Red Sox 2008 First Half Report Card

(Blog post originally published on June 26, 2008)

The Red Sox played game #81 Wednesday night, meaning the regular season is officially halfway done, which is a great time to evaluate how things have gone so far and give out letter grades based on performance and expectations. Let's start with the hitters.

JASON VARITEK has been streaky as always, including a brutal stretch at the plate lately until his big eighth inning hit a couple of nights ago. His line is certainly below what we expect from him, even for a well-worn 36 year old catcher: a .231 AVG, .306 OBP, and .392 SLG should all rise in the second half. He continues to be a great receiver and as always, he's worth a lot more than just his offensive numbers. Grade: C.

KEVIN YOUKILIS: This has essentially been a breakout offensive year for Youk. He always starts hot but the power numbers are off the charts for him: 13 HRs are just three shy of his career high and a .539 slugging percentage tops his career total by almost 90 points. He continues to play Gold Glove first base and I'm really not bothered that he throws a tantrum every time he strikes out. And that shiner he's currently rocking is just magnificent. There's nothing not to love about Youk. Grade: A.

DUSTIN PEDROIA has posted a perfectly serviceable line of .289-.334-.422 with seven bombs and eight steals, but I think he is in for an even bigger second half. Grade: B+.

MIKE LOWELL spent some time on the DL and his OBP is still a little lower than I'd like (.353) but the World Series MVP has warmed up a bit since his return. He's still playing very solid D and is a fixture in the middle of the order. Grade: B.

JULIO LUGO: Not to get all Belichicky, but at this point, he is what he is. The .366 OBP is pleasantly surprising, while the 16 errors and .935 fielding percentage are atrocious. He has swiped ten bags but his power numbers have become outright anemic: 1 HR and a .347 SLG. This guy has tallied double-digit homer numbers six times in his career but he shows absolutely no indication that he will ever approach that with us, for whatever reason. Grade: C.

MANNY RAMIREZ: 15 bombs, 49 ribbies, career homer #500, and a steadying presence in the heart of the lineup with Papi on the shelf. Cooperstown beckons, but I hope the Sox pick up his two option years and he retires (or leaves) with a couple more Sox World Series rings to his credit. Grade: B.

JACOBY ELLSBURY: Everyone loves Jacoby. Everyone. He's on pace to break the franchise single-season stolen base record in a couple of months and he's still just scratching the surface of what he will ultimately be capable of, but 34-for-38 on SB attempts is sickeningly good. I'd be ill if we had dealt him in the off-season. Grade: B.

J.D. DREW: Now, this is clearly what Theo had in mind: .308-.414-.573. That is an eye-popping line for JD. He also has transitioned seamlessly to the #3 hole in the order for the time being. Simply put, Drew carried us for about a month. Grade: A.

DAVID ORTIZ: Get well soon, Papi. He still managed 13 dingers in just 210 ABs with that horrific start. Grade: incomplete, trending toward a B-/C+.

COCO CRISP: Not dealing Coco for a bag of balls this off-season sure turned out nicely given the injuries. He still hasn't approached some of his Cleveland offensive numbers (15 and 16 HRs in 2004-05?!?) but he plays Gold Glove-caliber defense in center and he's playing every day for the foreseeable future, and along with the occasional base theft (12 so far), that's enough for me. Grade: B-.

SEAN CASEY is doing essentially exactly what you want him to do. He seems to fit in incredibly well and he's a tough out every time he steps to the dish. A .365-.416-.462 line as a backup is basically unsustainable but it's a great start to his time here. Grade: A-.

KEVIN CASH had quite a night on Wednesday. He gunned down a runner attempting to steal, was curiously intentionally walked, and hit a gargantuan Monster shot over everything in the 8th inning. He started the year en fuego then cooled noticeably since, but he's delivering all we can expect of him: great work catching the knuckleball once every five days, an occasional extra day off here and there for the Captain, and the ability to, once in a blue moon, put his bat on the ball (six of his 19 hits are for extra bases). Grade: B-.

BRANDON MOSS got pressed into emergency 1B duty the last couple of days and has become a handy little piece in the bench puzzle. It's been nice for him to get a little extra playing time lately during the rash of injuries. I still don't know if his ceiling is any higher than 4th OF, but that might be a great role for him. It seems like ages ago that he knocked that big homer in Japan. Grade: C.

ALEX CORA only has 50 ABs, and that's fine by me. So is a .280-.368-.360 line from a solid, veteran backup infielder. Grade: C+.

JED LOWRIE made his major league debut and quickly became a fan favorite. Red Sox Nation loves our gritty, homegrown prospects and Lowrie certainly fits the bill. He's back in the minors but posted an impressive line of .310-.340-.476 during his cup of coffee. If Lugo keeps firing balls into the dugout it's going to become more difficult to keep Jed down. Grade: A.

JOE THURSTON, JEFF BAILEY, CHRIS CARTER, and JONATHAN VAN EVERY all had cameos as well...a combined 17 ABs worth.

JON LESTER leads the team in starts and innings pitched...and there was also that insane no-hitter against the Royals. Obviously his seemingly complete recovery is as good a story as there is, but purely from a baseball standpoint, his emergence as a reliable member of the rotation has been key. He's only 24, which brings up the lovely idea of picturing what the future could hold. For now, I'll take the 100+ innings with the 3.13 ERA. Grade: A-

TIM WAKEFIELD just keeps on plugging. He remains exactly the same guy that he's always been: unhittable some nights, maddeningly inconsistent on others, and sometime he'll simply lose it within the span of a single hitter. The line so far is certainly more than respectable: 16 starts, over 100 innings, and a 3.88 ERA. Throw in his age and his cheap, never-ending contract and you get one of the biggest bargains in baseball. Grade: B+.

