Expectations for team low, but goals remain
The Red Sox could be headed toward a lastplace finish in the American League East for the third straight year.
Fans have heard it before, but it will be an arduous task for the Sox, as currently constructed, to remain competitive over the course of the season. Injuries happen, and 162 games can expose those who aren’t among the game’s finest.
Yet players still have their own personal expectations, even if the team expectations are low.
So what are the goals for some of the key players on the roster? We asked around.
Position players
The pitching rotation could struggle. Though Trevor Story should enhance the infield defense, that could still be a weakness, too. If anything, this team will hit. At the fulcrum of the offense are Rafael Devers, Triston Casas, and Story.
Triston Casas: He had a stellar rookie campaign down the stretch last season, finishing with a .267/.367/.490 slash line to go along with 24 homers. While most players are reserved in listing their goals, Casas wasn’t bashful when it came to his.
“Well, my goal this year is to play every game, make the playoffs, and have a .300/.400/.500 slash line,” he said. “Those three things right there jump off the page.
“I feel like if I’m playing and we’re winning and I’m hitting, well, life is good. So I always want to set positive goals, achievable ones, attainable ones that I feel like are realistic. But at the same time, make it something to shoot for.”
The first two might be hard to achieve. The last one might even be harder. But, indisputably, Casas believes he can accomplish it.
Rafael Devers: Spring play isn’t measured by numbers. Approach during camp, though, is something that can be gauged.
Devers’s opposite-field approach was clear this spring. And it’s something that should lead to more success during the season. Devers easily peppered baseballs off the mock Green Monster in left field at JetBlue Park, and that wasn’t by mistake.
He harnesses the gift of hitting the ball the other way with authority. He’s one of the game’s best in that department.
Yet last season, Devers went from June 10 to Sept. 15 without an opposite-field home run.
He lowered his hands this year in an attempt to catch up with the ever-rising velocity around baseball. Also, Devers took his hands from near his helmet down to his chest area to quell movement, leading to more controlled moves that enable him to work to the opposite field more.
Devers still hit .271/.351/.500 with an .851
OPS and 33 homers in 2023. He drove in 100 runs and took home his second Silver Slugger award. But he was too hot and cold throughout the year and didn’t really get going until the last couple of months of the season when the Sox were out of contention.
The shift in his hand placement will help him keep an opposite-field approach, and thus, more consistency even when he doesn’t necessarily feel his best.
“There’s going to be plenty of opportunity to pull,” said hitting coach Pete Fatse. “We’re just getting him more aligned with left field.”
Trevor Story: Story is healthy, had a full spring training, and has established himself, at the very least, as a player who can play elite shortstop. But that would be selling Story short (no pun intended), forgetting that he was one of the best offensive shortstops in baseball with the Rockies.
Story was in survival mode last year, switching between a toe tap and a leg hover in his load while at bat. The leg hover is his forte. But it was tighter and cleaner this spring, to get his body moving forward.
Story is a tremendous athlete, so for goals, obviously, health is at the top of the list. But in conjunction with that, he and the Sox believe he can get back to another element of his game: stealing bases.
“It’s something that has always been a part of my game,” said Story. “I take a lot of pride in it. I know it could change the game. I’ve always looked to steal. I can get 30, for sure.”
Masataka Yoshida: He went from being labeled a steal last season to a player who was reportedly explored in trade options during the offseason. No trade materialized.
Yoshida, who inked a five-year, $90 million deal with the Sox prior to the 2023 season, fizzled toward the end of the season but still wound up with a respectable .289/.338/.445 slash line to go along with a .783 OPS and 15 homers. He struggled with the MLB schedule, which is more demanding than that of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.
Yoshida worked on his body during the offseason, and hopes that can be the antidote in 2024. That, in conjunction with experience.
“The lessons I learned last year definitely will help with everything going forward, like with travel and all that stuff,” he said through a translator.
Yoshida wasn’t accustomed to seeing so many arms in the NPB either, compared with the majors.
“There were only 12 teams in the NPB, compared to 30 here,” he said.
Tyler O’Neill: O’Neill has a chance to be an impact player, but will he remain healthy? Tough to predict. He played in just 168 games the last two seasons.
He dealt with a calf injury during camp that only highlighted his injury woes more. So, of course, the main goal is to stay healthy.
“The training staff wants to do everything they can to keep me in the best shape that I can be, to be able to play 160 games this year, so that’s the main goal for me,” said O’Neill. “They’re taking good care of me in there.”
Pitchers
Manager Alex Cora believes his club will be in good shape if the rotation makes it through a combined 25 innings each time around. Red Sox starters combined for just 774‚ innings last year, the fourth-lowest mark in baseball.
Kutter Crawford, who struggled to get through five-plus innings per game, has made it his mission to eat up innings this year.
“I want to make at least 30 starts,” said Crawford. “Then, at least, bare minimum 162 innings. I’m shooting for 180.”
Brayan Bello: The righthander, who had stamina issues toward the second half last year, echoed some of Crawford’s thoughts.
“I have to work hard and keep improving,” said Bello. “Be ready each season.”
Bello will take the ball on Opening Day.
Tanner Houck: He will have to throw strikes if he wants to remain a starter. Period. Houck will have to turn over lineups, too, more than once. So what’s one of his goals? Pound the zone.
“As long as I am in the zone, attacking hitters, getting them out early, and not really going five or six pitches [per at-bat], I like my chances of going deep into the game,” Houck said.