3 Things To Improve All 30 Teams — The Boston Red Sox
The 2021 Boston Red Sox finished the season with a record of 92–70, good enough for second place in the AL East and one of the two Wild Card spots. They beat the New York Yankees in the Wild Card round to advance to the Divisional Series where they met another AL East opponent in the Tampa Bay Rays. After easily handling them 3 games to 1, they lost in the Championship Series to the Houston Astros 4 games to 2. Just 2 games away from a World Series matchup with the eventual champion Atlanta Braves.
Today, the Boston Red Sox get to be our next contestant in our preseason series in which we take a deep dive into each team’s 2021 season and see just what we can do to improve upon that and have a better result for the 2022 season. The BoSox have already been very active this offseason, before the lockout of course, and could make a couple more moves once transactions can get back under way. Which leads us to our first topic of discussion…
1. Re-Sign Kyle Schwarber
The Washington Nationals cashed in on Kyle Schwarber’s monster walk year (.253/.340/.570 as a National) by trading him to the Boston Red Sox at the deadline. Schwarber only played 41 games as a member of the Red Sox, but performed even better, putting up a slash of .291/.435/.522. When playing in Fenway Park in 2021, Kyle put up his best numbers on the year (minimum of 20 plate appearances) by hitting .349/.494/.652. Kyle Schwarber was meant to play half his games at Fenway.
Kyle Schwarber is currently a free agent. Having just turned 29 on March 5th, he still has a good bit of his prime left. The Boston Red Sox need to take full advantage of that and send him a blank check. Still having JD Martinez on the books puts them at a disadvantage here, because Schwarber or Martinez would have to man an outfield position while the other one DH’s, but they should still offer him 8 years and $260 million.
There is one downside to signing Schwarber to such a long term deal while still having to have him play the field: he is very injury prone. Debuting for the Chicago Cubs on June 16th, 2015, Kyle Schwarber has had a chance to play in 971 Major League Baseball games. He’s played in a total of 664 since that date. Only 68.3% games played versus potential games played or, 110.8 games a year. He has only played 150+ games in a single season once, in 2019 (155 games) and he slashed .250/.339/.531 with 38 homeruns. Being able to DH much more often should keep him on the field more and he can perenially break the 40 homerun mark.
2. Improve The Starting Rotation
Chris Sale made his triumphant return from injury on August 14th of last year. Before that day, the Red Sox had been working with a rotation of Nathan Eovaldi, Eduardo Rodriguez, Nick Pivetta, Garrett Richards, and Martin Perez. Of those 5, Nathan Eovaldi was the only one to have an ERA below 4 (3.75). In 2022, the BoSox get a full year (potentially) of Chris Sale as their ace. Eduardo Rodriguez is off to Detroit, while Garrett Richards and Martin Perez are still free agents. That leaves the Red Sox with a 3 man rotation of Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi, and Nick Pivetta.
Before the lockout, as mentioned above, the Red Sox did make a few moves to bring in starting pitching. James Paxton, Michael Wacha, and Rich Hill have all signed and are awaiting the end of the lockout to have their first taste of action as members of the Red Sox. James Paxton easily slots in as their number 2 starter, assuming he stays healthy, and Michael Wacha is a solid 4. Rich Hill at age 41 should be no more than a long reliever, and Nick Pivetta doesn’t have the command to be any more than that either. Which leaves 1 spot in the rotation.
In 2021, the Red Sox used then rookie Tanner Houck out of the pen and to start 13 games. Through 69 innings, he held an ERA of 3.52 and an ERA+ of 135. The craziest thing is, his FIP was 2.58! Tanner Houck should start the year as the Red Sox 5th starting pitcher, and if he continues to do what he did last year, slowly move up the rotation. With a starting 5 of Chris Sale, James Paxton, Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha, and Tanner Houck the Red Sox starters ERA should improve from 4.49 to 3.90, giving them a much better chance to win ball games.
3. Improve Offensively At The Catcher Position
In 2021, the Boston Red Sox more often than not rolled out a lineup of C Christian Vazquez, 1B Bobby Dalbac, 2B Christian Arroyo, SS Xander Bogaerts, 3B Rafael Devers, LF Alex Verdugo, CF Kike Hernandez, RF Hunter Renfroe, and DH JD Martinez. Out of those 9 players, only 1 had an OPS+ that was below 100 or below league average: Christian Vazquez (75). It’s not uncommon for catchers to be the worst hitting postion player on the team, in fact, that’s the more common occurrence. But, having one that’s 25% worse than league average will cost you a handful of wins.
The Red Sox have already shown that they’re willing to spend money, so after signing Schwarber to a mega deal, they should sign Wilson Ramos to a 3 year deal (3rd year is a team option) worth $12 million a year. Ramos is a right handed bat with a career slash of .271/.318/.432, and career numbers at Fenway of .313/.327/.583. Ramos is another guy that would benefit greatly if he had the Monster in left to line rockets off of. If the Red Sox added him to the catching rotation, that would easily be another 2 wins.
Overall, the Red Sox are a pretty complete team. It definitely took some deep diving to find 3 things they could improve upon. One thing is for certain, the Red Sox will once again be a force to be reckoned with in 2022.
This was the 4th part of a series. Previous parts include the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, and the Baltimore Orioles. Next up will be the Chicago White Sox!
