Every year in every major sport, there are several teams that will chalk up a season that did not go as planned to injuries. Usually it is done to save face when there were other problems, but at times, the team really was decimated beyond belief. The 2010 Red Sox are one of those teams.
It has now been reported that the Red Sox will be without Kevin Youkilis for the rest of the season, as he will have surgery on a torn muscle in his right thumb. This injury is particularly devastating as Youkilis has been a leader and one of the most reliable bats in the Sox lineup.
When you lose Jason Varitek, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Cameron, and many others to the disabled list (thankfully not all at the same time), it is enough to destroy any team. Despite all these setbacks, the Red Sox are only six and a half games back in the AL East.
With the injury to Youkilis, that’s as close as they’re going to get. He is one of three players to play 100 games for the Sox this season and one of five to play 90. Losing one of those pieces is going to hurt a team, especially one trying to play catchup against the Rays and Yankees, who are making strong pushes for the postseason.
It is rather strange to think that a team with 61 wins is pretty much done for the year now. After all, if they were in the AL Central they would be one game behind, as well as only two games behind in the AL West.
Mike Lowell is scheduled to get the majority of playing time in place of Youkilis. Lowell just recently returned from his own stint on the DL, having only played in one game since mid-June, and at 36, he does not seem like he has much left in the tank, certainly not enough to make up a six-game difference by himself.
Perhaps I’m being harsh in my judgment of the Red Sox here, but when you’re behind a team that’s known for playing strong in the second half (Yankees) as well as a team you’re only 4-8 against this season (Rays), that’s a very hard mountain to climb.
In the next couple weeks, the Red Sox play at Yankee Stadium and at Texas, and they are going to have to at least split those series to stay in the running. After all, those two teams got much better since July, and the Red Sox are only getting worse as more players fall.
General manager Theo Epstein said it best about Youkilis: “That’s not the type of guy you can replace.” That is certainly true. You can’t just find a guy with a 4.2 WAR and a .411 on-base percentage walking around. The Red Sox have given a great effort to still be in the hunt for a playoff spot this season, but with Youkilis’s injury, it seems like fate has already decided who gets a playoff spot.
The Red Sox will not be one of those teams.
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