Kuzul

After Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon surrendered a pair of two-run jacks in the bottom of the ninth inning at Yankee stadium Monday night, the BoSox fell to 8.5 games back in the thickly competitive American League East.

Now well behind the Tampa Bay Rays and their rotation of rising stars and streaking young mashers—not to mention their failure in beating the New York Yankees—the Red Sox were never really in contention to begin with.

Between depletion in run production, an awkwardly inefficient defense, an increasingly older and more ineffective bullpen, and a starting rotation that simply lacks its expected consistency and dominance, this 2010 Red Sox team is good at finding ways to lose games.

General Manager Theo Epstein recently contended that his team is playing “uninspired” baseball, and nothing could more accurately describe that lack of urgency and aggression with which these ballplayers have been taking the field over the first six weeks.

While the Tampa Rays and New York Yankees bolted from the starting gate with the seriousness of purpose necessary to reach the 2010 World Series, the Boston Red Sox arrived on this season’s scene with timorous overconfidence and as much an overabundance of seasonal patience.

Aggression may be the path to the dark side, but it’s what’s needed right now in the most competitive division in baseball.

What’s more, the Red Sox are too late to play catch up.

This isn’t panic time. This isn’t time to be a fair-weather fan. This isn’t an overreaction to early season woes.

This is pragmatism. This is realism. This is baseball’s version of “compassionate conservatism.”

Setting aside any personal repugnance for that political philosophy, such “tough love” is precisely what’s needed with the 2010 Red Sox.

This is the year of the Yankee and the Ray. This is the year of the Cardinal and the Giant.

This is not the year of the Red Sock.

However, next year could easily be that year.

If 2011 is to be the Red Sox year, Theo Epstein and Terry Francona must begin rebuilding now.

As a first step, Red Sox Nation must come to terms with the fact that competing every year and staying in the race are somewhat anathema to rebuilding.

As distasteful a business as it may be, the Red Sox must become sharp sellers from now through the trade deadline.

Suffering from a chronic buyer mentality, this could be a tough pill to swallow. Surely many of us have personally swallowed this pill throughout the economic crisis of the past few years.

For the Red Sox too it is time to tighten the belt and care for a new little nest egg—one that may hatch in the Spring of 2011.

Who should they sell and what should they seek?

At the end of 2010, the Red Sox kiss goodbye the outstanding salaries they’re now paying to the likes of Baltimore’s Julio Lugo ($9,000,000), Atlanta’s Billy Wagner ($1,000,000), and Toronto’s Alex Gonzalez ($500,000).

Scott Atchison, Boof Bonser, Bill Hall, Mike Lowell, Victor Martinez, Hideki Okajima, David Ortiz, Ramon Ramirez, Scott Schoeneweis, and Jason Varitek will all either be coming off the books or should be released. Their collective salaries equate to $41,235,000 in 2010 payroll.

J.D. Drew is a free agent at the conclusion of the 2011 campaign and his stock may never be higher. As valuable both offensively and defensively as he is, Drew and his $14,000,000 salary should be on the block.

All of these players should, in fact, be on the block. All, except perhaps Varitek, whose presence and poise as the backup catcher remain invaluable. Varitek must stay to nurture the likes of Clay Buchholz and Daniel Bard.

Anything in return for the others is worth the while. While David Ortiz may achieve Type B status by year’s end, the Red Sox would never decline his club option and offer him arbitration.

Even Victor Martinez—should his bat awaken—could make an excellent trade chip. As a catcher, Martinez’ future in Boston is dubious at best. As a hitter he may turn a corner—as evident by his two homers at Yankee Stadium Monday night—but he’s likely not a good long-term answer for the Red Sox.

Okajima and Ramirez are quickly showing that their once powerful presence in the bullpen may have been more flash in the pan than something around which one can build an effective pitching staff.

Hopefully, some of these players can surge toward the trade deadline and fetch even low-level prospects in return when dealt to contenders.

Essentially, $51,735,000 can easily be shed from the Red Sox payroll entering the 2010 offseason.

