Baseball is a game of patience, Ben Cherington and the Boston Red Sox are not ready to panic. With only being 7 games out of first place in the division general manager Cherington hasn’t decide whether the last place Sox are buys or sellers at this year’s trade deadline. The month of July will likely decide the fate of this year’s Red Sox team.
“I’m sure there will be some noise in the division between now and the end of July, but we really can’t worry about anyone else but ourselves,” Cherington told the Boston Herald after Thursday’s 12-6 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. “No matter what, our focus is going to be trying to improve, win and build the best team we can as soon as we can. Hopefully that will manifest directly to this year.”
An argument can be made for both sides of the coin in regards to the Sox buying or selling. Boston’s pitching staff has been atrocious so far but there are reasons to be optimistic with the emergence of rookie Eduardo Rodriguez and steady improvement of Clay Buchholtz. Boston is searching for young and controllable pitching beyond 2015 which makes little difference whether Boston contends this year or not.
Boston’s offense has also been coming on as of late. Hanley Ramirez has 17 home runs in only 70 games, while David Ortiz 9 home runs since June 11th. The trade for Alejandro De Aza has also sparked the offense as he is hitting .338 since coming over in the trade from Baltimore. Xander Bogaerts has also built a case for an All Star appearance at only 22 years old.
I may be in the minority on this one but I believe Boston still has a great chance to win the AL East. Boston could be one pitcher away from making a real run. Brian Johnson could very well be the answer as he leads the Triple-A International league in wins with 8. If Boston does fall out of contention you will likely see players like Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino, and Alexei Ogando be auctioned off as they are all on expiring contracts. Whether the Sox remain in contention or not they are must see baseball in this entertaining American League East division.
