Red Sox: The most crucial positions for the 2017 season
As spring training games get going, here’s a look at the five most crucial positions in 2017 if the Red Sox are going to win the World Series.
The 2016 season for the Boston Red Sox effectively ended when Drew Pomeranz hung a curveball to elderly Coco Crisp in Game 3 of the ALDS. Although the team had 12 more outs to give, the feeling after that home run by the former Red Sox centerfielder was grim and ultimately true, as the Indians hung on to clinch the sweep.
As spring training games get started in gearing up for the 2017 season, the Red Sox are primed to make another run at baseball glory, thanks to grade-A offseason acquisitions to a roster with a plethora of talented assets.
Vegas odds rank the Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs as co-favorites to win the World Series at 9/2, according to Dayn Perry of CBS Sports and Bovada.lv.
Should the Red Sox get back to the fall classic in the year following the retirement of David Ortiz, here’s a look at five most crucial positions for the Red Sox that will get them there.
First Base
You don’t simply replace someone like David Ortiz in the Red Sox lineup. For as much as numbers can be quantified, there’s the qualitative measure about Ortiz that will remain untouched around the clubhouse for years to go.
The combination of Mitch Moreland and Hanley Ramirez in the lineup at first base and designated hitter will be key in the Red Sox in vying for the American League East and trying to return for the World Series for the first time in four years.
Moreland will be a question mark somewhat offensively for the lineup in the early-going.
One can ask: How will Moreland’s bat play with the dimensions of Fenway? Will he be able to rebound from his second lowest-hitting season of his career?
The answers to those questions are complex, and as hypotheticals, time will tell.
In a small sample size — 14 career games — Moreland’s numbers at Fenway are eye-popping. A 1.061 OPS, .341 BA and six extra-base hits in those 14 games.
While those numbers at the park are good, one can speculate how they’ll translate over a full season, as the large outfield dimensions (380-383′ to the bullpens) may bring those numbers down.
Moreland’s rate of driving the ball the other way, if history proves to be right, won’t be an advantage for the Red Sox as well, as Moreland over his career has gone the other way only 23.3-percent of the time.
Of note, in 2015 — the first full healthy season for Moreland following his putrid 2013 season — the lefty batted .278 with 23 home runs and 85 RBIs. If the Red Sox can get close to that from Moreland, they’ll be in good position come September with the expected performance of others as well.
Designated hitter
Becoming the heir to the unofficially-labeled “David Ortiz position of the designated hitter”, Ramirez is tasked with a difficult order, replacing the future Hall of Famer. Although Ramirez will play some first base from time-to-time, this will be Ramirez’ third primary position switch in his third year in Boston.
Offensively, questions will be raised of Ramirez in Boston media circles and potentially in the front office as well.
Which Hanley are we going to see? Will he be able to repeat the same kinds of offensive numbers that served as a catalyst for the Red Sox in the second-half of last season?
Another interesting question to be asked is how Ramirez will handle the switch from playing the field. Ramirez may have already found the answer he was looking for, not from his inner mind, but from the personal experience of his best friend.
Surrounded by a bevy of members of the Boston media on an early day in Ft. Myers, Ramirez talked on the advice that Ortiz gave him.
From Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com:
“Some day you’re going to get crazy because all you can do is hit and when things are not going good, what can you do?” Ramirez recalled his conversation with Ortiz. “You just go out there and try not to think about it until your next at-bat. Honestly he told me at first it’s going to be a little hard because when you can play defense you can help the team in two ways. But DH it’s pretty much just offense but I’ve just got to find a way to separate between those at-bats and cheer from the dugout.”
After hitting .286 with 30 home runs and 111 runs batted in in 2016, Ramirez can expect even more run scoring opportunities, he just needs to continue capitalizing on them.
Catcher
Coming into the 2016 season, the Red Sox sent out Blake Swihart as the Opening Day catcher, starting for the Red Sox while Christian Vazquez recovered from Tommy John surgery.
