Scapegoats, Hype, and Prospects: Boston Red Sox

Could be the Red Sox Management Team

I am a Yankees fan, but I think the Red Sox will have a faster turnaround, as they are less constrained by payroll.

 

Let’s start with this. The person who gets fired isn’t always the problem. General Manager Chaim Bloom took the fall for several miserable seasons, but he did what he was hired to do: cut payroll. In baseball, you often get what you pay for and Boston has been unwise in its spending habits. The payroll is $205 million but that’s only because they have so much deferred money on the books. (They’re still paying Manny Ramirez and Dustin Pedroia, among others.) Bloom wielded the scalpel per ownership orders. Did he help the farm system? I’ll get to that.

 

Pitching is the number one priority and it would be wise to stop pining hopes on older pitchers with a history of injuries. Like Cory Kluber and James Paxton for instance. If they can find a buyer for Chris Sale, they’d be wise to sell. Richard Bleir, Mauricio Llovera, and Kaleb Ort are also expendable. Insofar as the lineup goes, they need to admit that Trevor Story was an expensive mistake and move on. They got what they could out of Rob Refsnyder, but he’ll never be an everyday player. The infield needs to be rebuilt and the catching corps looks better on paper than it is.

 

I often think the Red Sox don’t have pitching smarts. They tried to move Nick Pivetta, but he’s one of their most reliable hurlers. They also need to end the Garrett Whitlock as starter experiment and put him back in the bullpen where he’s outstanding. Build around Brayan Bello, one of their best pitching prospects in some time. I’m less convinced by Kutter Crawford, but it’s early days. Any way you slice it, though, Boston will need a frontline pitcher or two to compete in 2024. If ownership foolishly pots for a win-now mindset, that would mean moving someone they’d rather not.

 

Unlike the Yankees, the Red Sox can hit. That is, if they make smart decisions. They think Justin Turner is too old, but he sure is raking now. They’d also like to move on from Adam Duvall, but he too is productive. (They should have never traded Hunter Renfroe.) More baffling still, they have buyer’s regret over Masataka Yoshida. Please, please send him to New York! Alex Verdugo is allegedly difficult, but the man can hit as long as you don’t think he’s going to put 30 homers over the wall. The future core, though, is Rafael Devers, Tristan Casas, and (they hope!) Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela.  Duran should be alright, but it’s hard to say about Rafaela.

 

Boston’s long-term future rests on the yield of the farm system. How good is it? There’s the rub; as I’ve noted elsewhere, the Red Sox are MLB leaders in hyping prospects. I’ll rank them the same way I did the Yankees: R for Real Deal; S for Suspect, and P for it will take a Prayer. Again, though, the Hype Machine makes all of this speculative.

 

·      Bobby Dalbec: R but not in a Red Sox uniform. He strikes out a lot, but he’s versatile and has power. Needs a change of scenery.

·      Marcelo Mayer: R Perhaps the shortstop of the future, though scouts think he’ll end up at second or third.

·      Nick Yorke: R He could be the one to make Sox fans forget about Pedroia.

·      Roman Anthony: S He could make Yoshida redundant, but he’s raw at present.

·      Ceddanne Rafaela: S The Sox love him, but scouts don’t. He hasn’t shown much power thus far.

·      Tanner Houck: S A prime example of hype. He was supposed to be an ace, but it looks like he’ll be a mop up pitcher.

·      Joe Jacques: S Looks promising, but the sample is miniscule. The same can be said of Josh Winckowski and Zack Kelly. I’d pick Winckowski as the best of the trio.

·      Kyle Ort: P Lots of noise around him, but most of it is from balls exploding from bats.

·      Kyle Barraclough: P Unless he’s a late bloomer, he’s a bummer.

·      Kyle Teel: P The Sox need a catcher, but this kid is no Carlton Fisk. He allegedly has power, but he hasn’t shown much. If he’s a defense-first catcher, there’s no room for him on the roster.

 

Lots of the hope is at lower levels of the minors. That places players such as Wilyes Abreu, Blaze Jordan, Louis Perales, and a half dozen others in the show-me category.

 

Minor leaguers are often at their most valuable as trade pieces. It’s imperative that Boston gets a new general manager in place soon. Young players often play winter ball and hope to attract notice. The downside is that just as often their flaws are exposed and trade value goes down. Houck and Ort are examples of that. What could you get for the pair of them? A new GM needs to develop a 3-year plan and not be afraid he or she is trading a future Mookie Betts.

 

Rob Weir