Minggu, 15 April 2012

Jacoby Ellsbury's Injury

The Red Sox have had a rough start to their season this year and despite getting a big win in their home opener against the Rays, the Red Sox lost their star center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury. Ellsbury will be out for at least four to six weeks and this takes away all the momentum that the Red Sox had after winning the home opener against Tampa Bay. The Red Sox can not seem to get rid of te injury bug as Ellsbury will join closer Andrew Bailey on the DL and we've seen the problems with Alfredo Aceves and Mark Melancon out of the bullpen in close games. The Red Sox offense might seem fine right now but losing Ellsbury for a long period of time could really hurt the Red Sox's offensen especially since the Red Sox already are without Carl Crawford. The Red Sox have one option to replace Ellsbury and no matter how well they do, the replacement will probably not be as good as Ellsbury.

The Red Sox plan is to move Cody Ross to center field and put fourth outfielder Ryan Sweeney in right field. Ross has had some success in the past but he doesn't put up the same numbers that Ellsbury does as Ross has only had over 80 RBIs once in a single season in 2009 and over 20 HRs twice in 2008 and 2009. Ross also does not have the same range in center field that Ellsbury has which could weaken the defense for the Red Sox which is why they called up OF Jason Repko. Ross will be able to hit decently for the Red Sox still but the weaker defense and Ross's lack of base stealing ability will be a huge loss in center field for the Red Sox.

Ryan Sweeney will now be the starting right fielder for the Red Sox which shows that the Red Sox do not have as much outfield talent as they have had in the past. Sweeney will hit for a good average of around .280 to .290 but he has never been a serious power threat though that could be due to the fact that he was playing in the spacious Oakland Coliseum. Sweeney may not always start in right due to the fact that Jason Repko can allow Cody Ross to move back to right on some days. Repko can be a good fourth outfielder for the Red Sox and he might be able to take the spot of Ryan Sweeney on the roster if he does well enough. Repko and Sweeney will battle for the third spot but the hole left by Ellsbury will hurt the Red Sox.

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