Boston Red Sox: Not worried about the competition
The Boston Red Sox made some exciting moves over the offseason in preparation for 2016, but how does their divisional rivals’ moves affect their chances?
There exists a very rough guideline for offseason moves that serves as a barometer for fan reaction amongst Red Sox Nation at this pivotal time of year. Ranked in terms of preference, it looks something like this: player is good, relatively inexpensive and doesn’t cost any prospect Pokémon, he then elects to:
1) make the obvious choice and sign for the Boston Red Sox (best case scenario)
2) lose his sanity and sign for a hopeless NL club doomed to further obscurity and/or years of building like the San Diego Padres (tragic but acceptable)
3) join a competitive NL club who stand a reasonable-to-better chance of actually making the postseason such as the LA Dodgers or St Louis Cardinals (could be bad in the long run, but we’ll worry about that later)
4) try his hand in the AL, but not the AL East because clearly he holds no ambitions of ever winning the Pennant (bad, very bad, but could be worse…)
5) bet on the wrong horse majestically by going to an AL East team not from Boston (worst case scenario)
All in all, nobody likes seeing talented players head to rivals and even worse to divisional rivals. The dynamic of missing out on said talent doesn’t seem to have impacted much on the Red Sox this year as, we have discussed before, President of Baseball Ops Dave Dombrowski moved ahead of the market and acquired the bulk of Boston’s needs early in the offseason. Even so , AL East is already as competitive a league as they come and, with the Red Sox fighting back from two successive last place finishes, they will need to move a lot further ahead to see themselves returning to the postseason.
It’s difficult to pinpoint a weak link in the division. Arguments could even be made of the same in 2015 as, while Boston certainly remained in the basement for a majority of the year and there would finish, it’s hard to suggest they didn’t have what could be described by any metric as a strong year. Or at least, finish to the year anyway. Bogged down by slumping performances by veterans and catastrophic implosions by the big free agent signings, many wondered if the Red Sox were heading for another 2012. Instead, a young core came of age and established itself as a potential contender in need of just a little help.
More from Red Sox News
- Red Sox Nation deserves far more from Fenway Sports Group
- Bizarre trade deadline comes back to haunt Red Sox after Nathan Eovaldi departure
- Red Sox’ Moneyball-style offseason continues with Corey Kluber contract
- Rich Hill’s Red Sox departure puts him within striking distance of unique MLB record
- Red Sox offseason takes another nasty hit with Nathan Eovaldi departure
That help, Dombrowski made sure, came in the form of new ace of the rotation David Price and new ace of the bullpen Craig Kimbrel. Alongside other new acquisitions, Carson Smith, Yoenis Elias and Chris Young, the Red Sox seem to have filled many of the holes and are unquestionably better. It should, you’d think, be enough to insure Boston is back at the postseason in 2016.
Not so fast though, the other teams in AL East haven’t been sitting on their hands. What does it mean for the Red Sox and their rivals? Let’s have a look at some of the moves made by each team and, with only a subtle hint of bias, show how Boston actually needn’t worry that much at all.
Next: 1 - Baltimore Orioles