Team History
1946: 100-53, 1st (lost World Series)
1947: 94-60, 1st (won World Series
1948: 96-57, 2nd, 8 1/2 GB
1949: 90-64, 2nd, 19 GB
Key Additions: None
Key Losses: Chad Cannon (trade - STB (eventually))
The Bosox basically stood pat, hoping that an injury-ravaged rotation will stay healthy this year, and that the Yankees can't possibly continue their torrid pace for the 3rd year in a row.
Pitching
Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR
Cesar Quintero SP 18 9 0 3.59 33 33 266.0 244 115 106 14 112 147 1.34 .244 .272 6.5
Phil Baker SP 14 5 0 3.69 31 29 197.2 193 85 81 15 69 74 1.33 .259 .268 4.0
Jake Roberts SP 14 6 0 3.96 31 31 223.0 227 123 98 24 106 101 1.49 .264 .273 2.8
Josh Carpenter SP 8 7 0 4.44 21 21 156.0 171 85 77 15 59 29 1.47 .277 .269 1.8
Charlie Bonavita SP 0 1 0 24.30 1 1 3.1 6 9 9 2 4 1 3.00 .375 .308 -0.2
Chris McCabe CL 4 1 7 1.34 26 0 33.2 22 8 5 0 11 16 0.98 .188 .214 1.2
Phil Saylor RP 2 0 0 2.28 11 1 23.2 13 6 6 1 14 13 1.14 .163 .174 0.3
Eddie Casper RP 5 6 2 4.50 38 0 76.0 78 41 38 3 50 14 1.68 .268 .270 -0.1
Danny Vergano RP 6 7 1 4.54 33 12 113.0 134 67 57 15 38 50 1.52 .293 .299 1.0
Vince Johnson RP 6 8 3 5.20 28 14 133.1 152 86 77 16 61 53 1.60 .286 .290 1.0
Chris Schuster RP 3 3 0 5.93 12 5 41.0 43 27 27 4 20 15 1.54 .270 .273 0.3
Tommie Kimbell SP 0 3 2 6.12 15 0 25.0 29 17 17 4 7 14 1.44 .305 .321 0.1
Bobby Reynaga RP 2 1 0 6.75 4 3 24.0 32 18 18 7 3 9 1.46 .317 .291 -0.1
Cesar Quintero was less the staff ace and more the guy who stayed healthy all season long. It frankly may be asking too much for 38 year old Phil Baker to stay healthy; after his amazing Cy Young 1946, he's started 27, 13, and 29 games, respectively. Jake "The Snake" Roberts had an off and on 1949 one year removed from leading the league in games started and winning 19. Phil Saylor, who was acquired in a midseason trade with the Senators, has an outside chance of cracking the rotation. He was a mainstay for Washington in '46 and '47.
CL Chris McCabe also missed a large chunk of the season but was pretty effective when he did play. Just a note that in the late 40s and early 50s, an even walk to strikeout ratio actually makes you an above average pitcher. The Red Sox' bullpen ERA was the second worst in the AL last year, though, and they just plain need better performance if they want to catch the Yankees this year.
Catcher
Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR
John Prive C 129 478 55 113 19 1 3 67 143 56 38 1 0 .236 .316 .299 .615 0.4
Natalino Mourela C 44 141 10 30 6 1 5 24 53 17 18 0 0 .213 .296 .376 .671 0.2
Mel Torres C 6 16 1 3 0 0 0 0 3 3 2 0 0 .188 .316 .188 .503 0.0
John Prive had a really rough 1949 after being the AL All-Star starter at catcher the previous 3 seasons. This time the Red Sox hope he'll bounce back, as he was putatively healthy all year long (but can you ever tell with catchers?). Natalino Mourela will return as his backup.
Infield
Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR
Adam Johnson 1B 82 256 53 76 13 1 8 61 115 89 21 0 0 .297 .469 .449 .918 2.9
Jordan Blakey 2B 135 584 115 199 37 6 11 82 281 71 15 2 1 .341 .416 .481 .897 6.4
Josh Woolman 2B 76 131 23 26 8 0 3 24 43 22 20 0 0 .198 .316 .328 .644 -0.1
Mark Boutilier 3B 134 493 100 155 29 2 13 86 227 99 34 0 0 .314 .424 .460 .885 4.9
Chad Cannon 3B 50 179 40 53 4 5 8 42 91 24 9 7 0 .296 .376 .508 .884 1.4
Jaden Thomas 3B 59 98 16 25 5 0 0 7 30 21 9 0 0 .255 .387 .306 .693 0.5
Matt Kaufman 3B 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.0
Jon Vallejo SS 146 552 86 168 39 5 6 87 235 78 51 4 1 .304 .388 .426 .813 5.8
Alex Garcia SS 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.0
Matt Hoag SS 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 -0.0
Adam Johnson is a shadow of his former self and can no longer play third base anymore, but when healthy he's still a decent enough player. Boston is hopeful that being moved completely off the hot corner this year will lead to more durability from the 37 year old 2-time All Star. If he's not, the backup plan involves migrating Ted Thurston to first base.
Jordan Blakey was quietly one of the best players in Beantown last year. He's also managed to make the All-Star team all 4 times in spite of virtually never being on anyone's mind when he's not at bat.
Mark Boutilier was acquired from the Browns last year when it became obvious that Adam Johnson could no longer handle third base duties on a regular basis. The 1948 All-Star couldn't quite match last season but he was still very, very fine.
Rounding out the infield is yet another man with history playing in the July Classic. Vallejo is a two-time All Star. Looking at this infield, I'd say that they've had as much injury good luck here as they've had bad luck in the pitching rotation.
Outfield
Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR
Ted Thurston LF 150 514 150 195 26 5 45 150 366 183 57 8 9 .379 .541 .712 1.253 12.4
Zion Martin LF 29 60 16 28 8 0 1 18 39 14 9 0 0 .467 .566 .650 1.216 1.3
Danny Gonzalez LF 6 13 0 4 0 0 0 4 4 1 0 0 0 .308 .357 .308 .665 -0.1
Lou Della CF 95 359 44 115 24 6 5 69 166 44 16 3 0 .320 .398 .462 .860 2.1
Dusty Juncker CF 65 219 25 60 11 2 2 35 81 24 30 0 0 .274 .346 .370 .716 0.8
Ivan Martinez CF 67 186 30 34 9 1 8 31 69 35 42 1 0 .183 .316 .371 .687 0.0
Angel Martinez CF 18 47 11 14 3 0 0 8 17 8 6 0 0 .298 .393 .362 .755 0.3
Jeff Nelson RF 148 681 134 205 30 14 18 90 317 66 49 10 5 .301 .364 .465 .830 3.4
Ted Thurston isn't just arguably the best player in baseball, he's a guy who, if you have him on your team, will make you a perennial contender. We don't take much account of on-base percentage here - after all, walks are more of a thing a pitcher gives up than that a player accrues - but Williams is literally on base more often than he's not, and that's pretty good. Zion Martin is gone, having been a piece of the move that brought Phil Saylor in.
Lou Della got hurt last year and, in spite of the hardware (he won Gold Gloves in '46 and '47), might not be fast enough to play in centerfield anymore. The Red Sox are crossing their fingers and hoping. If he does have to move to a corner, Dusty Juncker looks like a decent, if not spectacular, replacement.
There is an alternate universe, I'm told, in which Jeff Nelson is a middle reliever for the Mariners and Yankees in the 1990s instead of a good, solid right field option for the Red Sox. I say that is preposterous. A major league team in Seattle?