Monday, August 19, 2013

'X' Marks The Spot When Sox Become Exciting

There will be a lot of pressure on newly promoted Red Sox phenom Xander Bogaerts. Ranked as the consensus #4 prospect in all of baseball, Bogaerts will join a team in serious need of a spark. Losers of 7 out their last 10, The Carmine Hose are starting to get exposed for some of the weaknesses we all saw when projecting them for fourth place. The rotation without Clay Buchholz (now going on a two and half month absence) does not exactly match up with the elite in the league (most notably Tampa and Detroit). Their bullpen is stretched and counting on Koji Uehara (at 38 years of age) to continue his dominance until late October (Game 7 of the World Series is on Halloween). The right-handed bat they needed at the trade deadline is still missing. And they are stranding runners like Charlie On The MTA. Bogaerts and a resurgent Will Middlebrooks might be answer from the right side, and an early September return by Buchholz would make the rotation a lot better. But, the youngster from Aruba can't be counted on for too much. With just sixty games under his belt at AAA, he has performed well. But, late season call-ups of 20-year-olds don't always work out well. In any event, we have entered The Bogie Era—Here's looking at you, kid!