By the time baseball season rolls around, 2024 will officially be known as the “Year Of The Dragon” (at least, according to Chinese astrology…).
Around these parts, I can’t help but wonder if the defining refrain of 2024 for Boston Red Sox fans will be “Sell The Team!” Sure, we’ve heard it before. I, for one, have floated it out there a time or two…
But this time feels different.
Red Sox fans are at their wits’ end. And what’s worse, John Henry’s ownership doesn’t seem to care. The Red Sox are no longer operating like a fire-breathing mythical monster determined to terrorize the league as they once did.
In short, the Henry-owned Fenway Sports Group has lost its fire. At least, its fire for winning baseball games in Boston. Right now, the fire is burning stronger for winning soccer matches in England, winning hockey games in Pittsburgh, winning NASCAR races and winning yet-to-be-played golf matches…
But you know who hasn’t lost their competitive fire? Red Sox fans.
Right now, as the team fails to meet your expectations, Boston fans have turned their passion for the on-field product into vitriol toward ownership. Hey, we’re a passionate bunch here in Boston. We want to pour our passion into a winner. If that’s not an option, then we’ll funnel it into our frustrations.
The problem with unrequited passion, though, is that it can turn into apathy in a hurry.
In that way, Henry is risking turning the Red Sox into the soon-to-be-defunct Oakland A’s (… John Henry did originally try to hire the architect of Moneyball himself, Billy Beane, after all). Sure, there’s a vocal portion of the fan base that still cares and makes themselves heard, but with each passing year of diminishing returns on the field, the outcry from fans will become fainter and fainter. Why? Because they just don’t care anymore.
The good thing about that, at least, is that fans “not caring” isn’t good for Henry. If fans stop buying tickets and pouring into Fenway Park, stop buying merchandise, and stop watching and listening to the product on TV and the radio, that will force action from an owner who now has a “business-first” mindset. Or, conversely, the fans that do show up will bring paper bags to put over their heads and signs that say “Sell the team, John!”
Forcing Henry into action can only lead to good things for Red Sox fans. Either Henry wakes up and starts investing big dollars into the team again, or he cuts his losses (which, ironically, would actually be massive gains in the form of billions of dollars) and offloads the team to somebody who will.
So will 2024 be the year you decide to take your baseball team back, Boston?
It will be entirely up to you…
All in the family
The best response to failure is doing the exact same thing over and over again. No, wait, that’s actually the definition of insanity…
No matter. That’s apparently the direction Red Sox might be headed after striking out on the biggest names in free agency thus far. Can’t sign a new star pitcher? No worries, just try to bring back James Paxton. Can’t nail down a deal for free agency consolation prize Jorge Soler? Oh well, just reunite with J.D. Martinez or Kike Hernandez instead…
Seriously, Kike Hernandez? Is this seriously what we’re doing now? He didn’t even actually win anything here!
As some continue to speculate that the Red Sox will still do something big this offseason — which there is still time to do, but you can count me out as someone who is expecting them to at this point — others are starting to hit the panic button. More aptly, the “retread” button…
Bringing back Paxton (which sounds like it won’t be happening now, thankfully), Martinez or Hernandez would be like the Bruins bringing back Milan Lucic. It would be a move meant to elicit a wave of nostalgia from casual fans, not to actually improve the team for the coming season.
If Craig Breslow & Co. have truly reached the point that they are considering bringing those guys back, I would implore them instead to go into full-on rebuild mode since the prospects are dimming on any more major offseason moves.
To recap the “major” moves of the offseason this far, the Red Sox have traded Alex Verdugo, traded for Tyler O’Neill, signed Lucas Giolito… and that’s pretty much it.
We’ve gone this far without Breslow trading one of the team’s top prospects, and it sounds increasingly likely that he won’t be doing so this offseason. It also appears unlikely now that the team is going to bring in Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery.
… why exactly did they move on from Chaim Bloom again?
Soler flare?
Speaking of Soler, how do we feel about the possibility of signing Soler as the likely final piece of the offensive puzzle for 2024?
(I know, I know — it ain’t gonna happen. The word around the league is they’re “in the mix” — have you heard that one before? — but are likely to be outbid by the likes of the Toronto Blue Jays. I mean, I can’t anymore… I just can’t.)
A soon-to-be 32-year-old Soler coming off the first All-Star season of his decade-long major league career isn’t someone to sneeze at. He’s a veteran bat capable of solid production. Also, speaking of old friend J.D. Martinez, the fact that he signed with Boston prior to his age 30 season and put up the best numbers of his career from that point on suggests that Soler in his early 30s might still have his best years ahead of him.
Yet there’s a reason Soler wasn’t considered a top-tier free agent and is still available…
For one, Soler is more of a designated hitter now than an outfielder. He spent 102 games at DH last season and only 31 in right field. Also, you certainly can’t expect him to hit for average — he’s a lifetime .243 hitter who has never elevated his average above .265 in a season in which he’s played more than 100 games (another concern, as he’s only done that four times…).
Last season’s 36 homers were the second-most he’s hit in his career behind a 48-homer, 117-RBI season that came out of nowhere in 2019. His offensive peak is clearly that of an All-Star, but his lack of consistency is concerning — especially when his projected market value is nearly $14 million (Spotrac) and the price tag is only going to be inflated by a bidding war.
In all likelihood, though, the Red Sox will be “interested” in Soler — but nothing more.
Arbitrary deals
Nick Pivetta, Tyler O’Neill, Reese McGuire and John Schreiber are all back in Boston on one-year deals, thus avoiding arbitration.
Please try to contain your excitement…
Pivetta’s $7.5 million salary for 2024 leads the bunch. It's a fair number for a pitcher with some upside who has yet to nail down that whole "consistency" thing. But if Pivetta pitches up to his capability, then less than $10 million is a steal. That's a big if, of course.
O’Neill could also be a steal at the $5.85 million he will make next season. That’s if he’s closer to the player he was in 2021 — hitting .286 with 34 homers and 80 RBIs — compared to the paltry production of the last two injury-plagued seasons.
McGuire is… McGuire. I’m not going to waste time opining on a $1.5 million contract for a platoon-level catcher. But hey, if someone wants to pay me $1.5 million though, I’ll listen…
Finally, Schreiber’s is another deal that has the potential to be a great one for the team at only $1.175 million. We’re talking about a reliever about to turn 30 who has been great since joining the Red Sox — going 6-5 with a 2.90 ERA in 111 appearances, 32 holds, nine saves and 132 punch-outs in three seasons — that could be the guy you look to fill the closer role if Kenley Jansen gets traded. And like Jansen, Schreiber could definitely have an All-Star season or two in his future…