2012 All Breakout Team (NL)

A look back at some of the top breakouts in the National League from 2011.  Rookies are ineligible, so you won't find the likes of Bryce Harper, Wade Miley, Todd Frazier or Kris Medlen below. For the most part, I tried not to include guys who were already established big league stars that took their games to new heights, a la Buster Posey, Yadier Molina, and Matt Cain.

C Carlos Ruiz
The first time All-Star was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing year for the Philadelphia Phillies. At the ripe old age of 33, Ruiz rode a monster first half to a career year highlighted by his .Mike Piazza-esque 325/.394/.540 batting line. There were stretches early in the season when it seemed like he was the only Philly inflicting any damage with his bat.

1B Allen Craig
Craig's potential was on display during his injury-shortened 2011 season and again throughout the Cardinals' championship run. He missed more time in 2012--all of April and two weeks in May--but when healthy he was one of the better hitters in the National League. In just 119 games he belted 22 home runs, knocked in 92 runs and batted .307 while manning first base in place of a wounded Lance Berkman. Also gave some thought to Paul Goldschmidt here.

2B Jose Altuve
The diminutive second baseman makes Dustin Pedroia look big, but his lack of size didn't stop him from batting .290 and making his first All-Star team at the tender age of 22. Houston's leadoff hitter was also aggressive on the basepaths, stealing 33 bases to help make up for his lack of power (.399 SLG). The speedy keystone is a great building block for the 'Stros as they rebuild their team around young talent.

3B Chase Headley
Headley put together a monster offensive season not seen in San Diego since Adrian Gonzalez. The switch-hitting third baseman entered 2012 with just 36 home runs and a .392 slugging percentage to his name before morphing into Chipper Jones. Produced a six-win season on the back of his 31 home runs and league-leading 115 RBI. Won his first Gold Glove and Silver Slugger on his way to a fifth place finish in the NL MVP voting. If he could just get out of Petco (.695 OPS there compared to .836 everywhere else) he'd be a star. Honorable Mention goes to Pedro Alvarez, who launched 30 home runs in his first full season with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

SS Ian Desmond
After a pair of disappointing seasons in 2010 and 2011, Washington's shortstop busted out this year. His power--25 circuit drives and a .511 SLG, both figures topped the position--developed to supplement his already solid defense and baserunning. Was one of three shortstops to go 20/20 this season, along with Jimmy Rollins and Hanley Ramirez. Expect another strong performance in 2013, his age 27 season. Jed Lowrie was headed for a breakout year as well before a sprained ankle cost him two months of games post-All-Star Break.

OF Garrett Jones
The quintessential late bloomer, Jones appeared in his first major league game at the age of 25 and didn't play his first full season until he was 29. While he's been a steady source of power during his time in the bigs, low batting averages and high strikeout totals cut into his value. In 2012 he managed to cut down on his whiff rate and boost his average to .274 while smacking a career high 27 home runs and tying his personal best with 86 RBI. Those numbers remind me of a typical Adam LaRoche season.

OF Andrew McCutchen
'Cutch had already flashed the tools that alluded to his Matt Kemp potential, but he finally put them all together this year with an MVP caliber season. His 194 hits, 269 times on base and 7.5 Offensive WAR paced the NL, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. He ranked second in runs scored, total bases, batting average, and OPS+ while rating third in OBP and SLG, all while playing Gold Glove defense in center and keeping the Pirates in the playoff picture for most of the summer.

OF Dexter Fowler
Colorado's center fielder took a big step forward in 2012 when he batted a career best .300/.389/.474 with double digit totals in doubles, triples, homers, and stolen bases. Statistically speaking, he was the NL's equivalent of Austin Jackson (minus the superlative defense). Not as good as Carlos Gonzalez, but turns 27 this spring and could be in line for another strong season.

SP R.A. Dickey
Sneaky good in 2010 and '11 but became a household name and Cy Young winner in 2012. Made his first All-Star team following a dominant first half reminiscent of Ubaldo Jimenez's 2010. Matt Cain started the Midsummer Classic even though Dickey was 12-1 with a 2.40 ERA and 0.93 WHIP at that point. Predictably, he leveled off a bit in the season's final three months, but still pitched well enough to finish with outstanding overall numbers. He won 20 games while pacing the league in innings, shutouts, complete games, and strikeouts. Most impressively, the 38 year-old knuckleballer entered the season with a career 5.5 K/ rate but whiffed nearly a batter per inning in 2012 and fanned almost as many hitters as he did in his previous two seasons combined. It will be interesting to see how he fares against American League competition in 2013.

