Speculation Ends as Spring Training Begins

Speculation Ends as Spring Training Begins

The speculation started long ago. It began before pitchers and catchers reported to spring training, before Pedro was hit on the head by a baseball during the victory parade, before Mientkiewicz tucked the World Series ball into his overhead compartment. It began before Edgar Renteria decided “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” while still in St. Louis, and hit a weak tapper back to The Incredible Foulke, making the 2004 Boston Red Sox world champions. The speculation started years ago, while there was still something called “The Curse” hanging over our most beloved local sports team.

Would things be different for Red Sox fans once their team actually won the World Series? The popular thinking was that Red Sox fans had somehow become so enthralled with the chase for a championship they wouldn’t know what to do once they had one. Once the search for the Holy Grail has ended, what happens next? For once the summit is reached, isn’t it all just downhill from there?

If witnessing the Sox winning one World Series is the only thing being a Boston Red Sox fan is about, the answer is obviously yes. But that is far from being all that is great about being a Boston Red Sox fan.

Before full squads have even reported to spring training there is already lots to wrap our baseball minds around. “The Curse” is now dead. But since there are already hundreds of issues to tackle before February has even come to a close, it appears that the state of Red Sox Nation, post-Curse, is just as strong as ever.

Here are just seven of the hot topics that remain as hot stove season makes way for spring training:

How far will A-Rod bashing go in Boston’s camp? Anti-Alex talk this off-season began with Curt Schilling. The Sox ace called Rodriguez’s slap in the playoffs a “bush league play” and publicly admitted he didn’t like him. Trot went even farther, calling him a clown and saying he hadn’t earned his Yankee pinstripes. V-Tek and Millar have chimed in too, stating how ridiculous Rodriguez sounds when bragging about his off-season workouts. And, throughout it all, none of Alex’s teammates have come to his defense. Think that may have something to do with his teammates not being able to stand him or his pretty-boy routine either? With a contract that no other team could afford, Rodriguez is going to be a mainstay in Yankee Stadium for years to come, meaning there is no end to bashing my new favorite sports villain in sight. While Joe Torre might see the public badmouthing as a lack of class or respect for the game by Boston, I would argue it’s not nearly as classless as a certain someone attempting to slap the ball out of Bronson Arroyo’s glove in the ALCS.

How will having no Pedro affect the Sox? Perhaps in year three or four of Pedro’s deal with the Mets will Boston’s brass will be able to say “I told you so” to anyone that doubts their decision not to re-sign number 45. But in 2005 can the Sox really be better off without him? Even last year, by far his worst as a member of the Sox, Pedro finished 16-9 with 227 strikeouts (2nd in the A.L.). Not too shabby. Even his career worst 3.90 ERA was good enough to finish in the A.L.’s Top 10. Maybe Martinez is on the downside of his career, but he was still good enough in an “off season” to finish fourth in the Cy Young Award voting in ‘04. Even though many media types like to focus on the prima donna/diva side of Pedro, his teammates never seemed to be overly affected by it. It certainly didn’t stop them from winning the World Series. So assuming that paying Pedro so much money in 2008 is not a good idea (which still remains to be seen), is having no Pedro on the Sox in 2005 really going to work out well? The answer to this question will have a lot to do with the next hot question….

Will Wade and Wells be able to produce? These two starters are two of biggest question marks on the BoSox roster, and for very different reasons. While it’s unlikely no single pitcher is able to replace Pedro Martinez (who’s winning percentage in Boston is the highest for any pitcher on any single team in history), the contributions of these two will be huge factors in answering the questions about life without the former ace. For Wade Miller it’s going to be a matter of health. Miller signed a one-year contract that is low-risk, potential high-reward for the Red Sox. Coming off of a frayed rotator cuff injury (for which he did not need surgery), Miller was signed at a bargain cost and could be a top of the rotation starter if he pitches even close to his potential. Wells is certainly on his final legs, but how much does the old lefty still have in the tank? If he can eat up innings the way he obviously enjoys dining on most else, Wells will be a valuable member of the starting rotation. The savvy veteran will also antagonize Yankee fans (ala Boggs/Clemens in New York) by his mere presence in Boston. Based on that fact alone I’d say he’s off to a good start with the Sox. At the very least Wells should work out a bit better than the last ex-Yanks pitcher to sign with the Sox, Ramiro Mendoza.

