Tag: Opening Day

Red Sox Look to Replicate Last Place Finish Once Again in 2024

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If pitchers and catchers report to spring training, but no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

It’s one thing for fans to be down on a franchise coming off another last place finish, but after an offseason of inactivity, even the national media is smoking this team.

USA Today has the Red Sox sitting at No. 19 in their power rankings, which seems a bit high, but also denotes the ranking is tied to expected hopeful reinforcements being added to the squad. They also gave the Sox a D grade for their offseason so it any sense of optimism comes with a grain of salt.

Yahoo! Sports did not mince words in their prediction of the potential dumpster fire on Landsdowne:

Season prediction: The Red Sox are worse than bad; they are forgettable and irrelevant. Their unwillingness to spend predictably backfires, and the pivot from former head honcho Chaim Bloom to Breslow doesn’t change all that much. The lack of superstardom beyond Devers (and Casas) leads to dwindling interest in the team, and by August, the city of Boston is watching preseason football. Very few people watch the Netflix doc, which, given the circumstances of the season, paints the Red Sox as a disorganized jambalaya of chaos.

So yes the Red Sox are projected to finish last in the AL East by just about everyone, which would accomplish a rare feat for the Sox as that would make it four times in five years and six out of the last 10! If they were to finish in last place yet again, that would mean the Boston Red Sox, over the course of a DECADE, finished in last place 60 percent of the time.

That is absurd.

Compare that to the Orioles who are only going to get better as a team stocked with young talent that already won 101 games last year, the Yankees improved by trading for Juan Soto, the Rays are coming off a 99 win season and always seem to find a way to win 90+ games, and the Blue Jays snatched away one of Boston’s few good players, adding Justin Turner to a team that finished 11 games ahead of the Red Sox last season.

Meanwhile the Sox offseason consisted of whiffing on Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and second tier guys like Aaron Nola in free agency while not even kicking the tires on reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell or World Series hero Jordan Montgomery, who as we all know has literally been hanging out in Boston all winter.

Are either one of Snell or Montgomery take it to the bank, guaranteed 30 starts and sub 3.50 ERA guys? No, but signing one of them would at least be signaling to the fan base that you’re going to at least try and be competitive and hopefully get some productive years out of players with legitimate track records.

Boston also traded its only representable defender in the outfield in Alex Verdugo to the Yankees, while letting productive veterans Turner and Adam Duvall walk for peanuts. They traded away oft injured, yet default ace Chris Sale in a salary dump for a second baseman in Vaughn Grissom who on his absolute best day profiles as a Dan Uggla cosplay. The Sox did bring in Lucas Giolito, who is now probably out for the season with a UCL tear, but this is the man who is best known for surrendering an absolutely preposterous 41 home runs in 2023. You wouldn’t hit that many dingers playing home run derby in Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball.

One of the highlights of the offseason was the Red Sox signing Liam Hendriks and the team Instagram pretending like it’s 2022 All-Star closer Liam Hendriks and not out (at least) through half of the 2024 season Liam Hendriks as he recovers from Tommy John.

Good grief.

Now you’ve even got Raffy Devers blatantly calling out ownership saying “everybody knows what we need.” Pointed comments from hands down your best player, in Year ONE of a $313M 10-year contract on, checks notes, FEBRUARY 20TH is an actual, legitimate problem.

Unsurprisingly John Henry declined to speak to the media at the start of Spring Training once again, which extends his vow of silence in official interviews all the way back to the post-Mookie Betts trade press conference. So Sam Kennedy once again stepped in as Henry’s stunt double, taking all the body blows. I was however shocked to hear Kennedy drop the nugget that yes ownership has in fact set parameters for new head of baseball ops Craig Breslow and he is operating within those parameters.

Breslow when asked why he didn’t sign any notable free agents in his first offseason:

What a wild, wild thing for ownership to let slip, essentially acknowledging huge expectations from the fan base, a vaunted history of success over the past 20 years, yet they will actually be shedding payroll. They actively cut payroll by 20% as if Boston isn’t a major market.

The Red Sox are going to be rolling the Six Million Dollar Man onto the field on April 9th

Rather than building for the short term and the long term in tandem, the Red Sox will instead rely on teenagers, minor leaguers, and top prospects all coming up through the system at around the same time (in the near to distant future) and all producing out of the gate like established big leaguers, and quickly becoming all-stars around the same time, and winning a World Series or four, all doing so before any of them can reach arbitration and ask for a raise.

