Boston Red Sox: Five Most Costly Injuries from the 2010 Season

The Boston Red Sox injury report this year reads like a who's who of current and former All Stars, Major League veterans, and up-and-coming players.

There's hardly a single player from the Opening Day roster who has dodged the injury bug. The devastation has reached the point where the Red Sox might have more talent off the field than on it.

Boston has managed to stay within the playoff conversation thus far thanks to a bevy of capable replacement players—Darnell McDonald, Daniel Nava, Felix Doubront, Eric Patterson. But with barely 50 games left in the season and the Red Sox still six games behind the Yankees and 5.5 games behind the Rays in the standings, time may finally have run out.

Some injuries hurt more than others, and each of these five players represented a large nail in the coffin for the 2010 season.

Without further ado, the five players who were missed the most. Share your thoughts below.

5. Victor Martinez

	GM*	AVG	HR	RBI	OPS	WAR*
2009	7	.303	23	108	.861	4.1
2010	21	.285	9	39	.810	1.4

Primary replacement player: Kevin Cash (-0.6 WAR)

Victor Martinez was acquired by the Red Sox in a 2009 deadline deal to help solidify the catcher position and provide some added thump to the lineup.

He was exactly what the doctor ordered, nicely filling in at the #3 spot in the batting order that had been vacated by the struggling David Ortiz. 

After losing Mike Lowell, Dustin Pedroia, and Clay Buchholz in a wretched stretch of games in late June, Victor Martinez also landed on the 15-Day DL with a fractured left thumb.

Red Sox purists insisted the team could get by with Jason Varitek as catcher, but, of course, Varitek broke his foot a few days later and landed on the bench alongside Martinez.

The Red Sox were forced to trot out the likes of Kevin Cash and Gustavo Molina to replace Martinez, two guys that even the Pittsburgh Pirates would be embarrassed to put on the field.

The loss of Martinez was even harder to swallow considering he hit an unsightly .354 in the month of June and seemed poised to take off.

*GM = games missed (as of August 6, 2010)

*WAR = wins above replacement player 

4. Josh Beckett

	IP	W-L	K	ERA	WHIP	WAR*
2009	212.1	17-6	199	3.86	1.19	4.2
2010	66.1	3-1	58	5.70	1.40	-0.4

Primary replacement: Tim Wakefield (-0.9 WAR)

 

For most teams Josh Beckett would be a lot higher on this list. Fortunately, Boston's greatest team strength is starting pitching, meaning they could withstand Beckett's absence.

Tim Wakefield was a capable fill-in for both Beckett and the oft-injured Daisuke Matsuzaka, making 16 starts before returning to the bullpen. 

But even the beloved Wakefield couldn't make up for the absence of the team's Opening-Day starter. Beckett landed on the 60-day DL with a lower back strain after a poor performance against the Yankees in mid-May. He missed at least 10 starts during a time when the team desperately needed a capable arm.

Beckett has pitched significantly better since the All-Star break.

In three starts, he is 2-0, giving up only five earned runs in 20.2 innings and striking out 18. He gives the Red Sox three starters who are pitching like aces (Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz being the others).

Imagine that kind of production over the course of a full season.

 

*WAR = wins above replacement player 

3. Jacoby Ellsbury

	GM*	AVG	R	SB	OBP	WAR*
2009	9	.301	94	70	.226	2.1
2010	98	.212	8	2	.355	-0.2

 Primary replacement player: Darnell McDonald (0.0 WAR)

 

Ellsbury got off to a scorching start to the season, batting .333 in his first 8 games. Then he ran into 3B Adrian Beltre chasing a fly ball and may have run himself out of Boston as well.

The collision landed Ellsbury on the 15-Day DL in mid-April with a left chest contusion, an injury that was upgraded over a month later to fractured ribs.

Ellsbury took a lot of heat from his teammates for rehabbing his injury in an Arizona sports complex while other injured players continued to travel with the team. Ellsbury was briefly put on the trading block in July and he may never regain the trust of his teammates.

But whatever his reasoning was, the team's reaction is evidence of how much they value having Jacoby on the field.

As lead-off hitter Ellsbury, was responsible for setting the table for the heart of order and running the base paths. He also played strong defense and was one of the team's most popular players.

Although Marco Scutaro faired well as the new lead-off hitter, he couldn't bring the same level of speed and energy that Ellsbury could. Darnell McDonald, Daniel Nava, and others did an admirable job filling in, but none offered the kind of reliable offense fans had come to expect from Ellsbury.

 

*GM = games missed (as of August 6, 2010)

*WAR = wins above replacement player 

2. Dustin Pedroia

	GM*	AVG	R	RBI	OPS	WAR*
2009	8	.296	115	72	.819	4.9
2010	36	.292	52	41	.871	3.6

 Primary replacement player: Eric Patterson (-0.1 WAR)

 

Pedroia broke his left foot in late June and is still at least a couple of weeks away from returning to the Red Sox lineup. While his presence in the lineup is certainly missed, it's not Pedroia's bat that people miss the most.

The dirt dog second basemen is the heart and soul of the Boston Red Sox. He is their emotional leader.

The guy was taking grounders on his KNEES just a few days after injuring his foot. Seeing him on crutches and in a cast has to be disheartening to his teammates.

The trio of Eric Patterson, Bill Hall, and now Jed Lowrie have done their best to fill in for Pedroia, but you just can't replace that kind of leadership.

He was the captain of the just barely floating ship, and without him there's only one direction for the Red Sox boat to go—down. 

 

*GM = games missed (as of August 6, 2010)

*WAR = wins above replacement player 

1. Kevin Youkilis

	GM*	AVG	HR	RBI	OPS	WAR*
2009	26	.305	27	94	.961	6.4
2010	7	.307	19	62	.975	4.2

Primary replacement player: Mike Lowell (0.2 WAR)

 

To put it simply, Youkilis can rake.

With sluggers Manny Ramirez gone and David Ortiz on the decline, Youkilis has emerged as the team's best hitter. He has put up an OPS of at least .950 in each of the last three years, a feat equaled by only Albert Pujols.

Think about that, Youkilis and Pujols. 

Youk tore a muscle in his right thumb on August 2nd and will reportedly undergo season-ending surgery. The Red Sox may have already played themselves out of the playoff race before this injury. Nevertheless, whatever faint slim of hope existed was torn to shreds when news broke that Youkilis would be gone.

Regardless of when the injury happened, this was always the one player the Red Sox could not afford to lose.

With all due respect to Beltre, Ortiz, Lester, Papelbon, and the rest of the team's stars, Youkilis is irreplaceable.

The next two months will be painful to watch without him.

 

*GM = games missed (as of August 6, 2010)

*WAR = wins above replacement player