A Little Light On This Subject
Baseball has a new no-hitter, breaking a two year dought, and it was thrown by someone close to the Red Sox and their organization. Anibal Sanchez, throw-in for the Marlins in the Josh Beckett deal, tossed a beauty for the fish and an empty house last night, recording his milestone in an outing against the Diamondbacks.
Remember him? He was supposed to be borderline. Or was he?
This is basically insult to the myriad injuries that the Red Sox have attempted to weather over the last month and a half. Sanchez's success, as well as the success of fellow Marlin Hanley Ramirez, Padre standout Cla Meredith, and the Bucs' likely National League batting champion, Freddy Sanchez, is indicative of the kind of murmuring that's going on all over New England.
Is Theo as great as we think?
The answer, of course, is "We don't know." It's still too early to pass judgement on the products of Epstein's long-term plan. Josh Beckett, in the eyes of most, is going to be a different pitcher in 2007. Jonathan Papelbon, Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen, and Dustin Pedroia are likely going to get better as well. It is not much of a stretch to say that the success of these former Sox is due, in large part, to two things that are very related to one another. Actually, check that. Their success is due to one thing: the National League.
To take nothing away from each of those players, for their accomplishments are nothing to brush aside, the American League is, quite simply, better. One need do nothing but look at the interleague record from this year, the general state of the NL East, and at the last couple World Series champions to see proof of this. In the fishbowl that is Boston, Massachusetts, these players would be playing a different kind of baseball. They would be constantly reminded of every miscue, every wasted at-bat, every home run allowed. They would have their lives invaded, their thoughts hijacked, as this reporter and then that try to get a piece of the player to bring back to their editors and readers. I'm going to walk out on a limb and say that Anibal Sanchez doesn't throw a no-hitter with the Red Sox, and that Freddy Sanchez doesn't keep a season-long choke hold on the lead for the batting title. Hanley Ramirez, in a system like Boston's, loses a dimension of his skill, his speed, and has to see nearly twice as manny off-speed and breaking pitches than with Florida.
To be sure, things do not look good for Theo in the public eye. His fiasco last offseason now appears to be nothing more than pettiness, and the loss of Josh Byrnes and other members of the front office staff, not to mention the titanic collapse of the second largest payroll in the game, are nothing but egg on his face. In his defense, he's still got some time to go until we know whether or not he's going to be successful.
Sure, it sucks to be a Sox fan right now, but step back, take a deep breath, and show everyone how mature you can be. It'll be alright. Just wait and see.
Remember him? He was supposed to be borderline. Or was he?
This is basically insult to the myriad injuries that the Red Sox have attempted to weather over the last month and a half. Sanchez's success, as well as the success of fellow Marlin Hanley Ramirez, Padre standout Cla Meredith, and the Bucs' likely National League batting champion, Freddy Sanchez, is indicative of the kind of murmuring that's going on all over New England.
Is Theo as great as we think?
The answer, of course, is "We don't know." It's still too early to pass judgement on the products of Epstein's long-term plan. Josh Beckett, in the eyes of most, is going to be a different pitcher in 2007. Jonathan Papelbon, Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen, and Dustin Pedroia are likely going to get better as well. It is not much of a stretch to say that the success of these former Sox is due, in large part, to two things that are very related to one another. Actually, check that. Their success is due to one thing: the National League.
To take nothing away from each of those players, for their accomplishments are nothing to brush aside, the American League is, quite simply, better. One need do nothing but look at the interleague record from this year, the general state of the NL East, and at the last couple World Series champions to see proof of this. In the fishbowl that is Boston, Massachusetts, these players would be playing a different kind of baseball. They would be constantly reminded of every miscue, every wasted at-bat, every home run allowed. They would have their lives invaded, their thoughts hijacked, as this reporter and then that try to get a piece of the player to bring back to their editors and readers. I'm going to walk out on a limb and say that Anibal Sanchez doesn't throw a no-hitter with the Red Sox, and that Freddy Sanchez doesn't keep a season-long choke hold on the lead for the batting title. Hanley Ramirez, in a system like Boston's, loses a dimension of his skill, his speed, and has to see nearly twice as manny off-speed and breaking pitches than with Florida.
To be sure, things do not look good for Theo in the public eye. His fiasco last offseason now appears to be nothing more than pettiness, and the loss of Josh Byrnes and other members of the front office staff, not to mention the titanic collapse of the second largest payroll in the game, are nothing but egg on his face. In his defense, he's still got some time to go until we know whether or not he's going to be successful.
Sure, it sucks to be a Sox fan right now, but step back, take a deep breath, and show everyone how mature you can be. It'll be alright. Just wait and see.
Labels: 2006 Season
Ryan Brodeur at 6:32 PM
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