2012 Red Sox Season Thread

[SwissRedSoxFan]

Finally!

The season starts tonight. Stats begin to count and will be in the books for eternity. Away with those meaningless ST games.

I really don't know what place the Red Sox will end. It could be first, it could be third, it could be in between and they could make the postseason either way.

What do you guys think?

P.S how can we make the thread sticky?

[scaffolds]

With less than 24 hours before the Red Sox starts their 2012 season everyone is making their preditions and i will make my for the Sox, a predition as a fan and not like a fanatic one. of the contending teams Boston has the most question marks and perhaps more than before after Spring training mainly because of injuries, the questions of the starting staffs, relievers. the defense in the left side of the infield, the production in the corners of the outfield, ther still some concern about it catchers and not the least one the rapidly aging Kevin Youkilis. In conclusion the Red Sox will be out of the playoff for the third year in a row and finish in fourth place only ahead of the Orioles in AL East when the season finish at the end of September.

[dominik]

This is a good team. pitching is a little shaky but great offense.

the team will make the playoffs. second place about 4-5 games behind the yankees.

[Therwil Flyer]

The 2012 Red Sox will shock the world! They'll win the AL East with a 3 game lead over the Yankees and will go on to the ALCS where they unfortunately will lose against Detroit. The Blue Jays by the way will finish 3rd ahead of TB and the O's in the AL East.

Cody Ross and Mike Aviles will be the big surprises for the the Red Sox. Ryan Lavarnway will be called up for good sometime after the All star break and will play a big role in the Sox reaching the postseason.

Let's get this season going!!!

[Boston Boxer]

we will win 97 games for 2nd in the division. Looking forward to the season!

[9&10]

Can't believe that glass slipper Andrew Bailey is already on the shelf!!!

[SwissRedSoxFan]

With less than 24 hours before the Red Sox starts their 2012 season everyone is making their preditions and i will make my for the Sox, a predition as a fan and not like a fanatic one. of the contending teams Boston has the most question marks and perhaps more than before after Spring training mainly because of injuries, the questions of the starting staffs, relievers. the defense in the left side of the infield, the production in the corners of the outfield, ther still some concern about it catchers and not the least one the rapidly aging Kevin Youkilis. In conclusion the Red Sox will be out of the playoff for the third year in a row and finish in fourth place only ahead of the Orioles in AL East when the season finish at the end of September.

I could've written your prediction for you. Was too obvious that you would say 4th place. Look at the rotation of Toronto and their bullpen, then look me in the eyes and tell me they have the better pitching staff. Besides: The Red Sox have the best offense in the world, so we don't have to talk about that.

[scaffolds]

I could've written your prediction for you. Was too obvious that you would say 4th place. Look at the rotation of Toronto and their bullpen, then look me in the eyes and tell me they have the better pitching staff. Besides: The Red Sox have the best offense in the world, so we don't have to talk about that.

First you aren't a bigger Red Sox fan than i am, just that i am not a a fantic like you are, if you really believe that the Red Sox offense is that great we don't have a conversation, because isn't.

[Dogdaze]

I believe the Sox will make the playoffs.

As Swiss said, in 2011 we had the best offense in MLB, I think we will again in 2012.

Replacing Lackey and Wakefield with Doubrant and Bard will be an improvement imo.

We have improved offensively in RF, consider the Sox right fielders combined to hit .233/.299/.353 with an OPS of .652 in 2011. Our new right fielders both hit better in 2011 and platooning this year should add even more offense.

I’m optimistic Crawford will hit better then last year and play better defense as well.

At shortstop, I’m speculating that Aviles will hit slightly better and play better defense then Scutaro.

We have a healthy Youkilis who should hit much better then last year and probably play better defense as well provided he remains healthy.

I also believe we improved slighty both offensively and defensively at catcher, though probably downgraded in the game calling. Since some pitchers like Beckett appeared to rely on Tek for calling pitches, though I’m not sure how much, it remains to be seen how this will affect his and other pitchers performances in 2012, my guess is it won’t affect them much if at all.

So the only area where the Sox appear much weaker then last year is in the pen, but imo it’s not that much weaker that it will affect our chance at making the playoffs.

[maximum jack]

I am cautiously optimistic. I think this team will win 90 games. Not sure that will be enough to win the division, but hopefully it will get us into the expanded playoffs.

[Mike D.]

I am cautiously optimistic. I think this team will win 90 games. Not sure that will be enough to win the division, but hopefully it will get us into the expanded playoffs.

I'm with you on the "cautiously optimistic". 90 wins is a good goal...they won that last year despite two awful months. The AL is stronger this year than last, but the Sox have a chance to be better, as well.

If a few things go right (bullpen, Bard/Doubront, OF corners) they could be a bit better. If they have a lot of injury issues, it could go a bit worse.

Of course, when talking about injuries, you can say that about any team at any time.

[SwissRedSoxFan]

First you aren't a bigger Red Sox fan than i am, just that i am not a a fantic like you are, if you really believe that the Red Sox offense is that great we don't have a conversation, because isn't.

So let me get this straight: The Red Sox pitching is bad because...see 2011. The Red Sox offense is not that good because, you know, 2011 wasn't representative for their true value? Mmmmhhhh...

I'm not a fantatic Red Sox fan, I just think you are always very pessimistic about things. Things that look good are not that positive and things that look bad are really bad. The way I see it, there are always going to be injuries and bad seasons from some players. But if you look at the lineup, the Red Sox were the best offense in baseball without adequate RF and LF production. Period. So I'm very optimistic that the Red Sox will be top 5 again. And as Dogdaze said, replacing Lackey/Weiland/Wakefield etc. with Bard and Doubront etc. should be an improvement. I don't know how much, but it should. Oh yeah and Buchholz is back again. Plus the Red Sox were the best team in the AL at the end of August 2011. Things were really good and the individual stats show it. Such a collapse is something that happens very seldomly. So if the Red Sox are exactly the same in 2011 until August and then through September, the other teams can pack it up.

And because you said Toronto will be better than the Red Sox, let's compare:

Rotation:

Lester
Beckett
Buchholz
Doubront
Bard

vs.

Romero
Morrow
Alvarez
Drabek
Carreno

lineups:

Ellsbury
Pedroia
Gonzalez
Youkilis
Ortiz
Ross/Sweeney
Crawford
Saltalamacchia/Shoppach
Aviles

vs.

Escobar
Johnson
Bautista
Lawrie
Lind
Rasmus
Arencibia
Encarnacion
Thames

Bullpen:

Bailey (he is in there because you said it before he was injured)
Melancon
Aceves
Albers
Morales
Padilla
Bowden

vs.

Santos
Cordero
Oliver
Frasor
Janssen
Villanueva
Perez

There are always surprises and you never know who will have injuries. The Blue Jays are on the rise, no doubt. Their farm system is terrific, but their time is not now. On paper the Red Sox are pretty clearly better than Toronto. Except for the bullpen. So I would still say, that the Red Sox should endure important injuries or improbable bad seasons from key players to be surpassed by Toronto.

[9&10]

I think it's pretty clear that 90 wins might not cut it, though perhaps with the new playoff format it will. Maybe it's because of the bad taste in my mouth from last season that still lingers, but I'm not overly optimistic about this season.

[Therwil Flyer]

Season Opener! Who cares about 2011? Let's go Jon! LET'S GO SOX!!!

[Mike D.]

Season Opener! Who cares about 2011? Let's go Jon! LET'S GO SOX!!!

Talk about diving right into the fire, too...facing the reigning MVP and his improved team!