Boston Red Sox: Grading the squad before spring training begins

The Boston Red Sox have been reconfigured for 2020 but are still a work in progress. Just how do they grade before camp is in full swing?

Grading is a difficult stratagem especially in the pre-season when the roster is still in flux or in the case of the Red Sox upheaval. Since I spend many waking hours devising ways to use the word tumultuous I will since it certainly is proper usage for the Red Sox thing past winter.

During the year we – the staff at BSI – trade insults via our Google connection to see just who can do the grading clickbait article? The general consensus is mid-season and a final summary, but I will unceremoniously cut the line and do one before the first college team falls victim to the Red Sox at Jet Blue Park.

The major pieces are in place for the spring adventure with the usual number of question marks surfacing regarding various positions and players. Much will be settled baseball science when the real games begin and toes get frostbitten in the north. Getting to that point is always a pathway that will incite or rankle the emotions of Red Sox fans.

Of course, my approach is generally quite broad brush since extensive metrics are personally painful. If exit velocity or spin rate is your key to success then move on. I just look at where the baseball product now sits before the arms fall off or some other misfortune hits the team.