Red Sox seem eons away from magical ’04 squad
BOSTON – The healing touch offered by the 2004 team that reversed The Curse still endures.
That immortal group of Red Sox followed two grieving young adults in from left field on a stunning Tuesday afternoon at Fenway Park, their parents gone far too young. Tim and Stacy Wakefield were lifetime members of the organizational family and pillars of the community here. That neither lived to see a 60th birthday is something beyond cruel.
Trevor and Brianna, their son and daughter, were surrounded by what felt like uncles and big brothers. Her first pitch to Jason Varitek could have been a replay of a childhood backyard anywhere in the region, a girl playing catch with a father who loved baseball.
We’ll always turn to them as a symbol of possibility and belief. They absolved generations of their suffering, and they did it in their own style. Johnny Damon’s flowing dark hair, Derek Lowe’s frosted tips and Manny Ramirez’s braids were just a few distinguishing features among a group of originals who delivered us to nirvana.
That’s what sports can do. That’s the power they have. It seems to have been forgotten around here, and we’re worse off for it.
Boston’s ownership group treats this team now like just another asset in a growing portfolio. It’s a vehicle for real estate development in the Back Bay. It’s the initial purchase that’s appreciated by 1200% in value, setting the stage for investment in European soccer, auto racing, indoor golf and professional hockey.
The highlight montage played on the video board before a 7-1 loss to the Orioles served as a reminder. The first of four World Series winners here this century was talented, charismatic, clutch and uncommonly competitively stubborn. They were assembled by a younger version of John Henry who was desperate to displace the Yankees and return the Red Sox to the pinnacle for the first time in 86 years.
Boston’s boldness in that era was to be admired. That it’s not being replicated in the present might have contributed to the tickets still available for the 113th opening day at this historic venue as of midnight. The Red Sox were sending out morning promotional emails to previous clients, practically begging what used to be the most loyal legion of supporters in the game to return for 2024.
Henry’s strict budgeting, the front office’s inability to otherwise cajole him into action and the poor decisions made since a 2018 championship have all congealed into baseball quicksand. Boston can thrash and attempt to change directions and pray for a way out, but none appears to be coming in the immediate future.
What was a nice 7-3 start on the West Coast quickly soured the morning of April 9. Trevor Story will have left shoulder surgery and is set to miss six months – effectively the entire season. Nick Pivetta has a right elbow flexor strain and joined Lucas Giolito on the injured list, a second expected right-handed staple of an already thin rotation set to miss an undetermined amount of time.
Rafael Devers was the most identifiable star in this Red Sox lineup almost by default, the final remaining member from that last cast of title winners. Jarren Duran, Triston Casas, Ceddanne Rafaela and Brayan Bello are a long way from icon status, and the road there generally involves some heroics in the fall. Baltimore seems far more likely to reach that desired destination and acted accordingly, trading for a potential ace in Corbin Burnes and watching him deal over seven innings here.
There was no past dawdling while hoping for a mythical championship window to magically appear. Boston reached the playoffs just three times from 1991 to 2002, and its reaction to those infrequent October appearances was to speed up the clock. Lucrative deals in free agency for Ramirez and Damon, a trade with the Expos that netted Pedro Martinez for Tony Armas Jr. and Carl Pavano and felony grand larceny committed upon the Mariners to send Heathcliff Slocumb for Varitek and Lowe proved to be masterstrokes.
The trade that brought Curt Schilling here from the Diamondbacks involved a pitcher already with 75 games of bigleague experience, a top minor league talent according to Sox Prospects, a potential back-end bullpen arm and another outfielder who was bound for Double-A.
Did the Red Sox really wind up missing Casey Fossum, Jorge De La Rosa, Brandon Lyon and Mike Goss all that much? The question answers itself.
Lyon was part of the failed closer by committee approach in 2003. The Red Sox remedied that mistaken philosophy by hitting the top of the market and signing Keith Foulke to a three-year deal. He was one of just four Red Sox who recorded a save in 2004 – 10 had done so the previous year, including Chad Fox, Jason Shiell and Robert Person.
Craig Breslow could develop into the chief baseball officer who reclaims the winning feeling. Chaim Bloom wasn’t the right fit, a cautious executive who valued high-floor performers and didn’t do enough to reach for the ceiling. The demand at the box office undoubtedly would be higher if Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Nathan Eovaldi still dressed in the home clubhouse.
This scene, with those men back in brilliant white uniforms and surrounding the most vulnerable among them, reminds us of how good it can be here. The next time can’t come soon enough.