Lessons from the 2007 champs, and some other Red Sox observations
The ideal for how a franchise with vast resources should build its roster is the 2007 Red Sox.
COMMENTARY
Playing nine innings while realizing “full throttle” is going to join “bridge year” in the Hall of Fame of regrettable Red Sox lexicon …
1. I’ve mentioned this a few times over the years, but it’s worth reiterating, I think, given the Red Sox’ current brain trust’s one-dimensional, flawed, and transparent “Hey Look, We Have Some Neat Prospects!” approach to team building.
The ideal for how a franchise with vast resources — which of course the Red Sox still have, despite their troubling reluctance to use them — should build its roster is the 2007 Red Sox. Oh, the 2004 team is forever beloved for ending the championship drought. The ‘13 Sox became more of a part of the city’s fabric than ever during a time of tragedy. And the ‘18 Sox ruthlessly clobbered every obstacle in their way en route to a franchise-record 119 total wins. Hard to believe that was just six years ago, isn’t it?
2. But about those ‘07 Sox, the least-discussed of those four champions. They were the absolute model for team construction, with crucial holdovers from ‘04 (Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Jason Varitek), acquisitions via savvy trades and selective high-end free agents signings (Mike Lowell, Josh Beckett, J.D. Drew), and homegrown future stars (Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury were rookies, while Jon Lester and Jonathan Papelbon were essential recent arrivals).
That team had the perfect balance of high-salaried superstar veterans and low-salaried arrivals from the farm system. The Red Sox had become Theo Epstein’s desired “player development machine” — another Sox Hall of Fame turn of phrase — while continuing to pay for elite talent.
3. That is how to build a true, perennial contender. It should be the model for Craig Breslow, just as it should have been for Chaim Bloom, and just as it was, fleetingly, for Dave Dombrowski, who made mostly the right keep-’em-or-trade-’em moves with the talented farm system he inherited from Ben Cherington.
Yet the emphasis — from Breslow, Sam Kennedy, and anyone else from management willing to speak into a microphone — is almost entirely on the prospects, particularly Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, and Kyle Teel. Once the season begins, we’ll also hear a lot about those ‘04 Sox, given it’s the 20th anniversary of The Vanquishing.
So … savor the past, look forward to the future, and please don’t notice what’s happening in the present.
4. This is not to suggest that the prospects are not worth being excited about. (Teel, in particular; here’s to having a cornerstone catcher for a decade or so.) But this puts an awful lot of pressure on three players who have a combined 273 plate appearances in Double A and zero above that level.
Their promise is real, but it’s a shame — not to mention patronizing to the fan base — that it’s the only thing the Red Sox have to sell their loyalists right now.
It’s probably unreasonable to demand impeccable roster construction like they had way back in ‘07. But these are the Boston Red Sox. It’s not enough to get fans’ hopes up for the next generation of homegrown players. It needs to be the prospects and something more. Much more.
5. It’s not particularly time-consuming to identify what there is to like about the 2024 Red Sox in their current state. Rafael Devers is entering his age-27 season and has averaged 33 homers and 100 RBIs over the last three seasons. Triston Casas had a 1.034 OPS and 15 home runs in 211 plate appearances in the second half last year. He should become a perennial All-Star.
Brayan Bello has more promise than any other starter the Red Sox have developed in years, and seems to have the makeup to match the stuff. The bullpen is deep. Trevor Story is slick at shortstop. Nick Pivetta hoards strikeouts. Jarren Duran turns singles into doubles (no, not defensively, wise guy, at least not that often anymore).
And … um … anything else that isn’t speculative or wishful?
6. Not to mention that it’s neither fair nor ideal to be putting this much pressure on their prospects, no more than it would have been to build all hopes around Ellis Burks in 1987, or Donnie Sadler in 1996, or Lars Anderson in 2009, or Xander Bogaerts in 2013. (All No. 1 overall Sox prospects, per Baseball America, in case you needed evidence of the variance in even the best prospects’ success rate.)
Mayer hit .189 in Double A last year and dealt with a shoulder injury. He doesn’t need this pressure. He needs a chance to breathe and succeed.
7. But you have to push the prospects, I suppose, when the team’s prospects for success are so grim. The Sox won 78 games last year, and unless an unexpected move occurs, I can’t see how they’re better.
Alex Verdugo was annoying but useful. Is Tyler O’Neill, who has a .707 OPS over the past two years, an upgrade? I don’t see it. Justin Turner and Adam Duvall had their flaws, but they were productive veteran righthanded hitters, and I don’t see their replacements on the roster yet.
8. The swap of Chris Sale to Atlanta for Vaughn Grissom — who has fan-favorite potential — was savvy. But unless Breslow and Andrew Bailey work miracles with the pitching, it’s hard to envision how Lucas Giolito is an upgrade.
Maybe the Sox will get Jordan Montgomery or Blake Snell at a cheaper price than they expected at the start of free agency. But in the meantime, we’re stuck lamenting losing James Paxton to the Dodgers, a team that doesn’t even particularly need him.
9. Anyone who left Adrián Beltré off their Hall of Fame ballot must have stopped paying attention to Major League Baseball somewhere around 2009. The one-year Red Sox third baseman is the epitome of a no-brainer Hall of Famer, with 477 homers, 3,166 hits, five Gold Gloves, and endless reminders of why baseball is supposed to be fun. The only thing that should have a beef against Beltré is Jacoby Ellsbury’s rib cage.
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