9 thoughts on the start to the Red Sox’ season
Playing nine innings while suddenly understanding why the Red Sox hired Alex Cora rather than Gabe Kapler …
1. One area where Xander Bogaerts has been remarkably consistent since becoming a big-league regular in 2014 is his doubles production. From 2014 to 2017, the Red Sox’ 25-year-old shortstop has hit between 28 and 35 two-baggers each year, including 32 last year when he played through a hand injury suffered in July. Through four games this year, Bogaerts already has five doubles, which leads the majors. I have a hunch that he won’t continue on a pace to hit 202 doubles over 162 games, but I do think this rapid start is indicative of his return to health and the big year that is ahead of him. I’m setting the over/under for Bogaerts doubles at 40, and I’m taking the over. He’ll probably surpass his career high in homers (21, 2016) as well.
2. Bogaerts has probably been the No. 1 feel-good story for the Red Sox , winners of three in a row after losing on Opening Day. Sure, they were fortunate to ease into the season against the Rays, but then again, the Rays usually end up being a little more competitive than expected even with their lack of star power. Bottom line is that there’s a lot to like about what we’ve seen from the Red Sox so far. Chris Sale, David Price, and Rick Porcello all excelled in their first starts, and placeholder Hector Velazquez was rather good too. They bounced back strong from the frustrating Opening Day loss, and it was impressive how Cora handled it. There are frustrations – the offense apparently left the bats in Fort Myers, and Joe Kelly could pitch hitless ball through August and I’ll never trust the guy – but they are small ones. I think Boston is going to like this team.
3. Catch any of Shohei Ohtani’s pitching debut Sunday? Impressive, right? Six innings, three hits, one walk, six strikeouts, and few mistakes beyond a hanging breaking ball Oakland’s Matt Chapman clubbed for a three-run homer. Just off that puny sample size, I don’t think there’s much doubt that with good health he’ll be a a top-of-the-rotation starter immediately, if not quite a Gooden/Nomo-style immediate phenomenon. The bigger mystery is what he’ll be as a hitter, or whether he’s a major-league hitter at all right now. He’s far better at throwing the breaking ball than he is at hitting one.
4. The apparent discrepancy in Ohtani’s two-way development is a quandary not just for the Angels, but far more importantly, for fantasy baseball owners. I’m in three leagues, and each league handles the Ohtani question differently. In one league, he’s two separate players, the hitter and the pitcher, so theoretically he can be on two different rosters. In another league, where we set lineups every two weeks, a substitution move is required if you want to swap him from a hitter to a pitcher. And a third league just counts all of his stats, so you get him as a pitcher and a hitter. Curious what your league does. I’m not sure there’s a perfect solution, but it sure is a fun problem to have.
5. The 2005 Portland Sea Dogs featured the most talent I’ve ever seen on a minor league roster over the course of a full season. Their lineup included Hanley Ramirez, Dustin Pedroia – or half of this year’s Red Sox infield once everyone is healthy. The rotation featured Jonathan Papelbon, Jon Lester, and Anibal Sanchez, plus a couple of other pitchers who had some MLB success, including Manny Delcarmen and Kason Gabbard, and Cla Meredith. Brandon Moss and David Murphy were two of their outfielders.
6. What’s amusing is that while that team was good – it went 76-66 even as players moved up the ladder – it was not a champion, losing the Eastern League title to the Akron Aeros, a Cleveland farm team that didn’t have much in the way of prospects beyond Trevor Crowe, Roberto Hernandez (then Fausto Carmona, who would later give up J.D. Drew’s legendary grand slam in the 2007 ALCS), and Franklin Gutierrez. The Sea Dogs won their first championship the following year, with Moss, a rapidly ascending Jacoby Ellsbury, and the legendary Devern Hansack leading the way.
7. I bring this up not to reminisce about fun Sox farm teams – OK, maybe just a little – but to give a nod in the direction of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. As you probably know, they’re the Blue Jays’ Double A franchise based in Manchester. As you may not know, it looks like they’re going to be loaded this year, and with some already familiar surnames that are out to make names of their own. Rosters are still tentative at this point, but it looks like the Fischer Cats will have two of the top 10 prospects in baseball on their roster to begin the year – Vladimir Guerrero Jr., a third baseman and Baseball America’s No. 2 overall prospect, and Bo Bichette, a shortstop and BA’s No. 8 prospect. Guerrero in particular is going to shoot to the majors in hurry, so it’s certainly worth the price of admission to get to Manchester to see him now.
8. It’s a nitpick, but I do wish the Red Sox had found a way to keep Deven Marrero, the perennial 26th man who was traded to Arizona at the end of spring training. He’s never going to hit, but one thing this team can use is a skilled defensive player at multiple infield positions, and Marrero is at least that. Brock Holt might be a better player overall, but he’s overrated as a hitter – he’s hit .237 with a 73 OPS+ over the past two injury-plagued seasons – and he still had minor league options left.
9. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but John Farrell is actually pretty good on ESPN. He was animated, articulate, and informed during a debate with Mark Teixeira about infield and outfield shifts on Baseball Tonight over the weekend, and he seems to be enjoying himself. Who knew? His postgame comments when he was managing here usually felt like a verbatim reading of the box score.
