Another waste of a Boston Red Sox season has come and gone. Any goodwill they built up early in the summer was lost with a mediocre trade deadline and a 2-7 start coming out of the All-Star Break. Honestly, an 81-81 season feels apt given the blatant lies of "full throttle" and purposely waiting until after season ticket packages were sold to say payroll would be reduced.
This team has only one postseason berth in five seasons since trading Mookie Betts. Local interest in the team is the lowest perhaps it's ever been (Zero star power beyond Raffy Devers, NESN ratings will almost certainly dip after going flat from '22-'23, and opening day tickets were available by the thousands the day of back in April), and the only real glimmer of hope beyond Rafael Devers, Brayan Bello, and Triston Casas lie in four admittedly blue-chip position player prospects, two of which are almost certainly staying in the minors to start next year. In short, not only has apathy set in for Red Sox Nation, but it's been that way for multiple seasons now.
Earlier today, owner John Henry and chief partner Tom Werner predictably dodged the end-of-the-season presser at Fenway, letting lapdog Sam Kennedy take the brunt of well-deserved criticism alongside Craig Breslow and Alex Cora. Of course, we got the same old song and dance where nothing tangible was said, questions about payroll and rising ticket prices were predictably danced around, and he was visibly got angry over good faith questions from MassLive's Chris Cotillo, namely about whether the goalposts of what a successful Red Sox season is have moved, and why Red Sox fans should have any faith whatsoever in Fenway Sports Group after last offseason? Here was his answer, or lack thereof, to that second part.
Look, I think [FSG's] job is to walk the walk and do all the right things from a baseball perspective that position us to be good for the long term. We fell short, and so, we'll have to let our actions speak louder than our words. That's always true, that's always been true. Things have always worked out well here when we've had sucsess on the field, and we feel that burning urgency to get back to postseason play."
Well, based on FSG's "actions" these last 14 months, they clearly don't care in the slightest about the postseason because if they did, they would've at least pretended to be interested in any of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, or then trade target Juan Soto, and then their most significant offseason move wouldn't have been signing Lucas Giolito, who was a horrendous pickup before he was hurt for the year in Spring Training. Based on their "actions," John Henry is petrified of showing up in front of the Boston media and speaking at length about the baseball team he's neglected for the last four years but has all day to talk about the PGA Tour. Based on their actions, Boston has no reason to invest, financially or emotionally, into a team that's simply an asset in an investment portfolio. If talk is cheap, call John Henry a TED Talk maestro.
What Should Happen (But Wont)?
I want to preface this section by stating that I believe nothing I'm about to say will happen. Zero, nada, not a one. Either because Henry is too concerned about saving assets for FSG's inevitable Las Vegas NBA team, which passed secret status long ago, or because Craig Breslow won't pull the trigger on necessary moves. But if what we heard today isn't lip service (it was) and there's going to be a genuine commitment to helping out the major league roster, the priority should be these three items.
1) Show that you're willing to spend big money, and not just for the sake of it. Given that we're now in the postseason, I feel safe saying Juan Soto is probably hitting the open market. That doesn't mean the Yankees won't re-sign him, but I think he checks to see what's out there, given he's a Scott Boras guy. If this happens and the Red Sox fall short with a competitive offer, so be it. But in any case, the Sox currently employ zero (0) players who are even in the same stratosphere as Soto, have no one who's as big a draw as Soto (even as conservatives astroturfed Jarren Duran's jersey sales for a week after he said a homophobic slur, and still didn't hit top 20 sport-wide in sales for the season), and you could then use one of the starting outfielders on the roster as a trade chip.
Even if they make an honest effort on Soto and miss, guys like Max Fried and Tanner Scott make sense for this team with the current lack of a left-handed starter (more on that in a second) and a hole at closer with Kenley Jansen gone. Either way, Not even attempting to sign Ohtani was unforgivable, and should the Red Sox not show any interest in the soon-to-be 26-year-old future Hall of Fame outfielder, the cheapskate allegations will increase ten-fold. Fenway Sports Group is worth over 10 billion dollars and had the assets to buy the PGA Tour. Money should not be an issue for this team, end of story.
2) Get an Elite Left Handed Starting Pitcher
Right now, I think you can feel good enough about right handers Brayan Bellow and Tanner Houck, but the Red Sox do lack a left-handed starter as of now, and they might need to tap back into the tried and true "trade for the White Sox's best LHP" well. Garrett Crochet, currently 25 years old, is an elite fastball pitcher who had a monster run from May to June this year, posting an era of 1.42, along with 94 Ks and an opposing batting average of under .200 in a tick under 67 innings of work. His numbers did dip once you got past the deadline, but I can't say I'd blame him; must've been pretty bleak for most of the year, especially at the tail end. However, he was probably hoping to get traded, and not only that, but also given a contract extension with a new team. It is worth noting all the same.
Especially given Crochet's age, I wouldn't be opposed to the Red Sox giving him an extension even though he had Tommy John surgery a few years ago. His fastball is as good as it gets, and he can get punchouts. Plus, if pitching coach Andrew Bailey is as good as he's been made out to be, he, in theory, should be able to help out with his secondary options (via Baseball Savant, that would be a Cutter, Sweeper, and Changeup). It wouldn't be cheap by any stretch, but it's something that Craig Breslow should look into, especially with a surplus of outfielders.
We also touched on Max Fried, who's about to hit the open market at 30 years old, but Blake Snell is the top free agent lefty option in this free agent class. He'd likely cost north of 30 million a year but had another great year after winning the NL Cy Young with the Padres in 2022. "Snellzilla" had a Whiff and K rate in the 98th percentile and a hard hit rate in the 99th, all the better than Fried, notably more so in the first two categories. That said, Fried would probably be the more realistic option of the two. He's not the biggest swing-and-miss or strikeout guy, but he's been elite at not allowing hard-hit balls and forcing grounders since coming into the majors.
3) Have a Bullpen with real-life Major League caliber arms (who preferably aren't analytical darlings)
Only six teams in the majors had a worse bullpen ERA or WHIP than the Red Sox, and only the White Sox blew more saves than the Red Sox. Additionally, the Red Sox played most of their year without Garrett Whitlock and will 100% be without Kenley Jansen next year. The Red Sox also decided to make a pair of moves for guys like Luis Garcia and Lucas Sims, whose more analytically driven fans pointed to their ERA+ as good signs. Spoiler: they were terrible. Also, if you think that ERA+ is worthwhile, you must think that Josh Wicknowski and Zack Kelly are above-average relievers despite having a combined ERA of 4.05. Especially after the nausiating Elly De La Cruz stuff last summer, I've never been more out on (most, not all) advanced metrics, and the nerds are ruining baseball agenda 100 percent has validity.
Short and to the point: I understand that good relievers aren't easy to find, and the position is volatile yearly. That said, is it a crazy ask on my part to expect a team to have reliable, major-league-caliber relievers who can eat innings, keep guys off the bases, and punch guys out? I'd say closer Tanner Scott should be a must in terms of acquisitions, but I'd like to see if Craig Breslow can bring in two or three total left-handers if possible but the bottom line is this bullpen was mediocre at best, and Double-A caliber at worst. That has to change.
Of course, as is the case with all three of these wishes. None of them will happen. The Red Sox will go dumpster diving for value finds on the open market instead of making meaningful adds; watch as the Yankees and Orioles boat race them in the standings, and the hope of an organization that's never been less popular in the city of Boston than right now will solely fall on four prospects with an average age of 21.25 years old. But hey, at least the "Fenway Experience" is cool (at the cost of an arm and a leg), right?
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