Who are the 2015 Boston Red Sox? The honest answer may be, though we are rapidly approaching the end of May, that we really do not know yet.
In the first few weeks of the season, the lineup, which was expected to be deadly, was exactly that, for the most part. First baseman Mike Napoli, who has come alive recently, struggled to find his stroke, but the Sox did not want for runs. On the other hand, the rotation, which was expected to put up middling numbers, was just shy of atrocious, and that might be a generous assessment.
Who are the 2015 Boston Red Sox?
Just about a week and a half ago, the Sox fired pitching coach Juan Nieves and hired Carl Willis as his replacement. Since then, the run production has dried up somewhat, but the starters’ earned run average has dropped considerably – by over a run per inning. This might be attributable to a change in philosophy (Willis advocates pitching to the starters’ strengths as opposed to the opposing hitters’ weaknesses), but that seems unlikely.
Instead, I suspect the team we are seeing now is more akin to the team that many expected to see out of the gate. Yes, the big hitters aren’t really producing like they should at the moment. But is that so strange? Every batter goes through a dry spell at some point in the season. The truth is that the Red Sox lineup features batters who have long histories of success at a high level in the majors. In the end, they should all be just fine once things normalize.
As for the rotation, what we are seeing now is simply what was really expected. The Sox’ rotation is comprised mainly of guys who would be No. 2 or 3 starters on any other team. It is unreasonable to expect ace-quality pitching on a regular basis from any of them, but they all have the talent to win games.
The firing of Nieves seems to have served as a wakeup call for the starters; since Nieves was canned, the Sox have allowed more than four runs against just twice. A small sample size to be sure, but not insignificant when all the rotation is doing is finally living up to its expectations. The starters seem to have finally realized that their jobs are not guaranteed. The Sox rotation won a World Series under Nieves’ direction; if he can lose his job, anyone can.
Of course, credit for the Sox’ recent, and relative, success might be due, in part, to the quality of their latest opponents. As of Wednesday, Boston held a record of 5-3 in their last eight games, but all of those games have come against an underwhelming American League West. Then again, does that really matter? Sometimes, all a rotation needs is a chance to regain its collective confidence, and what better time to do that than during a stretch of games against sub-par competition? After the Sox complete their current series against the Texas Rangers, they go back on the road to take on the lowly Minnesota Twins before four more games against the Rangers. If that isn’t a gift-wrapped opportunity to work out the kinks, I don’t know what is.
In the end, slumps or not, the Sox are going to score runs. That lineup is simply too talented to do anything else. If the rotation can continue to deliver performances that are at least decent, as has been the trend since Willis came on, then this team should still be able to capture the AL East title.
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