Recap: The Bosox got red hot in August (20-10) but then, just as the pennant race was really and truly heating up, they cooled off, finishing the year 17-14 and blowing what would have been a great chance to capture some World Series glory. They did have to make do in the second half without their ace Michael Pesco but they were otherwise kind of healthy down the stretch; they've got little to blame except for themselves.
History: Boston took home the final single-division pennant in 1968, albeit with a 93-70 record, but have been bridesmaids in the two years since. There was a lot of badness before that but, lest anyone thinks that the Curse of the Bambino is still active (did the Bambino exist in this universe? I can't answer that), they did win the Fall Classic of 1948.
Outlook: Boston's still decently young and there's not a lot about this team that makes me think they're going to fall off. They do need some help on offense, particularly in the outfield, but they aren't "how are they in the playoffs" bad like the Pirates were this year, they're just "a division winner needs to be more balanced". On the other hand, even without Pesco the team finished 2nd in all of baseball in ERA and 5th in Ks, so they must be doing something right.
Rotation
Code:
Pitching Age BT W L WL % ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
Kindberg, Justin 25 LL 23 13 .639 2.43 38 38 0 12 9 0 289.1 263 92 78 8 105 3 257 1.272 8.2 0.2 3.3 8.0
Hinojosa, Sandy 35 RR 21 11 .656 2.87 36 36 0 10 2 0 275.2 263 117 88 26 77 4 211 1.233 8.6 0.8 2.5 6.9
Sanchez, Marco 23 LR 12 11 .522 3.21 29 29 0 8 1 0 213.0 207 89 76 20 48 4 193 1.197 8.7 0.8 2.0 8.2
Messina, Chris 29 RR 8 9 .471 2.69 37 20 5 2 1 0 174.0 152 61 52 13 50 4 70 1.161 7.9 0.7 2.6 3.6
Davila, Franklin 30 RR 4 6 .400 5.00 12 12 0 1 0 0 81.0 93 50 45 11 17 0 36 1.358 10.3 1.2 1.9 4.0
Pesco, Michael 26 LL 5 2 .714 2.38 9 9 0 5 0 0 64.1 53 18 17 5 19 0 56 1.119 7.4 0.7 2.7 7.8
Nakazawa, Kojiro 24 RR 3 0 1.000 3.03 8 5 2 0 0 0 38.2 31 14 13 3 9 1 29 1.034 7.2 0.7 2.1 6.8
Britt, Bruce 28 RR 2 1 .667 10.61 7 5 0 0 0 0 28.0 48 35 33 7 22 1 15 2.500 15.4 2.3 7.1 4.8
Correra, Juan 25 RR 1 3 .250 7.39 7 4 1 0 0 0 28.0 35 23 23 7 16 0 18 1.821 11.3 2.3 5.1 5.8
The biggest part of this team remains
Michael Pesco, who was limited to just 64.1 innings last year with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow that he's still recovering from as of press time. Assuming he comes back at 100%, Pesco is a top-rated guy who already has 63 wins at 26 years of age and, weirdly for a guy so young, a change of pace that is rated as one of the best in all of baseball. With Pesco out, the Sox turned to a couple of men to be their twin aces, one old and one young. The youngster,
Justin Kindberg, came to Boston in that huge, huge trade involving C Jeremy Dolak on Boston's end and P Dylan Hamilton and 2B TJ Pritchett on the Cleveland Indians side. At this point, I think it's fair to say that Boston's won that deal. Kindberg, the reigning Cy Young winner, probably won't make it two straight, but he was all kinds of excellent, leading the league in shutouts and Ks while finishing 2nd in ERA and wins. Maybe he has a better case than I assumed. The old man was
Sandy Hinojosa, acquired from the White Sox last December. Hinojosa looks like a future Hall of Famer to me and if this past season was the sign of a late-career resurgence - he set career highs in wins and innings pitched - Boston could have 3 guys competing for the big award next year.
Basically, once Pesco returns, everyone else is fighting for the final starters' slot. That includes
Marco Sanchez, who fell off from going 29-9 between 1968 and 1969 to barely cresting .500 last season. In fact, even that took a late-season surge, as he was 7-10 with a 3.71 ERA following a no-decision on August 29; he finished the year 5-1, 1.95 to win Pitcher of the Month for September.
Franklin "Dirty" Davila started cold, was diagnosed with biceps tendinitis in June, and wasn't used all after being activated from the DL in mid-September. He was a 15 game winner for this team in 1969 but now seems like he's on the outside looking in.
Chris Messina, a throw-in in the Justin Kindberg trade, had the best season of his career shuttling between the back end of the rotation and the bullpen. He'll probably be doing more of the latter than the former this year but that's good news for Boston, as he had a 2.20 ERA in relief and allowed a .191 OBA in that role. Also, just in case Boston needed even more pitching, they acquired Shunichi Zeniya from the Brewers for LF Jared Fields. Zeniya didn't pitch for Boston in 1970 but figures to compete... somewhere.
