With two huge acquisitions of Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez the Red Sox offense looks more potent than ever. With Crawford and Ellsbury atop the lineup, their speed should force the opposing defense to shift leaving gaps for Youkilis, Gonzalez, Cameron, Pedroia and Drew to drive home the runs. Along with the addition of Bobby Jenks in the bullpen as the 7th inning man, the team is younger and healthier than previous years which is very important considering the long, exhausting 162 game season spanning over 8 months. In 2010 the Red Sox' opening day starting line-up spent the most days on the DL with 258, 48 more days then the A's. However since the Red Sox did not make the postseason they have had longer time resting up and getting ready for the 2011 season.
The x-factor will be pitching. Pitching wins championships and many teams would agree because in the offseason pitchers are always the primary targets of GM's. The Red Sox pitching staff has the talent to be a premier rotation in the majors but inconsistency has hurt them. Lester has been the anchor of the rotation but if everyone else pitches smart watch out for a record breaking win season.
The key to a successful 2011 season will be Terry Francona and his ability to order the lineup. The team has depth with alot of utility players which will make it easier to mix and match the lineup to his liking. Ellsbury has the ability to be lead off but will Francona put him at the bottom of the order as an anchor because Crawford does have the power to hit home runs and drive in runs with Pedroia to follow. Or will Francona take some pressure of Pedroia and put him 5th behind Gonzalez and before Drew to give a Left-Right-Left batting order which causes problems for opposing managers. It will be very interesting to see what occurs but right now as a Red Sox fans there is high hopes for the team going to the World Series.
No comments:
Post a Comment