Offense, not pitching is going to be the key to 2011

[Aglets]

The Red Sox are expected to win 180 games this year and I would list their question marks as:

Youk

Lowrie

Pedroia

Varitek? i think he's still a red sock

Drew

Ellsbury

Dice K

and that's just off the top of my head. You're telling me we have more question marks than that? and that Boston has enough depth to replace all of that?

I would submit ALL OF 2010 as evidence to the contrary.

[JTrea81]

The Red Sox are expected to win 180 games this year and I would list their question marks as:

Youk

Lowrie

Pedroia

Varitek? i think he's still a red sock

Drew

Ellsbury

Dice K

and that's just off the top of my head. You're telling me we have more question marks than that? and that Boston has enough depth to replace all of that?

I would submit ALL OF 2010 as evidence to the contrary.

Boston still won 89 games in 2010 despite their injuries and question marks.

[Aglets]

So since you posted a random fact instead of responding to me responding to your claim..........

You asked to find a team with as many question marks as us.....did I not do it?

You asked to find a team that has an injury history with their key players.......did I not do it?

[SilentJames]

Vlad looked pretty healthy last year.

It's adding a failsafe when we don't have one.

Where's the harm in doing that? But as I said, that's for another thread.

But he won't come here to sit on the bench and be a "failsafe" That is stupid.

[Aglets]

89 wins is roughly consistent with the projections being thrown around on the Hangout for us in terms of Runs Scored and Runs Allowed.

[JTrea81]

So since you posted a random fact instead of responding to me responding to your claim..........

You asked to find a team with as many question marks as us.....did I not do it?

You asked to find a team that has an injury history with their key players.......did I not do it?

You did, but you didn't find one lacking the depth. As I said, Boston was able to overcome all those question marks and injuries, and likely would be able to again.

And most of those injuries were non-lingering. Youkilis like Lee hurt his thumb, Pedroia broke his foot. Those shouldn't be lingering injuries.

Roberts and Lee both have back issues that could flare up at any time and hurt their performance or put them on the DL. Hardy is just a walking injury because of the way he plays. The Red Sox don't have those kinds of chronic injury issues.

[JTrea81]

But he won't come here to sit on the bench and be a "failsafe" That is stupid.

Right, Vlad would be there to DH, Scott would move to LF and Reimold could be honing his skills in AAA just in case you needed him.

[SilentJames]

Right, Vlad would be there to DH, Scott would move to LF and Reimold could be honing his skills in AAA just in case you needed him.

And we still have just as many questions. Except its just questions you choose to ignore.

[Pedro Cerrano]

The point is the Orioles have to get off to a good start offensively in April and May otherwise their pitching has a good chance to go south again in June and July.

The caliber of the offense influences the caliber of pitching once you get a few months in.

If the starting pitchers don't get run support, eventually they will pitch scared, knowing if they give up 3 runs they will likely lose and that will only lead to them making more mistakes.

And without run support, any mistake by your bullpen is magnified, and you will likely use them a ton to preserve leads so you have a chance to burn them out leading to reduced performance mid season and beyond.

This post contains nothing but blind speculation.

[theobird]

I totally disagree with the OP here. If this Pitching staff throws like they did the last 2 months of 2010, we are in business. Heck, we were in business with the lineup we had last year when the Pitching staff throws like they did in the last two months of 2010. You can call me old school, and you would be right, but to me it is all about Pitching and defense. And I really like our chances when it comes to pitching and defense. It isn't a lock, but it is pretty promising.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Confidence was huge reason the pitching went south in 2010 in June and July and why it bounced back in a major way in August and September.

I bring up the Matusz example again. How much confidence do you think he had when he had 13 starts out of 17 where he gave up 3 runs or less, and in 8 of those the offense was either shutout or only scored 1 run? He had 3 wins to show for 13 good starts. If he gave up more than 1 run or didn't pitch a shutout, he'd get a loss.

Millwood basically gave up after he didn't get any support IMO as he pitched really well to start the season.

The offense went south to start the season and the pitching which held it's own, eventually succumbed to the lack of support

Is a pep talk from Buck really going to help if that happens again?

This post contains 99% blind speculation.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Because they've already missed significant time with injuries and this team has yet to show it can compensate for a major injury to one player let alone two or three.

I know every team has question marks, but how many teams have the number question marks that we do, and have the injury history with key players that we do and lack the depth to replace those players like we do?

I doubt you'll find many competitive teams like that.

There's a lot riding on the health and performance of this offense this season, moreso than the pitching.

Wait, now you're worried about depth? Aren't you the guy who wanted the O's to bundle 4 or 5 players for Fielder? Why didn't lack of depth bother you then?

[JTrea81]

Wait, now you're worried about depth? Aren't you the guy who wanted the O's to bundle 4 or 5 players for Fielder? Why didn't lack of depth bother you then?

Fielder has a better chance of playing a full season than Lee does.

Depth at 1B isn't as important when you have a reliable option there.

[Frobby]

Because they've already missed significant time with injuries and this team has yet to show it can compensate for a major injury to one player let alone two or three.

I know every team has question marks, but how many teams have the number question marks that we do, and have the injury history with key players that we do and lack the depth to replace those players like we do?

I doubt you'll find many competitive teams like that.

There's a lot riding on the health and performance of this offense this season, moreso than the pitching.

Most teams are like this. I'm not going to deny that teams spending $200 mm or $160 mm have more ability to compensate for a key injury than a team that doesn't. That should be relatively obvious.

[OsLuvrInKy]

I didn't know Capt Piccard had to reason with Trea also....:rofl::rofl:

Rep coming your way.