What a heartbreaking end to a heartbreaking season. :( Weird that I slept just fine. No postseason = no more making way to watch games anymore. I love it but I hate it.
Ok, so in the beginning of the season, I made some predictions of what I expected in the season. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and see how many I got right!
***TEXTS HIGHLIGHTED IN RED WERE PREDICTIONS***
***TEXTS IN WHITE ARE WHAT I THINK NOW***
This is what I thought the lineup would look like. But, this was months ago when the Red Sox acquired Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford.
This is probably more likely of what their projected lineup is going to be. I think you could switch Crawford/Gonzalez around.
--- HA! My projected lineup was wrong in so many levels. I thought Carl Crawford was going to leadoff for most of the season because of his almighty OBP. Abysmal first year in a Red Sox uniform for Crawford (.255 AVG/ 11 HR/ 56 RBI). Total underachiever. Dustin Pedroia = right. Adrian Gonzalez = right. Kevin Youkilis = right (until he got injured). David Ortiz = right. J.D. Drew = somewhat right (until he got injured). Marco Scutaro = wrong (moved everywhere in the lineup). Jarrod Saltalamacchia = somewhat right. Jacoby Ellsbury = WRONG.
2) 2) In a perfect world, I expect AT LEAST 4/5 of the starting pitchers to win 15 games or more.
--- Well, I certainly got this WRONG. Only one starter got to 15 wins and that was Jon Lester. Josh Beckett had 13 wins and was certainly on pace but was sidetracked during the season. John Lackey, OH MY GOD, where do I begin. Do I even need to begin? They need to get rid of this cancer IMMEDIATELY. Typing in CAPS certainly helps me get my points across. Clay Buchholz injured for most of the season. Daisuke Matsuzaka gone for the entire season. OHHHHHHH.
Jon Lester has been pretty consistent the past three years with 16/15/19 wins. He’s a strikeout machine. It’s a lock that he should continue that success.
--- Continued success I got right. Stumbled here and there on starts but is reliable when needed. Here’s to more continued success.
Hopefully, John Lackey rebounds from last year and show that his first year in the A.L. East was an adjustment. If he can duplicate his success in 2007 where he had 19 wins, the Red Sox should be sitting high.
--- Yeah, right. What in the world was I thinking saying Lackey would bounce back after a year. He did EVEN WORSE than last year. 6.41 ERA!!!!!!!!!!
Clay Buchholz showed everyone last year the kind of potential and promise they were expecting of him. All he needed was a chance and a full season under his belt and look what happened. 17-7 with a 2.33 ERA.
--- Well, he got a sure spot on the rotation this year and it looked like he was going to continue that success from last year until the INJURY BUG struck.
Josh Beckett is probably the biggest story (as far as pitchers go) within the rotation. Everyone projects him as a dominating pitcher and an “ace.” Putting him as the fourth starter will hopefully motivate him into pitching well and proving that he deserves to be higher within the rotation. Getting beaned in the head and inconsistent pitching during Spring Training isn’t helping him going into the season. Hopefully that changes.
--- He did take back that “ace” role and was counted on to stop the bleeding when the Red Sox were hitting a funk. (13-7 [OK]) with a 2.89 ERA until the INJURY BUG struck.
And finally, we have Daisuke Matsuzaka. He’s the wildcard in all this. If he can even remotely duplicate his 2008 season where he somehow went 18-3 (despite always loading the bases and somehow getting away with no runs), then this will fully round the rotation.
--- Yeah, right. What in the world was I thinking here?
Realistically, I think only 3/5 will get it done (Lester, Buchholz, and Beckett). I hope I’m wrong, though.
--- ALMOST! (Not really)
3) Over or under? Adrian Gonzalez will finish the season with a .300 AVG/ 38 HR/ 132
RBI.
--- Finished the season with a .338 AVG so I got that right. 27 HRs so I got that wrong. 117 RBIs so I got that wrong. Still a great season for Gonzalez, though. Cooled off a lot in September but should still be mentioned for MVP voting.
Carl Crawford will have 61 stolen bases (one more than his ’09 season where he had 60).
--- 18 stolen bases in 2011. WOW was I off or what? Out of touch.
