Red Sox Showing They Want Things to Change

By Evan Marinofsky | May 10, 2015

So far in May, the Boston Red Sox are losers of 7 of 8 games and have fallen to last place in the AL East. To make matters worse, the Sox are at the beginning of a 10 game road trip that has them in Toronto, Oakland and Seattle: three places the Sox haven’t exactly played great in as of late. They’re also 2 games into this trip and have scored a combined 1 run against the Toronto Blue Jays and have given up a combined 14 runs.

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But, some changes as of late have shown that some positivity could be coming to the club.

It all started last week when one of the three team owners, John Henry, made a stop at Fenway Park and had a meeting with the team. This meeting probably was a chance for Henry to express his disapproval of the team and probably pushed manager John Farrell and General Manager Ben Cherington to make some changes.

“Overall, we feel that this is the right team,”-John Henry

And changes they’ve made.

On Thursday, now former pitching coach Juan Nieves was fired due to the starters having the worst ERA in the league. Staying on the topic of pitching, the Sox then optioned bullpen pitcher Edward Mujica to Pawtucket. Mujica has been struggling a lot this year and just yesterday, the Sox traded Mujica to the Oakland Athletics for cash and a player to be named later.

The Red Sox also recently optioned struggling outfielder Allen Craig to Pawtucket as well. Craig has been more than disappointing this year, currently sporting a .135 batting average. Craig isn’t even an everyday player, yet he still has 17 strikeouts and it feels as if the wind generated from his swings and misses can be felt throughout the Bay State.

Apr 28, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox first baseman Allen Craig (5) plays the ball off a bounce for an out during the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

In return for optioning Craig, the Sox recalled Jackie Bradley Jr. who has been hot ever since Spring Training and is hitting .343 with 1 home run and 9 RBIs. Bradley Jr, who was the starting center fielder last year, blew the opportunity because of his inability to hit.

Fortunately for Bradley Jr, he seems to have found his groove with hitting and with his gold glove caliber defense, could find himself sharing right field duties with Shane Victorino, who still needs to finish his rehab stints.

The Sox also optioned left handed reliever Robbie Ross Jr. in exchange for knuckleballer Steven Wright.

But the biggest news comes from what the team has been doing to get back on the right track.

Mar 31, 2015; Port Charlotte, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr. (25) against the Tampa Bay Rays at Charlotte Sports Park. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday after a 7-1 loss in Toronto, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz held a team meeting. This exhibits that the Sox are trying to fuel team urgency and turn this ship around before it’s too late.

The positivity that is displayed here is that this team is at least trying to change things. Last year in 2014, they were struggling similarly to the way they are this year. The difference here is that the Sox never really tried to change anything and waited until July, where they dealt away most of their starting pitching.

The Red Sox are also trying to turn this thing around more this year than they did last year because of the fans. Boston is one of the biggest markets in sports and they could get away with struggles last year because of the World Series they had won the year prior.

This year, the gravy train of a World Series has ended.

Apr 13, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Fans wait outside the gate for opening ceremonies at Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox home opener against the Washington Nationals. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

With a high payroll and the second year in a row with a struggling team, Sox fans aren’t going to be happy. Not only are ticket and food prices high, but with a losing team, ticket sales are going to go down and that’s not what the franchise needs.

Ticket sales are already down and the Red Sox are trying to raise those stats in certain ways. April was “Calling all Kids Month” with tons of games during the week at 6 pm instead of the usual 7 pm start time. Students in High School and College can show their IDs and get standing room tickets for only $9.

The other way they’ve been trying to promote the team is through the team owned network “NESN” that broadcasts every Sox game, providing pregame and postgame analysis. During home games, NESN has a few guys walking throughout Fenway Park with cameras, showing fans having fun and their reactions to big plays by the Red Sox. They’ve had shots in the past of fans but those were from cameras up in the camera wells, not from camera guys walking around the Park.

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Though possibly an effort to make TV viewers feel like they’re at the game while at home, it is most likely an effort to attract TV viewers to games by showing them the fun they can have and the fun they are missing out on.

Are the Red Sox desperate? No, but they are trying every marketing technique in the book to get fans to come to games and that hasn’t been the case for awhile.

It is imperative that the Red Sox turn things around. If they don’t, much more drastic changes will have to be made to this team.

Will these changes be bad for the team? I’m not sure, but at least they’re trying.

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