SP Gio Gonzalez
After a couple solid seasons with Oakland, Gonzalez emerged as one of the NL's top pitchers in his debut with the Washington Nationals. He finished third in the Cy Young race behind Dickey and Clayton Kershaw after leading the majors with 21 wins and his 0.4 HR/9. He also posted the best strikeout rate in the NL, outpitched Stephen Strasburg and helped lead the Nats to the best record in baseball.

SP Jonathon Niese
Was overshadowed by rotation-mates Dickey and Johan Santana, but was clearly the team's second best starter behind Dickey. Trimmed a full run of his 2011 ERA (4.40 to 3.40), posted a 1.17 WHIP and struck out more than three batters for every walk. With Dickey in Toronto and Santana in decline, look for Niese to step up and lead the rotation in 2013.

SP Lance Lynn
In his first year in the St. Louis Cardinals' rotation, the 25 year-old helped fill in the void left by Chris Carpenter by winning 18 of his 29 starts and making the All-Star team. Had 180 strikeouts in 176 innings, but will have to fight to keep his spot in a crowded rotation next season.

SP Homer Bailey
After several disappointing years, the former first round draft pick finally emerged as a reliable mid-rotation workhorse. He made all 33 starts, surpassed 200 innings for the first time in his career and maintained a 3.23 K/BB ratio. Was overshadowed by Johnny Cueto and Mat Latos, but he looks like a solid frontline starter for years to come.

RP Craig Stammen
His career got off to a rough start, but the Nationals reliver rebounded with a strong 2012. Struck out almost a batter per inning and went 6-1 out of Washington's bullpen with a 2.34 ERA.

CL Jason Motte
Tony LaRussa's retirement opened the door for Motte to be the Cardinals' regular closer, and he did not disappoint. Besides leading the National League with 42 saves, Motte posted a 0.92 WHIP and a 5.06 K.BB ratio in Mike Matheny's first year at the helm. Had all of twelve career saves prior to 2012.

CL Aroldis Chapman
Cincinatti's flamethrowing southpaw stepped into the closer's role to replace the departed Francisco Cordero. After two years of teasing the baseball world with his superhuman velocity, the Cuban Missile polished his shaky command (6.5 BB/9 rate entering the season) and challenged Craig Kimbrel for the title of baseball's best closer. Chapman dominated opponents, holding them to a .141 batting average and fanning 122 of them in his 68 appearances. The first time All-Star saved 38 games with his tidy 1.51 ERA and 0.81 WHIP while also picking up MVP and Cy Young consideration. He's the Justin Verlander of relievers.

To see last year's NL breakouts, go here

Red Sox Reshape Roster

Nearly five months into one of the most dysfunctional, frustrating and turbulent seasons in recent Red Sox memory, the organization is going in a new direction. Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford three of the team's biggest stars and most expensive players, are gone, taking a third of the team's 173 million dollar payroll with them. The overpaid trio was shipped out of Boston yesterday, jettisoned to the Los Angeles Dodgers. They, along with Nick Punto and eleven million dollars, netted five players (James Loney, prospects Ivan De Jesus Jr. and Alan Webster, plus two players to be named later--rumored to be Rubby De La Rosa and Jerry Sands) along with some much needed financial relief. In one fell swoop, Boston's front office pulled off the biggest firesale the Old Towne Team has seen since Harry Frazee dismantled his deadball era dynasty 90 years ago.

But with the team sputtering--seven games below .500, nine and a half games out of the second wild card and sporting a worse record than the Seattle freaking Mariners--it was evident that some sort of sweeping change was necessary to get them back on track. For the third year in a row, Boston will miss the playoffs, something that hasn't happened since 2000-2002 (Coolstandings.com gives them a 0.6 percent chance of reaching the postseason, and even those odds seem too generous). The team is headed towards its first losing season since 1997. They've gone 67-87 since last September 1st. It's hard to believe that at the same time a year ago, the "best team ever" was gunning for 100 wins and a World Series title.