Add the trading of J.D. Drew to that tally, and nearly $66 million becomes available to go shopping among a strong free-agent class.

Now, who the Red Sox might acquire via trade remains an item of even more significant speculation, but power bats like those of Prince Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez, and Miguel Cabrera should be a focal point of any trade discussions.

With so much available payroll, the 2011 Red Sox could and must restock with players like Carl Crawford, Jayson Werth, and Matt Guerrier.

Start dealing now and the 2011 Red Sox might be able to contend with the juggernaut Yankees and pesky Rays.

They can and will if they are able to build a roster like this:

SP Josh Beckett

SP Jon Lester

SP John Lackey

SP Clay Buchholz

SP Tim Wakefield

RP Daniel Bard

RP Matt Guerrier

CL Jonathan Papelbon

1B Kevin Youkilis

2B Dustin Pedroia

SS Marco Scutaro

3B Adrian Beltre

LF Jacoby Ellsbury

CF Carl Crawford

RF Jayson Werth

DH Prince Fielder

This lineup spells championship gold.

You may ask, “What about a catcher and a handful of relievers?” Those are holes to which I cannot speculate at this time. Both must be filled via trade.

What about Mike Cameron? Let’s assume perhaps that Ellsbury must be dealt to acquire Fielder or the like. Boston’s new outfield would look something like this:

LF Carl Crawford

CF Mike Cameron

RF Jayson Werth

Whatever specific moves Theo Epstein needs to make, he needs to start making them soon.

Not to contend this year, but to play meaningful ball in 2011.

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With the Red Sox and Yankees meeting again this week, here’s my rundown of the best moments of the past decade in baseball’s greatest rivalry.

There are any number of moments I could have picked. Just missing out were Jacoby Ellsbury’s steal of home, the 33 consecutive scoreless innings by Yankee pitching and Mark Teixeira signing with New York over Boston.

Note that, although I’m a Sox fan, I am aiming to be impartial, as evidenced by number 10 on the list.

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Nothing like the popularity contest known as All Star Game voting to drive an attentive fan crazy.

The All Star game is meant to be for the fans, so logically, the fans should get the right to choose who they get to see in the game. As a result, many times a “fan favorite” makes the game despite lackluster performance, thanks to the fan vote.

While the differences between good and bad have become more clear as the years have gone on, there are still plenty of whoppers on the ballot. Factoring in different categories, like current 2010 performance, recent season performance, and the like, here are the top 10 worst All Star candidates.

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Baseball is a 162-game season, but not 40 games in David Ortiz appeared to be a lost cause. Despite hitting near the Mendoza Line, Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona remained confident in his aging slugger, not ready to bench the player that had carried the team for so many years.

His confidence has since paid off, as Ortiz’s confidence has become just as strong. He has been hitting of late, having entered Boston’s series opener against the Detroit Tigers 10 for his last 30, and he only built upon that .300 batting average with another stellar day at the plate.

After Dustin Pedroia launched a first inning, two-run home run off Tigers starter Max Scherzer , two reached in front of Ortiz to give Boston a chance of putting up a big number early.

He took three balls to begin the at-bat, fouled back a fourth fastball, then made Scherzer pay for firing in a fifth, demolishing the offering 450 feet to right-center field . He stoically posed, knowing immediately the ball was gone. A three-run homer, his fifth blast of the season.

His second appearance against Scherzer was longer than the first, but the result was the same. Leading off the fourth, he worked the count full by taking a fastball inside.

Scherzer, equipped with two pitches, that fastball and a changeup, spun the latter then fired in the former, but Ortiz guessed right both times, fouling them back to remain alive. He guessed right again on the eighth pitch, an inside fastball, and this time got all of it, thunderously booming the regrettable pitch deep down the right field line. His second bomb of the contest gave the Sox a convincing 6-1 lead.

He would produce no more at the plate, striking out in his final two at-bats, but what he did do spoke volumes. One hundred and twenty-six games remain, and this is just one fantastic performance by Ortiz, but as his demeanor afterwards, as documented by the Boston Globe ‘s Peter Abraham , many more may be to come:

“David Ortiz, as you might expect, was in a good mood tonight.

