Yeah, it’s just spring training, but there is value in the 7 victories the Red Sox have strung together
Free agent signing Raimel Tapia is one of the top producers so far this spring, hitting .412 with a 1.294 OPS.
FORT MYERS, Fla. — When Norwith Gudino — the seventh Red Sox pitcher of the afternoon and one whose presence on the mound made a decent case for purchasing a game program — struck out the Tigers’ Colt Keith on three pitches to complete Monday’s ballgame, the JetBlue Park public address announcer couldn’t resist having some fun with the hosts’ place in the Grapefruit League hierarchy so far.
“Final score,’’ said Ted Fitzgeorge, the PA voice, “your undefeated Red Sox 7, Tigers 1.”
Undefeated. Hey, no lies detected, right? The victory, started encouragingly enough by Chris Sale (no program needed), boosted the Red Sox’ spring record to seven wins, zero losses, and three ties. They are the lone team without a loss this spring.
A record like that looks as though it would represent, oh, a couple of weeks’ worth of work for this year’s juggernaut Bruins. But what is it worth to these Red Sox? Not much of what happens in Fort Myers will be remembered, and none of it counts. It’s just spring training, after all.
But it’s not valueless. The Red Sox arrived here swathed in their fans’ skepticism. They finished last in the American League East last season with 78 wins, never made an authentic effort to retain popular shortstop Xander Bogaerts in free agency, and assorted veterans — many accomplished, but all accompanied by question marks — were signed to short-term deals.
Tellingly, at Winter Weekend, where optimism is supposed to reign and ticket packages are supposed to be sold to stuff stockings all over New England, ownership and management got booed, by the truest of diehards.
The quick spring start shouldn’t recalibrate expectations, but it should allow some optimism to percolate. Sale’s velocity touched 95 miles per hour during his two innings Monday, and manager Alex Cora lights up when he talks about the lanky lefty’s repertoire. Believe it — he can be an ace again, provided he doesn’t fall off a pogo stick and break his femur or something. Sale hopefully met his career quota for freak injuries last season.
Monday’s win did bring one scary moment, when Justin Turner, whose on-base skills (he hit .296 with a .375 on-base percentage in nine seasons with the Dodgers) and engaging personality suggest he’ll emerge as one of the more popular ‘23 Red Sox, was hit in the face by a Matt Manning pitch. Turner’s wife Kourtney tweeted a few hours later that he required 16 stitches, but that he was home and “resting ( OK — maybe listening to the replay of the game).” Given the scariness of the scene, the tweet provided a reason to exhale.
The Red Sox drained the game of most of its suspense in that first inning, scoring four times. Raimel Tapia and Jorge Alfaro — two experienced major leaguers battling to stick on this roster — each drove in a run in the first, and combined to go 5 for 6 with 4 RBIs. Tapia, who tormented the Sox last season (.834 OPS, 3 homers, 16 RBIs in 15 games) while with the Jays, later added his first home run of the spring.
Newcomers making a good impression? Why, that’s another way optimism in the spring builds, even if you might resist it. There have been multiple dispatches this spring from reporters confirming that the Red Sox have “good vibes” and a positive collective attitude about the upcoming season. This should not come with a breaking-news alert. Pretty much every Red Sox team that did not have Bobby Valentine as its manager was copacetic in the spring.
It is going to be fascinating to see whether those good vibes — combined with the Sox’ scorching spring start — leads to a pleasant surprise of a regular season. It was to a degree two years ago, when the ‘21 Red Sox went 16-11 in the spring, finishing two games behind the Marlins for the Grapefruit League’s best record. That Red Sox team, coming off a 24-36 mark in the COVID-abbreviated ‘20 season, had modest expectations. But the spring success carried into April, when they went 17-10, and they ended up submitting a superb 92-win season that included ousting the Yankees and Rays from the playoffs.
The ‘13 Red Sox — the wishful thinker’s comparison for this team because its roster dotted with veteran free-agent pickups went on to win the World Series — were just a .500 team in Florida (17-17) before becoming one of the most beloved clubs in franchise lore. The 2004 and 2007 eventual champions were both strong in their springs, going 17-12 and 15-12, but they were expected to be. Both of those teams were loaded.
The Red Sox have had baseball’s best record in the spring once this century, and it was the prologue to their most dominant season. Cora’s 2018 club won 108 games in the regular season and 11 more in the postseason en route to winning the World Series. It hinted at such dominance by going 22-9 with a plus-43 run differential in the Grapefruit League.
The ‘23 Red Sox have zero chance of winning a championship. There’s just not enough here. But an entertaining summer and playoff contention seem like more reasonable outcomes than they did before spring training commenced.
Funny, meaningless games start to feel as if they do have meaning when you keep winning one after another after another.
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