Why are you mentioning the offense of the past two year? There like 3 everyday players from that group currently in starting roles. Did you stop watching mid August? The offense had penty of work that needed to be done this year.
Are you seriously calling Lester and Buccholz pitching to career averages(which is what they need to do for the rotation to be good) a miracle? :lol: I guess I will never understand that thought process.
Red Sox starters in spring training (counting Lackey against Puerto Rico): 78.2 IP, 57 H, 22 R, 22 ER, 20 BB, 60 K. 2.52 ERA
From Scott Lauber's Twitter.
a700hitter is right, 2012 Bard is back. He was doing decent at the beginning of Spring Training, but now it seems he has taken a major step back his last two outings. The walks and hit batters has got to go. His control is still a huge concern.Facing Twins' Double-A team, Daniel Bard loaded bases on broken-bat single, two walks, then hit batter with two out #RedSox
5 scoreless for Aceves today against a good Jays lineup. Promising for him as #6 starter.
2 scoreless innings for Jose De La Torre, who reportedly pitched well for PR in the WBC. It would be hilarious if De La Torre ends up as a useful pitcher. He's the guy we traded Lillibridge for and is what we have left for Youkilis.
Lester and Buchholz have had solid springs. Aceves, Dempster, Doubront, and Lackey have all shown us positive things this spring. I was impressed by Aceves today and Lackey yesterday. The starting pitching is looking good, not to mention Aceves is showing us something good as the 6th starter/swing man guy.
Yesterday, Farrell was quoted saying the organization doesn't see Bradley as a left fielder.
Today, Bradley played left field for 1/2 of the game.
After the game, Farrell said the organization changed their mind on Bradley playing left field.
Got to think this means they're seriously considering starting him out with the big club in NY.
My guess is that they start him out with Boston, and when Ortiz gets back, they make their decision. If he's still playing well, you keep him up. If he's struggling, you send him down and get his 20 days in.
Farrell says he likes his arm in RF. He may have been thinking Victorino in LF, which makes sense.
It's possible Farrell has a slightly different view than the FO. You would expect Farrell has more clout in the organization upstairs than Valentine, from his previous experience as a coach in Boston.
You can't underestimate the positive effect on the pitching a defensive OF of Vic-Ells-Bradley would have. They know that now. Perhaps Cherington didn't see that when he signed Gomes. Bradley wasn't in focus then.
You would think Jocketty would take heed about changing roles for Chapman--based on Bard's experience. He's got one of the top closers in Baseball, and he wants to make him a starter--against the intuition of his manager and the player's own wishes. Chapman won't be the same pitcher as a starter, because he has to take something off his fastball--like Bard had to do. Plus Chapman doesn't have many pitches.
The other example is Neifi Perez, who developed arm problems on the shift to starter.
Never undervalue the closer role, if you use a closer regularly in important game situations.