Question: ‘Can you go over those two at-bats?’

Ortiz: ‘Fastball. Gone.’

Asked to expand a bit on that answer, Ortiz smiled.

‘Yeah, I’m feeling good. Swinging the bat, seeing the ball and hit it, my man. There’s people that know a lot about the game, they think they have everything figured out. You tell them the season is not over after April. It’s over after October,’ he said.

With that, Ortiz started to walk away from his locker. But he had one final comment over his shoulder.

‘Laser show, like Pedey said,’ he offered.

Dustin Pedroia, sitting at a nearby locker, started to cackle.

That’s four of five, eight of 11 and 15 of 23 for the Red Sox. Call the florist, the wake has been canceled. They’re 5.5 games behind the [Tampa Bay] Rays with 126 games left.”

And if Ortiz can be Big Papi with regularity, meaning a continued return to a form that wowed the crowds at Fenway Park for so many years, the Red Sox chances will exponentially increase in their quest of competing in the fiercely competitive American League East.

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While there are Boston Red Sox fans who still appreciate David Ortiz for his greatness from 2003-2007, Red Sox Nation is beginning to get fed up with Ortiz’s lack of production at the plate in recent years. Ortiz had a slow start last year, but he eventually got it going in the later half of the season and wound up with 28 HR and 99 RBI despite hitting a meager .238 throughout the year. 

The Red Sox organization could afford to let Ortiz start slow last year, as they still had another slugger in the lineup with Jason Bay. Now, without Bay, the Red Sox no longer have a bonafide slugger, with their biggest home run threats being Victor Martinez, Dustin Pedroia, and Kevin Youkilis.

Now even those three high-quality hitters will not put up astronomical power numbers like Ortiz could once do. Martinez, Pedroia, and Youkilis are great 30 HR, 100 RBI, .300 AVG guys, and that is most certainly nothing to complain about.

But the Red Sox lack that scary hitter, the one who crushes 50 moon shots a year and starts to get intentionally walked after a while. 

With the rumors swirling about Ortiz’s departure from Boston, the Red Sox may make a move for another DH before you know it.

The hottest DH candidate on the free-agent market is Jermaine Dye.

Dye, 36, is a quality hitter who regularly has a .270, 30, 90 stat line. He is more of a value on defense than Ortiz, but that does not matter much because Dye would likely replace Ortiz at DH rather than replacing J.D. Drew in RF.

Dye asked for too much money in free-agency this winter, but now he is desperate for a job. He does not want to retire, and it is likely he will stay persistent with baseball for a few more years.

Would Dye be a good fit in Boston? I would say so. If the Red Sox don’t want Dye to replace Ortiz (just for sentimental reasons) they could platoon Dye and Ortiz. The left-handed Ortiz could hit right-handed pitching, and the right-handed Dye could hit left-handed pitching.

Even though the Red Sox signed Jeremy Hermida to be their fourth outfielder this season, and Darnell McDonald has played great in his short tenure since being called up, Dye can still play the outfield, and his versatility could prove worthwhile for the Red Sox.

I think the Red Sox should snap Dye up this year, because it’s still a possibility that he could retire for good if left jobless in 2010.

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We see it in every sport, a once great player hangs on too long, refusing to accept that his time has passed. It’s hard to watch our heroes become mere mortals right before our eyes, and many fans seem to take it personally.

It’s no great mystery why it happens. All these athletes know is the game they have dedicated their lives to, given their blood, sweat, and tears for.

Could you walk away if you were in their shoes?

Regardless, this article isn’t about the choices that face these players, it’s about shining light on once great ball players who are now, sadly, shells of their former all-star selves.

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Alright, I’m finally ready to talk some baseball.

Not that I haven’t been paying attention, quite the opposite actually. Because of my line of work, I find myself watching more baseball than ever before—on Mondays and Thursdays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, not to mention the nationally televised games on Saturday and Sunday.

