ted Williams or Carl Yastrzemski: Run prevention.
No question, how it plays out will be one of the most fascinating developments of 2010. And there are no guarantees. This could work just as they imagine it will … or it could leave the Fenway faithful longing for the days of moon shots over the Green Monster. Swapping brute force for subtle balance isn’t the most sexy way to go.
Will the Hub chicks dig flashy glove work and doubles into the gap?
“We feel like we’re going to have a really good pitching staff,” Francona continues. “We should catch the ball, which should make our pitching better. We’re looking for a balanced lineup, which I think we’re going to have.
“And then you have to have the ability to have depth, and you don’t know where you’re going to need the depth. We laugh about it when you think you have too much pitching go get more. Because that’s the way your season can get derailed.
“We’ve lived through that.”
Adrian Beltre at third base? Gold Glover. Marco Scutaro at shortstop? Good range. A 37-year-old center fielder in Mike Cameron? Sure, he plays younger than he is in the outfield, but … Gritty, hard-throwing right-hander John Lackey alongside Josh Beckett and Jon Lester in the rotation? Count ‘em, that’s three guys who could start Game 1 in October.
“It’s going to be a fun year,” Lester said. “You’re going to see a lot of good plays.”
Suffering through a bad-hipped Mike Lowell at third and Nick Green at shortstop for much of 2009, the Red Sox nevertheless finished tied for third in the AL in fielding percentage. Unless you were watching closely, their defense mostly looked passable. Not everyone realized there was an issue, not even some folks right in the thick of it.
“Not really,” second baseman Dustin Pedroia said. “I know we struggled early defensively, but by the end of the year we were pretty good.
“At the end of the year we weren’t swinging the bats. That’s why we lost.”
Though the Sox earned the AL wild-card slot, they went quietly in the playoffs, getting swept by the Angels.
By the time the first snowflakes fell, general manager Theo Epstein and Co. had decided against making extravagant free-agent offers to Bay, whom they dubbed deficient defensively. At the winter meetings, they put in place a deal to send Lowell to Texas, though that fell apart when the third baseman failed a physical and subsequently underwent surgery on his thumb. And their revolving door at shortstop flipped to Scutaro, who follows the Orlando Cabrera/Pokey Reese/Alex Gonzalez/Julio Lugo/Alex Cora/Nick Green procession over the past six years since the trade of Nomar Garciaparra.
“We weren’t the best defensive team,” Francona said. “We knew that. There were reasons. We knew Mikey was coming off of hip surgery. We had a bunch of different shortstops. But when the season starts, you’re trying to win. Then when the season’s over, we take a pretty critical look at ourselves: ‘How can we get better?’
“I don’t think it’s a difference in philosophy. It’s just, ‘How can we get better?’ At the same time, Theo’s looking at our team not just now but four years down the road. There’s a lot of things to think about.
Sleeper … Adrian Beltre: Fenway Park and this supporting cast should help revitalize him. After all, he is still listed at just 30 years old, believe it or not. Beltre is a late-round pick in mixed formats, but he could prove to be quite a find if he holds off Mike Lowell for everyday at-bats and proves capable of attacking the Green Monster from the right side of the plate as the Red Sox are banking he will. Bust … Marco Scutaro: Scutaro, 34, was widely considered a super-utility man before posting a career year in 2009 and earning a free-agent deal with the Red Sox. Banking on more improvement out of a middle infielder in his mid-30s is a bad strategy in Fantasy, regardless of how intriguing his supporting cast and new home park is. Breakout … Clay Buchholz: The Red Sox figure to slot a veteran rotation ahead of him, but Buchholz is plenty talented enough to force their hand with him in their rotation. Because Buchholz could start the year in the bullpen or Triple-A, he could be as much of a sleeper as he is a breakout, but we believe the cream will rise to the top and Buchholz will be owned and a must-start in all Fantasy leagues be Top Red Sox Prospects (2010 destination) 1. Michael Bowden, SP, Triple-A 2. Junichi Tazawa, SP, Triple-A 3. Ryan Westmoreland, OF, Class A 4. Casey Kelly, SP, Double-A 5. Ryan Kalish, OF, Triple-A Red Sox outlook | 2010 Draft Prep Guide
“I think I’ve always cared about how we catch the ball. But you have the team you have, and you do the best you can.”
Though the Red Sox tied f a they were a lowly 16th in the majors in Ultimate Zone Rating, another of the new-age sabermetric study formulas (though it is important to note, as I mentioned earlier, the Sox have their own proprietary analysis methods and do not use UZR).
Beltre (two), Pedroia (one) and first baseman Kevin Youkilis (one) have four Gold Gloves among them, which should allow the pitchers a deep breath every now and again.
“There are always times you feel like [you have to make the perfect pitch],” Beckett said. “This year, that’s not going to be the situation. I don’t feel I have to make the perfect pitch. The defense makes you more comfortable.
“You’re still trying to make the perfect pitch, but sometimes the perfect pitch isn’t there.”
When it isn’t, the thinking goes, Beltre will be. Or Scutaro. Or, heck, with this sticky defense,
In the outfield, with fleet Jacoby Ellsbury moving to left to allow Cameron, the three-time Gold Glover, to play center, and with J.D. Drew in right, it should be the best defense during Francona’s seven seasons in the dugout.
“I hope so,” Francona said. “That’s the idea. It’s a little bit like Tampa Bay when [Carl] Crawford is running all over the field like a second center fielder. We like that. We think, physically, they match up real well to Fenway. Jacoby’s quickness in left, Cameron’s long strides in center. …
“Jacoby’s already played left field for us when he first came up. He’s pretty dynamic out there. We didn’t just throw it out there and hope it sticks. We’ve kind of tried to look at it and understand it and have good reasons for doing things.”
The reasons, as always under the Francona/Epstein partnership, are sound. The plan is being put into place.
For now, rising with the alarm clock and getting to work is just perfect. It sure beats hitting the snooze button.
“We may not lead the league in runs, but we’re going to have a good offe we’ve had a couple of years here where we’ve overcome some of our shortcomings because Manny’s hit a three-run homer.
“I’d prefer to play the game crisply and cleanly and still hopefully be productive, because that’s how you’re good. That’s what we’re hoping for.
“A lot of people come in and say, ‘Hey, you’re going to play a lot of 2-1 games.’ I don’t think that’s our goal. We want to play a lot of 6-1 games. That’s the idea. We’ll see.”