4) Jed Lowrie will have better statistics over Marco Scutaro despite being on the
BENCH.
--- Nope, WRONG again. Complete opposite. Jed Lowrie (INJURY BUG) = 88 games, .252 AVG/ 6 HR/ 36 RBI. OPS = .685. Marco Scutaro = 113 games, .299 AVG/ 7 HR/ 54 RBI. OPS = .781. Surely they must be thinking of picking up Scutaro’s option for next year. Who else is out there?
5) Hideki Okajima will find a way back into the team. They need some lefty relievers.
--- The artist formerly known as “OKI-DOKI” appeared in only 7 games, boasting a
1-0, 4.32 ERA before he was given the pink slip. How Matt Albers made it to the
team is something I would love to know.
6) Red Sox WILL win 100 games this year and the A.L. East title.
--- They most certainly COULD’VE and SHOULD’VE. If only they won the games
that they SHOULD’VE and didn’t blow the whole month of September.
7) Kevin Youkilis will be a serious contender to win the A.L. MVP award.
--- I still believed this until the INJURY BUG struck. The Big Three of Ellsbury,
Gonzalez, and Pedroia are most definitely going to be in the talks for MVP. Ellsbury
is above Gonzalez and Pedroia, in my opinion. Gonzalez over Pedroia.
8) Tim Wakefield will find a way back into the rotation. He always does. Can’t put that
68 MPH fastball in the dumps!
--- Oh, he certainly found his way into the rotation (thanks to Buchholz/Dice-K). Sucks that they were so inclined to give Wakefield so many shots at win #200 when in actually, it costed them big time. Those starts he had should’ve belonged to a machine named ALFREDO ACEVES (give the man a raise!!!!)
9) This will be Daniel Bard’s year to shine to show he’s the future closer which means
bye bye Jonathan Papelbon.
--- “Daniel Bard’s year to shine to show he’s the future closer…” until the month of September came. OOPS. Jonathan Papelbon bounced back into a dominant year until the very last game. We all know what happened there. :(
10) ’04 + ’07 = ’11 World Series Champs. Destiny? I think so. But you, you already
KNOW that!
--- :( :( :(
***BONUS**** 10 Thoughts heading into next season for 2012 (more questions than thoughts)
1) 1) It’s expected (at least I think) that Beckett and Lester will likely be the 1+2 starters, but who goes after? If Buchholz is ready, you would think he’d be the 3rd. JOHN LACKEY? I’d hate to think. They seriously need to find all possibilities to get rid of this guy. But who would want that atrocious contract that he has? No one. Dice-K is already a flop they should shop him around. Wakefield? Bring him back but LEAVE HIM IN THE BULLPEN.
2) Is this the last we’ve seen of David Ortiz, Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, Marco Scutaro, and Jonathan Papelbon? Ortiz is someone who I would think would have the best shot at coming back. He has produced (.309 AVG/ 29 HR/ 96 RBI). 50/50 with Varitek. Do they consider the tandem of Saltalamacchia/Lavarnway heading forward? What about Wakefield? The senior citizen should come back only if he were to stay in the bullpen. J.D. Drew? Likely retiring. Jacoby Ellsbury I would think would like to stay (GIVE HIM CRAWFORD’S CONTRACT!). Marco Scutaro I would think would get his option picked up. Jonathan Papelbon? Likely to test free agency but who knows what will happen with him.
3) A L F R E D O A C E V E S ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
4) Who stays or gets fired? Terry Francona? Theo Epstein? Both? None?
5) Who’s going to man right field? Josh Reddick showed promise but sizzled during the stretch. RYAN KALISH? Hope he comes back. I was really hoping that the Red Sox would get HUNTER PENCE but NOOOOOO, they didn’t make a deal for him in July. Missed chance.
6) People are already calling Carl Crawford a bust. This season? YES. I’d give him a chance to bounce back next year. Prove me wrong, Carl.
7) Must… revamp… bullpen.
8) Letting Victor Martinez walk was the stupidest thing they could’ve done.
9) What happens to Erik St. Bedard?
10) This is going to be a loooooonnnnnnngggggg winter.
