Red Sox Preview: Part 1, The Infield

They're all down in Fort Myers and I'm officially 100% geared up for baseball season. I'm looking to do this in 3 parts. One part will be the Pitching Staff, one part will be the Outfield/DH/Bench/Minor Leaguers we'll potentially see, and this post will deal with the infield. As a head's up, I have really high expectations for the Sox this year, so the predictions might be a litttttllllleeeee too positive. Deal with it.

Let's get to it. We'll start off at first base and work our way around:

1B, Kevin Youkilis: Youk has shown without a doubt that he's one of the most valuable players on the Sox. He's officially a Gold Glove defender and plays a flawless first base. You can fully expect that to continue this year. He's an on-base machine. He's not what one would call "fast" or "speedy" but he runs the bases well and definitely is far from being a liability on the basepaths. And don't forget about that inside the park homer...he can move when he needs to.

He also has shown from time to time he can provide some pop. I expect the offensive numbers to rise a little in 2008. Basically as long as he doesn't shave the goatee I'm expecting a repeat of the Gold Glove along with 15-20 HR, 70-80 RBI, .300+ avg., .400+ OBP. If the goatee goes, I say we trade him.

2B, Dustin Pedroia: Pedroia started off slow last year to the point that everyone in New England was calling for Alex Cora to become the starter. Tito stuck with him and lo and behold, the Rookie of the Year Award came to Boston. Pedroia gained more and more confidence each and every time he set foot on the field. I see absolutely no reason why that will change this year.

In addition to his offense, Pedroia played a phenomenal second base in the field. He handles the position as well as anyone else in the league. I'm not sure his number will stay quite as high as last year, so I'll say we're looking at .305/.375 (more confidence=more free swinging and less walks)/10 -12 HR/40-45 2Bs/50-60 RBI/90+ runs. On top of that I give him 10 BU girl hook-ups, 3 from Northeastern, and a total of $2700 worth of alcohol given away to fans during the AL East Division Championship celebration at Game On!

SS, Julio Lugo: Lugo dealt with a lot more scrutiny than he deserved last year. His contract alone had Boston expecting too much out of him. Bottom line is Lugo is not a top of the line shortstop. He's a good defensive player with a decent bat and a tendency to strike out or hit into double plays to kill rallies. I'm still waiting for the official numbers but I'm 99% sure that Lugo, along with Tek and Crisp at the bottom of the order, accounted for more rally killing double plays than any tandem in the history of the sport at any level of competition. It became a forgone conclusion that with a runner on, and 1 out, the triple threat was guaranteed to end the inning immediately on a routine DP. Luckily, one member of the triple threat won't be playing in Boston this year (Crisp, we'll get to him in Part 2 or 3 depending on how I structure this).

My advice to all of Boston is to keep the expectations low for Lugo. If you pound it into your head that he's gonna give you a solid defensive effort along with .240/.300/10 HR/30 2B/ 35-40 SB, then everyone will be a lot happier. Besides, it's pretty rare that Boston has a legitimate threat to steal bases. In my lifetime I can only remember 1 year of Rickey Henderson, 1/2 year of Johnny Damon, 1 month of David Roberts (October 2004, DUH), and the 2007 season of Lugo as times when the Sox actually had a threat on the bases. As long as Lugo keeps the SBs and Runs up, I'm happy.

3B, Mike Lowell: Can this guy possibly do any more in Boston?? Let's think back...he was the throw-in piece for the Beckett deal and went on to put up great numbers. We all chalked it up us his last hurrah and he went on to win the World Series MVP and was undoubtedly the Sox MVP for 2007, and led to a "Re-Sign Lowell" chant after the last out of the World Series...IN COLORADO!! Is there any way in hell he can possibly do it again?

Well I'm not taking any chances. 2 years in a row and I expected him to fall off the Earth and put up awful numbers, and both years he's made me and everyone else look like an ass. So I'm taking one for the team here and sabotaging my own personal predictions for the good of Red Sox Nation.... .200 avg/.270 OBP/4 HR/ 30 RBI and in addition to that he makes more errors than Griecci made for the 1995 Bedford Blue Jays (Hint: GREECH MADE A LOT OF ERRORS THAT YEAR).

C, Jason Varitek/Doug Mirabelli: We all have to be honest and admit to ourselves that Tek's offensive outbursts are long gone. I'm not even gonna bother with numbers because Tek is not there to put up the numbers. He's there to lead the team on and off the field, bottom line. His job is to keep the pitchers on point, help the young arms develop, and keep everyone on the level in the clubhouse. As long as he does that, I have no problem with the low offensive numbers. I really do hope he can cut down on those rally-killing double plays though.

OK I'll humor myself and everyone else. Tek puts up .235/.310/12 HR/15 2B/ 60 RBI. It won't be anything too flashy, but with our lineup it'll get the job done.

And now on to the most important issue...Doug Mirabelli.

I had a conversation with a TSH Favorite, Felisa, of "Asian Chick Who Talks Sports" and it led to a perfect plan to save the Red Sox about $700,000. Drop Dougie and sign Danny Mac as Wakefield's Personal Catcher. Let's think about this. From what Mirabelli accomplishes, all you really need to do is:

- Hit .200 (I'll probably miss this mark, but hey, Mirabelli barely hits .200 so what's the difference).
- 3-5 HR (I'm going out on a limb and saying with the short porch in Fenway I can match this with a little luck and a few windy days. Also, I'm not signed yet so I could jump on the juice for a month and bulk up.)
- Catch the knuckle ball (when I used to pitch I threw a knuck...I think through experience I could pick this up quickly)
- Be fat and slow (DONE AND DONE)
- Get a police escort to the stadium (Dougie's was from Logan to Boston after a last minute trade. I'd prefer mine to happen for a Thursday afternoon game after I spent a night at McMurphy's with the Guitar Dudes.)

Bottom line...the Sox save $700,000 which they can use as some kinda extra cash for when we need to re-sign Manny in the offseason. Just give the extra $700,000 to Manny for Ritalin or something.

So that's the infield according to Danny Mac for ya.

Coming later this week/early next week (depending on when I'm motivated again) is Parts 2 and 3 which will cover the pitching staff and the outfield/DH/Bench/Pawtucket guys. Also, we'll be starting a petition through this site to get Theo's attention and get me signed on as Wakefield's Personal Catcher. Please show your support with the comment section and send along your good words to thesportshub@gmail.com