Save us, Theo.

Get Ready for Opening Day by Erasing the 2022 Red Sox Season From Your Brain

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Although it’s currently still 36 degrees outside, Opening Day at Fenway marks the real end of winter in Boston and despite the Red Sox projected wins total, it’s impossible to be in a bad mood today. In order to truly and fully move on to 2023 though, first we must take a look back at last season.

I won’t sugar coat it, last year was a tough time to be a Red Sox fan as they finished in last place for the second time in three years. Last April some insane person picked the Red Sox to win 95 games, which I was only off of by 17 games…

To be fair, the Sox were coming off a 92 win season in 2021 and an electric ALCS appearance so I may have gotten wrapped up in the hype a little bit.

This year expectations are, to put it nicely, circling the drain already as the consensus has the Red Sox finishing in last place for the second year in a row. With that being said, let’s not lose sight of all the positives that came out of the disappointing (and confusing) 2022 season. To fully appreciate the full picture of last year, take a look at the 5 Best and 5 Worst Parts of Another Red Sox Last Place Finish. 

As I’ve written previously it appears like the Red Sox are Stuck Between Building a Winner and Fiscal Responsibility. 

But, as they famously like to say, if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.

So with that in mind, have a good deep belly laugh at some of the wildest moments, reflect on the bittersweet moments, get excited about the potential shown, and fire up some game day dogs for Opening Day baby!

The 300s Red Sox 2022 Season Preview

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After another cold, dark, and suspiciously long winter, this afternoon we get The Masters, game day dogs on the grill, and most importantly, Red Sox Opening Day. I wasn’t sure we’d get here after an extensive lockout, constant news of failed negotiations between the players and the owners, and rainouts delaying games further, but we made it guys. It’s baseball season.

After finishing the season 92-70 last year and making a surprise run to the ALCS expectations are high for this Red Sox team. With one of the best lineups in the game expectations should be high as the Sox look to build on last year’s deep postseason run. This season already has a melancholy vibe to it though because there could be some big changes after the season with JD Martinez, Kike Hernandez, and potentially Xander Bogaerts all hitting free agency. The farm system is back in the Top 10 and the Sox finally opened their wallets with the Trevor Story signing so the franchise is in a good position for the long haul, but it’s definitely win now time down on Jersey Street.

The Duct Tape Rotation

The 2022 pitching staff is a mixed bag that should get better when if everyone can get healthy at the same time, but as it currently sits the rotation has some question marks. The staff includes one legit starter in Nathan Eovaldi (11-9, 3.75 in 2021) but he comes with a long history of injuries, one potential hidden gem in Nick Pivetta (9-8, 4.53) who’s looking to build off an eye opening postseason run (2.63 ERA, 14 K’s in 13.2 IP), a 25-year-old in Tanner Houck (1-5, 3.52) that the Sox kept the training wheels on a bit last year but shows a ton of potential, and then two old and possibly washed up vets in Michael Wacha, yes that Wacha from the 2013 World Series, (5.05, 6.62, 4.76 ERAs the last 3 seasons) and Rich Hill (7-8, 3.86) at 42-years-young is back in Boston to see how long he can survive throwing 88 mph fastballs. Gone is rotation mainstay Eduardo Rodriguez after the Red Sox deemed him expendable and to be honest E-Rod seemed like he was gone the minute Alex Cora publicly scolded him for celebrating too hard in the middle of an ALCS game. A rare miss for Cora.

If it sounds like I’m missing someone, you’re right, I haven’t mentioned Chris Sale who somehow cracked a rib last month throwing a baseball. So I hate to pin my hopes on Chris Sale because while has the stuff to be the best pitcher in the game, he he has struggled mightily to stay healthy the last few years. I still blame the Sox for delaying Sale’s March 2020 Tommy John surgery by several months for no particular reason, which ended up costing Sale nearly two full years. After recently being placed on the 60 day IL, Sale is projected to return the first week of June so I’m cautiously optimistic, but when healthy the lefty has the stuff to carry the Sox down the stretch and into the playoffs.

