(Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty images)

Welcome to another edition of the State of the Sox Blog. Well this week, it looks like the Red Sox playoff hopes are dwindling, so today I will look at their problems and how to resolve them.

Addressing the Issues

Well the team that had been projected to not only win the American League East, but to win the World Series is certainly falling fast of their hopes to meet those expectations as the Boston Red Sox sit back five-and-a-half games back of New York in the American League East. Over the 2008-09 offseason, Boston had picked up Rocco Baldelli, John Smoltz, Brad Penny, and Takashi Saito along with awarding extensions to Jon Lester, Kevin Youkilis, and Dustin Pedroia.

Alongside with the extensions, the only player that was worth picking up was Takashi Saito because Baldelli has succumb to being on the disabled list, Brad Penny has not been consistent, and Smoltz was a disaster. Looks as if the high risk, high reward theory that Boston lives by may have failed our hopes for this season.

On the other hand, New York had gone all out and signed CC Sabathia, Mark Teixiera, and A.J. Burnett who have all been substantial parts to the Yankees this season. Even as ridiculous as it seemed to spend almost half a billion dollars, New York certainly was not only looking at winning this season, but for many years to come as CC Sabathia and Teixiera are both in their primes.

Then we move on to the Trading Deadline as New York had been sitting on top of the American League East and Boston was in an offensive slump. Therefore, they had aquired Victor Martinez in exchange for Justin Masterson and two prospects, which was really a bargain for Boston.

Then the Yankees got Jerry Hairston Jr. for versatility on the bench. Though Martinez has hit well so far, he has been inconsistent alongside the rest of the batting order who were heading into the vital part of their schedule. They were swept by Tampa Bay and they are already going to either be four or six games behind the Yankees depending on what goes down tonight in the Bronx.

It was best put on Todd Civin's article that I read today that basically said that Boston's shopping on the clearance rack on free agents may have cost them their playoff hopes.

Now moving on to another Boston issue is their injuries and inconsistency. Injuries have put down Jason Bay, Tim Wakefield, Rocco Balldelli, Mike Lowell, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Jed Lowrie who were all supposed to be essential parts to this 2009 Red Sox campaign. The starting rotation now needs excellent games from both Josh Beckett and Jon Lester because the rest of the rotation leaves many questions. With all of that said, Boston has to resort to bringing up Clay Buchholz, Enrique Gonzalez, Junichi Tazawa, and Josh Reddick to help this team where it counts.

Their farm system is great, but do you really want to put vital 15 inning games in the hands of a man in his lower 20s because chances are that he'll blow the game. The kids get nervous and they will make more mistakes.

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