Red Sox Rundown

The Boston Globe featured an article today by columnist Chad Finn, a ranking of the 25 most important Red Sox players for the coming season. Pretty good idea for an article - wish I’d thought of it. I also wish I had written it. I admit I haven’t read much of Finn’s work, which I thought was unusual since I try to keep up with the news on Boston.com. Turns out Finn has been there since August, when he was hired by the Globe after running an independent Red Sox blog for four years. My purpose here isn’t to browbeat this guy - I’m sure he writes plenty of good stuff - I just happen to think this article is crap.

1. David Ortiz
2. Jon Lester
3. Josh Beckett
4. Dustin Pedroia
5. Kevin Youkilis
6. Jason Bay
7. Jonathan Papelbon
8. JD Drew
9. Jacoby Ellsbury
10. Daisuke Matsuzaka
11. Mike Lowell
12. Jed Lowrie
13. Justin Masterson
14. Hideki Okajima
15. Ramon Ramirez
16. Jason Varitek
17. John Smoltz
18. Takashi Saito
19. Javier Lopez
20. Rocco Baldelli
21. Brad Penny
22. Tim Wakefield
23. Manny Delcarmen
24. Josh Bard
25. Julio Lugo

Before I start griping about the actual rankings, it’s worth pointing out that Finn never actually tells us what he means by “most important.” The only introduction he gives us is that his rankings are completely subjective (no, you’re kidding!), unscientific (come on now) and “completely inarguable.” Well. His definition of “most important” seems to vary depending on which player he’s describing, making the rankings inconsistent. Finn also leaves Mark Kotsay off the list completely, a gross oversight after Kotsay’s contributions late last year.

With that out of the way, now I can start squawking over the rankings themselves.  If you didn’t read the article, you can find Finn’s rankings on the right.

We’ll start from the bottom. I’m rooting for Lowrie to take over the shortstop job and believe he will, so Lugo’s probably in the right place in the basement. I”m not going to bother quibbling over the placements of the various mid-relievers on the list, although I think Delcarmen could have been a few spots higher, and perhaps unproven newcomer Ramon Ramirez a bit lower. Papelbon has his spot high on the list, and the others are sprinkled throughout the rankings.

Which brings us to Josh Bard, number 24. Josh Bard? 24th out of 25 players? I admit I’m not thrilled with Theo’s decision to bring him back after his atrocious handling of the knuckleball in 2006, but does that make him any less important? If Varitek gets a significant injury this year, or, more likely, stinks again this year, Bard is going to rocket up Finn’s importance list like a ball off the bat of Man.. well, nevermind. If Bard can’t catch the knuckleball again, that means Varitek will need to catch Wake, throwing our whole happy arrangement in the toilet. ‘Tek will still need days off at some point, meaning either a young guy will be doing without his leadership or a veteran will be adjusting to a new catcher. Either way, that’s less than desirable if Bard can’t hack it.

Let’s proceed to the player twenty-second on Finn’s list. Tim Wakefield? Wakefield? Wakefield has to be the most under-appreciated guy in Red Sox Nation, if not Red Sox Universe or the universe in general. I keep wishing they’d give this guy an opening day start to thank him for everything he’s done for the team, but because Wake will chug along happily with no fanfare, the media and ownership seem to be content not to give him any. This veteran never creates any clubhouse distraction, has not pitched under 100 innings since his rookie year in 1992 (!), and has only pitched under 150 innings twice in his 14-season Red Sox career. And Finn claims he is “injury-prone in his 40s.” So is JD Drew, and he’s eighth on the list. Jack Marshall commented this on Finn’s article:

The disrespect for Tim Wakefield is amazing. He was better last year that [sic] Beckett; he annually gives the Sox 10-17 wins, despite Francona’s habit of playing the B team behind him most of the time. He comes, cheap, freeing the team’s resources for other things; he’s a veteran leadership presence in the clubhouse, and a pitcher who can pitch relief on short notice or pitch on short rest. And that makes him “less important” than Javier Lopez or Rocco Baldelli?

‘Nuf ‘ced.

My next beef comes at #16, El Capitan Jason Varitek. No matter your opinion on the negotiations this off-season, it’s undeniable that Varitek is going to be important to the Sox this year, be it negatively or positively. Varitek struck out 122 times in each of the last two seasons, a stat ugly enough to make Mark Bellhorn cringe. If he does that same this year, that’s important. Just not good. Finn placed Big Papi at the top of the list, claiming that if he finds any semblence of his former self, he’ll give the team a huge boost. And that doesn’t apply to Varitek? Either Varitek needs to be bumped up this list or Ortiz knocked down, or more preferably they should meet in the middle somewhere.

Here’s the one place I do agree with the author of this article. Jon Lester. You can’t give this guy enough credit. Not only has he beaten cancer, but he’s also had to overcome the fact that the media reminds him of this feat every time he pitches well, which was approximately 100% of the time last season. If I were him, I’d get so sick of hearing about it I’d purposely throw a few beanballs, possibly in the media pit’s direction. Lester is unbelievable, both physically and mentally, and I have to say I’ve been rooting for him since square one. I have a ball autographed by him from his first win versus Atlanta to prove it. If he can pitch consistently like he did in 2008, he will indisputably be in Josh Beckett’s league.

So, sorry Chad Finn, but I think you got this one mostly wrong. The rankings were inconsistent, some of the analyses unfair, and the Nomar bashing while describing Pedroia completely uncalled for. But maybe here’s something we can both appreciate: it’s February 19 and Manny Ramirez still doesn’t have a job.