JOSH BECKETT spent some time on the DL and has not looked like the untouchable ace he was for all of last October, but neither point worries me. His ERA (3.73) is deceptively high due to sheer bad luck, but the real numbers are looking great. The K-to-walk ratio is stellar (97-19) and he is going to anchor our rotation for years. Grade: B.

DAISUKE MATSUZAKA also was shelved and that's probably a good thing in the long run. The transition to the five man rotation (as opposed to pitching once a week in Japan) has been a pretty big issue, so anything the team does to limit his innings during the regular season is fine by me. It also warrants mentioning that he got out of the gate with an 8-0 start. The DL stint and his sub-two inning shellacking last time out probably nixed his chances to start the All-Star game, but that's fine. We don't need him logging more work. We just need him at 100% for the second half and, more importantly, for the playoffs. 8-1, with a 3.46 ERA and nearly a strikeout per inning means that $100 million we invested was worth it. Grade: A-.

CLAY BUCHHOLZ is down in Pawtucket, honing his stuff. That unbelievable no-no last September blew the roof off of what were already pretty ridiculous expectations for this kid. He's going to be a stud. Luckily, thanks to our savvy front office, he doesn't need to be one now, and we don't need to just throw him to the wolves when he isn't ready. I still think he could factor into the 2008 version of this club in a big way. Grade: incomplete, with a C- for just his big-league work.

JUSTIN MASTERSON is yet another young stud dividend from the Theo Epstein minor league retooling effort. His early success is unsustainable but his stuff is the real deal. So far he has given us seven starts that we really needed, but it's unfair to expect the 3.43 ERA to last as a rookie in the AL East. Long term, he needs to cut down on the walks (21 in 42 innings), but I already love watching him pitch. Grade: A.

BARTOLO COLON is on the Red Sox, which is kind of weird in and of itself. He gave us six more-than-serviceable starts before returning to the buffet line...err, I mean the DL. This guy is still just a few years removed from a Cy Young season and the stuff is still there. He could matter the rest of the way before departing in the off-season for a horribly inflated contract somewhere else. Grade: B.

CURT SCHILLING is cashing eight million dollars' worth of Red Sox checks this year and he won't pitch a single inning...maybe ever again. He earned every cent. I hope this isn't the end of the line in Boston for the big guy.

JONATHAN PAPELBON has already blown more saves (four) than he did all of last season, and the 2.08 ERA is actually high for him. That is literally all the negativity I can find about him. I love this guy. He slams the door shut, he's a joy to watch, he lip-synched to Milli Vanilli for a rain-delay video...what more can we ask for? He's the best closer in baseball. And if you don't believe me, take a look at the K-to-walk ratio...46-6. Scary good. He's also not being treated like a piece of crystal regarding his usage anymore, which makes him a more dangerous weapon than ever. Grade: A-.

HIDEKI OKAJIMA scares me, between the arm fatigue issues, the nagging fear that he might be a one-hit wonder, and the concern that sooner or later hitters will figure him out. We need him to be great, and so far he has been very good. But I'm still concerned. Grade: B.

MANNY DELCARMEN seems to be evolving right in front of my eyes. The other night he looked completely untouchable, just painting the black with a heater in the high 90s. If he can do just that we're in good shape. The ERA (3.38) and the strikeout rates (31 in 32 IP vs. only 10 walks) both look good and are getting better. He's on the upswing, which bodes very well. Grade: B+.

JAVIER LOPEZ has a 2.45 ERA, which seems impossible to me. The peripherals don't support that kind of number, and it could rise by two runs before the season is out and it wouldn't shock me. Thankfully, Tito has stopped using him as a LOOGY, because he just isn't one. Grade: ???...B+?

DAVID AARDSMA is looking like a nice, cheap little bullpen piece. He's gotten better as the season has gone on, which is nice, and seems to be slotting quite comfortably into a 7th inning role. 2.52 ERA and 38 Ks in less than 36 innings? Yes, please! Grade: A.

CRAIG HANSEN continues to be maddeningly inconsistent. Scratch that, he's very consistent, as he usually gives up one run every other time out, as his 4.91 ERA will attest. But sooner or later he has to put it all together, right? That slider is just too nasty. I'm baffled. I figured he'd be Robb Nen by now. Grade: C-.

MIKE TIMLIN is probably done, but Tito loves his grizzled old veterans, so Tim won't be gone until there is a fork literally sticking out of his back. Plus, every time we think he's cooked he Rasputins a nice little stretch to get his numbers back in order. He's on the shelf now, but there is every possibility that he'll be pitching important 6th and 7th innings for us in September and, gulp, October. Grade: D-.

CHRIS SMITH picked up his first major league win the other night. Kudos! KYLE SNYDER and DAVID PAULEY will hopefully not see too much action on the Boston-Pawtucket ferry due to injuries. Meanwhile, thanks for the memories JULIAN TAVAREZ and BRYAN COREY.

So, we have a team that had to overcome an unforgivably harsh opening schedule coupled with some inconsistent performances and a rash of injuries to important players. I hope we're still within striking distance of...wait, what's that? Oh yeah, we're in first place, on pace for 98 wins. It's mind boggling, really. What will happen if we show any semblance of a healthy roster in the second half? 100 wins? 105? Theo and Co. really deserve praise for the way they have constructed the system, because we've been able to deal with every single scenario that has presented itself. Someone gets hurt and we dip right down and grab an adequate sub, be it a kid like Masterson or Lowrie or a reclamation project like Shrek Colon.

This team is really fun to watch, nearly unbeatable at home, and hasn't even played their best ball yet. See you in October, boys. Here's to three more rounds of Papelbon dancing on the infield. Team grade: A.