Throw in the Towel and the Answer to Boston's Struggles

It's alright, I deserve it. There is no discernible reason for my sabbatical from Views from the Couch so if you need to give me whiplash from a verbal assault, kick me in the shin or anything in between I'm clearly fair game. I may have been on hiatus from the blog, but I was repping the VFC on NESN, and having Jenny Dell blow up my spot on Twitter.

There is good reason however for my re-entrance into the big leagues of blogging. When Will Middlebrooks had his wrist broken that was the metaphorical straw that broke the camel's back. The Red Sox are done. It's time to focus on 2013. That means there needs to be some changes on the team and questions that need to be answered:

Kelly Shoppach needs to be moved so that Lavarnway can have a spot on the team when if/when Ortiz comes back. (Quick Aside: When Ortiz got injured the first thing that came out of the Red Sox medical staff was 'maybe a week' we're now approaching two months. Couple that with the handling of Jacoby Ellsbury, Andrew Bailey's ridiculous rehab time and the conundrum of Carl Crawford, what kind of inept medical staff is in Boston?)

Why is Mike Aviles still on this team? The Red Sox are going no where fast and someone like the San Francisco Giants could use Aviles for their playoff push. Also, by either making Ciriaco your starting SS or calling up Iglesias for the rest of the season you give the fans a reason to come watch. (Another Aside: I realize that Ciriaco has been very solid but I would implore all of you to take him with a grain of salt. there's a reason that he's 26 and played for three organizations in the MLB. He's still a flash in the pan but I'd rather have him or Iglesias starting and deal Aviles).

Josh Beckett has to go. I've been pining for him to be traded since the end of last season and they dropped the ball. I can't remember the last time a player got booed off the mound in back to back starts at Fenway. Beckett right now is a shell of himself. At the beginning of last season he went on record saying, "Baseball isn't as important to me as it once was." I understand that priorities change when you become a parent, but that doesn't mean that I want that kind of player anchoring my pitching staff. It doesn't matter how much money you eat get this slug off the team.

While many things have contributed to the fall from grace of the Boston Red Sox I'd like to bring attention one thing. The atrocious display of defensive in-ability of Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He is one of the main reasons that this staff is not as good as it could/should be. I'm not trying to make excuses for the likes of Josh Beckett because his lack of physical preparation and dearth of perception in the Boston market is his own doing. But let's look at how "Salty" stacks up against his competition in the AL:

The first column is on average, over 135 games (the average number of games catchers play per year) how many runs he saves while he's on the field. He statistically gives up 8 runs over the course of a season, the worst in all of baseball. The next closest is Carlos Santana whom is coming back from a leg injury last season and is probably going to be a full-time first baseman soon. A player like Derek Norris is saving the upstart A's 12 runs per year with his play. While it may be too much to ask for an Elite catcher, would it be too much to one that at least doesn't give up any runs over the course of a season?

The second column is pretty self-explanatory but I'd like it to be known that the 18% of runners thrown out is the worst in the American League. Not only is it the worst in the American League it is also the worst in baseball among starting catchers. Furthermore, he is ranked 66 out of 80 with most of the rest of the 14 behind him being back up catchers or guys that split time.

Catcher ERA is a relatively new stat that combines all the pitchers they work with and gives them an ERA as well. His was the third highest, and is behind a 2nd year catcher (Perez) and Ryan Doumit whom has one of the worst staffs in baseball. This stat obviously is a little bloated because of the tremendously down years of Beckett and Lester however the Red Sox bullpen has by and large exceeded expectations. The inflated ERA would lead me to believe that pitch selection/"game-calling" is not one of his strengths. And before you say it, Yes, it's ultimately up to the pitcher but if the hurler has no confidence in the backstop it's not going to work.

Much like the Catcher ERA stat he has also given up the 3rd most runs while on the field. Once again this is aided by the horrific seasons by Beckett, Lester and Bard, but still giving up 5 runs a game when you're on the field is not a good recipe for success at the big league level.

Offensively the career high in home runs are great but the strike outs will also be a career high and if you look at his "clutch" stats they are pretty abysmal.

By all accounts he's a good teammate and solid person, but the Red Sox not only need a revamp in the rotation but they need to hand the reigns over to Lavarnway, because Saltalamacchia is not cutting the mustard.

Stay Tuned

Norton