The Red Sox’ needs are obvious, but an entertaining, quasi-competitive product isn’t out of their reach
The Red Sox are not built to be good right now. Unless they decide to heed Rafael Devers’ requests for a starting pitcher, the best we can hope is that they’re as entertaining as a noncontender can be.
On Monday, the Red Sox had their first full-squad workout of the spring.
On Tuesday, mild-mannered Rafael Devers, the closest thing to a prime-of-career, established star on the roster, declared to reporters that “everyone knows what we need.” It was, essentially, a plea for more help.
Must have been a heck of a first workout, huh?
Oh, fine, I’m kidding — mostly. The timing of Devers’s comments probably was due to coincidence and his availability more than anything. It’s not as if he suddenly had an epiphany that management would just as soon get by with the major league equivalent of Timmy Lupus in the outfield, or that Amanda Whurlizer would be competitive with at least a couple of their starting pitching candidates.
These Red Sox, with their lackluster offseason that is no fault of new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, are easy to project as the last-place finishers in the American League East for the third straight season. But they’re not Bad News Bears-level bad, even if good news has been scarce.
Perhaps, at age 27, with a 10-year, $313.5 million contract kicking in, Devers is making a conscious attempt at genuine leadership. Confirmation will come one way or the other when we learn whether he has taken serious steps to improve his inattentive defense at third base.
No matter what, Devers deserves credit for speaking up — and it should be noted that his matter-of-fact requests for help are becoming a trend.
Here’s what he said Tuesday: “Everybody knows what we need. You know what we need. They know what we need. There’s some things I can’t say out loud. Everybody that knows the organization and knows the game knows what we need.”
And here’s what he said, per colleague Peter Abraham’s reporting, two days before the trade deadline last season: “Everyone knows what we need. Hopefully we can get that in the next few days. We can’t control that as players. All we can do is give 100 percent on the field. But we need pitching.”
The only difference is that Devers spelled out the specific need last year, whereas he was slightly more diplomatic Tuesday. But to paraphrase what he said, and said again: Everybody knows what they need.
And what do they need? Pretty much what they needed at the deadline last year and what they needed this offseason: one starting pitcher, probably two. Lucas Giolito, who gave up three fewer home runs last season (41) than Pedro Martinez allowed over 746⅓ innings from 1999-2002, is here to fill the traditional Bret Saberhagen Reclamation Project That We Desperately Hope Can Get It Together role held by Corey Kluber last season.
Giolito seems like a nice guy, and his mom was terrific as Meg Ryan’s replacement as Betsy on “As The World Turns” when I was a kid, but he’s being relied upon too much for a reclamation project. He joins a rotation that most likely will include Brayan Bello (a front-end starter if he can solve why his fastball got clobbered by lefties), Nick Pivetta (will that 0.96 WHIP and 12.5 K/9 in the second half prove fleeting, or an indication of further excellence to come?), Kutter Crawford (4.51 ERA, 1.19 WHIP as a starter in ‘23), and probably Garrett Whitlock (career 4.76 ERA as a starter, vs. 2.65 out of the bullpen).
Jordan Montgomery wouldn’t be a perfect addition to this staff — the spotty infield defense, save for Trevor Story at shortstop, is no friend to a ground-ball pitcher. But who needs perfect? He’s an innings-eating, above-average lefthanded starter, and the Red Sox could certainly use that. Give the checkbook to Devers. He’ll sign him.
What else do the Red Sox need to be an entertaining, quasi-competitive team this season? The bullpen looks deep and versatile, to the point that it was understandable why John Schreiber was sent to the Royals for pitching prospect David Sandlin. But that could change if Kenley Jansen is dealt and Chris Martin, arguably the most effective reliever in baseball last year, suddenly starts pitching like a 37-year-old.
Breslow and his band of pitching-developmental wizards are being counted on to work wonders with an assortment of unheralded arms in the organization, and they probably will. But failing — or not being given the resources — to buffer the staff with an established starter (or two) is a disappointment. I’ve seen enough “bullpen games” to last a lifetime.
What else? The Triston Casas/Vaughn Grissom/Trevor Story/Devers infield could be very productive, especially if Grissom acclimates to second base right away. Casas should be an All-Star, and hopefully his defense vastly improves. Story is the key to so much. If he puts up an .820 OPS with 25 or so homers, that’s a very valuable player given his defensive prowess.
Connor Wong is competent as Kyle Teel’s placeholder, at least in the rare moments when we can forget that he’s the last remnant of the Mookie Betts deal.
Count me among those who believe Masataka Yoshida will produce similarly to what he did in the first half last year (.316/.382/.492), now that he’s acclimated to the MLB travel schedule and set to spend the majority of his time at designated hitter rather than taking those haywire Mike Greenwell routes to fly balls.
The outfield is a mishmash of interesting, athletic, flawed players. You could convince me that Jarren Duran will be an All-Star, and you could convince me that he’ll reside in Worcester by June. The potential outcomes are wide. I’m not sure what Tyler O’Neill will be, but at least he’s not Alex Verdugo, which is a good start. Ceddanne Rafaela could be special if he can learn to resist the ever-tempting slider in the dirt.
Is that enough? Maybe, but it would be wise to bring back Adam Duvall for some righthanded pop and good-teammate vibes. It’s just plain weird when the Red Sox lack a quintessential Fenway slugger at one corner of their outfield.
Then again, so much is weird about their current state. The Red Sox are not built to be good right now. Unless they suddenly decide to heed Devers’s requests, the best we can hope is that they’re as entertaining as a noncontender can be.
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