By: Christian Lawber- Mosaic Staff Writer
Media Credit: MCT Campus
(Featured Image Obtained from WikiCommons)
Hey Red Sox fans. After an abysmal season in 2012, get ready to have your sox knocked off in 2013. The Boston Red Sox have finally taken a step in the right direction with the hiring of new manager John Farrell, and this time around, they didn’t even wait until the World Series was over to do so. Now it is time for the Sox to make some moves and changes on the field and get ready for the 2013 MLB season.
“I think the managerial addition of Farrell is really an unknown right now, but it’s a step in the right direction towards building for the future,” said life-long Sox fan, Luke Croce, who thinks it is way too early to predict the impact that Farrell’s hiring will have on the team and on the game.
He believes, however, that it’s time for the front office to turn their attention to what the Red Sox can do on the field in order to produce good baseball. Croce says that the best part of Farrell’s signing is that the players know him. “Farrell was the pitching coach for the Red Sox a few years back and now could be a vital part of turning the organization around,” he said.
The Red Sox have gone 3 years now without a playoff berth. Lastly, Croce thinks that former Sox catcher Jason Varitek, the newly signed assistant to GM Ben Cherington, could prove to be a real advantage in bringing in quality pitching due to the fact that he used to be in the league and worked with many good pitchers during his years as a player.
Long time Red Sox fan of 15 years, John Kent, believes that the worst moment of the 2012 season was when the Sox hired now former manager, Bobby Valentine. On the other end of the spectrum, though, is Kent’s claim that: “I think the best thing that happened in 2012 was the firing of Bobby Valentine!” Valentine was fired right after this year’s dismal season ended.
Kent feels that Farrell did a good job as a pitching coach when he was here in Boston and thinks he can work with the young pitchers and help the team improve in the long run. The Red Sox have struggled through a couple of bad years now, so it is important that they get back on track going into the 2013 season.
However, although he’s optimistic that next season will be better, Kent does not see the Red Sox getting back to superb form next season. Instead, he thinks more realistically that: “This will be a rebuilding year; we have lots of young players, but we are still only going to have a decent record.” Kent feels sure that players like Dustin Pedroia and Jon Lester are going to be key in getting the Red Sox back on their feet in the upcoming season.
Adjunct professor Jim Marsis, a Red Sox fan since 1986, says he believes the Red Sox have some work to do this off-season: “I feel if they don’t fill those holes they created with the Dodger trade, they are a very average team with limited prospects,” Marsis said. Marsis is in the same boat as many other Red Sox fans at the moment and doesn’t see too many memorable moments to highlight from this past season; he feels like this was a below average team to say the least. He sums up the whole season by saying: “I went to the 100th anniversary game; it was a moving and exciting day; outside of that I don’t think I had any other best moments.”
Marsis says that right now, new manager John Farrell can connect with the Red Sox players since he has been in Boston before. Nonetheless, according to Marsis, Farrell still has work to do before the Red Sox are a force to be reckoned with again.
This terrible 2012 season has left Marsis with little to be happy about. Although there were numerous choices here, he claims that: “The worst moment was when I realized that Valentine was not up to the job.”
This past season having left all of the Boston fans in a shambles, Marsis explains that he is just one of many nearly broken-hearted Red Sox fans who will be looking to heal their wounds during the off-season and waiting for next year.
