Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox were the baseball version of "Even Steven" last year. They never got too far down or too far up. In any given month they were no more than 2 games above or below .500. The hitting balanced lots of power with a lack of situational hitting to come out pretty average. So did the pitchingg, although they had to work extra hard to counterbalance a pretty solid defensive effort by the Bostonians. They finally got the job done by not striking anybody out. It's hard to predict anything further from this team than more of the same, as they are neither particularly young nor particularly old. Even Steven.
Code:
Record overall 78-76, .506 PCT 3rd, 18.0 GB
Home 39-38, .506 PCT
Road 39-38, .506 PCT
X-innings 5-10, .333 PCT
One-run games 20-21, .488 PCT
Versus LHP 17-14, .548 PCT
Versus RHP 61-62, .496 PCT
April 5-4, .556 PCT
May 13-15, .464 PCT
June 15-13, .536 PCT
July 14-13, .519 PCT
August 14-13, .519 PCT
September 12-14, .462 PCT
October 5-4, .556 PCT
Team Batting Stats & Rankings
Batting Average .287 - 5th in AL
On-Base Percentage .339 - 5th in AL
Slugging Percentage .432 - 3rd in AL
On-Base + Slugging .771 - 4th in AL
Runs Scored 830 - 4th in AL
Hits 1609 - 5th in AL
Extra-Base Hits 514 - 1st in AL
Home Runs 121 - 1st in AL
Bases-On-Balls 443 - 7th in AL
Strikeouts 484 - 5th in AL
Stolen Bases 43 - 4th in AL
Team Pitching Stats & Rankings
Earned Run Average 4.39 - 3rd in AL
Starters' ERA 4.35 - 3rd in AL
Bullpen ERA 4.58 - 6th in AL
Runs allowed 788 - 3rd in AL
Hits allowed 1568 - 2nd in AL
Opponents AVG .282 - 2nd in AL
BABIP .289 - 2nd in AL
Home Runs allowed 119 - 7th in AL
Bases-On-Balls 469 - 4th in AL
Strikeouts 424 - 7th in AL
Pitching
Brian East may have gotten all the glory, but it was Irwin Boulanger who was the real ace of the staff. Prior to last season, East was a bit of a journeyman: he'd had a little bit of success in 1929 with the Bosox but not that much, really, and he was traded on the cheap to the Athletics. When the A's cut him without watching him play a single game, the Cardinals picked him up. After composing a 17-25 record over parts of 2 seasons with the St. Louis NL entrant, he was shipped off for a minor-league middle reliever. Reunited with Boston and more importantly Boston's fast outfield, this pitch-to-contact man enjoyed a career year.
Of course, Irwin Boulanger has been the staff ace for almost a decade now and one good season isn't going to move him off that mark. He finished 5th in the AL in strikeouts, a long ways off from the 5 season he led the league in the category but a sign that he can still overpower hitters when he has to. On the minus side, Boulanger and East ranked 1-2 in the junior circuit in home runs allowed.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA VORP
Brian East 27 22 12 0.647 40 39 0 316.1 328 142 35 75 85 4.04 58.8
Irwin Boulanger 31 15 17 0.469 37 37 0 303 333 132 31 71 126 3.92 59.8
Phil Hendrix 33 12 8 0.600 25 25 0 190 215 74 11 73 38 3.51 43.4
Paul Mair 25 6 8 0.429 25 15 0 115.2 147 77 8 48 18 5.99 -3.1
Roger Sayers 26 7 6 0.538 15 15 0 112.1 118 55 9 43 41 4.41 16.3
Newton Carroll 31 4 8 0.333 37 7 0 90.2 116 56 5 61 24 5.56 1.7
Al Rees 24 3 6 0.333 13 13 0 86 104 48 7 22 17 5.02 6.7
Bob Cooke 28 2 7 0.222 46 0 14 60.2 79 38 5 26 30 5.64 0.7
Alfredo Aquino 29 3 2 0.600 27 0 1 35 41 18 5 18 14 4.63 4.2
Jason Moore 24 1 0 1.000 9 0 0 27 23 9 0 9 16 3.00 8.0
Christian Stanton 22 1 1 0.500 8 3 0 25 34 12 2 15 11 4.32 2.9
Lester Willday 38 2 1 0.667 15 0 0 20.2 30 13 1 8 4 5.66 0.2
Team Totals 28.2 78 76 0.506 297 154 15 1382.1 1568 674 119 469 424 4.39 199.4
Catcher/First Base
Mike Callihan opened up the year as the Sox' starting backstop but a .188 June doomed his chances. Charlie Maynor has been with the Sox as a sometime starter for more than a decade now, so it was no surprise that he was able to take care of things to a pretty good degree when required. Mark Hanke followed up a solid first full season (he also played in the 2nd half of 1930) with an electrifying year. He batted 3rd for the entire season, led all American Leaguers in at-bats, and finished 5th in RBIs.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
C Charlie Maynor 32 111 88 353 57 106 39 4 7 47 0 0 19 29 0.300 0.336 0.493 0.829 10.7
C Mike Callihan 29 67 64 225 20 53 6 1 2 20 0 0 16 15 0.236 0.289 0.298 0.587 -13.6
C Paul Washington 25 6 2 11 1 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.455 0.455 0.545 1.000 1.6
1B Mark Hanke 24 153 153 656 115 222 33 5 28 114 0 0 58 58 0.338 0.393 0.532 0.925 34.6
Infield
Second base was handled by the field in '32 but the Red Sox would really like to get a bit more production from the position. The most effective guy was Troy Donahue, who hit .285 - an empty .285, but still .285. It should be said that he did a fine job with the glove. Harland Barrett also did well with the glove, but last year's starter was barely able to hit his prodigious weight. Lamont Miramontes retired following the season. He had a nifty renaissance to his career after being claimed off of waivers by Boston in the winter of 1929, but the juice finally leaked out of the bottle last year.
