Boston Red Sox: Best players on the worst teams the last 20 years

Oct 26, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Boston Red Sox relief pitcher

(36) talks with Boston Red Sox catcher

(39) after giving up 2 runs to the St. Louis Cardinals during the seventh inning of game three of the MLB baseball World Series at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports

2012 – Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Junichi Tazawa
Team record: 69-93 (last in AL East)

It’s difficult to identify a gem amidst the rubble of 2012. Yet, as bad as we remember it, the team actually hung around despite itself: five games over .500 on July 1st and last clinging to that standard of mediocrity on August 6th. Part of it was due to incumbent star power on the roster and the rest because some of the team’s role players met with success.

Several Red Sox interlopers compiled relatively good campaigns, such as Cody Ross (pressed into action for Carl Crawford), Mike Aviles (used as a Band-Aid at multiple positions), and the immortal Pedro Ciriaco.

Things were so ugly down the stretch that sports radio callers began lobbying on behalf of Ciriaco, a career Minor Leaguer, for a 2013 roster spot.

And then there was Will Middlebrooks, who hit .288 and slammed 15 home runs in a 267 at-bat audition. If only it had been a sign of things to come.

But Saltalamacchia and Tazawa were two standouts of 2012, more so when you consider how their campaigns foreshadowed their contributions to the 2013 world champions. For Saltalamacchia, his 25-homer season was vindication for the Red Sox after coveting the former top prospect for several years, pulling the trigger in 2010 and waiting for the catcher to arrive as a starting Major League talent.

For Tazawa, his strong 2012 represented a comeback from a career-threatening elbow injury. His 1.82 ERA and 9:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio preceded a 2013 campaign where he became one of the primary setup men for the best team in baseball.

Aug 3, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox designated hitter

(34) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the fourth inning against the New York Yankees at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

2006 – David Ortiz
Team record: 86-76 (third in AL East)

’06 belonged to Big Papi. As the Red Sox plummeted from contention in the second half, Ortiz’s pursuit of Jimmie Foxx’s single-season team home run record kept fans coming out to the ballpark. He eventually crowned 54 on the season, towing the team in his wake to multiple dramatic walk-off wins.

This was the year team captain Jason Varitek and sensational new closer Jonathan Papelbon went on the shelf. Jon Lester was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and shut down after starting 6-0. Josh Beckett didn’t live up to the hype. Coco Crisp wasn’t even a reasonable facsimile of Johnny Damon. And Javy Lopez, a former 40-home run catcher, looked absolutely lost in a short, brutal stint.

But on a warm September night seated in the Fenway bleachers, when Ortiz launched his record-breaking 51^st homer over my head, I forgot about what a mess the season had been and was just thankful. For over a decade now, Big Papi alone has been reason enough to come out to Fenway.

2001 – Trot Nixon
Team record: 82-79 (second in AL East)

Any time both Nomar Garciaparra and Pedro Martinez go down with injuries, you know you’re in for a rough ride. Add that to the firing of Jimy Williams, who had piloted the ’98 and ’99 teams to postseason appearances amidst numerous folksy quips, for curmudgeonly pitching coach Joe Kerrigan, and you’ve got a real whopper.

A number of disgruntled veterans would be kicked to the curb after this one. Adios Dante Bichette, Mike Lansing, Carl Everett, Troy O’Leary, and others.

The first year of the Manny Ramirez Project went as expected. He bopped to the tune of 41 homers and 125 RBI, earning his unheard of (for Boston) $20 million annually salary and introducing New England to a spate of behaviors that would later be known as “Manny Being Manny.”

Hideo Nomo tossed a no-hitter in his first Red Sox start, the first for a Boston pitcher since Dave Morehead in 1965. About the only other thing the team did right was convert Derek Lowe to a starter, as the former closer pitched 16 innings over three starts down the stretch, allowing just two runs on 12 hits and striking out 15. Lowe would win 21 games the following season.

But 2001 was the year Trot Nixon finally lived up the the hype generated as a first-round draft pick in 1993. He hit .280 with 27 homers and 88 RBI, at age 27 finally looking like the middle-of-the-order, everyday right fielder fans had waited to see since his first cup of coffee in ’96.

Sure, Trot took Roger Clemens deep to break a scoreless tie in the ninth inning of a Sunday Night Baseball game in 2000 and had shown flashes in a platoon with Troy O’Leary, but 2001 was the year it all came together.  Nixon had a solid curtain call in ’02 and posted a career-high 5.1 WAR in ’03 before injuries began to take their toll.

Oct 12, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox former player

is introduced prior to throwing out the first pitch in game one of the American League Championship Series baseball game against the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

1997 – Nomar Garciaparra
Team record: 78-84 (fourth in AL East)

Jimy Williams‘ first year as Red Sox manager could be summed up by an extreme lack of pitching. And the antics of Wil Cordero.