But the Red Sox are expected to contend every year, so obviously this level of mediocrity is unacceptable. Boston, a city that cherishes baseball as much as it loves clam chowder and the legend of Paul Revere, will not tolerate losing seasons as long as it continues to pay the most expensive ticket prices in the sport. Red Sox Nation is impatient (and has every right to be after waiting 86 years between World Series) I give all the credit in the world to Boston GM Ben Cherington for getting creative and orchestrating such a groundbreaking trade to change the face of the franchise.  He deserves a pat on the back for trying to retool the team on the fly.  He could have easily blamed this lost season on a crippling combination of slumps and injuries, sat on his hands for the rest of the summer and taken his chances with the same team next year, perhaps with a new field manager in tow. Instead, he recognized the team was going nowhere because Theo Epstein's spending sprees tied up much of his financial resources. The bloated payroll, much of it dedicated to injured/ineffective players such as Beckett, Crawford, John Lackey, and Daisuke Matsuzaka, was working against them. It choked Cherington, limiting him to making minor moves and preventing him from pursuing players and deals that could actually make an impact (last winter he was unable to re-sign Jonathan Papelbon or court free agents such as Jose Reyes, C.J. Wilson, and Mark Buehrle). So he took a cue from the Philadelphia Phillies, who were mired in the exact same situation as the Red Sox--massive payroll, devastated by injuries, treading water.  After re-signing Cole Hamels they unloaded Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino at the trade deadline.  Four weeks later, Boston followed suit.

By all accounts this blockbuster trade is a great move for the Red Sox and a big win for Cherington, who hasn't been able to do anything right since stepping in for Theo Epstein last October. After all, his recent track record is littered with duds; he hired Bobby Valentine, traded Josh Reddick for Andrew Bailey and Ryan Sweeney, dealt Jed Lowrie for Mark Melancon, sent Marco Scutaro to Colorado, swapped Kevin Youkilis for a couple of nobodies, and stood pat the trade deadline instead of shaking things up when Boston still had a chance to make the playoffs. Cherington's moves only spilled gasoline into a raging inferno, adding to the team's myriad problems instead of solving them. But he just gave himself and his team a clean slate, and if this move works out for him, we might remember him as the man who cleaned up Theo Epstein's expensive mess with one big broom. In a way, this move feels like a much larger version of his predecessor's pivotal Nomar Garciaparra trade in 2004, a bold midseason deal that dumped an unhappy, underperforming star player to the NL for fifty cents on the dollar but ultimately worked because it greatly improved clubhouse chemistry and addressed the team's needs. In the end, the degree to which this deal suceeds depends on who Cherington is able to acquire with all the payroll he just freed up.

And that's why I support the move; because it will save the team more than $260 million in player salaries (not including Dice-K, who's coming off the books in a few months as well) over the next five years. After that kind of salary dump, you'd think the team had changed its name to the "Boston Mets." But with a much more flexible payroll, Cherington will have sufficient funds to re-sign David Ortiz and Cody Ross, potentially woo Jacoby Ellsbury away from free agency (an unlikely scenario considering Scott Boras represents him, but at least the Sox could lay down an appetizing offer and then try to trade him if he's not interested). He can go after starting pitchers like Zack Greinke, Ryan Dempster and James Shields, or perhaps try to land a Josh Hamilton, Nick Swisher, B.J. Upton, Michael Bourn or Shane Victorino. Cherington has stressed the need to be disciplined and smart about how he will allocate his new spending money, indicating that he won't get carried away with reckless splurging as Epstein did during the latter half of his tenure (i.e. throwing money at free agents just for the sake of spending money/making a splash). In a nutshell, he intends to spend his allowance wisely, an approach that should prevent this sort of thing from happening again in the near future.

And it's not like the Red Sox are blowing up their team Florida Marlins style. Much has been made about how the trade is like pressing a reset button, but that implies the team is starting over from starting over from scratch like the Houston Astros. In reality, they still have a great core of Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Will Middlebrooks, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, and Daniel Bard, all of whom are in their primes. With a restocked farm system and the right moves to complement this nucleus, the Red Sox could contend as soon as next year. No need to undergo a full blown rebuilding process when the roster still has plenty of big league talent to build around. With some more starting pitching depth and another outfield bat, they're going to be a dangerous team in 2013.

