Jason Varitek, you ended my dream. It may have been a long shot, but it’s over. And although having you back at least fills the backstop, it does crush my desire to have nine league average hitters in the Red Sox lineup.
Potentially now, eight of them, now that ain’t bad. A lineup consisting of eight average or better hitters is actually very good, as long as some of them are above average. Because simply having eight average hitters and one below-average, well, that is a slightly below average lineup.
Jason Varitek has been a supposed leader in the clubhouse. A supposed wiz with his game-calling skills. Some believe that there is a lot that Varitek does that cannot be seen in the numbers. And while that may hold true…it may not also. Having Varitek as the Red Sox catcher for the 2009 season isn’t a bad option. After all, it could be much worse. But it probably wasn’t their best (among realistic options) option either.
Had the Sox traded away one of their young, promising pitchers (Not an easy thing to do, I understand), then they could have acquired one of two talented young catchers that the Texas Rangers currently have. Or possibly, Miguel Montero of the Diamondbacks could have been coming to town. Statistically, any one of these catchers is a better option than Varitek, Statistically.
I still wonder how great it could have been for opposing pitchers to have to worry, to some extent, about each and every hitter in the lineup. There would be no “Black Hole.” There would be no number nine hitter who swings and misses at every fastball thrown up in the zone, in a two strike count. And maybe, just maybe, if they had acquired Jarrod Saltalamacchia, there may have been a pretty dangerous hitter in that spot, rather than Varitek.
The odds are against nine hitters with an OPS+ of 100 or greater. Yes, when I refer to league average, I am using OPS+. Maybe OPS+ does not tell the whole story, but it tells a lot of it. Anyway, Dustin Pedroia, Jason Bay, Kevin Youkilis, Mike Lowell, JD Drew, David Ortiz; They should have little problem reaching that aforementioned minimum of 100. Jacoby Ellsbury and Jed Lowrie (assuming he holds down the SS position), they aren’t quite as definite.
Lowrie is still young, and mostly untested at the Major League level. I am an advocate for Lowrie as the starting SS, but I am not going to ignore that he is young and may very well go through some of the “growing pains” that a lot of younger ballplayers go through. However, asking for an OPS+ of 100 isn’t exactly the same as asking for, say, 30 homers from the young switch hitter. That would not be very realistic of me, or anyone, to ask.
As for Ellsbury, batting .350, as some seemed to have pinned on him, is probably never going to happen. I would be fine with an OPS+ of between 100-110, while adding good defense in center. Does Ellsbury have it in him to reach the league average of 100 in 2009? I don’t know, but I think it is fair to expect something close to that out of him.
Ellsbury isn’t a rookie anymore–having a small part of one season of experience, and another full season added to that. He should be hitting his stride very shortly. That stride will not be what everyone expected it to be as they watched him conclude the 2007 season Red-Hot. But Ellsbury should be holding some solid years in his pocket.
Was this a Longshot? Yes. Having nine hitters be either average or better than average probably isn’t likely. Had the Red Sox acquired a catcher via a trade, they would have been counting on three young players to achieve their goal, or sorry, my goal. The 2003 Red Sox came pretty close, but Todd Walker’s 95 and Johnny Damon’s 94 were the reason they failed to do so. Not complaining, that was a very good offense. Any offense that consists of seven average or better hitters, along with two that are just below average, is going to score some runs.
Some of the recent Yankees teams have come dangerously close to doing this, but there always seems to be one guy who ruins it, whether it be Melky Cabrera or Andy Phillips, someone fails to reach the 100 mark. It isn’t easy that is for sure, and I wonder if anyone has done it.
But don’t think that I am not welcoming back Varitek. Again, it could be worse. Varitek does have experience, Varitek does have the trust of his returning pitchers, and Varitek does know how to “Call a Game.” Whether Varitek can call it better than other catchers who have been around a few years, that is another story. But I would like to think that he has a pretty good idea of calling whichever pitch that needs to be called, in whatever the given situation is.
The signing of Varitek may have ended my dream of having a lineup with nine league average hitters, but it did not end my other hope; that the Red Sox can be the best team in 2009. Maybe they don’t win it all, but they have just about as good a shot as anyone.
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