The 2023 season ended the same way for the Boston Red Sox and the San Francisco Giants — on the outside looking in.
Both finished miles behind their respective division champions, the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers. Both entered the offseason with outside expectations of spending big to rebuild on the fly. And both saw their primary offseason targets — for the Red Sox, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and for the Giants, Shohei Ohtani — sign elsewhere.
Each reaching a crossroads, the two most successful organizations of the 21st century took different paths. The Giants turned to the next best available options in an attempt to salvage their offseason, while the Red Sox essentially picked up their ball and went home in a pivot toward the future.
Both teams must have internally recognized, whether they have since admitted it to their fanbases or not, that the status quo would not be good enough to compete within their own divisions in 2024.
When San Francisco struck out on signing Ohtani, who spurned them for the intra-divisional rival Dodgers, the franchise did exactly what many expected Boston would: find another way to make a big splash.
Sted Ohtani, the Giants signed Korean star outfielder Jung Ho Lee, a former All-Star third baseman in Matt Chapman, a former All-Star slugger in Jorge Soler, a flame-throwing reliever in Jordan Hicks, a former Cy Young Award winner in Robbie Ray… and last but not least, a two-time and reigning Cy Young winner in Blake Snell.
The Giants have had quite the offseason 🔥 pic.twitter.com/PW11mw9ilk
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 19, 2024
Any of those names sound familiar? Of course they do, because many are players who were linked to or briefly pursued by the Red Sox, who certainly could have had any one of them for the right price.
Instead, Craig Breslow’s front office decided that chasing after their divisional juggernauts was not a realistic or worthwhile pursuit. While the signing of now-shelved former All-Star Lucas Giolito was a move made with the present in mind, the rest of the team’s moves — such as trading for Vaughn Grissom and Tyler O’Neill, the signings of reclamation projects like Michael Fulmer and Liam Hendriks — were made with a goal of positioning themselves better for the 2025 season and beyond.
Each way of thinking has its merits. As we saw with last season’s New York Mets debacle, spending big does not guarantee success. Yet there are always three other playoff spots up for grabs outside your own division, and making a deep postseason run as a wild card isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
So which ideology will prove superior? Maybe the Giants will shock the world and give the Dodgers a run for their money in the NL West, or maybe grab a wild card spot and see fortune unravel in their favor? Or perhaps the Red Sox will be better off for not investing in what they’ve deemed an inferior talent pool this winter and will be in a better spot to spend and contend next season?
Only time will tell, but it’s a fascinating juxtaposition of baseball ops philosophies nonetheless…
Bello gets the nod for opener
Brayan Bello has arrived.
The 24-year-old phenom will get the nod for Opening Day in Seattle. When Bello takes the mound at T-Mobile Park on March 28th, not only will he become Boston’s youngest Opening Day starter in nearly three decades (Aaron Sele, 1995) — he will also be issuing in a new era: the Brayan Bello era.
Bello with the call. pic.twitter.com/xxcrQW5E79
— Red Sox (@RedSox) March 19, 2024
Bello enters his third full season with plenty going for him. For starters, he has the backing of a marquee organization and a new deal that will pay him between $55 and $76 million. He’s also coming off a commendable first full big league season in which he led the club in wins (12), innings pitched (157) and WAR among starters (3.2).
While Bello is no doubt deserving, the circumstances surrounding the Red Sox’s rotation played a role in this decision as well. Giolito would have been a contender to make that Opening Day start had he not injured his UCL, and neither Chris Sale nor Jordan Montgomery (not yet, at least…) were going to be walking through that door…
Bello has pitched commendably in two prior starts against the Mariners, going 2-0 with a 4.09 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 11 innings. Bello will be opposed by three-time right-hander All-Star Luis Castillo, which gives us a fun matchup of fireballers to open the season.
If the Red Sox are to successfully channel their inner underdog season, it’s almost certainly going to start with Bello taking a major step forward. With his Opening Day designation, it’s clear the Boston brass believe he is knocking on the doors of stardom…
Gethin Coolbaugh is a columnist for Boston Sports Journal. Follow him @GethinCoolbaugh on X/Twitter.