Sunday, February 14, 2010
THE WORSE SUNDAY OF THE SPORTS YEAR GOT ME POSTING ABOUT RED SOX RUN PREVENTION
No disrespect to the NBA and Mark Cuban but the All-Star Game is a performance rather than competition. As for the Winter Olympics, men’s hockey can be watch worthy but that’s about it. My bet is that over 75% of the NFL viewing audience does not watch more than thirty minutes of the Winter Olympics. Just another example of the great investments made by NBC. (BTW, I can’t believe two of NBC’s Thursday sit-coms revolved around Valentine’s Day instead of the Winter Olympics the day before the Opening Ceremonies?) So I’ve got time to post…on the Red Sox winter emphasis on defense.
The Sox needed to improve their glove work as they were 19th in Park Adjusted Defensive Efficiency last year. By all accounts, the Olde Towne Team did just that with the additions of Mike Cameron, Marco Scutaro and Adrian Beltre. But with the Red Sox rotation being projected to be even more of a strikeout staff than last year, the trio may not get a large number of opportunities to flash their leather. If the Sox flyball tendencies continue, then the impact of Scutaro and Beltre will be limited relative to most other staffs. And we may only witness the full range gain in outfield on the road, as left at Fenway is by the smallest in the Majors. Hence, the better Red Sox rotation may have more to do with enhanced run prevention in 2010 than the threesome of defensive upgrades.
No disrespect to the NBA and Mark Cuban but the All-Star Game is a performance rather than competition. As for the Winter Olympics, men’s hockey can be watch worthy but that’s about it. My bet is that over 75% of the NFL viewing audience does not watch more than thirty minutes of the Winter Olympics. Just another example of the great investments made by NBC. (BTW, I can’t believe two of NBC’s Thursday sit-coms revolved around Valentine’s Day instead of the Winter Olympics the day before the Opening Ceremonies?) So I’ve got time to post…on the Red Sox winter emphasis on defense.
The Sox needed to improve their glove work as they were 19th in Park Adjusted Defensive Efficiency last year. By all accounts, the Olde Towne Team did just that with the additions of Mike Cameron, Marco Scutaro and Adrian Beltre. But with the Red Sox rotation being projected to be even more of a strikeout staff than last year, the trio may not get a large number of opportunities to flash their leather. If the Sox flyball tendencies continue, then the impact of Scutaro and Beltre will be limited relative to most other staffs. And we may only witness the full range gain in outfield on the road, as left at Fenway is by the smallest in the Majors. Hence, the better Red Sox rotation may have more to do with enhanced run prevention in 2010 than the threesome of defensive upgrades.