Pal Oh Boston! how peculiar and redundant you can be. In a city led by the nose by it's over zealous media maggots who today love the Sox blindly, all baseball intellect has been lost. Once regarded as having a game intelligent fan base, now Red Sox Nation is full of pink-hatters and casual on lookers who jump for joy over ridiculous contracts and overrated all stars because they are told to -- much as they did in the past. As the only writer left with any stones, I present to you the truth in the form of the top five reasons Boston will disappoint in 2015. 5 - Hanley Ramirez
He is, without a doubt, the most talented hitter to wear a Red Sox uniform since the last Ramirez wandered around in left field. However, that's not where the comparisons end. When Boston shipped then highly touted prospect Hanley Ramirez to Florida in 2003 they were well aware of his potential on the field. They also had s good indication that Hanley could be a bit of a pill. Twelve years later he's a household name with a solid reputation for dramatics. In Miami, reports swirled of his attitude issues, and in LA speculations mounted that Hanley did want Hanley wanted. There is zero reason to believe that things will be different in Boston. In fact, they might be worse with the relentless media maggots. Historically, players of Ramirez's mental makeup tend to disappear during the season. Especially after signing a deal the size he signed. Look for Hanley to spend some time on the DL with "nagging" injuries. Fifteen days will turn into a month -- and I predict his first media meltdown mid June. 4 - Closer By Committee This NEVER works. Koji Uehara closed 26 of 31 last year for Boston. Not bad for a guy who will celebrate is 40th birthday this month. However, he's logged a ton of innings over the past two seasons and has been injured most of the spring. He's also slated to start the year on the DL. Ed Mujica failed to impress in 2014, as did most of the other arms in the pen. Although Uehara is not expected to miss an extended period of time, it is reasonable to believe this might not be his only trip to the disabled list in 2015. 3 - Too Much Expected From The Youth Does the name Will Middlebrooks bring back any recent memories? The last time -- and most of the time (with the exception of Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury) in the last decade the Sox have called up the next big thing, he eventually fails. It's the same story -- just look at 2014: Jackie Bradley Jr. was praised all spring and considered to be the long term solution in center. Yet, by mid season he was dining in Pawtucket. There is no doubt Mookie Betts is talented, but is he ready for the Majors? Are he and Xander Bogarts ready for a full campaign? Are they prepared for 162 game marathon of bruises and bumps, mentally and physically? Probably not. 2 - Catch This In 2014 Boston quietly said goodbye to everyday catcher Jarrod Saltalammacchia. They thought they could rely on a mix of youth and veteran journeyman AJ Pierzynscki. That worked out about as horrible as it sounds. Now a year later they lost the one catcher who might have had a chance to corral this swap meet of a pitching staff. When Christian Vasquez went on the 60 day DL it was the biggest underrated disaster to hit the team this season. Of course the mighty mainstream media maggots don't point this out because it's hard to sell or sensationalize how crucial a good skilled catcher can be to the makeup of your club. To prove my point chew on this fact. Jason Varitek caught a Major League record four no hitters. Is that luck? Absolutely not Varitek was one of the best game callers in Sox history. Pitching staffs during his run as team catcher where annually among the league's best. He made himself and his staff better everyday. That is a truly underestimated eliminate of the game. 1 - Mounds of Wet Clay If sloppy Clay Buchholz is your ace, then in the immortal words of Red Sox fans from 1918 to 2003: "There's always next year". Buchholz has never made 30 starts, and when he came close, his ERA ballooned close to or more than 5.00. In 2012, Clay made 29 starts with a 4.56 ERA. Last season, he started 28 games with a 5.34 ERA winning only 8 of those games. Buchholz lacks that certain internal fortitude that his former teammates demonstrated so effortlessly. He's missing the ability to take his team on his shoulders every fifth day and dominate. But don't get me wrong, he's not all that's wrong with this pitching rotation. In fact, one has to wonder if Boston is now scouting the island of misfit toys for arms. After Buccholz, you have an injured and overrated Joe Kelly, Wade Miley who was booted from the rotation of a last place team in 2014 due to arm fatigue and an inability to last past the third. Throw in an over worked Masterson and a few no-names and you have a recipe for an unsavory year on the mound. |
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