Boston's Defense

There is a pretty strong correlation between a teams defense and their success in the playoffs. So that made me wonder how well the Sox are playing D. The best two stats that i like to look at his FRAA and Defensive Win Shares. First, lets take a look at the FRAA:

Name/FRAA
Jason Varitek - +8
Kevin Youkilis - +7
Dustin Pedroia - 0
Julio Lugo - 0
Mike Lowell - -9
Manny Ramirez - 0
Coco Crisp - +17
J.D. Drew - -6

Total = +17

As you can see, the team is doing extremely well. Crisp has been a real stud, posting a +17. Some things i weren't expecting is Drew having a -6, Lowell having a -9 and Manny having a 0. I would have expected a flip of that. Manny is generally a poor defender and Drew and Lowell are normally above average fielders. Our double play combo has been completely neutral. I don't mind that when you are so strong at center and catcher. Defense starts up the middle, that is why Crisp is so important. Now lets look at Defensive Win Shares:

Name/DWS/postion ranking
Jason Varitek - 2.9 (19th)
Kevin Youkilis - 1.5 (2nd)
Dustin Pedroia - 3.5 (4th)
Julio Lugo - 4.1 (6th)
Mike Lowell - 2.3 (6th)
Manny Ramirez - 1.9 (14th)
Coco Crisp - 5.6 (1st)
J.D. Drew - 1.4 (19th)

These stats aren't too different from the FRAAs we saw above. Crisp is actually leading the league in Defensive Win Shares, which is extremely impressive. The only big thing to point out that both DP and Lugo rank strong on this list. That can be slightly attributed to their position but they both rank high for their positions, so it is no fluke.

In summation, the Defense has been a great surprise. Without a truly great defensive stat to look at for ranking, I'm gonna say they are a top 8 defensive club. That will do wonders for them come October.