With last night’s loss to the Toronto Blue Jays, the Boston Red Sox have fallen into third place. The last time the Red Sox finished a season in 3rd place was the 1997 season when they finished behind the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees.
So what has gone wrong for the Red Sox this year? One thing I have to look at is the lack of moves at the trade deadline. The Red Sox made no moves this year to try and help the team get better. Instead they made some waiver wire moves, picking up among others Carlos Pena, Javy Lopez (no longer with the team), and Eric Hinske. They made very little moves in terms of starting pitching. In fact, the often inconsistent Julian Tavarez, who started the season in the bullpen, has been their best pitcher lately. Yes some key injuries have happened and those usually do. But this time nothing major was really done to replace them.
Having spent some time working in baseball, in and out of the clubhouse, a baseball team is like family. This being said, the news of Jon Lester’s cancer I am sure hit home. Many of us out in the real world do not realize that this is their job and really aren’t here to entertain us. Sure we pay numerous dollars to support our team but in the end, a baseball player’s job is to play baseball and help produce wins for his team. Imagine if you must, your boss has cancer and is no longer able to work for the time being. Are you upset about this news? Sure you are. You spend a great deal of time with this person and want the person to make a full recovery. It is the same with the players of the Boston Red Sox but hits them harder. These guys spend time together from the start of spring training til the end of the season. These are their friends and family for 9 months out of the year. Their wives are friends. Their children are friends. Being a part of a baseball team is like having an extended family. So if one of your family member’s had cancer, it would hit you like a brick wall. On that note, I would like to extend wishes of safe, speedy and healthy recovery for Jon Lester.
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