Surprises and Disappointments

I touched on the topic of surprises and disappointments in an earlier post, but I thought I needed to address the topic again.  This season has been a bit schizophrenic thus far, with some players over-achieving, and others falling below their potential and what we've seen in the past.

Surprises

Clay Buchholz
I think Buchholz has been the biggest surprise of the team so far.  He's 6-0 with a 1.78 ERA.  His WHIP is standing at 1.036, and he's been really impressive in his starts.  Even his last couple starts, where he's gotten no decisions, he's only giving up 2-3 runs.  This Red Sox team SHOULD be able to score enough runs in Buchholz's starts to win ballgames.  He's also averaging 9.5 strikeouts per 9 innings.

Bullpen

Honestly, I couldn’t pick just one reliever to be the surprise.  I knew the bullpen would be better than last year (I don’t know if they could’ve done much worse), but I didn’t know it’s be this good.  Granted, I’m only considering the relievers who are still in the bullpen (not Bard, Hanrahan, Webster, Wright, or De La Torre who all have ERAs of at least 9.00).  Miller (3.77) and Mortensen (3.68) have the highest ERAs, and Breslow (1.17) has the lowest.  Bailey’s WHIP is at0.811.  

Jarrod Saltalamacchia

Last year, when Salty his .222 with 25 home runs and 59 RBIs, the Sox and fans were satisfied with those totals.  Sure, it wasn’t the greatest stats to have, but a catcher has a lot more responsibility than offense.  He’s calling the games for the pitchers.  This year, Salty is hitting .265 with 5 home runs and 13 RBIs.  Yes, the power has gone down slightly, but his average has gone up.  He’s making more contact.  In less than a quarter of a season, Salty has a third of the hits (30) he had all of last year (90).  Plus, the pitching is a vast improvement this year compared to last year, which means Salty’s calling a better game.

David Ortiz

In 27 games this season, Ortiz his hitting .349 with 7 home runs, 9 doubles, and 29 RBIs.  The only person who has more RBIs than Ortiz is Napoli, who has 35 in 45 games.  His on base percentage is at .397.  By comparison, Ellsbury’s is at .307, and he’s the leadoff batter.

Disappointments

Jacoby Ellsbury

As already stated (in this post and others), Ellsbury is not getting on base.  He has a .307 OBP and is only batting .242.  While his defense has been great, his offense is greatly diminished.  Ellsbury’s power is down as well.  He only has 1 home run this season.  The only other player currently on the roster to only have 1 home run, and is not a pitcher, is Pedro Ciriaco.

Joel Hanrahan

Hanrahan is injured beyond repair and will not play another game for the Red Sox this season… and maybe ever again; his contract is up at the end of the year.  He had Tommy John and flexor muscle repair surgery last week, and won’t pitch again for 12-15 months, at least.  I call Hanrahan a disappointment in the sense that he never really got to try and pitch for the Sox.  He was injured, which is disappointing (see what I did there?).  He’s an Iowa guy though, and he’s tough.  He’ll be back, just don’t know with what team and when.

Will Middlebrooks

Yes, Middlebrooks is hitting better lately, but he’s still only batting .208 for the season.  After the 3-home run massacre he gave the Blue Jays back in April, he’s faltered heavily.  He has 50 strikeouts, compared to 7 walks, this season.  He does have 20 RBIs for the season, and 8 home runs.  Hopefully, he comes out of this slump… fast.

Daniel Bard

Daniel Bard made two appearances for the Red Sox this season, because he was the only pitcher available on the 40-man roster.  He pitched 1.0 inning, walked 2, gave up 1 hit, 1 earned run, and has a 9.0 ERA.  He was sent back to Double-A, where he’s spent most of the season.  Things are so bad in Double-A for Bard (12.2 IP, 13 hits, 11 runs, 9 earned runs, 1 home run, 17 walks, 6 strikeouts, 6.39 ERA, and 2.368 WHIP), that he’s been shut down since May 15th.