Boston Red Sox: My all-time favorite short-tenured players
Here is a list of my favorite short-tenured Red Sox players. Some known, others less known, and some you may completely forget were on the team.
While there is not much going on during the coronavirus quarantine, I have been watching Boston Red Sox re-runs on NESN because I miss baseball, and because there are literally no other sports to watch. This has been quite fun, despite knowing the outcomes of the games, as I fondly remember all the Red Sox teams I have witnessed growing up, iconic moments in franchise history, and most rewarding of all, the Championship runs and parades.
Watching these games, I’ve been reminded of Red Sox players I totally forgot were on the team as well as some all-time favorites. So, I was inspired to come up with a team compiled of all of my favorite short-tenured Red Sox players.
This list doesn’t really have any criteria; it’s mostly players I liked for some odd reason and were on the team for one or two years. Some of the players are ones that I totally forgot were on the Red Sox. I’ll explain my choosing for each one. All of these players will be post-2004 era because I don’t remember any Red Sox teams before that, being born in 2000. So here we go.
Starting at third base, we are going to go with the first player I thought of when I made this list: Adrian Beltre.
Without a doubt, Beltre is a future Hall of Famer, and one of the most fun and lovable guys to play the game. He signed a one year contract with the Sox worth $9 million back in 2010. I really loved Beltre and was ecstatic when he signed as a free agent to come to Boston.
In that year, he was the Red Sox team MVP, leading the Sox in BA (.321) and RBI’s (102) along with 28 HR’s and a league-leading 49 doubles. He was also an All-Star and a Silver Slugger.
He was a weapon both at the plate and in the field, navigating the hot corner over at third, and dropping to his signature one knee stance after a power swing. He’s one guy who would have been great to have around for many years, but he continued his Hall of Fame career with the Texas Rangers.
I don’t know many who dislike Beltre with his fun and goofy attitude for the game. Beltre was so awesome to watch, and especially cool in a Red Sox uniform.
Next at shortstop, we have Alex Gonzalez. Gonzalez had two short stints with the Red Sox in 2006 and again in 2009. I remember Gonzalez as a talented infielder and just a fun player to watch turn double plays.
He was first in the American League in fielding % as a shortstop at .985. This helped the Red Sox to the best fielding percentage in the league in 2006 at .989, pretty impeccable. They also led the league in fewest errors that year with 66, 14 better than the next team. Gonzalez helped hold that defense down in ’06.
“He does stuff on the field that, sometimes, your jaw drops. You’re like, ‘How did he do that?’ You feel comfortable that if the ball is hit in that direction, it’s probably going to be an out,” Jon Lester said about his then-teammate, via ESPN.
Gonzalez didn’t let anything by him at short.
Gonzalez’ bat wasn’t great, batting .255 in that ’06 seasons, but he was a phenomenal underrated shortstop. I loved watching Alex Gonzalez when I was a kid because I always tried to emulate his crafty glove in the field. He was my clear choice at shortstop as an underrated, short-tenured, skilled player.
At second base is Mark Loretta. The Sox have been stable at the second base position over the years thanks to Dustin Pedroia, so it was slim pickings when it came to the second base position.
Loretta was on the Sox for just one year in ’06, but he made significant contributions. I liked Loretta because he seemed just like an average guy who did his job productively and went under the radar while doing so.
Loretta typically batted second, the guy who you could count on to get on base. Loretta slashed for .285/.345/.361 in ’06, his average being 3rd on the team. He was a steady player who hit for mostly singles, and was in fact 5th in the American League with 143 singles. His short Red Sox campaign also notched him his second All-Star Game, and a start at that.
Loretta hit an awesome walk-off home run on Patriots day that year against the Mariners that Don Orsillo passionately narrates right here. It was his first home run in a Red Sox uniform, and it came at the perfect time, sending Fenway into a frenzy on a day that is so important to the Red Sox faithful. Loretta was good in his short time in Boston, a meaningful contributor for the ’06 Sox.
Now first base is a tough one. I’ve run through multitudes of options because there are so many perfect players that fit my criteria for this pick. But after long and hard thought, I’ve decided to go with Adrian Gonzalez.
Gonzalez was one of my favorite Red Sox players back in 2011 and 2012, the big, power hitting lefty. There was something about his swing; the big kick and the one handed finish at the top.
Everyone loves a home run hitter, and that’s what he was. In his first year with the Sox in 2011, he hit .338/.410/.548 for 27 home runs and 117 RBI’s and led the league with 213 hits. He had an unbelievable season. Only Gonzalez, Ted Williams and Jimmie Foxx have had that high of a batting average with that many home runs and RBI’s in the same season for the Red Sox.
He wasn’t just a superb talent at the plate; he was also a phenomenal fielder. Along with a Silver Slugger award in the 2011 season, Gonzalez also brought home a Gold Glove award at the first base position, the third of his career.
Gonzo was a fun player to have in a Red Sox uniform. I, in fact, bought a Gonzalez jersey back in 2011 because I liked him so much. But the Red Sox unfortunately traded him away in a blockbuster deal in the middle of the season in 2012, to my displeasure.