Will lack of depth demolish their chances to repeat? Last year a huge part of the Sox success was the play of their bench. Nomar’s hurt? Put Pokey in at short. Trot can’t play? Kapler can go. Pinch runner? Dave Roberts can get the job done. Need late-inning leather? Minty Fresh is your man. With the aforementioned super-subs gone in ’05, will the new guys be able to step up? Doug Mirabelli may be the best backup backstop in the majors, so there is no need for concern there. Other than Mirabelli though, it will be mostly unknowns filling out the rest of the roster. The names of the remaining men on the bench will (likely) be: Ramon Vazquez, Kevin Youkilis and Jay Payton. Vazquez is just a season removed from being a starter in San Diego. His bat will not do much damage, but his ability to play every infield position, be a steady fielder and have some speed make him a solid utility man to have on the bench. It will be interesting to see what Youkilis can do with some extra at bats at the big league level this year. Are the Sox grooming him to replace Bill Mueller or to become summer trade bait? Payton hit 28 home runs with 89 RBI in 2003 (albeit in Colorado), so he is capable of swinging a big stick. He is also solid defensively and should be an overall upgrade from the Japan-bound Kapler. There is also one other bench job up for grabs, with returnee David McCarty the early front-runner. Plus if this group doesn’t work out well Theo should be able to do some in-season shopping once again. Don’t forget that Roberts and Mientkiewicz didn’t become Red Sox until the trading deadline in ’04.

How will off-season celebrity affect this season’s team? Johnny Damon was shown with Ashton Kutcher at the Daytona 500 after guest appearances on SNL and Letterman (among others). Bronson Arroyo was at the Grammy Awards pitching his new album. Curt Schilling played Celebrity Poker. With Alex Rodriguez working out 83 hours a day, is all of this ‘away-from-baseball’ stuff going to negatively affect Boston’s chances of staying ahead of New York (and everyone else) in ’05? I’m guessing there’s no chance at all. As Terry Francona said of last season’s Sox: “They are a bunch of characters, but they have character. At seven o’clock they’re locked in and ready to play.” There is no reason to believe with the off-season ending that the players wont be a hundred percent locked in and ready to go once again. If they are, there’s a good chance they’ll get to do the celebrity circuit all over again next off-season (and maybe next time around Damon will get a few lines on SNL, Arroyo will sit next to somebody more relevant than Lynard Skynard and Schilling will beat the brother from “Everybody Loves Raymond” in poker).

Can ER replace The OC? By winning the World Series the Red Sox proved there was certainly life after Nomar. Now the question is, can they replace the man that replaced Nomar? Orlando Cabrera fit right in with the other idiots in the Boston clubhouse, and he fit in even better on the field. The OC was so solid in the post-season run to the title (no errors over 14 games) that the Baseball Hall of Fame got his glove. So will Renteria be able to replace the man that he had to watch celebrate after grounding into the final out of the World Series? No doubt about it. When Cabrera arrived in Boston people loved to point out that he was a former Gold Glove winner. That was in 2001. Renteria won Gold Gloves in both 2002 and 2003. And ER is no stranger to post-season success himself. Before turning 30 (which he will do in August) Renteria has already been to the playoffs five times, the League Championship Series four times, and the World Series twice. Though he is most famous in Boston for making the final out of the ’04 Series, baseball fans around the rest of the country (most notably Marlins and Indians fans) remember Renteria best for his World Series-winning, eleventh-inning single for Florida in Game 7 of the ’97 Series. The Sox lost the second greatest Colombian baseball player of all-time this winter, but replaced him with the greatest.

Now that the Sox have won it all, will we still care about them? I guess a simple question deserves a simple answer, and that answer is YES! There is no doubt that having reached baseball’s summit has not diminished interest in the follow-up act. How else to explain needing to enter a lottery just for a bleacher ticket to a game against Tampa Bay in mid-May? For those of you who “only want to see the Sox win a World Series before you die”, you got your wish. They won it in ’04, so stop paying attention now (and buying up all the tickets). Your wishes have come true.

For my fellow diehard Red Sox fans there is still much more to do. It was certainly fun to celebrate the Red Sox winning the World Series. Amazing actually. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still plenty of fun ahead for us in ’05. There is still speculation to be done on the status of our new roster. There is still second-guessing of the manager during and after each and every game to be done. There is still brainstorming the trade that will help push Boston over the top in their quest to repeat as champs to be done.

Now that the Red Sox have won the World Series, perhaps some of the post-title speculation was correct. Things around Red Sox Nation have changed a bit, but the change was very subtle, and it’s not for the worst. It’s just that now we refer to our team as “The defending World Series Champion Boston Red Sox”.
People perhaps thought that Sox fans simply loved the chase for a championship, but they were wrong. We simply love the Boston Red Sox.