Bullpen
Code:
Pitching Age BT W L WL % ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
Brock, Matt 30 RR 7 6 .538 3.31 67 0 60 0 0 30 92.1 79 44 34 10 31 2 82 1.191 7.7 1.0 3.0 8.0
Bryant, Terrance 32 LL 4 0 1.000 1.63 34 2 14 1 1 0 49.2 39 9 9 0 11 1 29 1.007 7.1 0.0 2.0 5.3
Sanchez, Eddie 34 RR 0 3 .000 1.93 26 0 11 0 0 1 37.1 31 10 8 4 14 1 30 1.205 7.5 1.0 3.4 7.2
Flores, Luis 26 RR 2 2 .500 3.63 22 1 11 1 0 1 34.2 30 21 14 3 19 1 24 1.413 7.8 0.8 4.9 6.2
Boyce, Lamar 27 LL 1 0 1.000 1.16 18 0 11 0 0 1 23.1 12 9 3 2 16 0 17 1.200 4.6 0.8 6.2 6.6
Matson, T.J. 23 RR 0 2 .000 6.38 11 1 7 0 0 2 18.1 24 14 13 4 11 2 15 1.909 11.8 2.0 5.4 7.4
Brumfield, Tom 23 LR 0 0 .000 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.1 4 4 0 1 1 0 1 1.500 10.8 2.7 2.7 2.7
Matt Brock led the AL in saves for the second time in his career (he saved 22 games in 1968). His ERA did climb by more than a run compared to 1969 and there were some signs he might be starting to have issues with lefties - the BAs are close but he allowed 7 HRs to LHBs in 145 at-bats.
Eddie Sanchez was essentially the team's set-up man after the Red Sox purchased him from the Mets. Sanchez came up with the Bosox and was released out of spring training in 1969. He was kind of pitching badly but the Red Sox needed that bullpen help and the Mets were, well, imploding at the time. For 1971, though, the odds-on favorite to set up Brock is
Bubba Touchton, acquired from the Angels as part of a blockbuster trade. Although he closed for the Angels last year his profile is more of a guy who will make you beat him than someone who will blaze a crackling fastball past you. In fact, Touchton's heater rarely tops 85MPH.
Terrence Bryant is another guy in this mix; he is a former starter for the Red Sox who was transitioned to the bullpen after missing almost all of 1969. He was just plain great as a (mostly) left-handed specialist and I see no reason why he won't continue in that role in 1971.
Catcher
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Dolak, Jeremy 31 RR 95 330 31 92 17 0 5 39 22 28 0 0 5 .279 .329 .376 2
Garza, Estevan 30 RR 41 148 11 40 10 1 2 22 9 22 0 0 8 .270 .308 .392 2
Bartoszek, Sid 30 RR 34 104 5 19 5 0 1 6 11 37 0 0 4 .183 .261 .260 2
How
Jeremy Dolak missed the All-Star Game is beyond me. I guess he's not an "every day player" but he is a catcher, and he's not just a good bat, he's got one of the best arms in the AL (RTO% is only 31.2 because OOTP) and he handles pitchers well on top of that. The one ability he doesn't have in spades is availability; he missed 6 weeks with knee tendinitis last year and has only played in more than 110 games twice in his 9 year career. That meant that
Estevan Garza had to play a lot in his stead; he played well enough, in fact, to get himself shipped off to California.
Sid Bartoszek, then, enters the year as the number 2. The former Phillies prospect reportedly wants a larger role but I don't see that happening (barring, of course, another Dolak injury).
Infield
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Miller, Mike 26 LL 158 615 96 185 42 4 31 93 79 96 1 1 17 .301 .385 .533 3*
Fraser, Dwayne 25 RR 153 573 64 180 40 4 2 63 53 45 5 2 19 .314 .371 .408 4*
Ward, Jonathan 36 RR 40 80 7 11 3 0 3 11 6 22 1 0 4 .138 .195 .288 4/6
Magoni, Mauro 31 RR 103 370 44 93 17 1 9 45 37 71 0 2 14 .251 .316 .376 5/3
Madriles, Edwin 23 RR 65 210 27 55 19 0 7 33 25 54 1 2 6 .262 .340 .452 5
Jaquez, Arturo 27 RR 4 13 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 .077 .077 .077 /5
Handa, Oniji 26 RR 155 662 97 191 35 3 24 91 23 48 0 1 23 .289 .313 .459 6*
Carmer, Troy 26 RR 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000 1.000
Mike Miller is the heart of this team's lineup, and showed no signs of slowing down from last year, as he set a new career-high in doubles and just missed doing the same in RBI (he hit 94 in 1969). It's far too early to call this guy a future Hall of Famer, but that's well within reach.
It's beginning to look like TJ Pritchett might be the answer to an obscure Boston sports trivia question, which is: who was the Sox' second baseman before
Dwayne Fraser? Fraser looked astounding in his first full season in the majors. He was a model of consistency, hitting over .290 every month while also hitting at least 7 doubles every month other than April. All that's really left for him to improve into All-Star level is to increase his range at second base a bit.
