*Disclaimer*: *This post was written in October of 2019 and does not reflect the investigation by the MLB or any organization changes after this time.*
The Failure of 2019 and Looking Ahead: The Boston Red Sox
By Gray Kinard
2019 wasn’t kind to the world champion Red Sox. After dominating the 2018 regular season with a league-best record of 108-54, then going on to win the World Series against the Dodgers, the Red Sox were looking to repeat their success in 2019. They signed ace Chris Sale to a five-year, 145-million dollar extension in March of 2019, right before the season began. Sale dominated during the 2018 season finishing with a 2.11 ERA and fourth in the AL Cy Young Award race. With his track record of being one of the best pitchers in baseball and his performance in 2018, his resigning was expected as the Red Sox wanted to keep their rotation strong.
The Sox had high hopes of repeating a World Series run in 2019, as almost their entire lineup was the same as it had been in 2018. NBC Sports Boston had reported that the Red Sox were favored +700 along with the Astros to win the World Series. However, it would change very quickly.
Their season got off to a very rocky start against the Seattle Mariners, who had shipped off most of their star players and we're in a rebuilding stage after 2018. With a World Series-winning roster, most experts and fans expected the Red Sox to win their opening series or even sweep the Mariners altogether. The Mariners, however, won three out of four games against the Sox and demolished Sale in the season opener. He would only go 3 innings and give up 7 runs in that time to a team that would finish last in the AL West.
The Red Sox continued the very slow start, finishing April with a record of 13-17. Many attributed Boston’s slow start to the way Alex Cora, the Red Sox manager, used his pitchers during spring training. During spring, a time when teams get their players ready for the season, Cora instead opted to give his rotation limited innings to save them for the season. This showed as Sale and their new pitching star Nathan Evolodi both had horrendous ERA at over 6.00 at the end of April.
Along with the pitching not working for the Red Sox, their star outfielder Mookie Betts, who won the AL MVP award the previous year, would also slump at the beginning. Through April and May, he hit a somewhat respectable .282 batting average, along with 9 home runs, but not what was expected of him considering he hit .346 during 2018.
By the time the All-Star break had come around, the Red Sox were 49-41 and sitting in third place in the AL East behind the Yankees and Rays, but still in the conversation for the playoffs. Many fans and baseball analysts were expecting Boston to make some moves to help bolster their team, as the trade deadline was looming ahead. The pitching for the Red Sox had been pretty bad with their staff having a 4.59 ERA in the first half and many were speculating that the Red Sox were going to try to get a star closer as they had lost Craig Kimbrell during the off-season, and were having some serious issues in that part of their bullpen. The hitting had been starting to come around with sluggers J.D. Martinez and Xander Bogarts both hitting above .300 along with up and coming star Rafael Devers producing a lot of offense. On the offensive side, the Red Sox management decided not to make any moves to help their team.
This message could’ve been taken in two ways. One, we’re confident in our team and we just need to iron out some kinks but we have a good core of players that will get us to the postseason, or two, we have invested too much money and we don’t feel we have a chance of making a postseason run. Manager Alex Cora stuck with the first narrative stating in an interview, “I’m not disappointed ... it’s a group that we trust.”
Unfortunately, the group that they trusted wasn’t going to pan out in the end. The Red Sox finished the regular season in third place with a record of 84-78 and 12 games out of the wild card. In the weeks leading up to the end of this disappointing season, the Red Sox would fire President of Baseball Operations, Dave Dombrowski.
This off-season will be a big one for the Red Sox. In 2019, they had a payroll of 248.6 million dollars, which was the most in the MLB. Many of their star players’ contracts are up this year, and after their 2019 season, the likelihood of resigning them is very low. The players on the chopping block this year are INF Brock Holt, DH J.D. Martinez (opt-out), 1B Mitch Moreland, INF Eduardo Nunez, 1B Steve Pearce, RHP Rick Porcello, and RHP Tyler Thornburg. In J.D’s case, he could stay if he doesn’t opt-out, but with his production these past two seasons, it’s very likely he will in search of a more long-term and higher-paying deal. Along with these players, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts have contracts ending next year, and with Boston trying to cut costs, it’s likely we will see them leave as well in favor of getting new rookie talent for much less money.
So what’s next? Will Boston hire a new GM who decides to resign players and try again next season, or will they instead decide to forego signing the players leaving and trade their assets they have locked down right now in favor of them having another run in a few years? With a few teams looking to be contenders next year, the Red Sox could potentially be in a position to come out on top if they traded away some of their star players, in favor of prospects that would help them in the future. With the off-season only a few weeks away, many of these questions will be answered and we will start to see what will happen for the Sox in 2020.