The rotation was Tom Gordon, Tim Wakefield, Aaron Sele, Jeff Suppan and Steve Avery. The staff reads like an encyclopedia entry of Sox punch lines and punching bags: eight starts went to Chris Hammond, seven to “Way Back” Wasdin, six to the immortal Vaughn Eshelman, six to a damaged Bret Saberhagen, five to a damaged Butch Henry, two to “Dominican Mystery Man” Robinson Checo and one to Brian Rose.

Staff ERA: 4.85, good for twelfth in the American League.

The trade of Healthcliff Slocumb for Jason Varitek and Derek Lowe stands as one of the game’s all-time heists. The move also allowed Gordon to transition to closer, where he saved 11 games in August and September and then 42 the following year.

The ’97 Sox could certainly hit, finishing first in the league in batting average and second in total bases. Former MVP Mo Vaughn delivered his standard output, but the sensational rookie season of Nomar Garciaparra was the talk of the town. His .306 average with 30 homers, 98 RBI, 22 steals, 44 doubles and 11 triples ignited the debate between Boston, New York and Seattle over who had the best young shortstop in the game, a debate that would rage for the better part of the next decade.

1996 – Mo Vaughn
Team record: 85-77 (third in AL East)

The ’96 Sox were coming off an AL East title but sank to third in Kevin Kennedy‘s second and final season on the job.

Pitching was an issue as Tim Wakefield fell back to Earth, Erik Hanson departed, and Aaron Sele failed to make the jump many had hoped for. The Sox kept trying to make “fetch” happen with Vaughn Eshelman and traded Jamie Moyer at the deadline for career fourth outfielder Darren Bragg.

Roger Clemens was solid by most metrics, got a hit in an April pinch-hitting appearance (the first since Tim Lollar in ’86) and had his second 20-strikeout game in September, but the headlines were dominated by his uneasy relationship with GM Dan Duquette heading into free agency. Though Duquette implied Clemens was in the twilight of his career (40-39, 3.77 the previous four seasons), the “Texas Con Man” would resurface in Toronto with a fat contract and a new “workout regimen” to soar to new heights the following season and beyond.

Duquette continued to forge a reputation for having busy rosters, employing more players than any other GM in baseball, among them Milt Cuyler, Jose Malave, Arquimedez Pozo and Rudy Pemberton. This approach did yield one gem, as Rich Garces hooked on with the Sox in ’96. The portly reliever known as “El Guapo” went on to become a fan favorite in parts six seasons in Boston.

’96 was also the curtain call for “The Gator,” Mike Greenwell, who exited with an incredible nine-RBI game against the Mariners that September.

Though Reggie Jefferson hit .347 as a platoon player and several other Red Sox contributed solid offensive outputs, Mo Vaughn’s MVP encore went one better than his award-winning ’95 season: .326 with 44 homers and 143 RBI. “The Hit Dog” cranked out 207 hits and posted a career-high .420 on-base percentage in another All-Star campaign.

Two years later, Vaughn would follow Clemens out the door in another discordant veteran departure from Boston. However, the Red Sox were eventually proven right by not shoveling money at the free agent, as injuries prevented him from ever again approaching his Boston numbers.

1994 – Ken Ryan and Scott Cooper
Team record: 54-61 (fourth in AL East)

Of course, 1994 was quiet come September, as Don Fehr and Bud Selig wiped out all games past August 12th as well as the World Series. Somewhat oddly, Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary was the one thing left for fans, unless you had tickets to the Sioux Falls Canaries.

It seemed like everybody was having a monster season in ’94 before they closed up shop. See: crazy numbers from Jeff Bagwell, Matt Williams, Ken Griffey and Frank Thomas that put a chase for the home run record in sharp focus before things came crashing to a halt. It was a simpler time: only one of the aforementioned sluggers was named in the Mitchell Report.

Over in Boston, the ho-hum Red Sox played the first year of Duquette’s tenure with many of former GM Lou Gorman’s players, among themAndre Dawson, Danny Darwin, Frank Viola, Otis Nixon, Joe Hesketh and Billy Hatcher. Roger Clemens rebounded from a bloated ’93 (11-14, 4.46) with a 9-7, 2.85 mark in 24 starts.

There were other bright spots. Mo Vaughn was coming into his own at first base while Scott Cooper made his second consecutive All-Star appearance at the hot corner. Cooper, who likely benefited from the rule that every team must have an All-Star representative, nonetheless put together a solid .282/13/53 line in 369 at-bats. He would be traded the following April for lefty reliever Rheal Cormier and “Hard Hittin'” Mark Whiten, who remains a favorite of freestyle rappers but slumped to .185 in 108 Boston at-bats.

In the bullpen, the Red Sox thought they had their closer of the future in 25-year old local product Ken Ryan, who had worked his way through the Red Sox system from Seekonk High School to post 13 saves and a 2.77 ERA in 42 appearances. Ryan faltered the next season, was hurt and later traded for Heathcliff Slocumb.