Still, I hate to lose a hitter of Gonzalez's caliber, especially since offense is at such a premium these days. He was worth the investment. But at the same time, I realize he had to be sacrificed in order to get LA to take Beckett and Crawford off our hands. Gonzo was a perfect fit for Fenway with his gap-to-gap hitting style and ability to take advantage of the Green Monster with his opposite field power. A-Gone had the potential to put together a Hall of Fame career as the team's best everyday first baseman since Mo Vaughn. He's a class act, a true professional who plays hard, quietly goes about his business and keeps his mouth shut.  Lord knows the Red Sox could use more players like him. It was a joy watching him hit everyday, and the Sox are going to miss his presence in the middle of their order. Luckily I was fortunate enough to see his last game with Boston in person, even though he ended his Red Sox career (and that game) by whiffing on three consecutive pitches with the tying run on base.

Even though I'm not a big fan of trading proven big league talent for prospects, I think the Sox got a pretty promising package in return:

James Loney
Once a top prospect and first round draft pick who batted a robust .331/.387/.538 as a 23 year-old rookie in 2007, Loney hasn't come close to matching those numbers in any of the five seasons since. The power he displayed never developed, either, as he's failed to swat more than thirteen homers in any subsequent season. Given the promise he displayed early on, his regression into an average player at best can be regarded as hugely disappointing. He's 28, in the prime of his career, and instead he's having the worst season of his career, batting just .254/.302/.344 with only four home runs and 33 RBI. That kind of production suggests he's a glove first shortstop, when in reality he's splitting time at first with Juan Rivera. Loney will be a free agent this winter, and unless he regroups over the next six weeks I doubt he'll stay in Boston beyond that. Fenway could help revitalize his career, but he looks so lost at the plate that it doesn't matter where he hits.

Jerry Sands
The slugging 24 year-old first baseman has posted monster numbers (.566 SLG, .943 OPS) in the minor leagues but that success hasn't followed him into the Show, where he's batted just .244/.325/.376 with four home runs in 70 career games. He's not Adrian Gonzalez and probably never will be, but has the potential to be a franchise cornerstone at first base for years to come. The 6'4", 225 pound righthanded power hitter has the same build as Ryan Lavarnaway and should enjoy taking aim at the Green Monster.

Ivan De Jesus Jr.
Not sure what the Sox plan on doing with a light-hitting second baseman, given that they already have one of the game's top keystones in Dustin Pedroia. They could hold on to him in case Pedroia gets hurt, but he probably has more value as trade bait.

Alan Webster
A highly regarded sinkerball pitcher, the 22 year-old has stalled out in AA and will likely need another year or two of seasoning before he's ready for the big leagues. He is the only player in the deal without any MLB experience.

Rubby De La Rosa
The 23 year-old pitching prospect looks fully recovered from Tommy John surgery, as his mid-90s velocity has returned. Has dominant stuff, but needs to harness his command in order to become an effective starting pitcher at the big league level.

As for the Dodgers, it's been a busy summer for them and their GM NEd Coletti, who added some punch to a top-heavy lineup by trading for Victorino and Hanley Ramirez prior to the July 31st deadline. Gonzalez gives them another offensive weapon, as will Crawford when he returns, and Beckett bolsters the starting rotation. Now that the dust has settled, you could make the case that the Dodgers' roster now features the best player (2011 NL MVP runner-up Matt Kemp), first baseman(Gonzalez, as long as Joey Votto is out), shortstop (Ramirez), starting pitcher (2011 NL Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw) and closer (Kenley Jansen) in baseball.

