The Boston Red Sox Window May Be Rapidly Closing
By Manny Gómez
The 2018 Red Sox will forever be remembered as one of the greatest teams of all time. Now, members of the team’s core may soon be disassembling.
In recent memory, there are three teams that seemed like they would never lose a game. The 1998 New York Yankees, the 2001 Seattle Mariners, and the 2018 Boston Red Sox.
The ’98 Yankees hold the all-time record in total wins (including the postseason), with 125. The ’01 Mariners won 120 games (including the postseason). Inconceivable!
The 2018 Red Sox also won 120 total games (including the postseason). Unlike the Mariners, however, the Sox took home the World Series trophy.
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To accomplish this feat, the team featured two AL MVP contenders in J.D. Martinez and Mookie Betts, the latter took home the award. They also featured a juggernaut season by Xander Bogaerts, who excelled on both sides of the ball.
In all, the team’s offense led all of MLB in R (876), AVG (.268), and OPS (.792).
The pitching staff featured Chris Sale‘s best season yet. Despite missing a portion of the year, Sale featured career lows in FIP (1.989), WHIP (0.861), and a career-high in K/9 (13.5).
Now, after taking a blow to their bullpen by losing Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel, the Red Sox will have to enter the 2019 season with the worst part of their team – the bullpen – in shambles.
The team was unable to acquire any serious bullpen arms because many members of the team’s core will become – or can become – unrestricted free agents after this season. In order to keep those players, Sox brass will have to work out extension deals that will cost the team big.
According to Jon Heyman, Red Sox GM Dave Dombrowski said that the team won’t be able to keep all of those players
Red Sox have several stars eligible for free agency after this year or next. After 2019: Bogaerts, Sale, JD (both this year/next), Porcello. And GM Dave Dombrowski said, “We know we won’t be able to keep all of them under today’s system and finances (meaning 1 or more will go).”
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 21, 2019
What’s more, the Red Sox farm system remains one of the worst in baseball, ranked 24th by ESPN’s Kieth law. Also, their payroll remains tops in the league at approximately $223M, according to Spotrac.
All of this makes the Sox future a recipe for disaster. The team will have to figure out how to retain the most essential of those players before the season ends while figuring out a way to drop payroll and build the team’s farm.
Next. Rays, Blake Snell Agree on 5-Year, $50M Extension. dark
One thing’s for sure, barring some miracle, the Red Sox are looking at a bleak future. This season, however, they remain as scary as ever. Another ring will certainly buy them the years they’ll need to fix it all.