Ineffective play behind the plate saw Swihart be sent to the minors to be transformed into an outfielder, while the legend of Sandy Leon was born. Vazquez recovered, but spent the majority of the season at AAA, only re-emerging as a September call-up.
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As 2017 looms, the catcher position for the Red Sox is a legitimate question mark. Leon will get every chance to show that he can be an everyday catcher after spending time at Pawtucket and playing in 78 games in the majors last year.
Because of Vazquez’ advantage to throw out runners and Swihart’s remaining options, Swihart appears to be the odd man out as the Red Sox are highly unlikely to carry three catchers to begin the season. This is obviously not to say that should another falter or go down with an injury over the long season that Swihart won’t make a marginal impact with the Red Sox.
Along with producing at an adequate rate offensively, the backstops will have to handle the Red Sox loaded pitching staff with a few new faces, riding the likes of Price, Porcello and Sale to another postseason birth and fighting their way for the Red Sox’ ninth World Series title.
Bullpen
After an up-and-down 2016 season for the Red Sox bullpen, it will once again portray an important role as the Red Sox look to get back to the postseason, though with some different faces.
Gone are the workhorses that have become so familiar to the Boston faithful, especially during the 2013 season, as both Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara were not offered contracts during the offseason. Tazawa signed a two-year, $12 million contract with the Marlins while Uehara moved over to Fenway Midwest, signing with the Cubs.
Brad Ziegler, who I personally felt the Red Sox should’ve made a more valiant effort to re-sign, landed with the Marlins as well.
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With the losses, though, the Red Sox made an acquisition to the bullpen that’s an upgrade as well. Acquiring Tyler Thornburg to replace Uehara as the setup man, the Red Sox now have two dominant relievers at the back end of the bullpen, hopefully coinciding with Matt Barnes in the seventh inning being able to build off of the many positive moments he experienced during last year.
Of note, the Red Sox will also get another upgrade around the All-Star break, as Carson Smith should finally be able to make his way back from Tommy John surgery pending any setbacks. With Smith’s return sometime in the third or fourth month of the year, the Red Sox bullpen will be gaining full strength right when they need it to, providing a plethora of wealth to prepare for the postseason stretch run, preserving leads for the best rotation in the American League.
Rotation
After the 2016 season saw the Red Sox have the best scoring offense in baseball while leading seemingly every offensive category, it’s not far-fetched to think that slightly-down numbers might meet the bats of Boston’s baseball stars.
To compensate for that possibility and the retirement of David Ortiz, Dave Dombrowski obviously went out and pulled off the move of the offseason, bringing Chris Sale to Boston without having to give up Andrew Benintendi.
Now, the Red Sox have the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, to go along with former Cy Young winner David Price and the crown jewel in all of this, Sale.
Even more so, the Red Sox have the possibility of having five former All-Stars in the starting rotation if Steven Wright and Drew Pomeranz can remain healthy and produce at the level that got them to the All-Star Game a year ago.
What the Red Sox may not be able to produce one hundred percent of the time offensively will surely be eased by the dominance in the rotation it appears that the Red Sox have set up for future.
It takes a collaborative team effort to win a championship in professional sports, all 25 players on the active roster will be part of the grind should the Red Sox win a World Series in the fall. But the X-factor to me comes down to this rotation as it did last fall. Price and Porcello both faltered in their starts, with the Red Sox having to depend on Clay Buchholz in a game three, though fortunes seem to have changed in the Red Sox favor.
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Expect David Price to have a bounce-back season in his second year in a Sox uniform. Do not expect Rick Porcello to produce the same stats he did a year ago, but if he can keep the ball down and build on last year’s performance he could very well end up with near 20 wins and a 3.00 ERA again. Sale, time will tell how he’ll handle the Boston market, but given his desire to win and win at all costs — he’s in the right place at the right time.