Kinnojo is still only 26 and just seems like he's older because he's been around the Boston organization forever. He finally got a chance to play last year and really made the most of it. Both he and SS Arlen Bopp missed about a month with assorted injuries, giving the backups a little time to shine. Some shone a little more brightly than others.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
2B *Lamont Miramontes 36 77 69 260 34 59 13 4 0 30 7 4 39 21 0.227 0.328 0.308 0.636 -4.0
2B Troy Donahoe 28 71 55 235 33 67 20 5 1 35 8 6 8 36 0.285 0.309 0.426 0.735 2.8
2B *Harland Barrett 25 45 25 109 11 25 8 1 0 14 1 1 7 2 0.229 0.282 0.321 0.603 -3.8
3B Kinnojo Maeda 26 114 114 500 90 162 40 4 10 52 0 1 39 48 0.324 0.376 0.480 0.856 22.9
3B Ron Smith 24 34 31 148 20 43 13 5 0 12 3 0 6 3 0.291 0.318 0.446 0.764 1.7
SS Arlen Bopp 26 103 98 422 66 139 30 3 2 50 0 0 23 37 0.329 0.361 0.429 0.790 7.0
SS Erik Shelly 32 46 28 120 19 33 4 0 1 12 0 0 14 17 0.275 0.346 0.333 0.679 -3.0
SS Alan Powell 23 32 22 110 15 32 3 1 4 17 0 1 6 7 0.291 0.328 0.445 0.773 0.2
SS #Kent Edge 20 23 21 78 11 18 4 1 0 9 1 1 7 7 0.231 0.294 0.308 0.602 -6.3
Outfield
The biggest strength of this club, this outfield earned 2 Gold Gloves and might have seen a third had Bill Hampton just stayed healthy. Hollis Ramsdell was the Red Sox clean-up man last year. He excelled at the job. Only 2 players in AL history had more HRs than his 30 last year. Perhaps the league is slightly overshadowed by the long-ball glory of the NL this year, but that's still huge. Ken Flake is a man who reminds the staff fantasy baseballist of a man named Tony Armas. He says he has all the strengths and weaknesses: low average, lots of power, a rocket for an arm in right field... we would argue with this man that unlike this Tony Armas fellow, Flake draws lots of walks and rarely strikes out, but what's the point in arguing with a man who has his own pretend baseball league? In center, Bill Hampton was limited to just 142 at-bats after breaking both his hand and arm. Now 31 years of age, perhaps it's finally time to admit that the good fielding, good hitting Michiganer just lacks the stamina to play a full season.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS VORP
LF Hollis Ramsdell 27 142 141 595 110 202 41 11 30 122 6 2 43 39 0.339 0.386 0.597 0.982 48.9
LF *Gaylord Miner 30 37 9 67 5 15 3 1 0 8 0 0 4 9 0.224 0.274 0.299 0.572 -5.3
LF *Jim Stephens 23 13 0 12 4 4 0 0 1 4 0 1 2 3 0.333 0.429 0.583 1.012 0.8
CF *Steven Bartels 25 72 68 285 26 85 13 3 3 28 5 5 14 19 0.298 0.330 0.396 0.726 -5.7
CF *Bill Hampton 31 40 40 142 29 41 3 3 3 24 3 0 23 14 0.289 0.396 0.415 0.812 5.0
CF *Glenn Desmond 30 49 24 105 12 28 5 1 1 17 1 1 13 9 0.267 0.347 0.362 0.709 -4.8
CF Eric Propst 30 36 25 100 19 26 2 1 1 10 4 2 8 9 0.260 0.315 0.330 0.645 -4.9
RF *Ken Flake 28 131 129 494 89 122 25 3 26 93 2 4 82 39 0.247 0.353 0.468 0.820 9.1
RF Manuel Ortíz 29 14 14 57 8 16 4 1 0 11 1 0 2 7 0.281 0.317 0.386 0.703 -1.4
RF Doyle Asbury 32 18 11 51 3 4 1 0 0 3 1 1 5 8 0.078 0.161 0.098 0.259 -10.1
RF Hilton Walters 20 3 1 6 3 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.500 0.500 0.833 1.333 1.7
Code:
Team Totals 27.6 1734 1386 5616 830 1609 331 62 121 787 43 30 443 484 0.287 0.339 0.432 0.771 95.2