Boston Red Sox: 3 Realistic Moves to Fix Early Season Mess

The Boston Red Sox carried last year’s horrendous momentum into the first month of 2012. The team was struggling for the most part due to their pitching and untimely hitting, and new manager Bobby Valentine was receiving most of the blame.

As of late, the Red Sox have been playing up to their potential. The team has started to put things together especially on the offensive end, but are still just a game over .500.

If the Red Sox want to make the playoffs this season they need to make a few moves in order to correct their early season woes.

3) Add an Outfielder

The Red Sox have started the likes of Daniel Nava, Marlon Byrd, and Scott Podsednik in the outfield this season.

Byrd and Podsednik are both well past their primes, and Nava is an average fourth outfielder but not someone you want as a starter.  

With Jacoby Ellsbury and Carl Crawford out for the near future, the Red Sox need to upgrade their talent in the outfield. The team has too many below-average outfielders playing on a consistent basis.

One option for the team is to go back to the lineup in which they played Adrian Gonzalez in left field, which allowed them to have a much better offensive lineup, with Youkilis playing first and Middlebrooks at third.

The team will likely not use that lineup too often, and will look to add a player via trade.

If the Red Sox are willing to give up solid pieces, which they may not be, they may be willing to go after a player like Hunter Pence. He is a good hitter who will play solid defense on a consistent basis.

Whoever the team decides to go after, they need to acquire an outfielder who can provide an offensive spark for them.

2) Add a Starting Pitcher

The Red Sox starting rotation has underachieved this season, to say the least.  

The team’s two studs at the top of the rotation, Jon Lester and Josh Beckett, both sport an ERA north of four. They each have more losses than wins this season, and neither has been the dominant pitcher he is capable of being. 

Daniel Bard and Clay Buchholz have been complete disasters. Buchholz, despite sporting a 5-2 record, has a horrific 6.58 ERA. Also, he has thrown 40 walks compared to just 30 strikeouts this season, and is averaging only 5.6 strikeouts per nine innings.

Bard has an ERA over five and was sent down to the minors this afternoon after a catastrophic start against Toronto the other day.

The Red Sox need to go after a reliable starting pitcher who can provide consistency for the team’s rotation.

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Joe Saunders would be a good player to pursue. The Red Sox have shown interest in Saunders in the past, and he would be a great addition to a team that desperately needs starting pitching.

He has loads of experience, and is having another solid season so far, with an ERA of 3.65.

The Red Sox need help in their starting rotation, and trading for a player like Saunders would be a wise move.

1) Keep Kevin Youkilis

There’s been a lot of chatter that the Red Sox should trade veteran third baseman Kevin Youkilis. After Will Middlebrooks's impressive early play during his stint with the team, this talk increased.  

Middlebrooks's bat eventually quieted down and Youkilis got healthy and returned to the starting lineup.

When he is healthy, Youkilis is an extremely underrated hitter who can get on base and hit for power. When you compare Youkilis and Middlebrooks at this stage of their careers, you see that Youkilis is the far superior player.

Youkilis has a career OBP of .389, which ranks thirteenth among active players, and his .878 career OPS is nothing to scoff at either.

Even in an injury-plagued season last year, Youkilis still sported a not-too-shabby .373 OBP, which put him 14^th in the American League, ahead of players like Curtis Granderson and Evan Longoria.

Jacoby Ellsbury’s injury and Adrian Gonzalez's power outage have hurt the Red Sox offense this season. The team desperately needs power hitting and guys who can get on base, and, when he's healthy, Youkilis provides both.