But don’t panic yet. The blueprint is in place for the Red Sox.
“We know that teams evolve,” general manager Ben Cherington said. “That doesn’t mean you don’t want to go into spring training with every position perfect and the team filled out, because optimally you would. That’s never the case.”
If there’s one team that proved it could overcome preseason adversity, it’s the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals, a preseason underdog that wound up winning the World Series in seven games.
Before last season started, the Cardinals already suffered a setback when standout pitcher Adam Wainwright underwent Tommy John surgery, a procedure that would sideline him for the entire season.
Soon after the season’s inception, the bullpen took its own hit. After closer Ryan Franklin failed to convert four of his first five save chances in 2011, the Cardinals removed him from the closer role and eventually released him in the summer.
Yet little by little, unknown players stepped up. Fernando Salas and Jason Motte (who recorded the final out in Game 7 of the World Series) spearheaded St. Louis’ closer-by-committee group and combined for 33 saves.
Along the way, the front office made key acquisitions, adding starting pitcher Edwin Jackson, reliever Octavio Dotel and shortstop Rafael Furcal to the puzzle. Jackson bolstered the rotation, going 5-2 in the regular season and starting in the postseason.
“The Cardinals are the obvious recent example of a team [evolving], but you can’t count on that,” Cherington said. “You can’t count on that and end up in the same spot they did.
“All we can do, we have the guys we have now and we’ll keep looking for ways to add to that group and we don’t know when those opportunities are going to come. We’re confident that the group we have has a chance to be really good, and we’ll do everything we can to add to that if there are opportunities.”
Players on the roster can also emerge as surprises. Before last year, many had assumed outfielder Lance Berkman‘s best days were behind him after a horrendous 2010 output. Berkman racked up 31 homers and 94 RBIs in 2011, though, and became a key cog in St. Louis’ run.
But the greatest surprise of them all was David Freese. Entering the season, the third baseman wasn’t yet a household name. But after hitting .348 with one homer and seven RBIs in the World Series, Freese was honored as the MVP. For the rest of his career, he will be remembered for his clutch hits in one of the most exciting World Series in recent memory.
So although the journey will be complex, the blueprint to overcome the preseason doubt is certainly in place for Boston.
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