I see more of Buster Olney and John Kruk then I do of my own family. I even hear Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan’s voices in my dreams, which as you might guess, very quickly become nightmares.

But the real reason I haven’t talked much baseball is that I haven’t had a really good feel for my team, the Boston Red Sox.

Okay, I take that back, I do have a good feel for the Red Sox. And to quote the infamous words of former Arizona Cardinals football coach Denny Grenn, “They are who we thought they were.” To me, that was never a playoff team.

(This is just PART of Aaron’s take on the Boston Red Sox. To read this article in its ENTIRETY, please visit him at www.aarontorres-sports.com)

In my season opening podcast with my buddy Tom Finn , I made the case that I thought the Yankees would win the AL East and Tampa Bay, the wild card. When it came to the Red Sox, “pitching and defense,” was a cute mantra, with many Boston fans claiming it to be the “Moneyball,” of 2010.

Except as I contended, that’s all well and good, except, umm, you still need to score runs to win in the regular season. You need to score when Jon Lester or John Lackey has a bad outing, or when the bullpen ruins a starters good one. You can’t expect to win every game 3-1 or 2-0 or 2-1, that just isn’t reality over a 162-game season.

And although the Red Sox are scoring a reasonable amount of runs (5.21 per game), there never seems to be a rhyme or reason, or any consistency to when they’ll come. The Sox might get nine today, but then score four runs total the next three nights.

They’ll follow it up with 12 against some hopeless schmuck from Baltimore, and then go cold the following night. Watching the Red Sox, their offense really is a case of there being, “lies, damn lies, and statistics.”

It was with that semi-pessimistic (but ultimately realistic) outlook, that I headed to Fenway Park on Sunday night for the Sox-Yankees tilt. Truthfully, I was expecting the worst. And when I say the worst, I’m not just talking about the play on the field, but everything off of it too.

I live an hour and change from Boston, but in this technological world we live, get as much information as anyone actually living on Yawkey Way. The early returns weren’t so good.

From what my friends were telling me, things weren’t pretty in Boston when it came to the Red Sox.

I heard that fans and the media were had turned on certain under-performing players (cough…David Ortiz…cough), and were relentless in their hounding of manager Terry Francona; that some people were already giving up; that tickets to Sox games—arguably the toughest non-NFL ticket in professional sports—were flooding the market, the way you might find a bunch of available copies of Catcher in the Rye at a used book store.

It was with this trepidation that I headed up to Boston Sunday night. For the first time in recent memory, I wasn’t sure to expect.

After all that anxiousness, I’ve got to be honest. I was surprised by what I found. In a good way…

(To read the REMAINDER of Aaron’s article, including his take on Sunday’s big victory over the Yankees, please click here , or visit him at www.aarontorres-sports.com .

Also, for his thoughts on all things sports, make sure to follow him on Twitter @Aaron_Torres )

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So far this season has been, shall we say, “uncomfortable” for the Boston Red Sox and their fans.

The pitchers being paid tens of millions of dollars to get people out aren’t getting people out. The hitters making tens of millions of dollars aren’t hitting, and the fielders on this team supposedly built to prevent runs are seemingly providing Boston’s opponents with 30 outs a game.

Simply put, this team has been terrible.

So far this team has already gone 6-11 versus the A.L. East, 1-8 versus the Yankees and Rays (all of the games having been at home ) and lost four of five games on their own field to the rival Yankees by a combined score of of 40-20.  As bad as that sounds, when you consider that nine of those 20 runs came in the very first game of the season it actually gets WORSE .

What should be absolutely frightening to Red Sox Nation is that one glance on the calender for the month of May shows it won’t get any better anytime soon.

After completion of this weekends series with the Yankees, Toronto brings one of the leagues best pitching staffs into Fenway for a three game set.  That will be followed by a five game road trip to Detroit and New York (May 14-18), a quick two game set back in Fenway vs. the A.L. Central leading Twins, three games on the road in Philadelphia (May 21-23) as Inter-league play kicks off, three games versus Tampa at Tropicana Field, and finally closing the month with a four game series against the Royals back home at Fenway.