Welcome to Boston, Trevor Story

I love this signing IF Story is indeed slated to be the second baseman of the future. I don’t however love the optics of the Red Sox signing a career shortstop the same exact year that their own franchise shortstop can opt out of his contract and become a free agent. At best it feels like hedging, at worst it feels like the Sox are preemptively moving on from their team’s de facto leader, homegrown All-Star, and 2x World Series champion.

Garrett Whitlock Will Be Key

For those who don’t know, the Red Sox essentially got Garrett Whitlock off the scrap heap, selecting him in the 2020 Rule 5 Draft off the Yankees roster. Coming off Tommy John surgery, Whitlock was nothing less than a revelation for the Sox last year going 8-4 with a 1.96 ERA and racking up 81 strikeouts in 73.1 IP. Like a child of divorce, Whitlock seems to be stuck between what his dad (Alex Cora) and his mom (Chaim Bloom) want him to be as he gets yo-yo’d back and forth from the rotation to the bullpen. It has a striking similarity to the Jonathan Papelbon situation way back in 2006 when Paps came into the league as a starter before getting shifted to the pen for the postseason and ultimately taking the closer reigns from Keith Foulke. Now, I think Whitlock should be a starter because he has all the tools and multiple legit pitches to become a top of the rotation guy. However, baseball as a whole has really devalued top tier starters as analytics have taken over the game and managers routinely pull starters after a couple of times through the batting order. “Openers” used to be something we all laughed at the Rays for sending out relievers to pitch a few innings to start a game instead of a traditional starter. Now you see it all the time. The workhorse ace of a pitching staff is an endangered species. There were only THREE players with more than 200 innings pitched last year in all of baseball!

So perhaps Whitlock has a higher objective value coming out of the pen as the team’s Rover, but I still would rather seem him as a starter. Then again, Papelbon went on to become the greatest closer in team history so what do I know. Let’s not forget that the team did jerk around guys like Daniel Bard who eventually fell apart and the Yankees did the same thing with Joba Chamberlain. I once saw Chamberlain start a game at Fenway where he struck out 11 guys before the Yankees move him back to the pen. Then again he was a dominant reliever and was the heir apparent to Mariano Rivera before also falling apart. So I guess my main point is let’s just make a decision and stick with it rather than hem and haw to the point that the team screws up another young pitcher.

Rafael Devers Poised for Another MVP Season

Contract extension talks have stalled between the Sox and Bogaerts and Devers so that’s been a bit of a downer heading into the season. Devers just turned 25 in October and posted a season of 38 HR, 113 RBI while hitting .279/.352/.538 last year. He led the Red Sox in HR, RBI, Runs, Hits, Total Bases, Slugging and OPS en route to his first All-Star selection and finishing 11th in MVP voting. No player has more extra base hits than Rafael Devers over the last three seasons. Get. The. Deal. Done.

Closing Time

Matt Barnes was an All-Star last season lest anyone forget after his second half ERA of 6.48 and ya know being left off the ALCS roster. It didn’t help that Barnes seemingly fell apart right around the time the Spider Tack story broke and was suddenly explicitly banned. Maybe it was just a mental thing and he needed a full winter away from the ballpark to reset, but I’m not exactly penciling Barnes in for 40 saves this year. Whitlock could step in and handle the role, but again with baseball overindexing in middle relief guys, the Sox may not want to pigeonhole Whitlock to 1-inning outings. Cora has gone out of his way to not name a closer, which is fine, but I don’t love a revolving door at the end of games.

“They don’t want to call it closer by committee so they’re not gonna use that term is because they know theres a negative connotation. The reason Cora hasn’t named a closer is because they’re not going to use one.” – Tony Mazz on 98.5

It seems like the Sox are just throwing arms against the wall to see what sticks and that could be a problem, but then again relievers are notoriously fickle. So the team will need to define some roles in the pen, but expect the Sox to be active in the reliever market if Barnes and co. don’t bounce back.