Here are their four newest additions:

Josh Beckett
Nobody needed a change of scenery more than Beckett, presently the most hated athlete wearing a Boston uniform. His attitude, arrogance and abysmal performance, along with unhealthy dietary habits and leisurely rounds of golf, caused the city to sour on him. He had to go. His behavior over the past year has erased any memory of his postseason dominance during the team's 2007 World Series championship run, which is really too bad. The 2007 ALCS MVP could have had a Luis Tiant/Curt Schilling type of legacy here as the October warrior who always saved his best for the games that mattered the most. Instead, his legacy is drinking beer and eating fried chicked with Jon Lester and John Lackey while the Red Sox folded. He squandered any chance he had at redemption by submitting one of his worst seasons to date and hasn't shown any signs of turning it around with just one win in his previous thirteen starts. The 32 year-old's velocity is down and he could be entering the decline phase of his career. Even so, he should show marked improvement against weaker NL competition (hey, I mean if A.J. Burnett can pitch like a Cy Young candidate...). His timing couldn't be better for the Dodgers, since Chad Billingsley was just placed on the disabled list yesterday with inflammation in his right elbow. Beckett's nightmare season (5-11, 5.23 ERA) is far from over, but with a strong finish to the year--perhaps capped by some vintage Beckett postseason performances--he can salvage something positive to build on for the next two years of his contract. He makes his Dodger debut tomorrow against the Rockies at Coors Field. Good luck with that.

Carl Crawford
With Crawford joining All-Stars Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, all three of whom are signed through 2017, the Dodgers now feature the best outfield in baseball for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately Crawford is done for the year after going under the knife (Tommy John surgery) earlier in the week, and thus cannot contribute to the Dodgers' stretch run as they try to nudge past the now Melky Cabrera-less San Francisco Giants. His brief stint in Beantown was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster; he missed more games (163) than he played (161) and was terrible when he showed up, batting a woeful .260/.292/.419 and providing 0.3 bWAR. You got the sense that Crawford was never really comfortable here, that he was too thin-skinned to handle the claustrophobic atmosphere of the fishbowl that is Boston sports. Throw in the added pressure to live up to his gargantuan seven year, $142 million deal and it's not too hard to see why he didn't suceed with the Bosox. It's also important to remember that Crawford didn't want to play for Boston in the first place; the other LA team topped his list of preferred destinations when he hit the free agent market two years ago, but the Red Sox offered more money and the Halos wound up absorbing an even worse contract by trading for Vernon Wells (a lose-lose if I've ever seen one). Needless to say, he should be much happier in the city of Angels, a more laid back environment--like Tampa Bay--that gives him the opportunity to start from scratch whenever he returns next season. I think he'll make the most of it; his style is tailor-made for the National League, and his speed will be on full display in the spacious ballparks of the NL West. Presumably Mattingly will bat him at the top of the order again (after hitting seventh for much of his tenure in Boston), where he can set the table for Kemp, Gonzo, Ethier and HanRam. I'm betting he has several productive years in front of him because he still has all the physical tools. I've said it before and I'll say it again; if he stays healthy, he's going to put up big numbers.

Adrian Gonzalez
A massive upgrade over Loney. The native Californian leaves the friendly confines of Fenway Park and returns to the NL West, where he established himself as one of the game's top hitters with the San Diego Padres by averaging 32 home runs, 100 RBI and a 141 OPS+ from 2006-'10 despite calling PetCo Park home. Since then shoulder problems have diminished his home run pop somewhat, but he's still one of the best pure hitters in the game. A-Gone is in the midst of a torrid second half, as he's batted .333 with ten dingers and 44 RBI in 38 games since the All-Star Break. It looks like his power has returned, so expect him to keep raking while Don Mattingly installs him as the new cleanup hitter.  Perhaps as a harbinger of good things to come, Gonzalez belted a three-run homer in his first at-bat with the Dodgers.

Nick Punto
A solid bench guy to have because he's so versatile, a utilityman with a solid glove who can be plugged in at second, third or short. The California native can't hit worth a lick, but has value as a defensive replacement or a pinch runner in the late innings. As far as throw-ins go, you could do worse. With the way players are getting injured these days, bench depth is becoming more important than ever before.

