Sox approach to 2024 a huge gamble
Coming into the offseason the hope around the Red Sox was that the club would finally assert itself and put the last four years of drudgery behind it.
The Sox replaced Chaim Bloom with Craig Breslow as chief baseball officer and seemingly had loads of money to spend. Expectations grew after chairman Tom Werner declared their intention to go “full throttle.”
But before long it became clear the Red Sox were headed in a much different direction. The highly-anticipated moves never materialized, and each addition the club made was paired with a subtraction elsewhere. Eventually the Red Sox changed their tune, fessing up that payroll would be down and that the main focus this season would be getting the most out of the players they already have.
Now as Opening Day arrives, the Red Sox enter the season with as little buzz as we’ve seen in decades.
The general consensus around the baseball community is that the Red Sox are likely headed for another last place finish, which would be their third straight and fourth in five years. They aren’t considered ‘ bad,’ per se, but more or less average and a step below their AL East peers.
Instead of bolstering their roster from the outside, Boston is counting on young players to take a step forward. Four of the club’s starters are homegrown or nearly homegrown, with Brayan Bello looking to establish himself as an ace and Kutter Crawford, Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck as viable big-league workhorses. The lineup also skews young, with Rafael Devers, Triston Casas, Jarren Duran, Connor Wong and Wilyer Abreu all 27 or under, and newcomer Vaughn Grissom and rookie Ceddanne Rafaela both still just 23.
Trevor Story, one of the club’s biggest recent free agent additions, is fully healthy and coming off his first normal spring training since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Masataka Yoshida, last offseason’s biggest addition, is also settled in after a grind of a first season in the majors. The club expects both to be bigger
contributors in 2024.
Though the Red Sox largely sat silent on the freeagent marketplace, they aggressively overhauled their pitching development program and significantly bolstered their minor league depth. The hope in the short-term is to help the current big league arms level up, and over the long haul to unblock a minor league pipeline that has been woefully inadequate for the better part of two decades.
Could it work? Sure! If everything pans out and enough of the Red Sox young players take the next step, this club could be good enough to surprise people and possibly even contend for a postseason berth.
But let’s be clear, Red Sox ownership has taken an incredible risk. Rather than put their money where their mouth is, they’ve made a gamble they can’t afford to lose.
Ever since the Mookie Betts trade Red Sox fans have grown increasingly disillusioned, and now that disillusionment risks morphing into outright apathy. Over the coming months the Celtics and Bruins will likely dominate the conversation in Boston, and in the meantime the New England Patriots are set to embark on one of the most important drafts in franchise history.
The Red Sox will be an afterthought, and to the extent the club gets any attention at all, the discourse will revolve around whether Alex Cora manages the team beyond this season, or the usual grievances related to owner John Henry’s perceived stinginess and his commitment to the franchise.
The only way any of that changes is if the Red Sox start winning.
On paper, this year’s club is much improved defensively, should score plenty of runs and boasts one of the better bullpens in the game. The Red Sox are a young, athletic and talented group worthy of fan interest, but ownership has squandered all good will and cost itself the benefit of the doubt.
If this group comes together, jumps out to a hot start and proves itself to be more than just another 78-84 outfit, then maybe the Red Sox organization might finally move past the cynical narratives that have festered in recent years. But if we get more of the same — more injuries, more underperformance, more embarrassment — then by next winter, the Red Sox will be lucky if anyone still cares enough to even complain.