Boston Red Sox: John Henry is Correct, Patience!

Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Recently Red Sox owner John Henry was interviewed and during said interview he expressed the need for patience. He also iterated the team they have is a good team. I have never been known as a patient person but for once I agree with Mr. Henry.

Despite an enormous payroll, extremely high ticket prices… we the fan were never promised a Championship team one year after finishing in last place. The only thing that Red Sox management wanted to convey to fans was that they will try their hardest to give us a more competitive team, which I believe they have. They want to have a team that is more consistent, of which they still have much work to do But I believe they are headed in the right direction and are “right there” competitively versus the rest of the A.L. East, which is a “flat” division.

One thing I want to stress that perhaps John Henry did not is that this is a process, a process that may take all of this year and perhaps one to two more years to complete in its entirety. By signing both Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez they drastically improved their meager offense from last season. By acquiring and extending Rick Porcello and acquiring Joe Kelly they have added young, talented pitchers that will be a big part of their future rotation while they wait for top prospects such as Henry Owens and Eduardo Rodriguez to mature.

Where they may have gone wrong (keeping in mind we have only a small sample size) is with the acquisition of Wade Miley (a career National League pitcher coming off a mediocre season), whom I have a hard time believing we couldn’t have received similar production from either Rubby De la Rosa or Allen Webster who were used to acquire Miley. Getting Wade “straightened out” is imperative to this season’s success in my opinion.

The other area where I feel GM Ben Cherington failed is with his continued patience with one Clay Buchholz. I find it horribly hard to believe that he actually expected Clay to lead this staff and be something he has never been. Buchholz has always been and most likely will always be the epitome of inconsistency. Not moving on from Clay while acquiring a more reliable, higher quality pitcher to lead this pitching staff is a colossal mistake. We can only hope Ben will move on from Clay before the 2016 season.

The last mistake and almost as exasperating as the starting rotation is Ben’s inability to build and keep a league average (or better) Bullpen. Because he was unable to build a proper Bullpen they have had to call-up several arms from the Minors, hardly an ideal situation. This is the area that Ben can correct very quickly if he chooses. This is the area that we shouldn’t show patience and we should expect better. Letting Andrew Miller walk away and sign with a rival A.L. East team (NYY) is unconscionable. Ben must find a way to rectify this mistake and as soon as possible.

As for the starting rotation some fans want Ben to acquire a top arm, either Cole Hamels or alike talent. I would rather they NOT rush into a trade like this and wait for more pitchers to become available. I’d even go so far as to say they should wait until the next Free Agent period (2016) to acquire said arm. Doing something stupid at this time may negatively impact their future, so I would just assume pass on such an acquisition.

Bullpen aside we need to stay patient, hope they finish higher than last place and support the team while they continue to build that perennial Champion, which I believe they can and will do. Go Sox!