In the wake of their disastrous 2011 season marred by financial turmoil off the field, the new-look Dodgers are all in, willing to do whatever it takes to win. Like Boston, LA hasn't appeared in the postseason since 2009 and is itching to get back. Just two games out of first place in the NL West, they're poised to make a September run that would dethrone the Giants. But that's not going to be easy the way Matt Cain (2.83 ERA), Madison Bumgarner (2.93 ERA) , Ryan Vogelsong (2.90 ERA) and Tim Lincecum (3.10 ERA in the second half) are pitching, backed by Buster Posey's MVP worthy season. The offense suffered a big blow after losing Melky Cabrera for the rest of the season, but they have enough bats to keep scoring runs in his absence. Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro and Pablo Sandoval have all picked up the slack, and Hunter Pence is going to snap out of his funk eventually. This divisional race will likely go down to the wire and could be decided by the three game series between the two that marks the season's finish line. Coolstandings gives San Fran a 62.2 percent chance of winning the division, nearly twice as likely to capture the flag as Los Angeles (31.7 percent). In the end, San Francisco's formidable starting rotation will probably be too much to overcome, so the Dodgers may have to settle for one of the wild cards. They're neck and neck with the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals for the second one, just a half game back. The Redbirds have a loaded lineup (Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran, Yadier Molina, Allen Craig, Jon Jay, Rafael Furcal, David Freese), too, but I'm not convinced their pitching will hold up in September.  Lance Lynn, Kyle Lohse, and Jake Westbrook have overachieved lately and could be due for some regression.

I have to believe the Dodgers will find a way to make the playoffs. They're too talented not to, but a lot of it hinges on Beckett and Ted Lilly stablizing the rotation by pitching well down the stretch. Coletti's wheeling and dealing has assembled a veritable juggernaut. He's put the pieces in place, and if they play the way they're supposed to, this team is going to be tough to beat.

Then again, you could have said the same thing about the Red Sox not too long ago.

Red Sox Offense First Half Review

The All-Star Game is tonight and the Red Sox are exactly where they should be at the unofficial halfway point; leading the AL Beast with the second best record (55-35, two fewer wins than the Phillies) in the bigs.  Granted, the streaking Yankees are hot on their tail and the resilient Rays could go on a run, but Boston seems primed to pull away in the second half once it recovers to full health with Crawford, Lester and Buchholz returning to action.  At this point, it's seems safe to say the Bosox are where they are because of their hitting, which leads the AL in runs, hits, doubles, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and total bases.  It's also second in triples, third in home runs, scored in double digits a dozen times and has improved each month so far.  Five players have at least ten long balls, three are hitting over .300 and six of the nine starters qualify as above average hitters at their position.  Top to bottom, this lineup is deep and talented with a good balance of power, speed, and patience.  It doesn't hurt that they know how to take advantage of Fenway's friendly confines (OPS 107 points higher at home) either. 

Without further adieu, here are your 2011 Beantown Bombers, five of whom were chosen as All-Stars this year.

C Jarrod Saltalamacchia-He received much of the blame for the pitching ineffectiveness during the slow start and had his game-calling skills questioned.  Perhaps it was an adjustment period for him and the hurlers?  The staff seems fully comfortable with Salty now, and his bat has come around, too.  After a punchless April, he flashed power by slugging .475 in May and put together a Joe Mauer-ish .327/.407/.538 line in June.  His overall numbers mirror his career averages, but the lack of offensive production from his fellow backstops means he actually ranks as slightly above average at the dish.  He can't touch V-Mart's hitting prowess, but at least he catches two in every three games.  Fun fact; they both have six home runs this year.

1B Adrian Gonzalez (AS)-AL MVP frontrunner in the midst of a career year.  The sweet swinging southpaw leads the league in hits, doubles, RBI, batting average, and total bases while supplying great defense at first base.  His shoulder may have hampered him a bit during the first two weeks at the season, but he turned his and the Sox's seasons around.  Since the team's 2-10 slide to open the year, A-Gone went on a sizzling .369/.425/.618 triple slash tear and threw in 70 RBI for good measure.  Gonzo ranks second in the league in positional player WAR (behind only the incomparable Jose Bautista) and is absolutely raking right now.  The walks and homers are down a bit and he leads the league in double plays grounded into, but I'm not going to nitpick; he's been all that and a bag of Doritos.

2B Dustin Pedroia (AS)-One of the few Red Sox to enjoy a nice start, the pint-sized keystoner suffered through a brutal month-plus stretch that saw his numbers tumble to .239/.349/.324 on June 4th.  He had been playing through an injury and after Tito gave him a much needed breather, the lasers started flying.  His power returned  and he's hit safely in all but two games since then (a Gonzalez-esque .367/.476/.658 clip) to haul those unsightly stats back up to a more than respectable .284/.395/.442 line.  On pace to set career highs in walks and stolen bases, Pedey ranks third in the league in positional player WAR and has played well in the field, too.  And who would have guessed that he would have twice as many stolen bases as Crawford at the break?

