Demanding Change

As the trade deadline approaches, you can now break Sox fans down into two distinct groups.

The yahoo fans want Roy Halladay. The impatient and worry-wart fans want another bat. I’m definitely in the latter group.

An argument can always – and will probably – be made that the Sox bats will come around. But that argument is getting tougher to make. Even for the yahoos.

Here are some of the facts:

-The Sox have scored 10 runs in four games since the All-Star break.

-The Red Sox team OPS has declined each and every month since the start of the season.

-They are hitting .227 in August with an OBP of .319.

Again, these are facts here. They cannot be refuted so save your breath with some sort of circular argument about how the offense will be fine. There are too many aging parts (Ortiz, Lowell, Vartiek) and no solution at shortstop. The numbers look OK actually: fourth in the AL in runs, third in OBP, fourth in slugging, third in OPS and fourth in home runs.

But anyone who watches all the games knows that the majority of the time, when the Red Sox lose, they lose because they couldn’t score five or six times. Losses of the 4-1, 5-2, and 3-1 variety have become very common. In past years, we’ve grown accustomed (spoiled) to the Sox always being a threat to put up 7-8 runs a game, usually averaging close to 6 runs per contest.

Of course this team does have better pitching and better pitching lessens the need to score. But why not have both? Why not go the extra mile and secure a solid bat to take the club to the next level? Like Barak Obama, I’m demanding change.

This is a big market team with an annual goal to win championships. This isn’t the Pirates or Marlins. Don’t make excuses for a franchise that charges the second highest ticket prices in the game. You’re paying top dollar for tickets. You sit next to fake fans with pink hats and business clients on their cell phones while waiting in “lotteries” for playoff tickets and being asked to pay a few to join Red Sox Nation all because of ownership’s constant quest to expand the fanbase and squeeze out every last dollar from your pocket.

It is your right to demand a championship squad. What’s a few more million? One or two prospects gone? You can’t play all these prospects when they’re ready. Eventually you’ll get a Clay Buchholtz. A major league ready pitcher throwing seeds in the minors, forced into limbo as a result of an organization both too nervous to trade him, yet too stubborn to trade the veteran blocking him. In economic terms, this is called wasting valuable assets.

And don’t talk to me about the money. This isn’t your money. Or mine. Or maybe it is, since we shell out $30 for hats and $7.50 for beers? Still, don’t feel bad for the Sox or John Henry. You should WANT them to spend money. Stop being a team apologist and accepting your too-white, no flash, little thump team as is. Real fans want more. New York fans know this. Fans of the premiership certainly know this. Man U fans don’t laud the club owners for making money by giving up Ronaldo. Instead they ask: Who the F are you getting to replace him?

You should do this too! We can get good players. We have an abundance of pitching and plenty of money. Remember the scuffling offense in the ALCS against Tampa Bay last year? I do. Failing to make a move for another bat last year may have cost us the World Series. That shouldn’t happen. We need to go above and beyond. I’m not saying do anything stupid or irrational.

But let’s not just settle on Mark Kotsay as an insurance policy. How about Garrett Atkins? Or better yet, Victor Martinez? Would they be nice in uniform? JD Drew has been struggling. How’s Brad Hawpe look to you? All these players are available at the right price.

And if you’re the Red Sox, at some point you have to be willing to pay it.

--Nick