So I'm gettin mentally ready for the baseball season, and as such, I've decided to re-start the best all time teams. Knowing that Bad Sunglasses would rather be ritually disemboweled with a combination of a blunt rusty nail, a yard of razor wire and a giant slingshot (use your imagination) than to write up a Red Sox post, I'll take it upon myself..
So here we go:
C: Carlton Fisk - 7 time All Star with Sox of the Red variety, went on to cement his HOF career with a reinvention as more of a power hitter with the Sox of the White variety. In Boston, he had 6 seasons of 17 plus hrs, was an all-around solid player, and has the most famous hit in Red Sox history.
Best Season: 1977, .315/.402/.521, 26 HRs, 102 RBI.
1B: Jimmie Foxx - He of the double x. This guy might be one of the most underrated ball players in the history of the game. In his six full seasons with the Sox, he never had less than 100 rbi, never had a SLG of less than .500, and averaged 36 HRs.
Best Season: 1938, .349/.462/.704, 50 hrs, 175 rbi, 119 walks. Throw in another 41 extra base hits. WOW. A well deserved MVP, and has to rank among the best seasons all time. Sadly enough, doesn't even merit Foxx's best season, which was in 1932 with Philly.
2B: Bobby Doerr - 14 year Hall of Fame career, all with Boston produced a .288/.362/.461 line, as well as 8 consecutive seasons in the top 25 MVP standings. 6 seasons with 100+ RBI, OPS+ of over 100 for 12 straight seasons (finishing off his career.
Best Season: 1944, .325/.399/.528, OPS+ of 165, 10 triples, 15 hrs. Not shabby for a 2B, eh?
3B: Wade Boggs - THE hitting machine of the 80s, only one season below .302 in his 11 years in Boston, as well as only one season sub-400 OBP. Seems to have used the alleys in Fenway to his advantage, racking up 8 seasons of 40+ doubles. Yet another Hall of Famer.
Best Season: 1987, put up a .363/.461/.588, with 24 homers (a full 20% of his career homers) in only 147 games. Won the batting crown, had the highest OBP and OPS.
SS: Joe Cronin - This one was real tight - I'm going with Cronin in a bid to avoid starting the obvious roid monster Nomar Garciaparra. He put up some solid numbers in his time in Boston, but I'm going with the throwback guy. Cronin was the player/manager for the Sox for the duration of his 10 years on the field (managing for another 2 after that). His career line is a respectable .301/.390/.468, not bad for a SS. Oh yeah, and he's a Hall of Famer.
Best Season: 1938, where he put up .325/.428/.536, 18 HRs, and topping it off with at 135 OPS+.
OF: Ted Williams - Not much needs to be said here. Whole career spent in Boston, winning 2 MVPs, coming in second 4 times. Well known as last guy to hit .400 in a season - though he actually hit .400 in 2 other seasons (albeit very very short seasons). Check out this list of his OPS+ numbers, starting in his rookie season of 1939: 160, 162, 235, 217, 215, 205, 189, 192, 168, 165, 272(!!!), 267 (!!!), 201, 209, 172, 233, 179, 114, and 190. Seriously, his worst season ever he was still outslugging the league average.
Best Season: Gotta go with 1941, .406/.553/.735. Wow. Also, not only did he hit 400, but he clubbed 37 HRs and drove in 120.
OF: Carl Yaztremski - Had the unenviable task of starting in LF after Williams, but did alright for himself, putting together a HoF career. 23 seasons with the Sox, hit 40 plus HRs 3 times, had 22 double digit HR seasons.
Best Season: Monster year in 1967, walked away with the MVP for hitting .326, clubbing 44 HRs, SLG was over 600. Also stole 10 bases that year. Pretty well rounded player, this guy.
OF: Manny Ramirez - World class ego on this guy, but boy if he isn't one of the best pure hitters this generation has seen. The man has done nothing but munch on pitching his whole career. After a remarkable start in Cleveland, he came to Boston, averaged 36.5 HRs a year, never batted below .292, had only one season of less than 102 RBI. Crappy fielder, and seems to be a crappy negotiator, but he held court at the Monster there for a number of years.
Best Season: 2006, which is slightly lower in raw numbers than 2004, but actually is a better season, i think. .321/.439/.619, 165 OPS+, fewer SO than 06, More BB. I'd take him for my team...
DH: David Ortiz - Big Papi, famously a Rule 5 acquisition from the Twins... boy did he blossom. Always a little skeptical of him and the probability of the Roids, but he did seem to come up with the clutch hits when they were needed. Top 5 in the MVP voting for 5 years straight, ending with last year's injury riddled team. Has what appears to be a SLG line in Boston hovering right at .600. (Sad footnote... guess which NW seafaring team brought this guy up through the minors before trading him... blerg)
Best Season: I think it'd have to be 2006, where he hit .287/.413/.636, 54 HRs, 137 RBI.
SP:
Cy Young: Well, they did name the award after him. He really was that good.
Best Season: 1901, where he went 33-10, pitching 371 innings, with a 1.62 ERA, which was good for an ERA+ of 216.
Roger Clemens: Wow this kid was skinny back in the day, eh? What a power pitcher though. No-brainer here. This was before the roids got hold of him and he was just a firecracker (translation: asshole) from Texas.
Best Season: 1990, where he was 21-6, 209 K's, a 1.93 ERA, a 213 ERA+ and didn't win the CY YOUNG???? Miscarriage of justice... Bob Welch, you got away with robbery. Yeah, your 27 wins is impressive, but ain't got anything on Roger.
Pedro Martinez - put up 2 amazing seasons back to back in 99 and 2000. Finished in the top 4 in Cy Young voting 5 out of the 6 years he was in boston, and the one year he didn't, he was injured half the year. Such a power pitcher, so much finesse. Dude had 1 season with an ERA over 3.00 in his time in Boston.
Best Season: I give up - either 99 or 2000. 99 had him going 23-4, 313 K's, and a 2.07 ERA. 2000 he was only 18-6, but put up 285 Ks and had a 1.74 ERA. 291 ERA+. Unreal.
Babe Ruth - won 89 games in a little over 5 seasons as a pitcher in Boston.hovered around 2.00 ERA, while putting up as many as 325 innings. Mind you, in these same 6 seasons, he hit about 50 HRs, batted .300 or so... well rounded athlete, this guy.
Best Season: 1917, where he was 23-12 in 323 innings, amassing 170 Ks and a 1.75 ERA.
Joe Wood - Kind of an unknown quantity, this one. I liked his nickname - Smokey Joe. He also put up one helluva season in 1912 that pushed him over the top of an otherwise unremarkable second tier of pitchers.
Best Season - 1912, 34-5, 344 innings, 258 Ks, 1.91 ERA. Good numbers in any era.
RP: Jonathan Papelbon (closer), Dennis Eckersley, Tim Wakefield, Bruce Hurst, Luis Tiant
I loaded this with mostly starters, cause wow this is a pretty terrible bullpen. Eck was a starter at this point, so it was well before his glory days in the pen.
Bench: Jason Varitek, Mo Vaughn, Dwight Evans, Jim Rice, Nomar Garciaparra
