Boston Red Thoughts: 5 Things I Think will Happen During the 2012 Campaign…

My total lack of skill in making predictions of any kind has never stopped me from making them in the past, so why start now?

So, in honor of Old Time Family Baseball’s super neat and creative way to raise funds and awareness for the amazing charity, Doctors without Borders, I give you 5 totally random Baseball Predictions for the 2012 Season…

1. Ryan Kalish will become the starting Right Fielder for the Boston Red Sox, and will have a monster season—eventually. Yes, I predicted this last year; that JD Drew would come up lame and Kalish would replace him and make us forget all about JD Drew. And all of that happened—Just with Josh Reddick instead. Ryan Kalish got hurt in April making a diving catch, which aggravated an old shoulder injury, which then messed up his neck. To make a long story short (and failing miserably), he was out most of the season, and then was shut down in August, and then had neck surgery in Sept, and shoulder surgery in November. If all goes well, he will be back with the Sox by June—and that is when he will make his move. I see 18 homers 20 stolen bases and a .295 batting average for the 24-year-old in 2012—and if it doesn’t happen this year, I will keep making the prediction until it does…

2. Alex Rodriguez will not be returning to his former glory. I don’t care what manner and variety of chicken fried goatís brains they inject into him. He is going to be 37 years old this summer, and has been pretty much in a steady decline for the last 5 years. And last year he played 99 games, and hit 16 home runs—Yeah, SIXTEEN. Stick a fork in him—he’s done…

3. The Boston Red Sox and the Atlanta Braves will not have their seasons implode like they did in 2011, with embarrassing Septembers that saw Wild Card Leads of 9 and 8.5 Games, respectively, dwindle to nothing, and then both losing their final game of the season in heartbreaking fashion. Both got there for a reason—for the Sox, it was abysmal pitching, for the Braves, anemic hitting—and I cannot imagine that perfect storm happening again…

4. The American League East will go something like this: Tampa Bay, Red Sox, Toronto, Yankees, and Oreos. Crazy? Maybe not. I think Tampa Bay is the team to beat—they are young and hungry, and have great picthing. I do, however, think the Sox will win the Wild Card. As far as Toronto beating out the Yankees? The Yankees are even more quiet in this off season than the Sox (and that is saying something), and they are O.L.D….Jeter is going to be 38, Mariano Rivera will be 405 (ok, only 42) and they were the 3rd oldest team in baseball last year. I know they always seem to get it done (much to my chagrin) but really, how much longer can they do that? And, as far as the Oreos in last place. Heck, even Dan Duquette can’t save a team that has Peter Angelos as its owner…

5. Pedro Martinez will have a change of heart (again) and decide that he really doesn’t want to retire (again), and would like to pitch some more before he calls it a career (again)…

So, there are some of my thoughts on what could happen in 2012—or could as easily not happen. This IS baseball, afterall, so anything is possible…

A Red Sox fan since the early 80’s, Christine started her blog, Boston Red Thoughts, in May 2005, and has logged over 1100 posts in that span. Boston Red Thoughts has been nominated for Best Sports Blog, Blogger Choice Awards, and, most recently, was nominated as one of the Top 20 sports Blogs of 2011 by Shape Magazine. Christine has been a member of the BBA since its inception in 2009, and the Boston Chapters’ President since 2010. She can be found at www.bostonredthoughts.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter as @bostonredthots.

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Doctors Without Borders is an international medical organization that provides independent, impartial assistance in more than 60 countries to people whose survival has been threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe. Please help us reach our goal of $2,000 by donating here.

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Also, there have been plenty of amazing players who played until their 40s…and were STILL good. Stop using the “oh,...
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here because it’s HILARIOUSLY BAD. Look, guys,...fan makes some terrible
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