In 2012 Butchie says: Depth is the Sox Biggest worry

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past eight months you know the score as well as Butchie and I do. We have a new manager three fifths of a pitching rotation a shrinking bull pen and payroll. add in the shortest bench I can remember. And it isn’t hard to figure out why Butchie and I are so worried going into opening day. Just a year ago people were calling this team the best in baseball, a lineup for the ages and a pitching staff that was so scary the opposition would be begging out of games like JD Drew during a pennant chase. That was last season

           This year seems to be quite a bit different and the questions seem to keep coming. The top of the rotation is as solid as any in baseball Beckett Buchholtz and Lester when healthy are a forbidding three Last seasons number four and five starters have been replaced by Felix Doubront and Daniel Bard. In all honesty can they be worse than Dice BB and Lackey? YES, I know that’s hard to swallow but its true Bard has not proven he can make it more than a turn through the opposition’s lineup or has a third reliable pitch. Doubront who to be honest is here because he is out of options. I would have been much happier had the sox brought in a quality lefty in the off season and Doubront was working out of the pen as a left specialist. But the sox aren’t listening to us..  Bailey is on the shelf already witch makes an already thin bullpen look emaciated and leaves open the question who will close?  Melancon is the logical choice he has done it before and has better than decent stuff, the question is can he handle the reborn angry Boston media that took off the past ten seasons to genuflect at the alter of Theo? I think he can at least for a short while. That leaves Aceves to set up and hey hey hey Matt Albers, Miller and Hill among the bullpen minions. So does this staff strike fear into anyone’s heart? Didn’t think so

Then there are the every day OF guys. CC held off on surgery and will start the season on the DL making the outfield corners look vastly different than last season. I loved the addition of Cody Ross. a solid clubhouse guy and a much needed right handed bat in the lineup but I was hoping like the front office was he would be the every day right fielder to start the season. Being spelled by McDonald, Sweeny and Kalish as it stands now one of them will have to man right and left at least until may. Again thinning out the bench. So the questions are can Ellsbury come close to the MVP type numbers of last season and will Crawford come back and give us anything close to the player we signed last year ?  If those two things happen I’m very happy with the production potential from the outfield.

The infield is a different story. Sorry NYC Pedroia is the Best second baseman in baseball it’s the rest of this crew that has me up nights pacing the floorboards.  Why am I so down on them?  Gonzalez has spent the spring looking like he did in the second half of last season. more  “A Carew than A Gone”  Youk when right is as solid as you can get at third but can he stay right ? even when “healthy” all his numbers dropped last season was that because he was injured all year ? or was it a sign of things to come, I never liked his move back to third and was hoping he would be DH ing full time by now. SS seemed to be the story of this spring. Who will get the nod has been decided Aviles will settle in as the every day starter while Iglesias starts the season in Pawtucket, I hate to agree with Bobby V but why I don’t know. This kid is never ever going to hit his weight, why isn’t his glove enough to keep him here on the Big Club? If he had been sent down because Marko was still here I could swallow this move. Sending him down takes away from what could have been a strength, infield depth, and turns it into another weakness. We are going into the season with five healthy infielders FIVE.    

Even with my earlier statement about Youk at DH I have no doubt Popi will be Popi again this year. As long as that carrot of playing for his next contract is dangling out there he will perform. The guys behind the plate will do about as well as they did last year Salty is solid and if he gets rested should be that way all season. Shoppach at 31 who is making about 2 million more than our starter should do well in that roll.

It all comes down to health and depth Nation.  Is Adrian’s shoulder good to go? Can Youk play an entire season at third without a trip to the DL? Will Elsberry play another full season can a career utility guy take over at SS and can we survive with Nick Punto as our ace in the hole ?  Is the bull pen deep enough is the rotation solid after three and can they go seven innings day in and day out?  I’m hoping the answers are yes  

Butchie has the Sox wining 96 and the AL East

I have the Sox Winning 93 and Grabbing a Card