Red Sox are unbeaten this spring, but they certainly haven’t been unblemished
The Red Sox are unbeaten so far early in spring training, but it certainly hasn't been an uneventful camp.
COMMENTARY
Five years ago, we grew fond of noting “they don’t really lose much, do they?” as the Red Sox marched through a season for the ages. But even they, champions of both October and March, dropped nine of 31 games in Florida before the season began.
This year’s expectation-free Red Sox are the true unstoppable force.
Three weeks from a March 30 opener at an assuredly bracing Fenway Park, Boston is 10-0-3 in spring ball if we include the classic “exhibitions that don’t count” over both Northeastern and, on Wednesday, Team Puerto Rico.
The Red Sox will roll into Tampa this afternoon for their last meeting with the Yankees until June — schedule’s gonna get weird this year — as the last undefeated team in spring baseball. What does it mean?
We’re all adults here, right? Matt Dermody, a 31-year-old on a nonroster deal out of Korea, leads Boston in innings pitched. Their top three in defensive innings played are the spectacular Ceddanne Rafaela, Enmanuel Valdez, and Ryan Fitzgerald — all yet to play higher than Triple-A, and all unlikely to change that until this summer at earliest.
Let’s just say it beats the alternative. Winning’s fun, these Red Sox seem to be having fun, and Chaim Bloom’s crew could use any ounce of outside optimism it can muster.
Triston Casas has begun a year begging for a breakout by mashing the ball, with two homers and a double in seven games. Same with Christian Arroyo, trying to play his way out of a platoon at second base. Chris Sale picked up where he left off last summer, hitting 96 miles per hour and looking plenty sharp in Monday’s two-inning debut.
Those are ideal starts from players a hopeful version of the 2023 Red Sox figure to lean on. May they (and the positive first impressions about Masataka Yoshida) build into something.
And may the litany of small nicks that have hit elsewhere across the roster do what most spring narratives do: Disappear into the ether before Memorial Day.
It certainly hasn’t been an uneventful Red Sox camp, even throwing out the disruption of the World Baseball Classic. The best springs are far and away the ones where no one gets hurt, full stop. These weeks build the foundation for the seven-month grind, even among the most diligent players.
It’s been a rough spring in that regard. Consider:
- Brayan Bello and Garrett Whitlock are both in line to face hitters for the first time all spring Saturday. The team took it slow with Whitlock following his September hip surgery, and Bello dealt with forearm soreness after throwing a ton of breaking balls in an early-camp bullpen session.
- Connor Wong strained a hamstring a week ago. The backup catcher is back to taking batting practice again.
- James Paxton left his first spring start last Friday an out early with a mild hamstring strain. He could be throwing off a mound again by the end of the week, but the delay should have him on the injured list to start the year.
- Justin Turner came out of taking a fastball to the face as well as anyone could hope — 16 stitches, no broken bones. The expected designated hitter will have those stitches for “about two weeks,” manager Alex Cora told reporters, with no one rushing to make any return timetables publicly.
Individually, there’s nothing here that screams long-term issue. Guys deal with dead arms, and battle hamstrings as they build up elasticity in muscles after the winter. Paxton? He wasn’t going to be a season-long answer after essentially not pitching for three years anyway.
And as they’ve taken away, these issues have opened up chances. Wong can be sent to Worcester to start the year, opening a door for Jorge Alfaro behind the plate — the team loves him, by all accounts, as he gets reps with Jason Varitek. Both he and Raimel Tapia, who got the Sox offense started on Wednesday, are making strong cases for season-opening roster spots.
It’s just . . . if I’m sitting here trying to assess where things are, I know these wins aren’t going to linger much into the year. Meanwhile, I’ve seen enough apparently minor spring injuries manifest later as something more, not to mention injuries in recent Red Sox history that turned into something far worse than initial assessments.
Ideally, this is just because I’m a pissy old crank who consumes joy like you do Starbucks. The pitch clock’s been a runaway success (like anyone who’d watched a game with it knew it would), and a winning spring beats a losing spring.
May it only be the start of surprises from a group whose been promising to deliver their doubters plenty, and who needs surprises by the bushel to keep our attention.
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