Young Gun: Xander Bogaerts gets the call to The Show

By Mike Devarenne

Editor-in-chief

Lost amongst the fireworks and ensuing media storm of last night’s game against the Yankees, the Red Sox called up their most highly touted prospect since Hanley Ramirez: Xander Bogaerts. This move has been a long time coming, with some people even calling for the promotion in June while incumbent shortstop Stephen Drew was slumping. The Bogaerts move is certainly exciting, but there are some tough questions that need to be answered.

The first question is where he will play. Obviously the correct move is shortstop, his natural position. However, Drew has picked up his play the past couple of weeks so it makes the switch a little tougher to decide. The next logical decision would be to slot him at third base, which I wholeheartedly disagree with. Bogaerts deserves to be at shortstop where he is comfortable. The pressure on him to perform is already high enough given all the hype he has produced, we don’t need him worrying to adapt to a new position in his first couple games in the MLB. So if Bogaerts can’t play third, the next logical step would be to just platoon Will Middlebrooks and Drew at the corner. Well, that’s wrong too. Drew has played every single game at shortstop in his major league career save for one, when he started at DH. Speaking of DH, there are whispers that the Red Sox might move to David Ortiz to first base for Bogaerts to take command of the DH role. Again, I disagree. Ortiz is playing out of his mind for 37 years old (while Red Sox fans look the other way) and I don’t want him wasting energy at first base and risking a useless injury. So I think the Red Sox should eat the rest of Drew’s $10 million contract this season (I didn’t like the signing, but Drew played better than I thought he would) and ride or die with their young guns. Middlebrooks went 2-3 for last night, and you just have to hope he gets back some of the potential he showed the previous year and make people buy all those t-shirt jerseys.

Second, what can we reasonably expect from him? Well, this is where the unfortunate part comes in. Bogaerts was called for for so long and was hyped too much for people to appreciate whatever he ends up doing. Even for me, I think it will be hard to be subjective when you hear all these great things he’s been doing in the minors. The only time the Red Sox has called up a prospect this young was in 1972, and that was Dwight Evans so I think that turned out pretty well. Despite the overall performance that he will produce this season; it’s a good sign he excels against lefties (.298/.452/.474 splits in the minors) something the Red Sox have been miserable at this year and is their Achilles heel if they make it into the postseason.

So where do we draw the line with Bogaerts? It’s tough to say. After all, he's the same age as me starting his first game in the thick of a pennant race on a team that desperately needs a spark. The Sox need to do everything in their power to keep him comfortable, meaning plugging him in at the bottom of the order and starting him at a position in which he feels comfortable. In terms of the numbers people expect him to put up, that’s a subjective question and fluctuates between people you talk to. In the long run, Bogaerts could be the latest prospect to exceed expectations by a mile; where names like Mike Trout and Manny Machado come to mind. I think that’s something to expect next season when he can relax in April in the first month of the season. This is August and soon will be September, and the bright lights will be shining down directly on his shoulders. The only thing I want him to do is put up numbers better than Stephen Drew and get acclimated in a contentious environment this season. Being 20 years old, he has all the time in the world. Here’s to the Xander Bogaerts era, for better or worse.

State of the Red Sox

By Sean Bailey
Contributor

What a difference a year makes.

Last summer the Boston Red Sox were the biggest joke in town. With big money being funneled into unproductive, lazy, boring pieces such as Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett, the Sox were one of the more embarrassing tidbits in recent Boston sports. They were boring. They were bad. But most of all they were lazy, and just didn’t care about winning. Everything that Boston sports is not. (And not to mention the pink hat invasion of Fenway, where fans couldn’t recognize a fastball from a curve ball).

But this year, the Sox are burying the ugly Bobby V era, and moving into fresher grounds. They are fun to watch, with multiple clubhouse personalities like Johnny Gomes, and the rest of the bearded gang. They bust their asses, and want to win. Their 11 walk off wins are evidence enough that this team will not quit. This is a team that is fun to root for, and represent the hard working New England mentality.

Hell, even John Lackey is embracing the swift locker room change, and has excelled this year, becoming our most consistent starter. Dustin Pedroia, and David Ortiz are having their normal superb seasons, with Pedroia being a no doubt Gold Glover at second. Jacoby Ellsbury has removed his tampon and started playing again for the Sox, leading the league in steals and batting over .300.

The only thing that currently scares me about the Sox is their lack of a dominant starter. Lackey has been solid all season, but for whatever reason the Sox don’t score runs for him, dropping his win total. Can’t rely on Lackey as an ace, in spite of his great ERA, cause it all comes down to wins for a pitcher.

John Lester looked incredible to start the season but his mechanics have become unhinged, and now he is leaving balls up like he did last season.

Felix Doubront has come on strong for the Sox, working his walk totals down, and his velocity is creeping slowly back to where it was last season. But he is still young, with no post season experience so I wouldn’t put the ball in his hands as an ace.

Ryan Dempster has been a solid number four man in the rotation, but hasn’t done more than that. And besides, with the addition of Jake Peavy, I for one would love us to move Dempster to the back end of the pen, where he excelled with the Cubs for a stint years ago.

So basically, our post season and end of season run is keyed on the arm of Clay Buchholz. Buchholz has been out with a neck strain since June. Before that he was unbelievable, finally living up to the potential that he has with his stuff. Instead, now he is pulling an Ellsbury and whining his way out of the rotation. For the Sox to be successful securing the AL East and a deep playoff run we need Buchholz to stop being such a softie and start pitching through a little pain. Curt Schilling pitched on one ankle. Least Buck could do is pitch with a stiff neck.

This week the Sox take on the Blue Jays and Yankees, the fourth and fifth place teams in the AL East. It would be huge for them to snag four wins in these six games heading into their West coast swing, with the Rays charging hard behind them. It will certainly be an exciting September this year for Red Sox Nation, something we haven’t had in the past couple years.