i'm one of those folks that will never stop believing, and, especially after the '04 ALCS, i wouldn't ever count the red sox out when a chance still remains.
that said, like you guys, i'm frustrated as heck right now... having a hard time keeping positive about our chances in the playoffs even if we do make it in.
that got me thinking about our farm system and upcoming years. with the strange barrage of injuries, we got to see a lot of players we didn't expect to see. of those, none left a lasting impression. i think reddick will amount to something, but will it be for the sox? who knows. lavarnway* shows promise as a hitter, but i don't think anyone believes he can be a big league catcher (yet) defensively. kalish is certainly promising, but only as a compliment to ellsbury, who we could very easily lose. just think of an outfield made up of crawford, kalish and reddick.
our short-stop position has never been solid, but to be honest, scutaro has played his way into it this year and solidly established himself there. i think between youk and lowrie we have a third baseman, and we always know who will be on first and second.
i refuse to even talk about pitching at this stage, but i don't think anyone who has read sports news of late could argue there is going to be an issue that the offseason really needs to fix.
so, apart from first and second, a piecemeal third and whom we settle for at ss, i'm nervous.
*i do think salty is our catcher... it's just that i don't have any feeling in particular about the guy in the position.
Nice call on Lavarnway earlier today! That or, he just really wants to go to the playoffs.
ReplyDeleteAs I wrote in a comment to this post, I understand that the Sox are treading water at SS until Jose Iglesias is ready to take over. I'd be shocked if Theo counted on Lowrie to be anything more than a sub next year given his injury history.
ReplyDeleteI also think the Sox really like Kalish and are frustrated as hell that he was injured this year. But they'll probably have to go out and get somebody because you'd hate to just hope that either Reddick or Kalish prove themselves next year.
While I find the discussion fascinating, to me the more pressing question is pitching. I admit that I don't know enough about their farm system to speak knowledgeably, but it sounds like Dupront took a step backwards this year. Weiland will probably need another whole year in Pawtucket just to recover from this year. I'm afraid given the state of the Sox starting pitching, talking about any other needs is whistling past the graveyard.
agreed. my feeling is that i don't see how we can do anything about pitching from our farm system. i think the sox are going to have to get rid of his lackey, no matter how much it costs (for morale alone) and bring in another top 3. beckett will be beckett, who knows about lester, daisuke probably won't be BETTER after tommy john, bucholz probably needs a year to get back into it, wake will retire... so i think we need a very top level signing in the off season.
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