The Others

The Boston Red Sox generate about as much attention as any major sports team in the country.  With the exception of the Yankees, Montreal Canadiens and probably a few college football teams the Red Sox get a level of coverage and scrutiny that is rarely exceeded.

As a result this leaves little in the way of the unexpected.  Every year we see that notion dismissed though with Daniel Nava and Matt Albers recent examples of under the radar players who had key roles the last couple of years.

With that in mind I want to consider a few players who warrant a bit more attention than they seem to be getting as we are just one month from pitchers and Molinas reporting (h/t Will Carroll).

RHP – Michael Bowden

The eternal prospect Bowden is out of options.  The Red Sox will have two choices, bring him North with the club or expose him to the rest of Major League Baseball for the waiver fee where he almost surely would be lost.

Bowden is still just 25 years old and while he hardly has an overwhelming record he has shown enough to think he can contribute as a reliever.  Despite not having great “stuff” a move to the bullpen took root in 2011 as Bowden had a 2.76 ERA and his K rate jumped noticeably.

A pitcher with a 3.4 K/BB ratio and a 2.76 ERA at AAA deserves consideration and in the Sox open tryout of a bullpen there is a real opportunity for this young man to live up to his billing.

C – Kelly Shoppach

Shoppach is certainly no star but he is a productive and useful player.  Shoppach owns lefties (career: .274/.373/.536 vs. LHP) and his struggles the last couple of years is almost entirely a function of facing righties.

Incumbent Jarrod Saltalamacchia is a perfect mix with Shoppach.  Saltalamacchia struggles badly against southpaws suggesting that if Bobby Valentine were to deploy the two as a strict platoon the Sox could have one of the best catchers in the American League.  It’s almost blasphemous to say but Saltalamacchia/Shoppach could replicate the great work the mid-00s Sox got from Jason Varitek/Doug Mirabelli.

1B – Lars Anderson

He is still here.  Candidly he was the inspiration for this piece as I thought he was gone, but he’s not.  The power Anderson was expected to have has never really blossomed though he has shown an ability to draw walks and add solid gap power to his game.

Anderson will likely never be a star but he is just 24 and many young players add power late.  While I do not expect this Ryan Howard is a player who went from 23 homers to 46 homers between ages 23 and 24.  If Anderson could make a similar jump from his 14 homers to say 25 or so, he would become a very useful player indeed.

Ultimately I think his value is as trade bait.  He could be an important player if Adrian Gonzalez or David Ortiz succumb to injury for an extended period.

RHP – Junichi Tazawa

It would not shock me if we looked back at the 2012 season and said that the difference between the playoffs in 2012 and missing them in 2011 was Junichi Tazawa.

The 2011 Sox were sunk when a rotation held together with spit and duct tape finally fell apart as Kyle Weiland, Tim Wakefield and others were unable to give the Sox even an occasional start that did not inspire words like “embarrassing” and “minor league.”

Tazawa is a definite Freddy Fave.  If he can return to the promise he showed in 2009 he could be a critical component for this club.

Bench Coach – Tim Bogar

Pitching Coach – Bob McClure

One of Terry Francona’s failings in 2011 was an inability or unwillingness to adapt.  As an outsider he looked like a guy managing without support.  This is all conjecture of course but it seemed that pitching coach Curt Young and bench coach Demarlo Hale were not able to give Francona that sounding board that a good manager in any business needs.

The loss of key figures Brad Mills and John Farrell in recent years seemed to bring about a degradation of Francona’s ability.  Any manager is only as good as the staff around him and the new guys did not seem to provide what the old guys had.

If Bogar and McClure can provide useful counsel to Bobby Valentine, that will help the Boston Red Sox.