Boston Red Sox - The Covid-19 Years (2020-2029)

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2020

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Decade

2021

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Titles:

Top Red Sox Players of the Twenty Twenties

2021 - WC def NYY; ALDS def TB; ALCS lost to Houston

Pitchers:

BallPark:

Nick Pivetta (8.07) - 20

Fenway Park

Nathan Eovaldi (7.04) - 14

Brian Bello (3.47) - 9

Team Name:

Matt Barnes (1.58) - 9

Red Sox

Kenley Jansen (0.7) - 8

Eduardo Rodriguez (1.45) - 8

Owner:

Michael Wacha (3.28) - 7

John Henry

Tanner Houck (5.74) - 6

Martin Perez (1.58) - 5

General Managers:

Chris Sale (2.64) - 5

Chaim Bloom (president)

Kutter Crawford (2.38) - 3

Brian O'Halloran (GM)

John Schreiber (3.53) - 3

Chris Martin (3.2) - 2

Managers:

Ron Roenicke (2020)

Catchers:

Alex Cora (2021-2023)

Christian Vazquez (4.17) - 15

Reese McGuire (0.66) - 4

No Hitters:

Connor Wong (2.4) - 3

None

First Basemen:

Hall of Famers:

Bobby Dalbec (0.18) - 12

None

Triston Casas (2.31) - 8

Justin Turner (2.1) - 6

Rookie of the Year:

None

Second Basemen:

Trevor Story (3.31) - 9

MVP:

Christian Arroyo (2.18) - 2

None

ShortStop:

Cy Young:

Xander Bogaerts (12.45) - 32

None

Enrique Hernandez (5.32) - 15

Notable Events:

Third Base:

Rafael Devers (12.3) - 33

2022 - In the eleven year run from 2012-2022, the Sox finish first 4 times and

last 5 times (they also have a 2nd and a 3rd). This extreme roller coaster ride

Outfield:

has been exacerbated by the fact that coming into each season, you have

Alex Verdugo (8.13) - 21

no idea whether you are getting the good Boston or the bad Boston.

JD Martinez (3.5) - 18

Jarren Duran (1.44) - 10

2020 - The Sox have been a Big Market Club since John Henry bought

Hunter Renfroe (2.39) - 8

the franchise in 2001. That changed in 2020 when they suddenly,

Adam Duvall (1.5) - 6

unexpectedly became Small Market.

Jackie Bradley (1.58) - 6

The stark change occurred when Boston dealt young superstar outfielder

Masataka Yoshida (1.4) - 5

Mookie Betts (and pitcher David Price) to the Big Market LA Dodgers

rather than pay Betts the 350 million or so it would have taken to keep him.

Notable Events:

The question is how much did Mookie's race factor into the decision to let

him go? Boston has traditionally been a racist city and the fans have

2024 - Boston looks weak and figures to finish last in baseball's toughest division.

rarely embraced black stars. If you are looking for black people, New

But, you never know with the Sox. Just when it looks like they've given, they

England is the last place you would go. So the question is would the Red

surprise the heck out of you. Anyway, on paper, the Sox look like toast in '24

Sox have invested 350 million in a young white superstar? Who knows?

23 runs totals projected an 81-81 record as they scored 24 more than the league

average and gave up 28 more than the league average.

□ Anyway, the race thing is a moot point. What's done is done and the

The rest of the Division is much better and it's hard to see the Sox finishing

Red Sox are now a Small Market team without a superstar.

above .500 this year which would put them in the cellar.

This is a seismic change for Boston fans because now, entering every

Offense:

season, the team has to be considered an automatic non-contender as

They have one star, 3B Rafael Devers, and four decent hitters, 1B Triston Casas,

opposed to the Big Market days where the team had to be considered

SS Trevor Story, OF Jarren Duran and DH Masataka Yoshida.

an automatic contender coming into each season.

After that it drops off into replacement level players at best.

Surprising the offense was in the upper half of the league (barely) last year.

