The Football Fan Spot

The Red Sox fell to 4.5 games back of the Wild Card today with a 6-4 loss to the Oakland Athletics. I don’t often talk about baseball on here, but the Red Sox are my favorite baseball team and the only sports team I really follow religiously. I am also a fan of the Patriots and Celtics but because I feel I need to stay as unbiased as possible for this site and because I am disappointed with some of the actions the franchise made in the past few years (Spygate), I would definitely not call myself a huge Patriots fan. Because I am not a huge basketball fan, I would not call myself a huge Celtics fan either.

The Red Sox are my team. I don’t like it when they fall 4.5 games back of the Wild Card. I don’t like it when they lose to a .500 team (especially when I’m in attendance). 4.5 games back starts to be pushing the envelope a bit in terms of how far out they can be to give themselves a solid shot to make the playoffs once their injuries are cleared up. 4.5 games back is the farthest back they’ve been in over a month. 4.5 games back doesn’t please GM Theo Epstein either as reports have come out that he is planning to make significant additions (in addition to the players they’ll soon get back from injury) at the trade deadline. The names thrown out there, relievers like David Aardsma and Scott Downs, catchers like Chris Synder or Chris Iannetta.

I definitely wouldn’t mind adding another reliever. Their bullpen era is 4.51, 3rd worst in the AL. I would love to add Scott Downs. He’s a solid set up man and a lefty, which is even more important because Hideki Okajima has failed epically as their left handed set up man. I would rather have him than trading for a closer because closers normally cost more in terms of salary and prospects and they sometimes have issues adjusting to new roles like the 7th or the 8th (see Gagne, Eric). Downs has been pitching well in the 7th and 8th all year with a 2.52 ERA for Toronto. Aardsma I don’t want. It seems silly to trade for a closer with a 5.04 ERA, try to make him into a set up man or middle reliever, even though the last time he was a middle reliever for the Sox (a whole 2 years ago), he had an ERA of 5.55. The fact that his price tag in terms of prospects would be equal or higher to Downs’ is ridiculous.

Catcher I can sort of understand. Both Victor Martinez and Jason Varitek are hurt right now and while Martinez could be back in a few days, Varitek could be out a few more weeks, leaving them with a choice between Kevin Cash, Dusty Brown, and Gustavo Molina as their backup catcher for a significant period of time. V-Mart is horrible defensively so the Sox need a solid catcher to use as a defensive replacement late in games, as well as to catch every 5th or 6th day, and also to catch when Martinez moves to DH or 1st, on Ortiz’ or Youk’s off days. Plus if Martinez misses more time than expected or gets hurt again, they’d be in trouble.

Jayson Werth is the one guy I don’t want. I will list a bunch of reasons why.

Slumping- Werth is hitting .241 with 0 homeruns and 3 RBIs this month. In fact, since his hot start in April where he batted .325, he is batting a mere 64 for 238 (.269) and has 4 homeruns and 17 RBIs in June and July. Who wants a slumping hitter?

Ballpark bloats stats- Philadelphia is probably the best hitters park in the bigs. Jayson Werth can probably thank a lot of his recent success to his park. The last season he wasn’t a Phillie, he batted .234 with 7 homeruns and 43 RBIs. There’s a reason the Dodgers let him go. This year in road games, Werth is batting .264 with 3 homeruns and 18 RBIs. At home, he’s batting .302 with 10 homeruns and 32 RBIs. He might not find Fenway nearly as friendly as Citizens Bank.

New league- Werth has 94 career at bats in the AL, and none (other than interleague) since he was a Blue Jay in 2003. Regardless of which league you feel has the better pitchers, there’s no denying this, going to a new league is unfamiliar and unfamiliarity is always the pitcher’s advantage.

In a contract year- Pretty self explanatory, there’s a chance he’d only be a 2-3 month rental, either that or they overpay him after the season.

Don’t need him: When everyone is healthy, this is their outfield. They have Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Cameron, Jeremy Hermida, Darnell McDonald, Daniel Nava, JD Drew. Eric Patterson can also play the outfield. Patterson is as good as gone once they get either Dustin Pedroia or Jacoby Ellsbury back. McDonald is probably toast as well.

When I got the idea to write this rant, I also wanted to say this. Getting Werth would mean getting rid of Nava who actually is hitting better than Werth, albeit in less action, with a .286 average compared to Werth’s .280. Nava also has the higher on base percentage, though Werth leads in slugging and OPS. However, Nava is cheaper. Nava isn’t slumping. Nava knows the pitchers in the AL and Nava has proven himself in the Sox home park. Werth isn’t worth a top pitching prospect like Michael Bowden, no matter how many issues Bowden is having at this stage in his career.

However, the Sox just went right ahead and sent Nava down as I was writing this, to activate Jeremy Hermida. He was sent down over guys like Darnell McDonald and Eric Patterson. Let’s compared Nava to Hermida, McDonald, Patterson, and hell, I’ll even throw in Jayson Werth’s stats in there as well, for comparisons sake.

Hermida: (avg/obp/ops) .217/.268/.384

McDonald: .263/.322/.402

Patterson: .204/.257/.430

Werth: .280/.371/.500

Nava: .286/.381/.451

I hate to sound like I feel that I’m smarter than people with more baseball experience, but I can’t help but feel that I’m smarter than people with more baseball experience. One of the worst feelings as a fan is feeling more competent than your front office, even if it may not be entirely true. After all, I did criticize both the Lackey and Cameron signings, and suggested that the Sox sign Adrian Beltre back in December.