The road not taken
Red Sox Nation is pondering the team’s direction. Where will it stand on the last day of this season? In the playoffs or at the end of their season?
After a miserable start through the first 86 games, and 14 games out of first place, on the 4th of July the Sox started a run of 15 straight wins. Took a breather with a couple of losses and then seven more wins. Recently, five straight losses; will losing ways continue? But the winning streaks made postseason play palpable to the fans.
Should the Sox stay with the team that pulled off the streaks, counting on them to regain their winning ways? Or should they make a trade for a superior credentialed player? Stay with intuition and preserve the chemistry? Or go with the stats and trust that the new player(s) will fill enormous expectations?
Management faced what Robert Frost, a lover of baseball and a devoted Red Sox fan, described in his poem “The Road Not Taken:”
“Two roads diverged …
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could …
Then took the other, as just as fair.”
On August 3rd it was the ‘big deal’ rather than staying with current personnel. On paper, the Sox acquired a superior catcher. But might the change disturb the camaraderie among players having to adjust to a new player and to the departure or demotion of a teammate? What happens to the chemistry in the locker room?
The season ends on September 27 in Fenway against the Chicago Cubs. Will the Big Trade prove successful? Or will the shakeup have disturbed their winning chemistry? The answer at this moment is only 34 games away.