This is a Flawed But Dangerous Team

Vegas has the over/under set for the 2022 Red Sox at 85.5 after winning 92 last year. With a loaded lineup that will mash its way to a ton of wins on its own and a potentially sneaky good bullpen, the Sox should be a lock to hit the over. The rotation could be a disaster if there are any more injuries, but with Sale due back in June they should be good enough at the front end. The only thing that could hinder them is how the AL East has seemingly become the best division in baseball. Vegas has the Yankees, Rays, and Blue Jays all projected to win more games than the Sox this season, which Boston is intimately aware of after all-time classic playoff battles against the Yankees and Rays just last fall. With all that being said, I like my chances with a lineup featuring Kike Hernandez, Rafael Devers, Xander Boagaerts, JD Martinez, Alex Verdugo, Trevor Story, and even Bobby Dalbec if he keeps up his second half surge from last season. I think this team will definitely need to add an outfield bat if they’re going to reach the World Series because I love former ALCS MVP Jackie Bradley’s defense, but the man did hit .163 in his lone season with the Brewers last year. Maybe that bat off the bench comes in the form of top prospect Triston Casas, but even then, the kid plays first base. So Chaim will likely need to find an OF bat at the deadline in the same vein as Steve Pearce if the Sox are to go the distance.

Media predictions are all over the place too so nobody knows what to expect from this team. The Ringer has the Sox as the 12th ranked team in baseball behind the Jays, Rays and Yankees, Felger has the Sox winning 95 games, and Chris Gasper has called the upcoming season a bridge year. Then again media predictions are just that, fugazi attempts at defining a team before the first pitch of Opening Day. A lot of people picked the Sox to finish a distant 4th in the division last year, but the team clicked and ended up winning 92 games en route to the ALCS.

With the addition of a healthy Chris Sale I have this team winning 95 games this year, which should be enough to get them into the new 12-team playoff format. Is this a World Series winning team? I’m not sold on that without some additions, but this should be a team that is threatening for the pennant.

The Red Sox Just Destroyed Me With This Opening Day Video Narrated by Dustin Pedroia

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Hope everyone was prepared to ugly cry on this Good Friday Opening Day because Dustin Pedroia just made it super dusty up in here. This isn’t just another mindless hype video; this is a guy who is talking from the heart about never taking the game for granted. Go out there and bust your ass and play like a champion because the game can be taken from you at any moment. Nobody know that better than Dustin Pedroia.

With that being said, Opening Day is here baby!

That’s the beauty of baseball. It’s something about Opening Day taking place in the beginning of spring as winter is finally beginning to thaw and flowers are starting to slowly blossom. Sure it’s 34 degrees right now, but we all know it’ll be sunny and 70 before too long. Not to mention the cold dark hell we’ve all gone through over the last year, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. This is exactly why people say baseball is more romanticized than any other sport. I know the Red Sox in all likelihood are going to suck this year, but after another miserable Boston winter I have hope for better days ahead.

Today Should Have Been Red Sox Opening Day

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In a serious case of you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, today should have been Opening Day for the Red Sox. The team we’ve all ripped to shreds over the last several months for having worse managerial skills than a Chili’s GM isn’t playing on Opening Day and that is sobering.

I know it’s out of MLB’s hands because we have much more dire issues to face as a country, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling like Will Smith wondering when his dad is coming back.

In the absence of real baseball I have resorted to treating MLB The Show more seriously than I probably should. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Hell, Raffy Devers may become the first player in baseball history to win MVP while committing triple digit errors in the field!

To be honest though, a shortened season would most likely benefit a team like the Red Sox, who have a rotation consisting of one legitimate pitcher and a bunch of injury concerns, journeymen, and should be Triple-A lifers. But if baseball doesn’t come back until July like I fear, you could squeeze a bit more out of workhorses like Eduardo Rodriguez (assuming he doesn’t slip on a roll of stockpiled toilet paper and dislocate his knee cap). Granted baseball would like to maintain a regular schedule, if not pack more games in with doubleheaders. Manfred said exactly that on SportsCenter the other night while embellishing just a bit.

“Obviously, our fans love a 162 game-season and the postseason format we have.“

Then you have the absolutely moronic suggestion from Scott Boras to play 144 or 162 games depending on when the season starts and just extend the postseason all the way into December with a Christmas World Series at a neutral site. Really? Imagine the Yankees hosting an ALCS game in the middle of December?

In all likelihood though Rodriguez wouldn’t need to make 30+ starts. You obviously can’t have him making multiple starts per week, but you could eliminate the concern of innings counts and managing guy’s workload in preparation hopes of a postseason run. Same goes for Nathan Eovaldi. It also gives guys like Dustin Pedroia a few more months to recover from injuries and potentially get right for the season.

