Red Sox Outfield
Left Field: This one is very easy to predict. Obviously Andrew Benintendi is going to be a lock in left field. The defensive wizard is becoming one of the absolute best left-fielders in the game today and gets better with each season. His only downfall is at the plate where he can be streaky at times.
With Betts now long gone, it’ll be up to Benny Biceps to fill in the vacancy in the lead-off spot. We saw how that experiment worked in 2019, but with an entire offseason to prepare for it, I feel he could really succeed.
Center Field: we’ll most likely be seeing Jackie Bradley Jr. Again, this feels like as much of a guarantee as there can be for a player in a position. Much like Betts, JBJ is in the final year of his current contract and it’s hard to imagine the Red Sox extending his stay in Boston.
For the last few years, his name was probably the most talked about in trade whispers with no deals ever coming to fruition. Jackie will be looking to have a strong effort in the shortened season to maximize his earning potential for 2021 and beyond.
Right Field: This is where I may be set apart from some of the others out there trying to figure out what Ron Roenicke’s lineup will look like. For me, this is when we call upon the recently signed Kevin Pillar. Oddly enough, he’s also set for free agency next winter so this is a big year for the outfielder to make some waves.
Most would expect to see Alex Verdugo’s name in this slot but I’m not sure how his back is healing since the shutdown. When camp was still open back in March we heard about how he was taking swings and that things looked all clear on the injury front.
That was three months ago though and we haven’t heard much from either the young outfielder or the Red Sox on his progress since everyone was sent home. PIllar is the safe bet here.