Andrew Benintendi will be a no-brainer choice for AL Rookie of the Year. I’m trying to temper expectations, to remind myself that some crafty pitcher will find a hole in his swing that pitchers will seize upon and exploit until he adjusts, that he won’t always make an extraordinarily difficult game look as effortless as he did during his 34-game introduction to the majors last season, when he slashed .295/.359/.476 and played excellent defense. And in trying to temper those expectations, I am doing what he will not – I am failing mightily. Benintendi belongs. He has Fred Lynn’s swing, uncommon poise, and has looked like he has belonged from the moment he arrived. He might not hit for much power right away – I’d set the over/under on homers at a dozen – but he is fully capable of hitting .300 now and being a consistent contributor to another potent Red Sox lineup. He’s as can’t-miss as can’t-miss gets.
David Ortiz will not come out of retirement. But you better believe we’re going to keep asking, just in case. The Red Sox still have a terrific lineup even as they adjust to post-Papi life. Mookie Betts is an MVP candidate – a front-runner, even — and there’s plenty of quality depth in the lineup from Dustin Pedroia at the top to Jackie Bradley Jr. near the bottom. They’ll score plenty. But without Ortiz, the charismatic, clutch fulcrum of that lineup for so long, they won’t score as many as they did a year ago, when they scored 878 runs, 101 more than the runner-up Indians. Man, it’s going to be weird not having him around.
Hanley Ramirez will be counted on too much. Do not mistake this as a knock on him. Ramirez had a truly excellent ’16, slashing .286/.361/.505 with 31 homers (including one off Dellin Betances that is slated to return to earth’s atmosphere sometime this June) and 111 RBIs. It reminded me of a Manny Ramirez season in all the good and fun ways. But it also comes with a warning label: Ramirez is 33 years old and has a history of injuries. A season ago, he played 147 games. He’s played more than that just once since 2009, when he played 157 split between the Dodgers and Marlins. He’ll get a lot of time at designated hitter, which should help him remain somewhat durable. But with Ortiz, the greatest designated hitter of them all (at least east of Seattle), having called it a career (you sure, David?), the Red Sox are depending on Ramirez to be as good – and available – as he was a season ago. I like the chances of the former more than the latter.
Sandy Leon will not be the starting catcher come summer. Leon, who turns 28 in March, enters spring training as the Red Sox starting catcher, and that’s how it should be. He was a perhaps the most pleasant surprise on the roster last season, seizing the job via attrition and other players’ underperformance and refusing to give it back. In 78 games and 283 plate appearances, Leon slashed .310/.369/.476 with 7 home runs and 26 extra-base hits. How unexpected was this? In his previous major league experience from 2012-15 with the Nationals and Red Sox, Leon hit .187 with 1 homer and a .483 OPS in a sample-size (75 games, 235 plate appearances) roughly equal to his 2016 playing time. Leon, who can’t touch breaking balls on the inner half of the plate, hit .177 over the season’s last 28 days. I suspect what we saw last year was more mirage than revelation, and with Blake Swihart – the Red Sox’ most unheralded young player – and Christian Vazquez finally healthy again, Leon will probably end up being the odd man out before the season is complete.
