Will the Red Sox be more likable in 2018?
Tell me if I’m wrong – and I know you will – but there doesn’t seem to have been much buzz surrounding the Red Sox’ opener today, at least compared to the usual anticipation of Opening Day. Maybe I’m listening in all the wrong places, but I don’t think so.
Perhaps it’s because the opener comes early this year, and at Tropicana Field, which has all the charm of an abandoned mini-golf course. We can wait to activate all of those hokey, satisfying clichés about time beginning on opening day and springtime renewals when Fenway officially opens for business April 5, and we’ll do it while happily humming along to John Fogarty’s “Center Field,’’ which qualifies as a classic only during a baseball season’s most sentimental days.
The limited Red Sox buzz is understandable to some degree. We have a cornucopia of fascinating athletes, teams, and plot-twists around here right now. The Patriots’ season never really ends even when they stop playing football games. The Bruins, presumed mediocre in the preseason, have become a marvel, to the point that the Duck Boats might want to leave a few open dates in the schedule in June. The Celtics keep losing core players and winning games, battered underdogs now heading toward a banner future. In many ways these are the good old days in Boston sports, and the best part is, we know it while it is happening.
It’s a little more complicated with the Red Sox. The 2017 edition won 93 games and a second straight American League East title, and nearly (and should have) forced a fifth and deciding game in the ALDS against the eventual World Champion Houston Astros. It was, by all measures other than those punctuated by a ring ceremony, a successful season.
Yet the good times didn’t always feel so good. The 2017 Red Sox were a fine team, but a little annoying too. Sometimes more than a little. I don’t want to spend too many words reflecting back on the previous season on the day a new one begins, but I do believe context is necessary to appreciate where the 2018 Red Sox are now and where they are headed.
Something was missing with last year’s Red Sox, on two fronts, and due to a singular, massive absence. The Red Sox missed David Ortiz in the heart of their lineup, and they missed him as the heart of their clubhouse. The post-Papi void in the lineup was glaring all season. He hit a team-high 38 home runs in his superb 2016 walk-off season, while the team in total hit 208, the ninth-most in the majors. Last year, sans Ortiz for the first time since 2002, the Red Sox hit 168 homers, 27th in the majors and last in the AL. He was gone for good, but it was as if the Red Sox he left behind spent the season waiting for him to show up.
His absence in the clubhouse may have been even more affecting. It became apparent as the season played out that manager John Farrell had leaned on Ortiz, too, particularly as a communicator with the younger players. There was a certain aimlessness to the Red Sox minus Ortiz. If Farrell had lost just one young player, perhaps that would have been a reflection on the player more than a manager. But he sure seems to have lost Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts and Jackie Bradley Jr. and Andrew Benintendi, all of whom are accomplished and conscientious players at a young age. Farrell had success here, but he had to go.
There will never be another Ortiz, someone so charismatic and clutch. But the voids he left behind should be filled as much as it can this year. J.D. Martinez is a charismatic, easy going slugger in his own right; he is not just what they need now. He’s what they needed a year ago. Red Sox fans are going to love him. And the new manager, bright and engaging Alex Cora, is already building a strong bond with the young core, which should help them be at their best. Bogaerts in particular should benefit from a fresh and optimistic voice in the dugout.
Sometimes we just require a reminder of the blessings. Chris Sale is the Red Sox’ most appealing ace since Pedro Martinez, who of course was the most appealing ace of all. Sale is capable of history every time he takes the mound. The Red Sox feature a talented core that is just now moving into its prime. I don’t know how anyone can take Betts for granted, but sometimes we do. Few teams can boast two age-23-or-under players with the appeal of Benintendi and Rafael Devers.
Sure, there are questions: Is the defensively-challenged infield going to chronically err like some sort of Butch Hobson tribute band? Is there enough pitching depth, particularly at the back of the rotation? How will they counter the mashers in the middle of the Yankees lineup now that Giancarlo Stanton has joined the dark side?
But there always are questions, and there are fewer for these Red Sox than there were a year ago. This was a very good but increasingly unappealing team last year.
This year?
They’re still very good, probably even better. And they’re already more likable before they’ve played a real game. The reminder and the confirmation begin today.
