Boston Red Sox: Most overrated players in franchise history
There have been plenty of very good Red Sox players who have been overrated by a large number of fans. Here are five of the most overrated in team history.
So many great players have played for the Boston Red Sox that just about every fan has their group of favorites. While there are some who we all agree on, there are many others who may mean more to some people than they do to others for a variety of reasons, all (or at least the majority) of them valid.
However, while some of these players were/are really good, many have been overrated by a significant segment of the Red Sox fanbase, so much so that they’re remembered for being much better than they actually were. Emotion and sentiment may cloud judgments and the mists of time may cause us to look back with rose-colored glasses, but statistics and an objective look never lie. This article is the first in a series looking at overrated Red Sox players.
Finally, a disclaimer. Please don’t mistake my saying these players are overrated to meaning they weren’t good; this isn’t meant in any way, shape, or form to be a hit piece. These players were good and they deserve to be appreciated and remembered by Red Sox fans. Overrated means just that: they tend to be remembered and talked about as being much better than they actually, measurably were. That’s all.
(I’m sure I’ll catch some heat for some of these choices, so just remember that differing opinions are good and we can discuss them in the comments. And if you feel like some deserving players have been left off, don’t worry…there will be a second part of this article in the future!)
In no particular order, let’s begin.
Jon Lester
I know this one is going to make a lot of Red Sox fans upset right off the bat and as I stated before, far too many people equate anyone saying someone is overrated with it meaning they were bad. That’s not the case at all and in no way, shape, or form do I think Jon Lester was bad. He was a very good pitcher for the Red Sox for eight seasons… but I do think he’s overrated.
In those eight and a half seasons in Boston, Lester compiled a record of 110 wins and 63 losses with an ERA of 3.75 and 1386 strikeouts. Those are very good numbers and on the face of them, would seem to suggest a top pitcher. Lester also had really good numbers in October, going 6-4 with a 2.46 ERA and 68 strikeouts over the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2013 postseasons combined.
When you take a deeper look at the numbers, though, he was a bit overrated. While he won 19 games in 2009, his per season average win-loss record was just under 13 wins and 7.4 losses, not bad at all but not befitting the “ace” status so many Red Sox fans gave him during his Boston tenure.
Other than 2008, where he spent the first half of the season on the team before being traded, he never had an ERA below 3.00 and in three seasons had an ERA over 4.50. Also, while he was a durable starter, pitching (just barely) over 200 innings in five seasons, he averaged right around 6 IP per start for his career.
He wasn’t exactly known for going deep in games and those who remember watching Lester regularly will remember a guy who routinely labored to get through five or six innings. A closer look at his postseason stats also shows that while he was great in the 2007 World Series and the entire 2013 postseason run, he also posted ERAs over 4.50 in three series (2007 and 2008 ALCS, 2009 ALDS).
No one denies that Jon Lester was a very good, dependable pitcher who was instrumental in helping the Red Sox win two World Series, but I always bristled when fans called him an “ace” and a “No. 1” starter and I know I wasn’t alone in disagreeing. At best, Lester was probably a really good No. 2 or No. 3 starter. He could handle pitching in Boston and the Red Sox should never have traded him, but he was also massively overrated.
Andrew Benintendi
This one is sure to make some fans upset, especially younger fans, the ladies, and grandmothers (I jest), but don’t let the handsome good looks and flowing mane of jet black hair obscure your vision. Andrew Benintendi has been a pretty good player during his brief Red Sox career to this point, but a lot of fans vastly overrate him as one of the best outfielders in the game.
These same fans are usually taken aback when fans of other teams and the sports media outside of New England don’t consider him anywhere near as good as Red Sox fans do. After coming up to the big leagues in the summer of 2016 and dazzling Sox fans, Benintendi had a really good rookie season in 2017, putting up a .271 average along with 20 home runs and 90 RBI.
He finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting behind Aaron Judge and played solid defense, seeming to take over left field and playing the Green Monster with ease. Seemingly poised for a breakout season in 2018, Benintendi was great in the first half of the season but declined precipitously after the All Star break when his power stroke seemed to disappear.
He finished the season with a .290 average but only 16 home runs (with only two after the break) and 87 RBI. He was solid in the postseason, though, and while he had no home runs and only five RBI that October, his diving catch to end Game Four of the ALCS gave the Red Sox a commanding 3-1 lead and all but ended the Astros’ chances.
Red Sox fans then waited for him to have a bounce-back season in 2019, but he was even worse than he’d been the second half of 2018. Like most of his teammates, Benintendi had a disappointing 2019 season, batting .266 with only 13 home runs and 68 RBI. He had several long slumps at the plate and the frustration visibly boiled over several times.
His defense also visibly slipped (although strangely he was a Gold Glove finalist for the second year in a row) and he continued his troubling habit of running into far too many outs on the bases. Benintendi isn’t a bad player at all and he’s still very young and very talented, but he was certainly the weakest of the Killer B’s outfield of 2016-2019.
He wasn’t near the overall player Mookie Betts was and his defense isn’t anywhere near as good as Jackie Bradley’s (while their power numbers are about the same). The 2020 season may very well be a make-or-break one for Benintendi and while he’s still one of the better young outfielders in the league with plenty of time to get back on track, he’s overvalued and overrated by a huge swath of Red Sox fans.
Carl Yastrzemski
This is the one I expect the most blow-back for and I’m fully ready for it. Carl Yastrzemski is one of the most beloved and iconic players in Red Sox history and is a Hall of Famer. “How on earth can he possibly be overrated?” you’re most likely asking yourself. I, too, used to think he was simply one of the greatest players of all time without question, but once I looked closely at his numbers a different reality set in.
