2015 MLB Team Season Previews – Red Sox
All eyes will be on the Boston Red Sox once again this season as they attempt to bounce back from a 91-loss campaign last season. 3B Pablo Sandoval, LF Hanley Ramirez, RHP Rick Porcello, LHP Wade Miley, RHP Justin Masterson, C Ryan Hanigan and Robbie Ross are a few names that were added to the lineup that still includes Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz.
MLB Lines & Matchup Insight
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The question is – will the new additions mesh with the returning stars and can Boston take what looks to be a very winnable division? Let’s take a look.
2015 MLB Team Previews – Boston Red Sox
AL East: +200
American League: 11/2
World Series: 10/1
The Red Sox will once again be a sexy pick to win it all – the culture of winning still exists in Boston even though this team heads into the 2015 season looking more mediocre than elite. The batting order seems to be solid but the starting rotation could be a problem for this team in 2015. The AL East is up for grabs – nobody would be all that shocked to see the Red Sox emerge as the beast of the East and yet nobody would be surprised to see this team fall on its face.
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There are a number of holes on the Red Sox heading into 2015 – there is no ace on the pitching staff, the bullpen still looks merely average, David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia are injury risks and Pablo Sandival, although a nice addition may not live up to his enormous hype going into the season.
Let’s take a look at the batting order first. The projected lineup has Shane Victorino leading off, Dustin Pedroia second, David Ortiz third, Hanley Ramirez cleaning up and Pablo Sandoval, Mike Napoli, Xander Bogaerts and a couple of players that haven’t quite win jobs yet. As mentioned previously, health will be a big concern for this team – Ortiz, Pedroia and Ramirez absolutely have to stay on the field – if any one of them goes down, the depth may not be there to absorb the loss. None of these projected starting batting order hit over .287 last year – only David Ortiz had over 20 homeruns!
Simply put, you have to be able to score runs in the AL East – I don’t know if Boston has the lineup to do so.
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The starting rotation is another huge question mark for Boston. Can Rick Porcello who went 13-8 last year with a 3.64 SRA take the next step? Can Clay Bucholz bounce back from a disappointing 10-8 season in which he posted a 3.94 ERA? What about Justin Masterson and Wade Miley who are projected to take up the other spots in the rotation? There are a ton of unknowns for the staff heading into this year – a once solid rotation has been reduced to hoping that their guys overachieve in 2015.
2015 Boston Red Sox Season Predictions:
The Red Sox will definitely be better than the team that lost 91 games last year – they have to be!
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Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval will add some pop and hopefully Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz stay healthy all season long. The Sox look like an 85 win team to me – improved but not good enough to finish above third place in the AL East.
The Red Sox entered this past offseason with a ton of work to do in order to get back to their elite status.
They head into this regular season still having a lot of work to do in order to attain that goal!
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