The “New” Boston RedSox Philosophy

The Boston Red Sox, much like their AL East rival Yankees, are a love ‘em or hate ‘em team; there is no in between. Of course, there is no denying the history the Red Sox have brought to the game of baseball. The main reason those of us who are not Red Sox fans are always hoping they fail is the same reason the Yankees are hated by everyone outside New York; their payroll.

The Red Sox entered the 2010 season with the second highest payroll in baseball, trailing only the New York Yankees. According to the Associated Press, the Red Sox payroll for 2010 is $162,747,333, with an average player salary of over $5.5 million. That’s almost $72 million dollars over the league average payroll which is $91,020,056.

Because of this enormous payroll, the Red Sox have constantly been on a free agent signing frenzy. Any time a big name free agent has been on the market, the two teams that always seem to be involved in the negotiations are the Red Sox and Yankees. Current Red Sox players Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Victor Martinez, Adrian Beltre, Mike Lowell, Marco Scutaro, Mike Cameron, J.D. Drew, Jeremy Hermida, and David Ortiz were all acquired via the free agent market.

Fans of teams towards the bottom of the league in payroll, such as the Florida Marlins and Oakland A’s, have been watching their teams lose their key players through free agency to teams like the Red Sox for years. Yet these teams have been successful in their respective leagues as well. Why is it that teams with low payrolls can be just as successful as teams with high payrolls? The answer is simple; philosophy.

The best example of a small market team succeeding during the last decade has been the Minnesota Twins. The Twins have consistently ranked in the bottom half of the league in revenue yet still managed to win five Central Division titles since 2002.

The Twins are known around the league for having one of the best farm systems in the game. They draft and develop their own players, instead of bringing in high-priced free agents. Joe Mauer is a perfect example of this philosophy. Mauer was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and attended Cretin-Derham Hall High School. He was drafted as the first overall pick in 2001 Major League Baseball Draft by the Twins.

Minnesota is also well known for playing “small ball”. The Twins win their games with good pitching and defense. They do not rely on their hitters to hit the ball out of the park. Instead, they are expected to simply put the ball in play, and utilize aggressive base running.

Many teams around baseball try to imitate the type of success the Twins have in their “small ball” approach. One of the teams who tried that philosophy this year is the Boston Red Sox. With the off season acquisitions of Adrian Beltre, one of the best fielding third baseman in the league, shortstop Marco Scutaro, Gold Glove winning center fielder Mike Cameron, and pitcher John Lackey, it is evident of the change in Boston Red Sox philosophy.

The days of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz hitting the ball over the Green Monster every night are no longer. However, the days of players such as Kevin Youkilis hitting over .300, Jacoby Ellsbury stealing bases, and Adrian Beltre winning Gold Gloves are here to stay.

The only problem is this new philosophy hasn’t really worked out as anticipated. The Red Sox are currently 16-16 and in fourth place in the AL East. They just lost a three game series at Fenway Park to their hated rivals, the Yankees. In addition, they lost the first two games in the series by a total of 18 runs. So much for pitching and defense.

This season, the Red Sox are tied for 26th in the Major Leagues and last in the American League with a 5.11 ERA. Their defense isn’t much better. There are only four teams in the American League who have a fielding percentage lower than the Red Sox at .982.

So what is problem in Boston? It’s simple; they aren’t playing Red Sox baseball. When the Red Sox won the World Series in 2007 they scored 867 runs, good for fourth in all of baseball and only the Yankees had a better on base percentage. The World Series winning Red Sox had a plan, stack the lineup with great hitters, and used it to perfection. This year the Red Sox went a different direction which has not yielded the results they had hoped for.

“We improved the 2010 Red Sox,” Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has commented. “We improved our long-term outlook. We’ve added prospects and probably will add more. And we haven’t touched our prospect inventory at all. In all those areas, this [philosophy] was a pretty damn good solution.”

So according to Epstein the Red Sox are set up for the future. The problem is, Red Sox fans aren’t worried about the future. They want to win right now.

It’s still early enough in the season for the Red Sox to turn it around and prove that the old adage, “Pitching and defense wins championships”, is true. However, if they continue to play as they have for the first month of the season, fans across baseball will be left wondering why Theo Epstein and Terry Francona changed the tried and true Boston Red Sox philosophy.