Red Sox Nation is rightfully exciting about the upcoming season. We have veterans on the mend, pitching aplenty, and young guys than an elementary school playground.
While the Red Sox didn’t land any big-name free agents this offseason, they reeled in more than enough “low-risk, high reward” (are you sick of that phrase yet?) players to make up for it. John Smoltz, Rocco Baldelli, Takashi Saito, et cetera, et freakin’ cetera. It’s like the Sox brass were rummaging through the dumpster and pilfered every object that might have some potential. And, as luck would have it, they ended up with a pretty darn good group.
Here’s the problem with this devious little plan: we’re forcing ourselves to be disappointed. If every current everyday player stays healthy, if every low-risk, high-reward free agent returns to form, if every young star shows great progress this year, we’re going to need to resurrect Huntington Avenue Grounds, because one stadium isn’t going to be enough for all the players. You may well see the return of Boston as a two-team city. If each of these situations does not pan out? Get out your boards and nails, we’re going to crucify Theo Epstein for wasting money on these ridiculous deals. We’ve got so many players, it’s a no-lose and no-win situation at the same time. All the players work out? Great, we have no place to put them. Few of the players work out? Great, we’ve got no backups. And with JD Drew in the anticipated lineup, a “backup” is more an “up” than a “back,” if you know what I mean.
Most major league baseball teams carry between ten and twelve pitchers on 
their twenty-five man roster. The Red Sox have twenty guys who can throw a baseball well enough to reasonably expect to pitch in the big leagues at some point in 2009. And I probably missed someone. That means that approximately half of the guys we’ve heard about during Spring Training will not be on the major league roster at any given point during the season. On the bright side, though, the Sox are in good shape when September call-ups roll around, during the one month of the season when Tito won’t be as likely to give a new guy a shot.
The Red Sox are also stacked with position players. If we again include any player who, on any other team, would have a realistic shot at making the major league club at some point in the season, the Sox have eight outfielders: Jason Bay, Jacoby Ellsbury, JD Drew, Mark Kotsay, Chris Carter, Jeff Bailey, Rocco Baldelli, and Jonathan Van Every, who hasn’t gotten much press this spring but did an adequate job in 11 games with the Sox last season. Our 25-man roster is now up to 28, and we don’t even have anyone in the infield yet.
So what of the infield? This is probably the area in which the Sox are the thinnest, if by thinnest you mean “only slightly obese.” The Sox have five legitimate infielders, plus Mark Kotsay who I’m not including because I listed him with the outfielders and it would be cheating to list him twice. Add Lars Anderson, who could be ready for the bigs by late this year, and there’s six. There’s also Argenis Diaz, whose name I hadn’t even heard before today but who apparently is Gold Glove-caliber at shortstop already, and he spent most of last season playing A ball.
Once we add David Ortiz and the four players who would like to spend significant time at catcher this year, our 25-man team has burgeoned to a 39-man roster. Again, we’re in great shape in September. The Sox will have no trouble filling their 40-man roster in the heat of the pennant race. But what does this mean for Red Sox fans?
It means second-guessing in epic proportions. Terry Francona is famous (or infamous, if you prefer) for sticking with players he believes in even through prolonged slumps. This season, with so many players just waiting for a breakthrough, that stance will be more difficult than ever to defend. If, say, Brad Penny has a few bad outings, what should stop Francona from replacing him in the rotation with Clay Buchholz, Michael Bowden, or a healthy John Smoltz? When Jacoby Ellsbury slumps at the plate, why not play Baldelli or Kotsay? When Julio Lugo makes enough errors to make Edgar Renteria cringe, why not stick Lowrie in at shortstop and bring up Diaz for a shot at roaming the infield if necessary? This season will surely test Francona’s mettle and Sox fans’ patience. Will Tito still have the guts to stick with players he believes in when it’s unpopular, with two or three capable guys waiting for that spot? I don’t know, but it’s sure to be an interesting ride.
