Tuesday, July 14, 2015

At The Break: The State Of Your Boston Red Sox

While they have won 10 of their last 15 games, it's hard to get too excited about the 2015 Carmine Hose. At the All-Star Break, they are still in last place in the turgid American League East. And, while they are a hell of a lot closer to first place than they were a few weeks ago (6.5 games), they still have to climb over four teams to get to the top of the pack. Moreover, they are on pace for a 76-86 record—that's ten games under .500. That's not a good team, folks. That's a really bad team. The Red Sox have problems on multiple fronts. The most obvious area of concern is starting pitching—made all the more troubling with the disabling of Clay Buchholz. Then there are the members of the bullpen not named Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara. Next, there is the sub-par defense. And finally, the anemic offense—that has them on pace to score fewer runs than they did last year. The only real intrigue left is watching the blossoming of a young core of players—Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brock Holt, Blake Swihart and Brian Johnson. Enjoy the kids, because—realistically—this team is going nowhere in 2015. Again, we hope we are dead wrong.