□ In a cost cutting move, the Sox fire Dave Dombrowski as President

Boston has some decent youngsters coming up, but they won't be ready

of Baseball Operations and hire on Chaim Bloom as President and

for the big leagues at the start of the season: SS Marcelo Mayer;

Brian O'Halloran on as General Manager.

OF Roman Anthony; C Kyle Teel; OF Miguel Bleis; OF Ceddane Rafaela.

Dombrowski had been hugely successful in his four year tenure with

Pitching:

Boston averaging 95 wins and posting a World Series title.

Chris Sale, James Paxton and Corey Kluber, three erstwhile aces are gone.

Dombrowski probably would have quit anyway seeing the direction the club

They were aces no more so won't really be missed. That being said, there really

was now taking into Small Marketland.

isn't much there to replace them with. The starting rotation is decent, but there

is nothing close to an ace. Bryan Bello is twenty five, so there's some hope.

□ Alex Cora, who was hugely successful with Boston in 2018 was rehired as

Tanner Houck, Garrett Whitlock, Kutter Crawford are all twenty eight. None of

manager for the 2021 season replacing Ron Roenicke.

them figures to improve much on their past mediocrity. Same can be said for

Cora had been suspended from baseball in the 2020 season for his part

Nick Pivetta who is thirty one. Closer Kenley Jansen is a shadow of his old self,

in the Astros sign stealing scandal while he was with Houston.

but that's good enough to still be a decent closer. There's some decent depth

Cora is one of the few managers in baseball who is allowed to work with

in the bullpen which will have to do well to bail out the mediocre starters.

analytics as they should be. The Sox work up all the analytics for Cora,

he evaluates their efficacy to the situations in front of him and then makes

his decision even if it is not what the analytics would indicate at the moment.

i.e. with Cora, analytics are used as a tool in the management arsenal, not

as the end-all, be-all. Analytics start the discussion, they don't end it.

As it should be.

2020 - Boston finishes last after jettisoning Betts and Price.

No surprise there. There are really only a few young players moving

forward that could be considered building blocks of the franchise

and two of them will be jettisoned.

□ 3B Rafael Devers, 23, '13 IFA

□ OF Alex Verdugo, 24, obtained from LA in Betts trade '20

□ SS Xander Bogaerts, 27, '09 IFA, signed by SD as FA in '23

□ OF Andrew Benintendi, 25, '15 1st round pick, dealt to KC in '21

2021 - The BoSox surprise everybody finishing second and making it to the

ALCS. You never know with the Sox. Anyway, it proves to be a mirage

as Boston drops down to last place again in 2022 after, of course,

they were expected to do better.

2023 - A second straight mediocre 78-84 season. Boston has stopped trying.

Their hitting declines slightly from '22, but their pitching counters that by

improving a bit in '22.

2023 - Boston is floundering. They're not Big Market, but they're not

exactly Small Market either. They have gone out and picked up some

high profile free agents like closer Kenley Jansen, DH Justin Turner

(both longtime Dodgers) and 2B Trevor Story.

Meanwhile, they let SS Xander Bogaerts and DH JD Martinez (Dodgers)

leave as Free Agents. Not sure if there is any discernable pattern there.

2023 - OF Masataka Yoshida, 29, is signed from Japan. Yoshida is a very

good veteran player. For some odd reason, he is still included in the Rookie of

the Year voting.

2023 - SS Trevor Story, 30, has surgery to repair injuries that held him back

in '22 and misses most of the season.

2023 - Yoshida and Justin Turner hit well. And rookie 1B Tristan Casas, 23,

comes up and has a nice year going 24-65-.263. However, the losses of

Bogaerts, Story and Martinez offset the gains.

2023 - On the mound, the losses of Michael Wacha and Nathan Eovaldi to

free agency put a dent in the rotation. The emergence of 24 year old

righthander Brayan Bello who goes 12-11 4.24 partially offsets the damage.

It was the acquisition of closer Kenley Jansen as a free agent from the Braves

that stabilized the bullpen and helped the staff overall do a bit better in '23

Altho' Jansen is no longer anywhere near the lights out closer he was with the

Dodgers in his prime, he does a solid job for the Sox.