The next two weeks will be big ones for the Sox and their management. It started last night with four at home against the division-leading White Sox plus three more with the pesky Blue Jays. They then travel to Texas and New York, squads that are in a virtual tie for the best record in the majors. Four series in which a .500-plus record will be an achievement.
This tough stretch finds the Townies in a state of flux- the injured are easing back in and the pitching staff is still erratic.
Questions are everywhere. Can Jacoby Ellsbury show the form that made him runner-up MVP in 2011? Is Carl Crawford the all-star he was at Tampa or the man who hit .250 last year? Will Andrew Bailey, after two injury-plagued years, be able to replace the up-and-down Alfredo Aceves as closer? Are Daniel Nava and Will Middlebrooks legitimate stars or merely phenoms? Will Pedro Ciriaco fit in? Is Felix Doubront a legitimate third or fourth starter?
If the team does fall out of contention for even the watered-down wild card, big decisions will have to be made. All fans know the franchise has been slipping since 2007. Playoff appearences became disappointing and, in the last two seasons, absent. The squad went through an embarrassing September slide reminiscent of 1978. If this continues, something will have to be done, or Ben Cherington will begin to be compared with the late Lou Gorman or Haywood Sullivan, even though Theo Epstein would also be at fault.
Last week I wrote about starting the rebuilding process by trading Josh Beckett. The stats bear me out. Only once in tha past 5 seasons has Beckett had an ERA under 3 and three times it has been 4-plus. His hits to innings pitched ratio has been only average. In each of the last three seasons, he has surrendered 20 or more home runs. At 32, he is four years older than both Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz.
Cherington is still saying that the Sox are buyers, not sellers. But that may have to change. Rebuilding shouldn’t be a dirty word.
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