Glass half full bullshit optimism? Yup, but with no baseball on Opening Day and no games coming anytime soon I think we all could use a little optimism right now.

And Here We Have Lou Merloni Being The World’s Lamest Human/Wettest Blanket

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Boston.com – “You won the World Series, your banner’s going up, you’re getting rings. That’s it. End of story, end of story” exclaimed Merloni from a Red Sox standpoint. “No Patriots. Sorry, it’s stupid.”

So I’ll be honest I went looking for the link to this NOT DOING RESEARCH and was surprised to see how many people agreed with Lou Merloni, who has somehow parlayed way too long of a playing career into way too long of a broadcasting career. On the flip side agreeing with him were people like Scott Zolak and other raging jackasses from old guy Boston sports media sooooooo.

I personally like that the Sox did this since it is the same fan base. Plus the Pats win only happened a couple of months ago. To be honest I think Merloni’s point of view is just coming from the same barber shop that produces every “old man yells at cloud” opinion when it comes to America’s (former) game. “Baseball purists” I believe they’re called. People who hate fun basically.

But look, Framingham’s Favorite Son is entitled to his opinion, I suppose. My point is: who fucking cares? Is it really ruining opening day/your day that the Sox honored the Pats? Did they even televise it (nerd alert if you can answer this)? After I’d say pitch two everyone and anyone with a brain (and a couple beers) forgot it happened. Although I’d say there were a few kids at Fenway who someday will get to say they got to see BOTH of their teams who won the previous season honored, which is pretty cool.

Either way, for Lou Merloni to decide to die on the hill that the Pats should not be mentioned on an ugly ass April day is kind of preposterous. You got opening day, Marathon Monday in a week, a college admissions scandal. SO MUCH TO CHOOSE FROM LOU. Let a little extra frivolity go.

-Joey B.

 

It’s Opening Day for the Red Sox and Dustin Pedroia is Back

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LETS GOOO! It’s a balmy 39 degrees in Boston, Dustin Pedroia is back and it’s Opening Day at Fenway. For anyone that holds a grudge against Dustin Pedroia for the whole Manny Machado incident you gotta grow up. Was it a bad look? 1000% But the guy has done too much for this team and this city to get tossed out with yesterday’s garbage because of one shitty incident. Pedroia should want Machado dead because the guy ruined his career, but if he doesn’t want to get into it and would rather recuse himself from the whole situation then fine. Let Chris Sale throw missiles behind the guy’s ass for the next 5+ seasons. If it were me I’d take a bat to Machado’s head, but hey I’m a big time grudge guy I guess.

Lets not play revisionist history on Pedroia’s contract either. When he signed this extension it was universally applauded as a great deal for the Sox. In 2013 an MVP signing a $100M extension through the 2021 season was a bargain at the time. Sure his body has fallen apart, but when the guy is healthy he can still rake.

So I hope the Sox have learned his limits because you know Pedroia sure as shit hasn’t. The guy is most likely a platoon/DH player at this point in his career. And thats fine. Do what management is supposed to do; manage him. If you can get 120 games out of Pedroia and he hits close to .300 thats a big time success. What I don’t need to see is Pedroia playing nine innings at second base for the next 25 games in a row only to blow something out in May.

Good to have ya back, Pedey.

The 300s Podcast: Celtics Rise Like a Phoenix on the West Coast, Red Sox Opening Day Nears, and Patriots Attack the Offseason

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The 300s boys are back in the podcast studio discussing everything from the manic Celtics to the Red Sox inching closer to Opening Day, some good old fashioned Vegas gambling stories, and the Pats are jumping right into the offseason. Lets goo!

– Celtics Rise Like a Phoenix from the Ashes on the West Coast

– What is up with Kyrie? Miserable malcontent one day and then all happy go lucky after the Lakers game.

– Red Sox inching closer to Opening Day

– Best sporting events to bet on? March madness? Just betting 10 football games every Sunday?

– Red Sox Going With a Closer by Committee?

– Steven Wright suspension

– WEEI 8 man radio rotation

– Patriots Offseason/Free Agency

– Michael Bennett in, Trey Flowers out?

– Danny Amendola Reunion?