In fact, it’s not like the rest of the season gets much better for the team in terms of schedule relief.  The simple fact of the matter is the Red Sox had an early schedule that put the team in the perfect position to get off to a good start, possibly even building somewhat of a little lead in the division.  They played a disproportionate number of games at home, many of them against their biggest rivals.

Now, because of this squandered opportunity, they face the prospect of overcoming sizable deficits in the standings, and doing all of that work on the road.  That is not good news.

This team struggled mightily on the road last season, posting a losing record.  It is a team that doesn’t exactly play its finest baseball away from the friendly confines of Fenway Park.

They need to look no further than last season’s Tampa Bay Rays for a glimpse of what their future may have in store for them.

A year ago, the Rays got off to the same type of bad start as the Red Sox, stumbling to a 23-27 start. From May 29 through Aug. 5, the Rays went 37-21, the third-best record in the majors, pulling within three games of the Sox and five-and-a-half of the Yankees. But then they faded, going 24-30 the rest of the way.

The Sox, a much older club, are even more unlikely to sustain such a taxing charge. This year’s Rays and Yankees do not figure to maintain their 120 win pace, but even when they come back to earth a bit it will still require the Sox to play at that kind of pace just to make up the lost ground.

The Red Sox have to get hot and they have to get hot now.

One can no longer get away with saying it’s too early for Red Sox fans to panic about their team’s struggles—and “struggles” is an understatement—at this point in the 2010 campaign.

The clock is ticking—in more ways than one.

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The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox square off this weekend at Fenway Park, the first meeting between the two rivals since umpire Joe West’s controversial marks about the slow pace of play between the teams.

Unfortunately for West, and those that have early dinner reservations this weekend, River & Sunset has uncovered a list of 10 reasons why this three-game series will be just as long, if not longer, than the matchups that preceded it.

10) Removing the Earthly Remains of Big Papi: David Ortiz’s body needs to be moved for insurance purposes, and the series won’t be able to start until it happens.

Luckily, the one-time star hasn’t sniffed the field in years, so his decomposing corpse only needs to be transported from the dugout to a waiting coroner van outside Fenway Park. Cause of death: Inside fastballs under the hands.

9) Nick Johnson’s mustache: Females of Boston will surely react like Somerville teens at a New Kids On The Block concert circa 1989 when they see the facial hair the Yankee DH is now sporting. It kind of makes him look like the middle-aged guy sitting in a van across from the elementary school. Look out ladies!

8) Teixeira’s about to get hot: I just get the feeling this is the weekend we finally see the real Teixeira show up, extending innings with multiple-pitch at-bats and line drives everywhere. Theo Epstein will once again be reminded that he passed on the star first baseman on financial principles that made no sense. A despondent John Henry will tweet: “uber-bummed we don’t have texeira [sic]. #MyGMblewit.”

7) Clay Buchholz iPad investigation: You probably thought the Red Sox right-hander got the carnal lust for electronic equipment out of his system during the great Laptop Heist of 2005. Unfortunately, the lure of the massively-popular new Apple device was too much to resist.

6) Derek Jeter Reparations Ceremony: Boston fans will finally embrace the greatness that has been right under their noses since 1996. In a touching moment, Red Sox Nation president Jerry Remy will get on the PA system to announce that no crowd chant has ever been more erroneous than “NO-MAH’S BET-TAH!”

Jeter will forget to mention this moment while laying in bed with a nude Minka Kelly later in the night.

5) Crappy Red Sox Remembrance Night: Speaking of Nomar, the Red Sox already had one bogus celebration of a player their fans turned on, so this weekend the team will take the concept to the next level by just celebrating a random collection of losers.

The group will include: Shea Hillenbrand, Brian Daubach, Rich Gedman, Troy O’Leary, Nick Esasky, Sam Horn, Jody Reed, John Valentin, and Tim Naehring. Calvin Schraldi will throw out the wild first pitch. Rich “El Guapo” Garces needs a crane to be removed from his home, so will instead address the crowd live via satellite.

