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Red Sox Predictions: Fixing top five roster weaknesses

By Tim Starr

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: J.D. Martinez #28 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates his seventh inning home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: J.D. Martinez #28 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates his seventh inning home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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PHOENIX, ARIZONA – APRIL 05: Brock Holt #12 of the Boston Red Sox bats against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the MLB game at Chase Field on April 05, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks defeated the Red Sox 15-8. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – APRIL 05: Brock Holt #12 of the Boston Red Sox bats against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the MLB game at Chase Field on April 05, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks defeated the Red Sox 15-8. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Bench

The Red Sox had a strong bench in the 2018 and 2019 seasons with Mitch Moreland, Brock Holt, Steve Pearce, and Eduardo Nunez. All of those players are currently free agents, suddenly crippling the Boston bench.

While the main focus of a team should be the starting nine in your lineup, the bench should not be ignored – think about Nunez’s homer in Game 1 of the 2018 World Series. With the Red Sox being forced to be stingy with money this offseason, Boston shouldn’t overhaul on their bench, but adding a veteran presence wouldn’t hurt the bench.

The Red Sox have some players in the minors who can help the bench – Bobby Dalbec, Marco Hernandez – but there are players that can come over for relatively cheap. Signing a bat like Howie Kendrick or Asdrubal Cabrera wouldn’t hurt as they are versatile and had big moments in leading the Washington Nationals to the postseason.

Another player that could peak Boston’s interest is Corey Dickerson. Dickerson should come relatively cheap as he only played 78 games in 2019. However, Dickerson did damage in those 78 games, putting up a 131 OPS+ and a .565 SLG. Dickerson also was good defensively in 2019, and pairing him with Boston’s great defensive outfield (Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Andrew Benintendi) would make the pairing even better.

Since the Red Sox have Marco Hernandez as an affordable option for 2020, Kendrick and Cabrera won’t be number one to the Red Sox. For a bench piece, a cheap, short-term contract would be ideal for the Red Sox.

Prediction: Sox sign Corey Dickerson to a 1-year, $6 million dollar contract

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