The career numbers speak for themselves: a .285 average, 452 home runs, 1844 RBI, 3419 hits, 18 All-Star appearances, 7 Gold Gloves, 3 batting titles, an MVP award (1967), and a Triple Crown (1967). There’s no question Yaz deserves to be in Cooperstown with those accomplishments, but he’s still overrated and I’ll tell you why.
From his rookie year of 1961 through 1966, Yaz was a solid player who hit below .300 four times and over .300 twice (including a batting title in 1963 with a .321 average) while only hitting 20 home runs in a season once (1965) and never hitting 100 RBI. However, from 1967 to 1970 Yaz was one of the most feared hitters in the league, putting up the following seasons:
1967: .326 BA, 44 HR, 121 RBI, 189 H, 112 R, 91 BB, .418 OBP, 1.040 OPS (won AL MVP and Triple Crown)
1968: .301 BA, 23 HR, 74 RBI, 162 H, 90 R, 119 BB, .426 OBP, .922 OPS (won AL batting title)
1969: .255 BA, 40 HR, 111 RBI, 154 H, 96 R, 101 BB, .362 OBP, .870 OPS
1970: .329 BA, 40 HR, 102 RBI, 186 H, 125 R, 128 BB, .452 OBP, 1.044 OPS
After that, though? From 1971 to 1983 (his final season), he only hit over .300 once (.301 in 1974), only hit over 20 home runs in a season three times (21 in 1976, 28 in 1977, and 21 in 1979), only topped 100 RBI twice (102 each in 1976 and 1977), while mostly staying in the .250-.270 BA, 12-17 HR, 50-80 RBI range. And all this while still playing 140+ games in almost every season.
Yaz was a very good player who endeared himself to fans with how hard he played and how often he played through injuries. However, apart from that four season spurt of dominance in the late 1960s, his career and his numbers are more a testament to his longevity and steady (if unspectacular) production. I love Yaz as much as any Red Sox fan does, but looking at the overall numbers, those are simply the facts. He is overrated.
Tim Wakefield
As with all of the players on this current list, Tim Wakefield was a player who was well liked by a huge portion of the fanbase, so much so that he’s become overrated and remembered in many ways for being far better than he really was. Again, this is no way, shape, or form saying he wasn’t good, just that how good he was has been overblown in the years since he retired.
After spending the first two seasons of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Wakefield was cut and didn’t play in the majors in 1994 before being signed by the Red Sox. He went on to spend the rest of his career, until 2011, in Boston and helped the team win two World Series titles in 2004 and 2007.
Being a knuckleball pitcher, Wakefield’s two biggest strengths were his durability (very little wear and tear on the arm) and his versatility (he could start or come out of the bullpen). He amassed a 200-180 career record, with a record of 186-168 as a member of the Red Sox. He’s third on the all-time franchise wins list behind Roger Clemens and Cy Young and first on the list of innings pitched with 3006.
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However, a closer look at the numbers shows that while he was very good, he wasn’t as great as so many Red Sox fans have believed both during and after his career. His highest win total in a season was 17 and he only broke the 15-win barrier four times in 17 seasons. He had 8 seasons with a sub-.500 W-L record and 14 seasons with an ERA above 4.00 (five of which were over 5.00).
Wakefield had 11 seasons of both double-digit wins and double-digit losses (but not always in the same season) and 11 seasons where he gave up 20 or more home runs (four of which he gave up 30 or more homers). And while he was durable and made 30 more more starts 7 times, he only pitched over 200 innings in a season 5 times.
To be fair, a lot of the discrepancy in numbers is due to Wakefield being a knuckleball pitcher; when they’re on, they’re unhittable, but when they’re off, it’s like they’re pitching batting practice. Still, while he was solid and dependable for a very long time and a fan favorite due to his calm and kind demeanor, he was an above average knuckleball pitcher who has been overrated by Red Sox fans.
Brock Holt
Perhaps no Red Sox player embodies the intersection between being a fan favorite and being overrated for what he did on the field than Brock Holt. As with his fellow “Flow Brow” Andrew Benintendi, a lot of this is driven by his good looks, big smile, and fun personality, three factors which helped to inflate his contributions on the field.
Holt came to the Red Sox in 2013 after spending his rookie season with the Pittsburgh Pirates and he played in Boston until 2019, after which he became a free agent and signed with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was almost exclusively a utility player off the bench for the Sox, appearing in over 100 games in a season only three times in seven years (and in two of those seasons, just barely over 100).
Between the limited playing time and his constant battling of injuries, his career numbers bear that out: a .256 average with 23 home runs and 203 RBI in 615 games spread over his seven Red Sox seasons. On the flip side, in 2015 Holt played 129 games (the most of his career), made the All-Star team, and hit for the cycle.
He was versatile enough to play every position except pitcher and catcher, although he was primarily used as an infielder. He was on two World Series champions (2013, 2018) and hit for the only postseason cycle in baseball history when he accomplished the feat in 2018 against the hated Yankees in New York during the ALDS.
When the Red Sox declined to bring him back, the uproar from a huge segment of the Red Sox fanbase was over the top and out of proportion. Holt was a good guy who did a lot of charity work for the Jimmy Fund in Boston, had an adorable son, gave good hugs to JD Martinez after he (JD) hit home runs, and was just incredibly likable.
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But at the end of the day, he was simply a utility player (and an injury-prone one at that). I liked him as much as the next fan and he definitely had his moments. He never hurt the team when he was on the field and from everything I can tell, he seems like a genuinely good person. With all of that being said, when the Red Sox didn’t sign him, fans acted out of proportion relative to how good he was.
Brock Holt was a fun player to watch and good at what he did, but he was incredibly overrated.