S3F Version of 30 in 30, Episode 1: Boston Red Sox

[Porter]

Welcome to our first version of 30 in 30, while we don't have the 30 days to discuss all 30 teams in the season. We want to start a series to get all 30 teams discussed before the seasons. What we are going to do is interview by the board or keep a discussion from someone that knows a little about the team to have a back in forth discussion on the team with. Anything could be asked at any time. It is open to everyone to ask questions on the team.

The first person that will be interviewed will be Cjkalt. Most of you might know him as a primary sim-leaguer. But this is to also showcase that we do have some intelligence among the bretheren other than OOTP heads.

Welcome CJ to the show.

[cjkalt]

This Red Sox team is balanced with a bright future. There are some young guys that will need to step up and veterans that have to rebound off below average years last year.

Lets get this started

[Porter]

The 1st Question will be on your thoughts on last season and what their strengths and downfalls are? Did they live up to the expectations that were set in pre-season?

[cjkalt]

I think the expectations from the pre-season were to make a deep run in the playoffs and hopefully win a WS. We accomplished that goal however in May or June the goal was a World Series title. However, no one could have predicted that Manny would have blown up like he did in July and quit on a WS caliber team. I think people realized at that point a WS was not practical.

Despite what people say that stress, affects the whole team. You can even see it now in March, when Papelbon called him a cancer. When you play a 162 game schedule every bit of stress adds up and it will affect your play.

That being said a lot of things went wrong, Ortiz shoulder hurt his power, Buchholz, Delcarmen, Hansen (since traded to PIT), and Ellsbury had lackluster sophomore years. Mike Lowell was hurt with the hip flexor, Lugo had hamstring problems, Beckett had shoulder problems. Now granted every team has their injuries but we are talking about 4 starting position players and a good part of the pen being hurt for a significant amount of time. Last year the Red Sox biggest weakness was a lack of depth outside the MLB Roster, they tried to acquire that at the deadline and Waiver Deadline with Kotsay etc but the reality is that is something that you can only fix in the offseason.

As for our strength I think our MVP's in Youk and Pedroia came on strong and are now locked up for a long period of time and they will be a corner stone for this franchise for a long time.

[Porter]

Welcome back to the show. Now back to the question at hand.

Did you see before 2008 that Manny Ramirez would just flat out quit on the team? Did you see any signs or was it straight out of nowhere? With the Sox adding Baldelli and Smoltz among other do you think they have enough depth in the minors and on the bench to survive another season like 2008, injury wise?

[cjkalt]

Before the 2008 season, it was the first time in awhile that he hadn't demanded a trade in the offseason so I felt really good about him, he was heading into a FA year (since the Sox weren't going to pick up those options) so I was expecting a peak performance from the plate and maybe average defensive play. And for the first 3 months thats what we got, only when he realized the Sox might pick up the options and he might have to try for 2 years in a row did he get angry. Also the switch of agents to Scott Boras had to have something to do with it. Scott Boras wasn't getting any of Manny's money from his big deal (That was done by Jeff Moorad's agency) so the sooner he got Manny to FA, the sooner he got paid. However, being a quitter and sore loser about the contract is no way to be a professional (especially cause he was the one who begged for the option years so the total value of the contract was 200 million which was important for his ego)

As for the depth, I think the Red Sox realized that counting on your young prospects for 100% of your depth isn't a good way to stay consistenly good. You named 2 of the acquisitions to improve depth. I think the Saito, Penny, Smoltz, Baldelli, and resigning Kotsay and acuiring Ramon Ramierez in a trade made the Red Sox a much deeper team in the OF/SP/RP. There are still concerns about the Red Sox IF depth (considering Lowell coming off hip flexor surgery, Ortiz shoulder, Lugo out now) and we are counting on some minor league guys. This could come back to bite us, but there are still veterans out there (Ray Durham comes to mind) that could help us short-term get through the situation if Lowrie can't handle the everyday workload.

Having depth in certain areas too can help you make deals to get deeper in areas of need. I like the depth of this team went from a strong weakness to a strong strength

[Porter]

Before the 2008 season, it was the first time in awhile that he hadn't demanded a trade in the offseason so I felt really good about him, he was heading into a FA year (since the Sox weren't going to pick up those options) so I was expecting a peak performance from the plate and maybe average defensive play. And for the first 3 months thats what we got, only when he realized the Sox might pick up the options and he might have to try for 2 years in a row did he get angry. Also the switch of agents to Scott Boras had to have something to do with it. Scott Boras wasn't getting any of Manny's money from his big deal (That was done by Jeff Moorad's agency) so the sooner he got Manny to FA, the sooner he got paid. However, being a quitter and sore loser about the contract is no way to be a professional (especially cause he was the one who begged for the option years so the total value of the contract was 200 million which was important for his ego)

As for the depth, I think the Red Sox realized that counting on your young prospects for 100% of your depth isn't a good way to stay consistenly good. You named 2 of the acquisitions to improve depth. I think the Saito, Penny, Smoltz, Baldelli, and resigning Kotsay and acuiring Ramon Ramierez in a trade made the Red Sox a much deeper team in the OF/SP/RP. There are still concerns about the Red Sox IF depth (considering Lowell coming off hip flexor surgery, Ortiz shoulder, Lugo out now) and we are counting on some minor league guys. This could come back to bite us, but there are still veterans out there (Ray Durham comes to mind) that could help us short-term get through the situation if Lowrie can't handle the everyday workload.

Having depth in certain areas too can help you make deals to get deeper in areas of need. I like the depth of this team went from a strong weakness to a strong strength

About Jed Lowrie, he did show flashes of some potential last season. Can he handle a full time job in 2009?

[cjkalt]

I think he will be able to, will he be a .300 hitter, no but we were only getting .230-.240 when Lugo was playing well, Lowrie had an interesting 3 months, he initally struggled in July batting .222 which is understandable, then he got hot in August batting .284 but once teams started getting a scouting report in September he batted .213.

This reminds me a bit of the Dustin Pedroia his rookie year when he couldn't hit anything for 2 months, but Tito kept him in the lineup saying he'd figure it out and break out... well now 2 years later he's the MVP. Is Lowrie that good? I don't think so, but he can definitely be an every day shortstop on a contending team.

I'd look for a .255 average with an OPS about .750, which isn't good but its not bad either.

[Porter]

[missionhockey21]

Great stuff guys. Porter did a really nice job of hosting, keeping the topic on track and bringing an outsiders perspective to the AL East. And CJ had a ton of knowledge about the Red Sox and the AL East so I really feel brought up to speed on the situation in Boston. I do think the Yankees projection for first is a bit low as the new stadium, new look team could really come together under those circumstances, but I do agree that no team in the East has depth like the Red Sox do and that is crucial.

Rep to both of you and it was great to see so many questions come in from the rest of the gang.

[NYgiantsfan5689]

For the poll, I put Awesome because I really enjoyed it a lot. I think this idea can really go far. Rep to all 3 of you guys, because I know mission had a huge role in this too. That chat thing is really freakin cool, and maybe we'll end up using it for the Giantscast at some point.

[Foster]

I didn't even know this was going on, and am strongly interested in helping out at all on the nest one, or any other ones.

A+ for both of you.

[Porter]

Foster send me a PM.