4) J.D. Fan Club Loses It: Stat geeks from across the country, unable to contain themselves over Saber-friendly Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew, will dash onto the field in unison before being violently tased by Boston Police. Drew will honor his fallen disciples by going 0-for-2 with two walks.

3) Josh Beckett Goes AWOL: Beckett, who was signed to a ridiculous contract extension earlier this season, will continue his descent into mediocrity when he misses a start after falling asleep on pile of extension money. Theo Epstein will counter that Beckett’s ability to rest soundly on American currency is an example of his high BABIP and FIP.

2) Fenway Scoreboard Operator Eaten by Rats: This one is fairly self-explanatory. Can someone get an exterminator in there? Geez.

1) Pink Hat Rebellion: Confused that the team is struggling for the first time since the franchise came into existence in 2004, women and confused teens in pink Boston caps storm the field in protest. Many look to hug Johnny Damon only to be told that he left the team in 2006. More tasing is involved. Lots and lots of tasing.

Dan Hanzus writes the Yankees blog River & Sunset and can be reached via e-mail at dhanzus@gmail.com. Follow Dan on Twitter at danhanzus .

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This afternoon, prior to the start of the Boston Red Sox game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, I had thoughts of writing an article blasting manager Terry Francona for remaining confident in David Ortiz , who entered batting .149 on the season, as his designated hitter. One swing by Big Papi momentarily postponed that article.

Ortiz has struggled for more than two years. Last season he managed to slug 28 homers and drive in 99 rbi’s. How is that struggling? He hit just .238 and only reached base at a .338 clip. He played like sunset was approaching on his career, flailing repeatedly at off-speed pitches and failing to connect squarely with even the straightest of fastballs. It was tough to see him struggle, as he has been a very celebrated and beloved figure in Boston. He was far from the player that made up a deadly tandem with Manny Ramirez . He wasn’t the player you knew would deliver in the clutch. He would hit home-runs and send the Fenway crowds out of their seats, but he was longer Big Papi.

He expected to bounce back with a bang this season, but it has not gone the way he had planned. It has been more of the same. He was 8-56 in April, clubbing just one homer. But despite his problems at the plate, Francona continued to have faith in the big slugger. Just as the Seattle Mariners brought back Ken Griffey Jr . in part because of what he had done with the team years ago, Francona must have also had sentimental reasons for leaving Ortiz in as an everyday starter. At first I didn’t blame him. After all, this was a lovable character, a fan favorite, a player that guided the Red Sox in 2004 to their first World Series title in 86 years—a player that defined “clutch.” But, with the rest of the team struggling to score runs, Ortiz quickly turned, at least in my eyes, into a burden, as much as I hate to say it.

His woes continued in the second game of their series with the Angels, albeit in their second straight win over their scuffling opponent. He struck out twice and grounded into two double plays. Advocating for Mike Lowell , who entered tonight’s game with one more three more hits than Ortiz in 33 less at-bats, to start in his place and restore order in the order, Ortiz responded to this particular critic and many others by lashing out against Angels starting pitcher Joel Pineiro . In the fourth inning with Boston already ahead 1-0, he skied a changeup into the Green Monster seats for his fourth home-run , trotted around the bases amidst cheers as he has done so many times in a Red Sox uniform, crossed home-plate, received congratulations from Adrian Beltre , and jogged to the dugout and slapped hands with the rest of his teammates and Francona, whose faith paid off.

The solo-shot that gave John Lackey , who was facing his former team, more than enough support was Ortiz’s second hit of the contest. It notched just his second multi-hit of the season, but maybe it can right his sinking ship. The solid night at the plate raised his average to .171 and propelled the Red Sox, a team also backed by Lackey’s seven innings of two-hit ball , to their third straight win over Anaheim and their sixth win in nine games.

Hopefully, as I desperately wanting Ortiz to succeed and rekindle the magic of years past, his average will continue to increase and benefit a resurrected Red Sox offense. Hopefully I can indefinitely postpone the article I was originally going to write, and regret even thinking such a thought.

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