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

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2020

Decade

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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 (9.83) - 24

Fenway Park

Brayan Bello (4.97) - 19

Kenley Jansen (2) - 16

Team Name:

Nathan Eovaldi (7.04) - 14

Red Sox

Tanner Houck (9.19) - 12

Matt Barnes (1.58) - 9

Owner:

Kutter Crawford (4.38) - 8

John Henry

Eduardo Rodriguez (1.45) - 8

Michael Wacha (3.28) - 7

General Managers:

Martin Perez (1.58) - 5

Chaim Bloom (president)

Chris Sale (2.64) - 5

Brian O'Halloran (GM)

Catchers:

Managers:

Christian Vazquez (4.17) - 15

Ron Roenicke (2020)

Connor Wong (5) - 10

Alex Cora (2021-2023)

Reese McGuire (0.66) - 5

No Hitters:

First Basemen:

None

Bobby Dalbec (0.18) - 12

Triston Casas (1) - 10

Hall of Famers:

Justin Turner (2.1) - 6

None

Second Basemen:

Rookie of the Year:

Trevor Story (3.31) - 9

None

Christian Arroyo (2.18) - 2

MVP:

ShortStop:

None

Xander Bogaerts (12.45) - 32

Enrique Hernandez (5.32) - 15

Cy Young:

None

Third Base:

Rafael Devers (14) - 42

Notable Events:

Outfield:

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

Jarren Duran (10) - 26

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

Alex Verdugo (8.13) - 21

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

JD Martinez (3.5) - 18

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

Masataka Yoshida (4) - 8

Tyler O'Neill (4) - 8

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,

Wilyer Abreu (3.2) - 7

unexpectedly became Small Market.

Adam Duvall (1.5) - 6

The stark change occurred when Boston dealt young superstar outfielder

Jackie Bradley (1.58) - 6

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

Bob Refsnyder (1) - 5

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

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

Notable Events:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

average and gave up 28 more than the league average.

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

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

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

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

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

Offense:

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

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

an automatic contender coming into each season.

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

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

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

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

of Baseball Operations and hire on Chaim Bloom as President and

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

Brian O'Halloran on as General Manager.

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

Dombrowski had been hugely successful in his four year tenure with

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

Boston averaging 95 wins and posting a World Series title.

Pitching:

Dombrowski probably would have quit anyway seeing the direction the club

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

was now taking into Small Marketland.

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

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

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

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

manager for the 2021 season replacing Ron Roenicke.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.