Boston Red Sox Information
The 109th season for the Boston Red Sox franchise kicks off with and ends with the same team, the New York Yankees. This hasn't happened since the 1950 season 60 years ago.
The team lost a number of key players in the offseason. Gone are LHP Hunter Jones, C George Kottaras, SS Alex Gonzalez, LHP Billy Wagner, RHP Takashi Saito, OF Brian Anderson, OF Jason Bay, 1B Casey Kotchman, SS Nick Green, OF Rocco Baldelli and RHP Paul Byrd.
Arriving to the Sox are RHP Boof Bonser, INF Marco Scutaro, OF Jeremy Hermida, INF Tug Hulett, OF Mike Cameron, RHP John Lackey, 3B Adrian Beltre, INF/OF Bill Hall and LHP Brian Shouse.
The Sox pitching has the potential to be the best in the league but in order for that to happen, Matsuzaka must return to his prior form. The projected rotation looks to be LHP Jon Lester, RHP Josh Beckett, RHP John Lackey, RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka and RHP Clay Buchholz. The Bullpen is projected to be RHP Jonathan Papelbon (closer), RHP Daniel Bard, LHP Hideki Okajima, RHP Manny Delcarmen, RHP Ramon Ramirez and LHP Brian Shouse.
The projected batting order looks to be SS Marco Scutaro, 2B Dustin Pedroia, 1B Kevin Youkilis, C Victor Martinez, DH David Ortiz, RF J.D. Drew, 3B Adrian Beltre, CF Mike Cameron and LF Jacoby Ellsbury.
The team hopes that C Jason Varitek will adjust to his backup role and they say that he will continue to be a team captain.
Free from the curse of the Bambino, and facing lots of changes from GM Theo Epstain, the 2007 Red Sox carry 13 pitchers and 12 position players. The big news this season was the 52 million acquisition of Japanese slugger Daisuke Matsuzaka. This turned out to be a good deal, as he has set a 10-6 record at the first half of the season. These all stars make up the team with the best record in baseball, and their success is due to their strong starting pitching. Can the Red Sox recapture the glory of ’04? Ticket holders to the Legendary Fenway Park cannot wait to find out!
If
you followed baseball last season, or at any time in the last 80
years, you’re likely familiar with the Curse of the Bambino.
The Boston Red Sox won five world championships in the early part of the
20th century, but following the 5th title, they sold Babe Ruth
to the New York Yankees for $3,000. Since then, the Red Sox haven’t
brought a title home to Beantown while the dreaded Yankees have
won 26 championships. Boston fans would like to think the Curse
was responsible for the failure of their beloved Red Sox to dethrone
the Yankees in the ALCS last season, but since you can’t
fire a curse, the Red Sox decided to get rid of manager Grady Little
instead. All Little did last season was win 95 games and put his
team within one game of a World Series appearance, but apparently
it wasn’t enough to save his job. Terry Francona was brought
in for the 2004 season to replace Little, in part because of his “tough-guy” persona.
Little was known to give a little to keep his players happy, but
few believe Francona will act in a similar manner. In Francona’s
four seasons as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies from 1997-2000,
Francona’s winning percentage was actually only about .440,
but after seeing how his predecessor was handled, Francona knows
he must produce results if he wants to stick around for any length
of time. Fenway Park is one of the most recognized parks in the
entire world, with its signature feature “The Green Monster”,
a 37 foot high wall, located in left field. 280 seats were added
atop the monster prior to the 2003 season. It’s only 302
down the right field line, 315 over the monster in left, and 420
just right of dead center.
The Red Sox have bulked up their already developed pitching staff for 2004 by
adding future hall-of-fame starter Curt Schilling and all-star Keith Foulke in
the bullpen. Schilling brings experience and a mentality that won’t be
affected by talks of “curses.” Foulke will definitely help a bullpen
that was one of the few weak links the Red Sox had last season. After attempting
a bullpen-by-committee, Foulke will give Francona the assurance Boston fans have
searched for. Schilling and Foulke will join all-star Pedro Martinez, knuckle-baller
Tim Wakefield, and Derek Lowe to form one of the top staffs in the entire league.
The Red Sox set all types of records last season for offensive production, and they’ll return many of the big names from 2003. Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra are easily the most recognized names on this roster, but Nomar is coming off an Achilles problem and is in the last year of his contract. Many have rumored Nomar is ready for a change, but he insists he’s interested in staying in Boston. Jason Varitek, David Ortiz, and Johnny Damon will also be big producers this season as the Red Sox look to ward off the demons that have plagued them in the past.