A losing season and a rude awakening

It's official. Last night the Red Sox lost their 82nd game (and in spectacular fashion, by a score of 13-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays) to clinch their first losing season since 1997.  That's right, the last time the Red Sox were this bad, I was missing my two front teeth.

I grew up in a generation of lucky fans.  I missed the heartbreak of 1986 by four years, and I was too young during the 1994 strike to really understand what was going on.  Sure, I remember the gut-wrenching end to the 2003 postseason, with Tim Wakefield trudging off the mound dejected, sure he would be the next Bill-Buckner-esque scapegoat, but I remember the euphoria of 2004 and 2007 even more clearly.

The Red Sox of my youth were full of talents like Pedro Martinez and vintage Nomar Garciaparra, pre-traitor Johnny Damon and pre-steroid (at least pre-caught using steroids) Manny Ramirez, original dirt dog Trot Nixon, and pre-Captain Jason Varitek.

I've been spoiled. I got to enjoy this golden era of Boston sports without living through any of the real lean seasons.  Until this year.  I missed watching most of the games this summer while working at a camp, and most days I would check the scores and be more happy than sad that I hadn't seen the carnage live.

And now here we are heading into October.  The Red Sox are about as far from the postseason as I can remember - last year and in 2010 we were still in it at this point.  In 2009, we were swept from the postseason by the Angels.  The Red Sox may not have won a postseason series (or even a postseason game) since 2008, my freshman year in college - but they've been in the hunt every year.

Now that I've graduated, and been dumped into the cold, cruel world, the Red Sox seem to have had the same rude awakening I've had: no one is going to hand you anything.  The AL East is a tough division to survive in, and this year the Red Sox sank.  I'm not sure what kind of moves the front office will be looking at to make next year better than this one, but I have some ideas - starting with taking a long, hard look at Bobby V.

What are your thoughts on the first losing season in fourteen years? Any suggestions for offseason moves? Leave them in the comments.

JD will never be a Dirt Dog

So as I was studying for my last final reading the morning's Red Sox news I stumbled upon some comments about JD Drew.  Now, I know JD can be infuriating, especially in the injury department, but the disparaging remarks are getting old.  I actually saw a commenter who intimated that Drew "will never be a Trot Nixon."  What!?  Don't get me wrong, I like Nixon as much as the next fan, but across the board his stats are inferior to Drew's.  Nixon made it look like he was the much superior fielder, but mostly because of his style: he threw himself around the field with reckless abandon.  However, just because Drew lacks the weakness for theatrics does not mean he is an inferior ballplayer.

Yes, we're probably paying Drew too much money, as he is currently the highest paid player on the team, with a 2009 salary of $14 million.  But before you grab the torches and pitchforks, you might want to check who comes in second, with $13 million.  Yes, David Oritz is earning money way above his value so far.  In fact, among the top 10 highest earners, two are on the DL (Matsuzaka [$8.3m] and Smoltz [$5.5m]), a third is coming off knee surgery (Lugo [$9.2m]),and  the two (healthy) pitchers are underachieving for their prior standard (Beckett [$11.1m] and Paps [$6.2m].  The only players on the top 10 list who are performing where their salary should place them are Jason Bay [$7.8m], and Kevin Youkilis [$6.2m].

Now, both Bay and Youk are in fact performing above and beyond their tax bracket, but that begs the question: what is the market for average+ ballplayers?  This is precisely the problem that the Sox front office had in its talks with Jason Bay.  Bay is absolutely an elite player, and the market for elite players has been rather confusing in the past year.  Bobby Abreu signed with the Angels for $5m.  Milton Bradley signed for $10m. We all know how Manny ended up, and his stats are eerily similar to Bay's.

So what does all of this have to do with JD Drew?  It's just an excercise in reality.  When we signed JD, the market was different than it is now, and Theo inked his deal knowing very well that Drew would average 130 games a year due to his balky back.  Remember Drew's Grand slam in the 2007 ALCS?  I don't remember hearing much Drew-bashing that night.  The inimitable Chad Finn called Drew "usually one bloodless sucker in the clutch," and it's true.  Drew may have no feelings (ever.), but he comes through when it matters, and I'd rather have the results than the bravado.  So what if he didn't get a hit in last night's slugfest? He didn't need to.  If it's all the same, I'm a-okay with Drew saving the heroics until Nick Green and Jeff Bailey can't carry the offense anymore.

The man in this picture actually looks excited... Who are you and what have you done with JD Drew?!?