Real Pretend Baseball!!!!

After a quiet and uneventful off-season….no wait, after a complete shitshow of an off-season the Boston Red Sox will officially begin their slate of spring training games on Saturday afternoon after the unofficial opener against Northeastern on Friday.  I think it suffices to say that most Sox fans are less than pleased with the off-season on any number of levels.  Having said that, the Sox should still be a good team though candidly I fear a 2012 style disaster but that’s emotion not logic talking.  There is plenty to be interested in as the games start coming.  Here are a few players and topics I am interested in watching.

Ron Roenicke is Not YouKnowWho - My fear that a 2012 style collapse could happen is being assuaged by the presence of Roenicke at the top of the on field masthead.  Roenicke did a good job as skipper in Milwaukee and looks from afar to be the prototypical steady hand on the rudder.  I have to believe that deep down a lot of players on the Sox are pretty frustrated.  Xander Bogaerts in particular has to be wondering if his team-friendly deal was a mistake if the savings didn’t help keep Mookie Betts.  If Roenicke can get the team to put the past in the past and play to their ability there is no reason they can’t contend.

Jeter Downs - Downs is really intriguing.  To me getting him instead of Brusdar Graterol is a nice bit of GMing by Chaim Bloom.  Downs looks like a guy who can be a solid contributor, not a star but a useful player, and do so at a position (second base) where the Sox look a bit thin.  He’s been a minor league shortstop so presumably some versatility is an option.  While he’s likely to open the season in Pawtucket I think he is a player who can play himself onto the Opening Day roster or at least into a very early call up.

Chaim Bloom Still Making Moves - The Wil Myers thing is a bit odd but if it lands the Sox another top 100 prospect or two that becomes interesting.  Nasty Nate has noted many times over the years that there are more ways than just spending on free agents to use financial muscle and absorbing Myers’ contract to bolster the system would be one of them.  I happen to think Myers is a guy who can be a good buy low candidate as well.  Given the limitations of what he has been tasked with doing I feel like Bloom has done a strong job this winter.  We will see what happens but in the early going I feel very good about him.

The Young Pitcher - The Sox have a few interesting live arms in camp.  Bryan Mata is a guy I saw with Portland last year and he can bring it.  He is a high variance prospect but one with a really high upside. Former Marlin Austin Brice has shown bits and pieces of being a pretty solid reliever but has yet to put it together.  The Sox have added lefties out the wazoo this winter with Matt Hall probably the most interesting.  Darwinzon Hernandez is a familiar name and in my opinion a potential stud out of the bullpen.  Eduard Bazardo who closed out Friday’s win isn’t a huge prospect but watching him I couldn’t help but think of Oil Can Boyd with his mannerisms on the mound.

Can Michael Chavis Adjust - Chavis was an interesting guy last year.  He really impressed for a couple of months with his genuine light tower power becoming a regular talking point. As happens it did not take long for pitchers to figure out a book on him and start pounding the high heat past him.  Suffering an injury before he could really adjust left a bitter aftertaste to a solid first season.  I will be curious to see if he finds a way to handle those pitches up in the zone.  If he can I think the right side of the Sox infield with Chavis, Mitch Moreland and one of Marco Hernandez, Tzu-Wei Lin, Downs and maybe CJ Chatham becomes a bit more solid.

Jonathan Lucroy - This was a neat little move by Bloom.  Lucroy is probably toast but if after getting an off-season break from a concussion-interrupted season he finds his swing he can be a useful backup.  He’s a right handed slugger and we’ve seen guys like Doug Mirabelli and Dave Ross succeed as backup catchers for the Sox with that profile.  Kevin Plawecki is probably the more certain option as backup but I think Lucroy is a guy more likely to be able to put up one of those 125 at bat stretches with some goofy numbers.

The Unknown Player - Inevitably spring training is a time to discover a player.  I head down on March 6 (jealous? You should be) and inevitably some guy whose introduction results in my saying “who?” when he is introduced becomes a guy I say “YEAH!” when I hear he has been called up a few months later.  One of the pictures I’m always amused by in my collection is a spring 2010 photo I took of Will Middlebrooks on the back fields at City of Palms Park.  Middlebrooks is the guy I labeled in the photo and he is centered and focused.  Just on the edge of the photo is some other guy I had never heard of at that point but you can see the back of his jersey at the edge of the shot and the nameplate reads “NAVA.”  Those guys are always fun to learn about.

Yeah the off-season has kinda sucked.  The baseball season now starts and whatever you want to say about the off field stuff, on the field baseball remains awesome and I am looking forward to it.  The drive for a fifth World Series title in the 21st century starts now!