Posts Tagged Tim Wakefield
MLB Playoff Analysis: Boston Red Sox
Can Boston win their third World Series in the last six years?
The Boston Red Sox have become the model for running a successful baseball organization. There is a reason they have been called the “Moneyball” team with money. They draft and develop young players as well as anyone in baseball as seen with Pedroia, Youkilis, Ellsbury, Lester and Papelbon. As well as bring in some players via trade, Martinez, Bay, Beckett. Plus they have some great young arms on their 40-man roster such as Buchholtz, Bard, Bowden and Tazawa. They have made some recent mistakes, Dice-K and Mike Lowell signings come to mind, but on the whole they do a great job in a division that has the Yankees and Rays competing for the playoffs. Boston’s transition from Manny Ramirez and Ortiz carrying the offense from 2003-2007, to winning 95 games in 2008 and 2009 while losing Manny half way through 2008 and an inconsistent Ortiz in 2008 and 2009, is very impressive.
Season Recap: The Red Sox entered the 2009 season with a surplus of potential starting pitchers. Beckett, Lester, Wakefield, Matsuzaka, Penny, Masterson, Buchholz, and Smoltz were all capable of starting. Boston moved Masterson to the bullpen, before trading him, and went with Beckett, Lester, Wakefield, Dice-K and Penny as their starting 5. The rotation faced a fair amount of problems but was carried by Jon Lester and Josh Beckett. Jonathon Papelbon was great as the team’s closer and the offense scored the 3rd most runs in MLB behind the Angels and Yankees. Boston started out the season 8-0 vs. the Yankees, only to see New York take the next 9 of 10 from Boston. Boston was in a fight with Tampa Bay and Texas for the Wild Card. The Rays fell out of the race in late August, while Texas hung around with Boston in September. On September 4th, Texas pulled within 2 games of Boston after a 4-game winning streak. After that day, Texas went 4-8 in their next 12 games and fell out of the Wild Card race. Boston finished the season at 95-67 with a +137 run differential.
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