Let’s start by looking at some of the ages of the players Boston has added in September….
Scott Atchison, 35 year old September call-up
Trever Miller 38
Scott Atchison 35
Joey Gathright 30
Conor Jackson 29
Felix Doubront 23
Ryan Lavarnway 24
Nate Spears 26
Kyle Weiland 25
Michael Bowden 25
Lars Anderson 23
Jose Iglesias 21
Junichi Tazawa 25
Teams should fill up their roster with their best talent regardless of the age of the player. If Boston is going to make it to the post season this year, they need to bring up some of the young talent they have.
These are four guys the Red Sox should call up….
Bryce Brentz 22
Will Middlebrooks 23
Alex Hassan 23
Alex Wilson 24
Look at the players Boston has traded that are now on other team’s September rosters. Anthony Rizzo (22) has played in 40 games. Nick Hagadone (25) has pitched in three games. Tim Federowicz (24) played his first game this week. If Lars Anderson had been traded to Oakland, he was going to be their starting first baseman in August.
Darnell McDonald, 32 year old prospect?
Darnell McDonald is 32 years old. He has 614 MLB at-bats since 2004. He has 16 total home runs. He is not going to get any better than this. His lifetime OPS is .691 with a low of .632 this year. Why is he still on the roster?
The Red Sox have too many players similar to McDonald that do not deserve to be on the roster. Spears (.248 at Pawtucket) and Jackson (0 for his last 25 with seven home runs in his last 643 at-bats) are almost as bad as McDonald. Matt Albers, 28, is listed at 225 lbs. I would bet he tips the scales at over 250 lbs, a real testament to his desire to stay in shape to throw a baseball.
If they only benched Carl Crawford and played 22 year old Bryce Brentz in his place, the one thing they would add to the line up is production.
Brentz had 30 home runs with an OPS of .939 for the year. Some day he will reach these numbers in Boston, but it will be 2014 before he gets his chance.
This season is starting to remind Tampa of 2008, and it reminds Boston of 1978.
On September 14th, 2008 Tampa brought up number one prospect David Price. He only appeared in five regular season games, but he ended up getting the save in Game Seven against the Red Sox in the ALCS.
Matt Moore
This year on September 12th, they brought up their number one prospect, Matt Moore, another hard throwing left-hander. There are many people in Boston that have never heard of Matt Moore, but before long everyone in baseball will put Moore in the same class as David Price.
The Red Sox have a longer history than the Rays, and 1978 has come back to haunt this franchise many times.
It was in September of 1978 that Boston had a four game lead over New York with a four game series beginning on Thursday, September 7th in Fenway Park.
By Sunday it was over, and those four losses live in infamy in Boston, known forever as the “Boston Massacre”. The Yankees won the first game on Thursday night 13-2, and outscored the Red Sox 42-9 in the series. Both teams were tied for the division lead when the series ended.
Don Zimmer, yelling incoherently
The Red Sox started a rookie that Sunday. His name was Bobby Sprowl. Manager Don Zimmer claimed Sprowl had “ice water in his veins” before the game. He lasted two thirds of an inning, giving up one hit, four walks and three runs, falling to an 0-2 record as the Red Sox dropped their fourth straight game. Sprowl never won a game with Boston and his Red Sox career basically ended that Sunday.
Now fast-forward to 2011…. on Thursday night the Red Sox begin a four game series against Tampa Bay, who are four games behind Boston for the Wild Card. The Red Sox are planning on starting a rookie name Kyle Weiland in game one, who has a record of 0-1. If he starts out with one hit and four walks in the first inning, we could have a massacre remake, this time starring the Rays instead of the Yankees.
In 1978, Boston fell as far as two games behind and had to win their final eight games of the season to end up tied with New York, eventually forcing the infamous Bucky F’n Dent game. What will 2011 bring?