Sox Need Offense

By The Red Sox Girl

Last season I cringed whenever a ball went in the direction of our shortstop, Edgar Renteria. His nickname in the end became Rent-a-Wreck. To say that he was not well-liked in Boston would be a huge understatement. In 2004, Orlando Cabrera and Pokey Reese split time at shortstop, and both quickly became fan favorites. Neither returned for 2005, and the Red Sox signed gold glove shortstop Edgar Renteria to a 4 year deal worth $40 million. Red Sox fans were assured that while the Sox were losing some offense, they were gaining a lot in defensive capabilities.

Renteria, however, never looked comfortable, either on the field or at the plate. He committed an astounding 30 errors and hit only .276 last season. Theo and the rest of Red Sox management kept saying that Renteria would get better, and was just making the adjustment going from National League to the American League, however this adjustment went the entire season before the Red Sox finally cut their losses, and sent him to Atlanta.

This season was going to be different. We learned our lesson about signing a gold glove shortstop that lacked offensive power from the National League. This time, the shortstop that we signed, Alex Gonzalez from the Florida Marlins, was not even a gold glove player. He came with accolades about his defense, however, and once again the Red Sox management said that we were sacrificing offense for defense. I agree with one half of that statement, it's hard to get worse than 30 errors in a veteran shortstop. In 19 games at shortstop, Gonzalez has only committed one error, allowing Red Sox Nation to breathe a sigh of relief whenever a ground ball heads in his direction. His bat is not keeping up, and he is currently hitting .181 with 0 home runs and 5 RBIs. Gonzalez has also failed to get the bunt down to advance the runners on base many times. It just seems as if he cannot get anything right.

How long can we let this continue until we finally allow backup Alex Cora to get a chance to start? The Red Sox need to win some games, and offense wins games. I think that it's time to stop allowing our veterans to go so long in a slump. We waved goodbye to Hanley Ramirez who is currently hitting .280, and Edgar Renteria who is currently hitting .364 with 2 errors and is riding a 17 game hitting streak. Why do they become hot only AFTER leaving our team? Something has to be done to turn around the slump before it becomes a hole we can't dig ourselves out of. Red Sox management is proud of the team that they are putting on the field every day. Sure, they improved the pitching and the defense, but we still aren't winning games. Offense scores runs. You can't win a game without scoring a run. It's time for things to change around here.

Until next time,

The Red Sox Girl

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