This piece was written six games into the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) season.
Xen:
After a disappointing 2023 season, the Boston Red Sox are returning this spring with the hope of getting back to the MLB playoffs. While they have tried to improve their roster by signing new players, their effort will not be enough to have a successful year and achieve their playoff goal.
The Red Sox finished the 2023 season with a 78-84 win-loss record, placing fifth in the American League East. This caused them to miss the playoffs for the second year in a row since they needed to get one of the top two spots to advance. As one of the oldest MLB teams, this was a bad year for the Red Sox.
The team faced a lot of problems last season, allowing 776 runs by opposing teams. The Red Sox signed Chase Anderson and Dominic Smith to prepare for the 2024 season..
However, the offseason has not looked good so far. A variety of injuries have hurt the team’s depth. Signing pitcher Lucas Giolito was a big move for the team, but he suffered an ACL injury that could prevent him from playing this season. Injuries have also affected pitcher Liam Hendricks and baseman C.J. Cron.
Regardless of the injuries, the existing team roster does not have enough skill to make it to the playoffs. Defense was one of the biggest issues for the Red Sox last season. Players like Rafael Devers and Triston Casas may be great offensively with the potential for a good batting season, but they have shown that they are not reliable defensively. Devers ranked as one of the worst third basemen in the MLB last season, committing 19 errors. Casas has already had many strikeouts and errors this season.
The lack of quality in fielding positions is clear. However, the problems don’t end there. Defense starts with the pitcher, which is a position that the team has struggled with since last season. Two of the starting pitchers, Garret Whitlock and Tanner Houck, had a disappointing 2023 season, allowing 5.15 and 5.01 runs per 9 innings (ERA) respectively. The team traded for Isiah Campbell in the offseason, but that signing seems like a bad decision so far. In 2024 Campbell has a terrible ERA of 12.79. The questionable depth of basemen and pitchers will result in a repetition of last year’s horrible defensive performance for the team.
Even though the current roster is not good enough to compete for a playoff spot, there have been no big moves made by the team’s front office. Signings like Roberto Perez and Richard Fitts are not expected to have a big impact. Without a great signing, it will be hard for the Red Sox to change anything from last season.
The Red Sox seem to have lost the power of their home stadium. Fenway Park is a historic field that is supposed to be a weapon for the Boston team. Spectatorship remained very high throughout the 2023 season despite the team’s bad results. However, even that didn’t seem to help the team, as they finished the season with a 39-42 home record. Without taking advantage of home games, it will be really hard for the Red Sox to obtain a good placement in 2024.
This is not the first time the Red Sox are in a situation like this. They were in a similar position last year after they finished the 2022 season fifth in their American League East. They had an entire offseason to fix things and present a better team in 2023, but they were unsuccessful. They don’t have what it takes to plan a season and build a good team. While I will root for them and hope they prove me wrong, I just can’t see the Red Sox having a successful season.
Amy:
The Red Sox came in last in the American League East last year, and with their lackluster offseason, many predict a repeat of their dismal performance, if not worse. But I’m one of the few who believes otherwise.
Although many signs, including new injuries and the front-offices refusal to add to the core point to the Sox finishing dead last and leaving fans disappointed, I can’t help but be optimistic about this team (hopefully, I won’t regret this in a couple of months). This young team is extremely athletic and fun to watch, and who knows, they may just sneak into the playoffs and make a run.
The Red Sox have a powerful lineup that has the potential to do damage every day. I could see Rafael Devers and Triston Casas hitting 30+ homers (home runs), and the Sox will create mayhem on the bases for other teams with guys like Jarren Duran, Tyler O’Neill and Trevor Story. The off-season signing of O’Neill is paying off as we are getting a glimpse of the player he was in 2021 when he came in 8th in National League MVP voting. O’Neill is proving to be the right-handed power batter we’ve needed for a while, batting .333 with two home runs in six games. The former Cardinals player hasn’t even made it to Boston yet, but his swing looks like it’s made for Fenway. The bottom of the lineup could also end up surprising people. I’m excited to see what Vaughn Grissom does when he’s back and healthy. He’s shown impressive skill. For example, in a sample size of 216 major league at-bats with the Atlanta Braves, he batted .287 with five stolen bases.
The starting pitching was always my biggest concern. But, over the course of spring training and the first series, I’ve loved what I’ve seen from the starting rotation and have a new appreciation for pitching coach Andrew Bailey, who is already making his presence felt. He’s working a miracle to say the least. Through the first round of the starting rotation, every starter pitched at least five innings and had a collective 1.28 earned run average (ERA), ranking first in the majors over that span. They also had an impressive 37K/1BB (strikeout to walk) ratio, which is extremely impressive considering how many batters we walked last year. Kutter Crawford had a sneaky good season last year and I expect him to improve this year.
I also believe that the inconsistency with Houck and Whitlock rotating between the bullpen and starting pitchers last year contributed to some of their inconsistency on the field. Now that they are the committed fourth and fifth starters, I hope that routine will translate into improved starts. My sample size is very small, and it’s early to assume this pitching will last the whole year, but there are encouraging signs across the board.
The bullpen is also stacked with young talent and returning veterans. Justin Slaten has looked especially impressive with a 0.87 ERA in 10.1 innings, and with Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen already in the backend of our bullpen, I can confidently say we have one of the better bullpens in the majors.
I will end this by saying the vibes on this team this year are phenomenal. As manager Alex Cora said, “If they give trophies for vibes, we’re up there.” This is a young, tight-knit team that is out to prove themselves. Netflix is also documenting everything that happens in this 2024 season for the Red Sox, hopefully giving them extra motivation to succeed. All I can say is that this team has made it hard for me not to root for them.
