MLB Notebook: Mayer family happy to leave Boston behind; Red Sox-Yankees brace for Wild Card battle

After a disastrous, pandemic-shortened 2020 season in which the Red Sox finished 24-36 and cycled through one of the worst pitching staffs in franchise history, at least one significant reward awaited them.

The fourth overall pick in the 2021 MLB Draft, which Boston used on Eastlake High School shortstop Marcelo Mayer, a player many believed wouldn’t even be available when the Red Sox went on the clock.

Many projected Mayer to go No. 1 overall to the Pirates. Pittsburgh instead selected catcher Henry Davis, allowing one of the most highly regarded players in the draft to fall into Boston’s lap.

Mayer drew comparisons to then-Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager and Giants' Brandon Crawford. Almost immediately, Red Sox fans were told they were looking at their future shortstop.

Mayer’s climb through the organization was repeatedly interrupted by injuries. Left shoulder inflammation ended his 2023 season. A lumbar strain ended his 2024 season. His first major league season ended with surgery on his right wrist after he had been recalled when Alex Bregman landed on the injured list.

This year brought another setback when Mayer landed on the injured list with a bone stress reaction in his left ulna/forearm. His time with the organization came to a screeching halt when Boston traded Mayer to the Giants at the deadline for left-handed reliever Erik Miller. It closed the book on a five-year relationship that never came close to fulfilling the expectations attached to Mayer on draft night.

Apparently, nobody was happier about it than Mayer’s father, Enrique.

“When I found out, I jumped 30 feet in the air,” Enrique Mayer said to the San Francisco Chronicle. “I can’t explain how happy we are.”

Mayer struggled badly early this season, batting .173 through his first 18 games. Red Sox fans took notice and criticized the young shortstop after years of being told he was the answer at shortstop following the departure of Xander Bogaerts. 

“In Boston, if you’re going well, you’re a god, and if you’re struggling, they’re going to tear you apart,” Enrique said. “He didn’t come out as hot this year and the fans thought he didn’t care; that’s the most ridiculous thing to say about a major league baseball player, people don’t know the sacrifices and work it takes just to get there. But he got a bad rap, and if you get a little bit of one in Boston, it just snowballs.”

Boston can be unforgiving for young players, especially a highly touted prospect who struggles is going to hear about it. A player who arrives with a $6.6 million signing bonus, the No. 4 overall pick attached to his name, and years of “future franchise shortstop” expectations will face even more scrutiny.

That doesn’t make every criticism fair, but that’s the price of entry to be an athlete in Boston. 

And once your son becomes a professional baseball player, sometimes the best thing a parent can do is stop fighting his battles publicly. But Enrique did just the opposite, airing his grievances like Frank Costanza at Festivus. 

“If you set a record for signing bonus, you’re going to have the spotlight on you anywhere, in Boston, multiply that by 10,” he said. “It was intense. Marcelo started feeling a ridiculous amount of pressure. He’d say, ‘Dad, I’m on the on-deck circle, and they’re ripping me apart, yelling, ‘Go back to Cali!’”

Boston Has Chewed Up Plenty of Athletes in the Past

Edgar Renteria arrived in Boston immediately after being on the wrong end of one of the most famous plays in Red Sox history. His ground ball back to Keith Foulke recorded the final out of the 2004 World Series and ended Boston’s 86-year championship drought.

A few months later, he was replacing Orlando Cabrera at shortstop. The Sox were better suited to bringing Cabrera back. 

Renteria struggled early, and his defensive problems quickly became a nightly storyline. The errors piled up, 30 of them by season’s end, and the Fenway crowd eventually saddled him with the nickname “Edgar Rent-A-Wreck.”

He actually finished with a respectable .276 average, eight home runs and 70 RBI in 153 games, but there was no coming back.

One season and he was done; traded to Atlanta, agreeing to eat a significant portion of the money remaining on his contract.