On to the outfield. Left field is another tough one, but I’ve decided to go with Jason Bay. Bay was traded in the middle of 2008 to the Red Sox as part of the Manny Ramirez trade and played with them for the rest of ’08 and the full ’09 season.
Bay had his best career year in Boston in ’09, slashing .267/.384/.537 with 36 home runs and 119 RBI’s. This was good for 3rd in the AL in HR’s and 2nd in RBI’s. Jason Bay out of all players!
He was awesome on the Red Sox. I loved him and of course had a No. 44 Bay shirt by the beginning of 2009. He was kind of a plain and simple guy, didn’t seem to have much personality, but it was fun to watch him at the plate with that almost shortened swing and all of those home runs over the monster, one coming against Mariano Rivera in the ninth to tie the game against the Yankees.
His career went super downhill after that point, leaving fans to wonder how he would’ve done with the Red Sox had he taken their $60 million offer and been able to hit home runs over the towering Green Monster. He produced while he was here, and you gotta love a guy who can produce, achieving an All-Star selection and a Silver Slugger while donning a Red Sox uniform.
Next, at the center field slot I have Mike Cameron. To be honest, there weren’t many great options at CF, but I was a fan of Cameron on the Sox.
Cameron was not good by any means on the Red Sox. He signed a two year deal in late 2009 to join the team. Even though the Red Sox were an older team to begin with (most of the contributing guys were over 30 on the 2010 roster), the veteran presence he provided was good for the team, and he seemed like a fun loving guy, always having a smile on his face, just like in this picture of him warming up with some of his teammates before a game.
Cameron was in his 16th year in the MLB that season as a 37 year old, so he didn’t contribute too much. He could’ve been a good influence on a young Jacoby Ellsbury.
As I’m writing this, I’m seeing how little Cameron did contribute to this team, so I’m really starting to think I just liked him because we share the same name. Anyways, Cameron had 4 home runs and 15 RBI’s in limited playing time out in center field and batted .260.
Boston designated him for assignment in 2011 after batting .149. He wasn’t the All-Star he was way back in 2001, but hey, I liked the guy.
In right field, is none other than Cody Ross. Ross played all over the outfield during his career, but luckily for me, mostly in RF for the Red Sox in his sole season in Boston in 2012.
I think I had to be one of Cody Ross’ biggest fans. I don’t know what it was with me as a kid always buying the shirt or jersey of the one or two year Red Sox players like Ross. After Ross’ short season in 2012, I didn’t know what to do with the jersey, so in 2013 I morphed the 7 into a 3 with duct tape for catcher David Ross.
The moment that made me the biggest Cody Ross fan was his walk-off home run in mid-July against the White Sox, a game that I was at. I’ll never forget the towering bomb he hit while sitting on the first base side to win the game for the Sox.
Also, Ross always had the slickest eye black as you can see above, and he wore high socks. That’s my kind of style.
Although that infamous 2012 team was quite awful, Ross was pretty darn good, one of the best seasons of his career. He hit 22 home runs and had 81 RBI’s, some of the best numbers of his career. As a fan, there’s some moments you never forget, and being at the game when Cody Ross hit a bomb towards the light tower was one of those moments for me.
To round out the field at the catching position is Victor Martinez. Martinez was traded to the Sox in the middle of the 2009 season and played with the team through the 2010 season.
Martinez is a guy that everyone seems to like, including myself, and a talented player, one of the better catchers that the MLB has ever seen. Known for his unique squatted swing from both sides of the plate, Martinez was a star in Boston, one of the many guys on this list that was really good in their short tenure in Boston.
Martinez was an All-Star in both years he spent in Boston. With Boston in ’09, he batted .336 with an OPS of .912, 8 homers and 41 RBI’s in just 56 games. In 2010, he batted .302 with 20 homers and 79 RBI’s.
Martinez was a force behind the plate as well as he was throughout his entire career. In 2010, he was second in the AL in stolen bases allowed by a catcher. He was also first in range factor per game. I would say he is one of the best all around catchers in the MLB and one of the best that has come through Boston.
It’s hard to select just one pitcher for this lineup because there are so many that fit my criteria, but I’ve decided to go with 2005 and 2006 Red Sox member David Wells. I actually decided on him before this supposed twitter beef between him and Curt Schilling arose, when a fan asked him who was a generally disliked player in his era, and he responded with Curt Schilling, who then made a snide comment back.
I liked Wells primarily because he was on my Red Sox 2005 Monopoly set, and I thought he was funny looking as any five-year-old would. Wells is a pretty unique looking player. He’s a big, burly guy with more hair on his face than his head with that iconic circle beard. The big lefty pitcher is a sight to see.
Wells played for a whopping 9 teams in 21 years, a long and steady career. He was a 15-game winner in 2005, going 15-7 with a 4.45 ERA.
I was scouring YouTube watching videos of Wells pitch, and it’s almost identical to CC Sabathia of the Yankees. Strikingly odd similarities in the way they pitch.
Top 10 Red Sox players of the 2010s. dark. Next
Anyways, that’s my favorite short-tenured Red Sox players list by position. It was a fun list to make. Let me know some of your favorites or if we share some of the same.