3B Kevin Youkilis (AS)-Youk has been a steady source of production at the hot corner this season.  Just check out his monthly splits, which are nearly identical, if you want proof of his consistency.  The Greek God of Walks ranks fifth in the league in positional player WAR and is enjoying a typical stellar season with a .911 OPS, 40 extra base hits and more RBI than any Red Sox not named Adrian.  He does have some concerning platoon splits; his OPS is nearly 500 points lower on the road and over 200 points lower against righties, and while he has always hit better at Fenway and torched lefties these are unusually stark contrasts to keep an eye on after the break

SS Marco Scutaro and Jed Lowrie-Shortstop has been a black hole in Boston since Nomar was in his prime, so why should 2011 be any different?  This tandem, subpar at the plate and average in the field, are adequate at best.  Their combined offensive production resembles that of Derek Jeter this season, a compliment in 2009 but an unflattering comparison in 2011.  Lowrie was on fire in April but fell back to earth, and Scoots is beginning to decline.  Scutaro seems to have a hold on the starting job for now, but that could change down the stretch as Lowrie is eight and a half years younger, can switch hit and needs more big league experience.

LF Carl Crawford-Crawford's been a major disappointment thus far in what has been the worst season of his distinguished career.  He's had some shining moments with several walk-offs and four hit days, but it seems the pressure to live up to his mammoth contract may be getting to him.  He was clearly pressing, a mental issue evident that translated to a career low walk percentage and career high chase percentage.  Hopefully some time on the DL will help him clear his head, but he needs to exhibit more patience and be more aggressive on the basepaths when he returns next week.  He's too good and young to play this poorly and should figure it out once he gets back in the swing of things, but at least he has company in Dan Uggla, Adam Dunn and Jayson Werth regarding marquee free agents with underwhelming statistics so far.

CF Jacoby Ellsbury (AS)-It seems that Ellsbury has put it all together in his age 27 season, as he's finally developed a power stroke to go along with his blazing speed.  Jacoby has already set a career high in home runs, is about to set a career high in doubles and is sporting a healthy .490 slugging percentage and .174 ISO.  This improved pop, combined with his league leading steals total and above average defense, helped earn him his first All-Star nomination.  He ranks fourth in the league in positional player WAR and has been nothing short of superb as this lineup's catalyst.  Could threaten 100 runs, 200 hits, 20 homers and 50 steals if he keeps it up.

RF JD Drew-Has been downright horrible this year, but hasn't received as much negative attention thanks to Crawford's equally dismal first half.  Drew, 35, is also sputtering through the worst season of his career and seems to be declining precipitously.  He has to play everyday with that $14 million dollar paycheck, but that's only hurting the team.  Although he is still solid in the field, no team can afford to have a corner outfielder hit .229/.329/.317 with ten extra base hits and 21 RBI.  He's been underrated during his tenure in Boston and has taken more than his fair share of flak for the hefty price tag and backward Ks in the scorecards, but he's basically useless at the moment, leading Theo to consider a trade for the resurgent Carlos Beltran.

DH Davis Ortiz (AS)-Papi avoided a slow start for the first time since 2007, and it's made quite a difference in his numbers.  Although he's the same age as Drew and Scutaro, he's hitting much better than the both of them combined because he cut down on his whiffs and is hitting much better against southpaws this season.  His .304/.391/.574 is right in line with his 2003-2004 efficiency averages, and has more walks than strikeouts (a feat he accomplished in 2006 and 2007).  He slumped during the recent interleague road trip and lost twenty points on his average, but seems to have gotten his timing back.  Not the elite hitter he was in his prime, but still very dangerous and always hits well in the second half.

The other guys-The bench has been solid so far.  Captain Varitek has equaled Salty's production, so the Sox haven't lost any offense on days when they need to rest the latter.  McDonald has been atrocious and Cameron slumped his way onto the Florida Marlins, but Reddick and Sutton have both been great in limited roles.  Navarro's been decent as well.  Right now, McDonald is the only weak spot, but it's a glaring one considering he plays the most..