Be careful what you say, it might come back to catch you!
Please extinguish all torches before dropping them in the recycle bin, pitchforks should be deposited in the marked bin to your left. The Red Sox have righted the ship. The early mob has started to clear and all that's left now are the re-energized dreams of a 3rd title in 7 years and the broom used to sweep some of the quicker overreactions under the rug like a "Facebook will never catch on" prediction.
The most common claim this year was the " Sox should have signed Player A instead of Player B" argument. Through the first month of the season Player A, Russell Martin of the Yankees, was off to a very solid start with a line of .293/.376/.587/.963 (AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS), while Player B, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, stumbled out of the gates at .216/.273/.275/.547.
Theo and the Baseball Operations team were crushed for allowing Martin to land in pinstripes after only kicking the tires on a short term deal during the winter, and with Saltalamacchia reeling, it was hard to defend the Sox's young backstop. Watching Martin homer twice in a 9 - 4 victory at Fenway Park in the home opening series did nothing to quiet the screams. Then a funny thing happened as it does every year, the calendar changed. With April over, early predictions and overreactions have started to level out.
Since May 13th, Martin has posted a line of .200/.309/.343/.651, a decline topped only by that of the public's interest in Charlie Sheen. However, during that same stretch, Saltalamacchia has greatly improved with a sizzling .317/.388/.650/1.038 clip. It's not a coincidence that the calls for Martin have gone away and now people can be glad that the Sox are not tied to a catcher, for the next year and a half, who is wearing down after only 50 games. The Sox front office doesn't nail every signing (see: Lugo, Julio) but their overall average is pretty good. You just have to give things time to shake out or else you could end up exchanging your torch for a broom in order to sweep another prediction under the rug.
Since May 13th, Martin has posted a line of .200/.309/.343/.651, a decline topped only by that of the public's interest in Charlie Sheen. However, during that same stretch, Saltalamacchia has greatly improved with a sizzling .317/.388/.650/1.038 clip. It's not a coincidence that the calls for Martin have gone away and now people can be glad that the Sox are not tied to a catcher, for the next year and a half, who is wearing down after only 50 games. The Sox front office doesn't nail every signing (see: Lugo, Julio) but their overall average is pretty good. You just have to give things time to shake out or else you could end up exchanging your torch for a broom in order to sweep another prediction under the rug.
