Putting positive spin on 2024 campaign
Welcome to the 2024 Red Sox.
Are you excited? Likely not. It’s been a tough stretch (by Boston sports standards in this century, anyway). There are valid complaints to be made about the state of the Sox.
But if you think you know how this is going to end, you don’t.
In this day and age, the last team standing is rarely the one people expect.
ESPN thought the 2004 Red Sox would win 102 games and the AL East, but cautioned that the team “may not respond well to new manager Terry Francona.”
Meanwhile, Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood graced the cover of Sports Illustrated’s “2004 Baseball Preview” issue alongside the words, “Hell Freezes Over / The Cubs Will Win the World Series.”
They were right about hell freezing over, they just got the cursed team wrong.
In 2013, Bleacher Report predicted that the Sox would go 77-85 for their second consecutive last-place finish. They went 97-65, won the division, and the World Series.
Most evaluators thought that the Yankees would be better than the Sox in ’18, including MLB.com. Boston ‘did damage’ to those projections, winning 108 regularseason games and bulldozing their so-called postseason competition en route to championship No. 9.
Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projections had the ’21 Sox finishing fourth in the division with an 8082 record. Instead, Boston went from a last-place finish the year before to a near-upset of the Astros in the ALCS.
All this to say, anything can happen in 162 games. And seeing as the Sox are about to celebrate the 20th anniversary of that historic ’04 run, Bostonians should remember they know better than anyone how quickly the impossible can become possible. As evidenced by the predictions listed above, the Red Sox are at their best and most memorable when they come out of nowhere.
Besides, in Boston sports, being the best is almost boring at this point (I recognize the Title-Town privilege in that). It’s far more fun to be underdogs, shocking the world, as Kevin Millar so presciently said 20 years ago this October.
I’m not saying the 2024 Red Sox are a postseason team. I’m just not going to decide they aren’t one on Opening Day morning, either, because I don’t know one way or the other, and neither do you.
And I’m certainly not saying you should give ownership a free pass for setting their own meager-by-their-own-standards budget. They ran out of excuses a long time ago.
What I’m suggesting is that you keep an open mind, because why not? What do you gain by ruling the Red Sox out before they’ve played a single regular-season game?
Of course, if you expect nothing, you can’t be disappointed. However, I think many members of Red Sox Nation still have hope, because what I see on social media and hear from you in my inbox is not apathy. You’re angry and frustrated, which means you still care.
Remember the players aren’t the ones trying to pinch pennies that don’t need pinching. In fact, several players have been quite vocal over the last two years, publicly calling for reinforcements. This is also an intensely competitive, hungry group with strong team chemistry and good energy. They want to win and they’re eager to prove the doubters wrong. Why not give them a chance to do so?
What do you have to lose?
Song out for season
One of the best stories in the Red Sox minor league system has taken an unfortunate turn.
Noah Song, a former top pitching prospect who recently resumed his career after spending four years away from baseball serving in the U.S. Navy, needs Tommy John surgery and will miss the entire 2024 season.
News of Song’s injury was first reported by Chris Hatfield of SoxProspects. com and was confirmed by a Red Sox source.
Song, a 26-year-old righthander, was once viewed as a first-round talent after a stellar college career at Navy but fell to the fourth round of the 2019 MLB Draft due to uncertainty surrounding his military obligations. He wound up appearing in seven games with the Lowell Spinners toward the end of the 2019 season but spent the next four years completing flight school, and it wasn’t until 2023 that he had a waiver approved that would allow him to resume his baseball career.
Before that waiver even cleared, Song’s journey took an unexpected turn when he was selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft. That meant the Phillies had to keep him on their major league roster for the entire season or he’d have to be offered back to Boston, so when his waiver was approved in February 2023 he suddenly found himself on the fast track to the big leagues despite having not thrown a pitch in four years.
Song wound up tweaking his back amid that rapid ramp-up and once healthy was understandably rusty. He was eventually returned to the Red Sox after the Phillies couldn’t justify giving him a big league roster spot, and towards the end of last season he was given a more develop mentally appropriate assignment at High-A Greenville and finished with a 4.15 ERA over 21.2 innings.
The expectation coming into this season was Song would have an opportunity to earn a spot in the upper minors, likely at Double-A Portland first, but now he’ll be sidelined for at least another year, a devastating setback for a pitcher who has already missed out on so much time.
Sox acquire rookie
On the eve of Opening Day, the Red Sox reportedly bolstered their pitching depth by acquiring Japanese right-hander Naoyuki Uwasawa from the Tampa Bay Rays. The deal was first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
The 30-year-old, who has pitched nine seasons in Japan, signed a minor league deal with the Rays earlier this offseason but wasn’t going to make the team. The veteran has posted a 3.42 ERA over 1,367.1 professional innings with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and last season went 9-9 with a 2.96 ERA over 170 innings, but since coming stateside he has struggled, allowing 14 earned runs over 9.2 innings (translating to a 13.03 ERA) in four Grapefruit League appearances with Tampa Bay.
Uwasawa’s deal with Tampa Bay is structured to pay him $2.5 million if he’s on the MLB roster and $225,000 if he’s in the minors. As of this writing it’s not clear whether or not the Red Sox plan to add Uwasawa to the 40-man roster.