The
2015 Boston Red Sox Media Guide is an indispensable tool for anyone covering the team. It is a treasure trove of information—past and present—on
The Carmine Hose. This year, the cover has the exciting threesome of
David Ortiz,
Pablo Sandoval and
Hanley Ramirez.
"Rejoice", the team seems to be saying, we've added some
serious offensive beef to sandwich around Papi. True enough. After 21 games, Boston has scored a whopping 109 runs (5.19 per game). However, as
Curt Schilling pointed out this morning on
WEEI's Dennis & Callahan Morning Show, their run
differential is
minus nine—worst in the division. It's not hard to find the culprit—starting
and relief pitching. All together, 16 pitchers have worked for the Red Sox this year—with a collective ERA of 5.23. That group has given up more hits than innings pitched (the
true yardstick of pitching quality) and delivered a WHIP of 1.40.
Not a recipe for success. No matter how many runs they score this year,
this brand of pitching will making them a .500 ball-club—
at best. So, the cover of the media guide is nice—but (unfortunately) it doesn't really mean anything until they upgrade the pitching.
