After being swept at home over four games by Tampa Bay over Patriots Day weekend, Boston is 4-9.
Perhaps the 2010 season is Theo Epstein’s bridge to the future.
That’s what the Boston Red Sox general manager intimated back in December during baseball’s winter meetings, that 2010 might represent a bridge between championship runs for the Red Sox.
After this season, there would be a deeper pool of better free agents available, after all, and the team would have more money to spend after ridding itself of the contracts of David Ortiz and Mike Lowell — totaling a reported $24 million for 2010.
Two weeks into play isn’t necessarily the most thorough cross section of a 162-game schedule, but early returns suggest that in the short term, 2010 may be a bridge to nowhere.
After being swept at home over four games by Tampa Bay over Patriots Day weekend, Boston is 4-9 — the worst start for the Sox since the 1996 team started 2-10.
Already the Sox are six games out of first place in the AL East.
The Red Sox have been less than average on all fronts, but a team that spun its roster as one of “run prevention” after free-agent slugger Jason Bay signed with the New York Mets during the offseason has perhaps struggled the most on defense.
In particular, 10 Boston errors have led to nine unearned runs in 13 games, a costly number given that the Red Sox are 2-6 in games decided by one or two runs. And opposing runners have stolen 22 bases in 23 attempts, with Tampa Bay 10-for-10.
The offense has been rather unproductive, scoring three or fewer runs in seven games thanks to a lineup being dragged down by the well-chronicled wretched starts of Ortiz (.158) and J.D. Drew (.146) and the less-discussed slumps of Victor Martinez (.212) and Kevin Youkilis (.217).
The pitching staff’s ERA is inching toward 5.00 after back-to-back shaky starts by Jon Lester (0-2, 8.44 ERA) and John Lackey (1-1, 5.63), and the bullpen has been inconsistent in winning situations.
Of course, this may be just a 13-game aberration.
But with their team having taken six trips to the playoffs and won at least 95 games six times in the last seven years, Red Sox fans aren’t used to being closer to the bottom of the standings than the top.
Thank God for Baltimore.
— Ernie Clark
Patriots must acquire impact players in draft
Defensive tackle, linebacker, tight end, wide receiver, running back …
What does this list refer to?
1. The offseason free-agent shopping list for the New England Patriots? 2. Areas of need as the Patriots line up potential picks in this week’s annual NFL Draft? 3. A listing of question marks or areas of greatest concern heading into the 2010-11 season?
The short answers to those three possibilities are: 1) should have been, but not sure, 2) yes, and 3) yes.
Actually, the list above is the different position players various national and regional publications, websites, and analysts have the Patriots taking with their first round selection — No. 22 pick overall — Thursday night.
The Sporting News has the Pats taking Penn State defensive tackle Jared Odrick, ESPN likes Texas linebacker Sergio Kindle, NFL.com is going with Oklahoma State University wide receiver Dez Bryant, the Dallas Morning News draft guru says Oklahoma tight end Jermaine Gresham, and the Boston.com pundits are offering up wildcard options like Mississippi State University linebacker Jamar Chaney and Arizona State University tight end Rob Gronkowski.
So what does all this disagreement and variety mean? No one has a clue what the Patriots will do, and much of that probably has to do with the fact no one knows who the 21 teams picking in front of them will take or whether they’ll even keep their picks or trade them.
The draft has always been called an inexact science for good reason. Even with all the 40-yard dash times, strength repetition drills, measurements, weights, Wonderlic intelligence tests, private workouts and personal interviews, no one knows exactly, without question, what they’re getting for a player.
One team’s can’t-miss player is another’s question mark, but no matter what, all the team general managers or head coaches will say some version of the same thing after they pick their guy: “We had him as the highest-ranked player on our board, he was the best available guy by far, we couldn’t believe he was still available, and we think we got a steal with him.”
So, as much as I’m tempted to put my two cents in and offer up a pick, I’d rather go in another direction and focus on the Pats’ approach or game plan.
If there’s a bona fide, blue-chip defensive talent sitting there when the Patriots go on the clock, they better not trade down. After a disappointing free agency offseason in which they retained key players, but added little new talent, the Patriots need players… PLAYers who can get on the field and contribute fairly quickly — es-pecially if they’re taken in the first two rounds.
My rule of thumb or way to grade this draft out is this: We’ve heard for the last two years about the Pats’ plan to trade for future extra picks due in large part to how deep this draft should be. Fine, then it better produce at least five starters, based on New England holding four of the first 53 picks in this deep draft, or it’s time to get out the usual grades of B-minus or C that they seem to have been accumulating the last few years.
— Andrew Neff