Carl Crawford’s Boston experience was considerably worse. The Red Sox signed Crawford away from the Rays for seven years and $142 million, one of the biggest contracts in franchise history at the time.

Crawford never appeared comfortable in Boston, but the circumstances went well beyond a player simply failing to perform. Injuries became a significant part of the story, as did questions surrounding the organization’s medical operation. Meanwhile, the 2011 Red Sox became infamous for their historic September collapse, the beer-and-chicken controversy and the organizational finger-pointing that followed.

By August 2012, Boston wanted out badly enough to include him in the blockbuster trade that sent Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto to the Dodgers and allowed the Red Sox to escape massive financial commitments.

Eric Gagné arrived at the 2007 trade deadline with a 2.16 ERA and 16 saves in 17 opportunities for Texas.

Once he put on a Red Sox uniform, he instantly became one of the worst trade acquisitions of Theo Epstein’s tenure. 

Gagné allowed 14 earned runs and nine walks in 183 2/3 regular-season innings. He blew three saves and his struggles continued into October, including two runs allowed in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the ALCS against Cleveland. 

He got a World Series ring with Boston but his time with the Red Sox was not memorable. 

The Fenway pressure cooker certainly isn’t limited to players. Remember Grady Little? Ok, that sentence was more sarcasm than anything. Little managed the Red Sox to 95 wins in 2003, no one remembers and no one cares. 

Fans remember him walking toward the mound in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the ALCS at Yankee Stadium and leaving a tiring Pedro Martinez in the game.

The Yankees erased Boston’s lead, the Jorge Posada’s two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning will forever be etched into our memories. Then Aaron Boone homered in the 11th, a dagger in the hearts of every Red Sox fan. Little was gone shortly thereafter; the Sox hired Terry Francona, and the rest is history. 

Then there was Bobby Valentine, one of the worst managerial hires in baseball history. His one season managing the Red Sox resembled a daily soap opera. Valentine had an uncanny ability to turn relatively minor issues into major ones, most famously questioning Kevin Youkilis’ passion during a radio interview.

Dustin Pedroia resented Valentine’s comments and quickly fired back at his manager.

“That’s not the way we go about our stuff here,” Pedroia said at the time.  

That essentially summed up Valentine’s tenure and the Red Sox went 69-93. The Sox fired Valentine and everyone moved with their lives. 

Now Mayer gets a fresh start and the opportunity to do that in San Francisco. He escapes the expectations attached to being the fourth overall pick in Boston will allow him to relax and become the player so many envisioned five years ago.

His father certainly believes the change will help his son. 

“Obviously, it didn’t go the way I wanted,” Enrique Mayer said, “and obviously, outside the lines, it’s a lot over there.”

Rivalry Continued

The Red Sox and Yankees will renew their rivalry with another postseason matchup beginning next week. 

It’ll be a rematch of last year’s American League Wild Card Series, the New York Yankees will host the Boston Red Sox in a best-of-three game series. 

New York (93-68) enters the series finishing in second place in the American League East and the No. 1 Wild Card team. Boston was on the Yankees' heels all summer long, following their epic season-turnaround. The Sox (87-74), was the fifth seed the American League, capturing it’s second-straight postseason berth. 

The two teams were evenly matched throughout the regular season, with the Yankees holding a slight 7-6 edge in the season series. The Wild Card Series winner will advance to the ALDS to face the AL East champion Rays, who finished with the American League’s best record at 97-63.

Both teams have interesting storylines heading into next week’s matchup. 

Will Aaron Judge play in the series? What about Willson Contreras? Who starts Game 1 for the Yankees? What’s Garrett Crochet’s status for the series?

All Rise?

Judge’s availability for the Wild Card Series remains one of the biggest questions surrounding the Yankees as they prepare to host the Red Sox beginning Tuesday.

The slugger has already missed 84 games this season because of a rib stress fracture and was still working his way back when he suffered a calf strain Sept. 16.

The Yankees slugger told reporters last weekend that he was