Mauro Magoni has been a big disappointment in each of the last 2 seasons after hitting .293 in the Year of the Pitcher, 1968, and now he finds himself out of a job. Magoni's average fell to .235 last year as he started swinging for the fences, and although he took his coaches' advice on shortening his swing, the 8 HRs he lost only caused his BA to go up to .251. Word in the clubhouse is that sometimes Magoni tries a little too hard to get things right and that's kept him from blossoming into a star. In any case, the new guys is
Kristian Schneider, a 2 time All Star (1964, 1969) who hit .304 with 6 HRs and 58 RBIs combined with Washington and California last season. The lack of power may be a concern (though Schneider did hit 15 HRs at RFK back in 1969) but if he can keep up the average, it won't be a big one.
Edwin Madriles is a solid prospect who will push Schneider for the starting job in 1971. He could theoretically play a passable shortstop if the next guy gets hurt.
Oniji Handa isn't just an annual Gold Glove lock, he's basically the Ozzie Smith of this dynasty. He had a 25.4 ZR which was 8.2 points better than the next best fielding shortstop in the AL, Matt Mullen of the Detroit Tigers. He's an absolute beast in the field, and now imagine you had Ozzie Smith with the glove combined with Nomar Garciaparra at the plate. The Red Sox dropped him down in the order from 2nd to 4th midway through last season, and though he struggled at first (overall he was .275/11/45 hitting cleanup vs .299/13/46 in the 2 hole), he really accepted the role in September, when he stopped trying to hit everything out of the park and hit .312 with 4 HR and 17 RBI. Handa is a guy who can hit any pitcher at any time, no matter how wild or electric they might be that night.
Outfield
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Teague, Josh 28 LL 98 357 49 82 6 4 17 51 15 101 15 4 5 .230 .259 .412 7/9
Wilson, Matt 34 LL 55 196 32 52 13 0 4 26 22 27 1 0 9 .265 .344 .393 7
Puig, Ramon 32 SL 80 100 17 24 7 0 3 13 13 19 0 0 3 .240 .328 .400 /73
Pitt, Josh 34 LR 26 50 6 11 3 0 0 6 7 8 1 0 1 .220 .305 .280 7/8
Miller, Cody 26 RR 14 41 7 10 3 0 1 8 4 10 0 1 1 .244 .304 .390 7
Kane, Brandon 27 LL 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .667 .667 .667 /7
Glynn, Jon 25 RR 123 483 63 119 17 5 6 37 30 77 27 6 4 .246 .287 .340 8*
Johnston, Ryan 28 LL 64 210 32 47 13 2 5 14 44 56 4 1 0 .224 .361 .376 8/7
Kim, Jun 32 LL 150 575 75 143 23 3 18 66 51 105 10 3 5 .249 .309 .393 9*/7
Baldwin, Jon 31 SR 25 37 6 7 0 0 1 8 4 15 0 0 1 .189 .262 .270 /97
Josh Teague's free swinging ways proved to be a little too frustrating to the Boston brass and so he's been traded away. Who replaces him will be quite the choice. Right now, word is that they're going to take a long look at former KC Royal
Sergio Sicre, who Kansas City probably asked too much of - they tried hm out as a full-timer while also training him to play in left field, and he hit just .228/1/15 in 41 games. After coming over to Boston - well, Louisville, to be exact - he seemed to show why the Royals were so high on him coming in, as he went .316/13/38 in more or less half a season in AAA.
Matt Wilson is there as an emergency guy - he platooned pretty successfully in St. Louis from 1963 to 1968 and holds his own against right-handed pitching so long as you don't ask too much.
Ramon Puig is too valuable as the team's primary pinch-hitter to use too much in the field. Also, he seems to prefer clutch situations, as injuries and the team getting tired of Josh Teague pushed him into getting 40 at-bats in September where he hit just .175. He was .321 as a pinch-hitter last year.
Jon "Astronaut" Glynn doesn't quite look like he's going to be the budding superstar that caused Boston to take him with the 7th overall pick in the 1968 draft. He's a good fielder and has top of the line speed but has very little power, even for center field, and doesn't get on base nearly enough to be a workable option leading off. He's still a fat lot better than
Ryan Johnston, who lost the starting gig last year. Johnston looks like the part out there but he often pulls up on line drives that get too close to the fences. He might benefit from moving to... I'm going to say right field, because there he wouldn't have to deal with the Green Monster. The Sox kind of already have a guy there though and I'm not sure Johnston can hit well enough to warrant playing in a corner spot.
The right field option is
Jun Kim. Kim came to Chicago along with Sandy Hinojosa. They expected Kim to provide them with middling power and an absolute cannon for an arm and they got even more than that. Kim not only set a career best in HRs, he doubled his old mark of 9 (which he reached 4 times in Chicago) and on top of that he became a real presence in the locker room, especially during that hot stretch in August. One possible cause for concern in 1971 is that Kim hit 13 of his 18 HRs before July 1.