5 Most Important Sox in 2012

As everyone knows, baseball season is upon us. For Red Sox fans, this isn’t just the start of a new year, its way larger than that. Like any Sox fan, I still cringe at the thought of losing to the Orioles on the last night of the season and being eliminated from playoff contention. After watching a terrific year by Tom Terrific and the Brady Bunch come to a disastrous end, the 2012 MLB season cannot come soon enough and the stakes are high. No question, it’s going to take a lot more than 5 great performances this season to make a Sox fan happy, but they certainly won’t hurt.

5 CARL CRAWFROD

                With a .293 career batting average in 10 years in the majors, a .255 just won’t cut it, especially not in Boston. With most of the media hype off of Crawford’s shoulders and weighted now on Valentine, it’s only a matter of time until Carl settles in and becomes the player he once was in Tampa. With an early season return “unlikely” you can only hope he gets to 100% at some point. Once back in the lineup, his presence will be important, not only at the plate, but in the outfield and perhaps most importantly, on the bases. Stealing bases will be difficult for Crawford if he CANT get on. Level swing, keep your head in, follow through, and run. C’mon Carl, not rocket science.

4 JOSH BECKETT

                Baseball not beer. Baseball not beer. Baseball not beer. You got It Josh? Alright just checking. Not much to be said about Josh Beckett here. Not many teams can say that Beckett is their number two guy. A great year last (not including September) shows that Beckett has still got it. Why is he so important? Because he’s the number two guy. Lester will not go 35-0 this season (fingers crossed). Lester will lose, and when he does, it’s up to Josh to make sure it’s not two in a row for the Soxers. Assuming he can stay away from the beer, fried chicken and video games, I’d look for a great season from the 31 year old. You’re a major leaguer Josh, not a college kid, act like it.

3 KEVIN YOUKILIS

                Before saying anything about Youk, I’m going to call out the giant elephant standing in the center of the room here. Kevin Youkilis is injury prone, we all know. Although stats seem to indicate he is on the decline, he will always be “The Greek God of Walks.”  There doesn’t seem to be many holes through the Boston lineup, so as long as Youk can get on base, he will score runs, and the Sox will win. No matter what statistics infer, there is no doubt that Kevin Youkilis will play 110%, every . single.day.

2 JON LESTER
 

                This may be a bit obvious, but true nonetheless. Who is more important to a team than their best pitcher? And after all, aren’t you only as good as your ace? Jon Lester has a career ERA of 3.53 and averages 17 wins per season in his 6 years as a major leaguer. The stuff is there, and it’s not going anywhere. Jon Lester has overcome cancer; he can help the Sox overcome the Yankees and Rays in 2012.

1 THE BULLPEN

At this point we have all heard the disastrous news. Red Sox closer Ander Bailey will miss the first 3-4 months of the season and not return until after the All Star break. The only bright side to this is that I had my mind set on drafting him in my fantasy league until he was snatched one pick earlier. In all seriousness, someone in the bullpen must step up. So here’s the question, WHO WILL CLOSE?

                You figure it comes down to three candidates. Mark Melancon , Alfredo Aceves and that’s right Sox fans, your boy, Daniel Bard.  I would assume as of right now, the closing duties will belong to Melancon. He saved 20 games last season for the Astros and was brought in right as “The Great” Papelbon seem to be on his way out. Aceves is very important to the bullpen and could flip-flop roles with Melancon if he cannot get the job done in the ninth.

Finally, there is always that possibility that Bard could close assuming that he gets blown up as a starter. He seemed to be the heir to Papelbon for years, and now could be his chance.

                No matter who ends up with the closer role, though I feel it will be Melancon, the entire bullpen becomes so much more important with the absence of former Rookie of the year Andrew bailey.

  Pray for October my friends.

Alex Einhorn

@BoSoxblog