AGRI Biz

The Red Sox are team still struggling to find their identity as they near the midpoint of May.  Having dropped two in a row to the Yankees, the Sox are now back below .500, at 15-16. They find themselves in fourth place in the AL East, and 7.5 games behind the division-leading Rays. The Red hadn't strung together a winning streak of longer than three games this season, until they swept four ...

Twenty-two games into this season, the Red Sox have finally drawn even at 11-11, putting them alone in third place. The Sox have won five of their last six games and seven out of nine. With the exception of Wednesday's 2-0 victory,  every one of them was won by one run. That hasn't happened since 1943. Over those eight games, the Sox have scored 47 runs and their opponents 45.  That's just squeaking by.  The ...

The Red Sox were booed as they left the field today. They've suffered five straight losses, including a sweep by the Rays, and now they're six games out of first.  The Sox are now 4-9 this season. You have to go back to 1996 to find a Red Sox team that got off to worse start after 13 games than the current edition.  Of specific concern, the Sox ...

Red Sox manager Terry Francona currently faces two questions that are in essence one and the same; how much longer can he, in good conscience, continue to write David Ortiz's name into the lineup each day, and how much longer can he not write Jeremy Hermida's name into that lineup?   Ortiz has 13 whiffs in 26 at-bats. He has three walks and just four hits (Dustin Pedroia had four in one game ...

David Ortiz went on a profanity-laced tirade against reporters who questioned his 0-for-7 start this season. Ortiz is the only Red Sox regular without a hit after two games.  But that's just it; only two games have been played and perhaps it's premature to question Ortiz after just seven at-bats. After everything he gave the Red Sox and their fans over his first five years in Boston, Ortiz feels that he's earned ...

Though the first game was a bit of a mixed bag, all's well that ends well.Red Sox resident ace Josh Beckett looked rather ordinary on the mound, throwing 94 pitches in just 4.2 innings. In that span, Beckett surrendered eight hits, three walks, two home runs, and five runs in all. What's more, he had just one strike out, his fewest in nearly two years (June, 2007).The good news was ...

It will be very interesting to see how the Red Sox 25-man roster finally shapes up as the team breaks camp in Fort Meyers, Fla. There will be a few tough calls, partly because some players are out of options and can't be sent down to the minors. The team will likely carry its customary 12-man pitching staff. Which players ultimately fill out the bullpen is still to be determined. ...

David Ortiz'z struggles in 2009 are well-documented. Through 40 games and 149 at-bats last year, Ortiz was batting under .200 and had no home runs. By June 1, he was batting .185 and had one home run. It was the longest power drought in history to start a season by a player who had hit 50 home runs in a season, as Ortiz did in 2006. At the All-Star break, Ortiz was batting .222 with 12 homers ...

Over the past couple of seasons, the rapid decline of David Ortiz has been somewhat spectacular.  Ortiz has not hit 30 or more home runs since 2007. His batting average dropped to .264 in 2008, and .238 last year. Meanwhile, his OBP dipped to an anemic .332 last season. In 2006 and 2007, Ortiz had more walks than strikeouts. But last season, Ortiz struck out 134 times and drew 74 walks. And in 2008, ...

Nomar Garciaparra retiring as a member of the Red Sox is quite fitting. Garciaparra was the face of the franchise for many years. The shortstop established himself by winning Rookie of the Year in 1997. It was an eye-popping season in which he hit .306 with 122 runs, 44 doubles, 30 homers, 98 RBI, and 22 steals.  In the process, Garciaparra set new MLB records for RBI by a leadoff hitter and most homers by ...