Earlier, they offered their fratboy fan base a ray of hope: They resigned Steven Drew, a 31-year-old infielder whom they hoped to get rid of last December.
Bringing back Drew - who hit .253 last year, and whose career peaked in 2010 - was not the Boston Master Plan. Nope. The Redsocks planned for Xander Bogaerts to play SS and Will Middlebrooks, "the next Brooks," to take over 3B. Middlebrooks was hitting below .200, and now he's hurt. So much for schemes.
For Redsock fans, last year was a Disney movie. They were The Team of Destiny. Mike Napoli and Johnny Gomes became Ruth and Gehrig, John Lackey and John Lester turned into Koufax and Drysdale, and Big Papi became Santa Claus. He gave the world an otherworldly performance. In fact, if MLB hadn't banished A-Rod, thus solving all its drug problems, some evil people might even be questioning David Ortiz's amazing resurgence and sculpted physique. Carrots can only do so much. But obviously, nobody would ever think such a thing about America's team. The whole country was cheering. Only evildoers - like you - grimaced in pain.
Well, here we are: Roughly one-third of the season, and Boston is losing nearly two out of every three games at home. They planned to get a first-round pick for Drew. That plan went nowhere. They planned to say goodbye to Drew. Now, they're saying welcome home.
It's a long season. Anything can happen. And the AL East is wretched. Eighty-five wins could do it. Still, if you're looking for magic in 2014, I don't think Boston has any left.
They are all chirping in Boston on WEEI and in print that a trade for Giancarlo Stanton is imminent.
ReplyDeleteThat will change things if it goes down.