Two of the most glaring weaknesses of the 2005 Boston Red Sox were the poor performance of the bullpen and a lack of production at first base. Both those holes have been filled (at least so far) in 2006 thanks to the help of a couple of former Red Sox farmhands: closer Jon Papelbon and first baseman Kevin Youkilis.
Twenty-five year old closer Jon Papelbon has almost single-handedly solved Boston's bullpen woes. Papelbon burst onto the scene in 2005 and was a big factor during the Sox playoff run, posting a 2.65 ERA in 34 innings.
In 2005, Papelbon was essentially a one-pitch man. He relied on his explosive 95 mph fastball, which was still enough to overpower most hitters. This season, however, Papelbon has displayed an improved split-fingered fastball and a decent slider. Improvements in these two pitches have given hitters more to think about, and they're a major reason why Papelbon has yet to yield a run through twelve and a third innings.
Papelbon was a fourth-round selection of the Red Sox in the 2003 draft. Although he was a reliever in college, Papelbon was converted to a starter in the Red Sox minor league system. He was called up from AA to make a few spot starts in 2005, and he performed so well that he eventually became Boston's set-up man during the playoff run.
In addition to his superior stuff, Papelbon appears to be extremely hard to rattle. The Sox closer is a perfect 9-for-9 in save opportunities as of Tuesday night, and he was unflappable during Boston's 2005 postseason run.
Papelbon will likely be inserted in the starting rotation in future years, but right now he is desperately needed in the bullpen. If his offspeed pitches continue to improve, there is no reason why he can't be a top-flight starting pitcher.
On the offensive side, Youkilis has done an outstanding job taking over the first base job from Kevin Millar. Although he came up as a third baseman, Youkilis has done a fantastic job defensively thus far. Dubbed "The Greek God of Walks" in Michael Lewis' best-selling book "Moneyball," Youkilis has lived up to the moniker, posting a .415 on-base percentage. (On an interesting note, Boston manager Terry Francona begs to differ, and was quoted in the Boston Globe as saying, "I've seen Youkilis in the shower, and I wouldn't call him the Greek God of anything.")
His Greek deity credentials notwithstanding, Youkilis has done everything the Red Sox have asked of him and more. Originally drafted by former General Manager Dan Duquette in 2001, Youkilis was unheralded eighth-round pick out of the University of Cincinnati. In 2002, he earned the attention of then-Assistant General Manager Theo Epstein after posting obscenely high on-base percentages in the low minors.
Youkilis was yo-yoed back and forth between AAA and the majors in 2005, but he was never a distraction for the team. Now that he has been given his shot, he has excelled. It's quite possible that Youkilis' average will decline somewhat as pitchers figure out his weaknesses, but he should rest around a .380 OBP while providing solid defense.
It is important to note that in addition to being extremely productive, both of these youngsters are very cheap. Youkilis and Papelbon will make under $1 million in 2006, thanks to their lack of service team in the major leagues. Having cheap, productive players is doubly useful because it frees up money for the club to plug holes on the roster. As a result, Boston has some spare cash that they may be able to use to entice Roger Clemens to come back to Beantown.
When Epstein took over the Red Sox he talked about turning them into a "$100 million player development machine." With the emergence of players like Papelbon and Youkilis, it looks like Epstein's dream is starting to come true.
