My 2020 Boston Red Sox season preview and predictions
By Drew Athans
Red Sox Fielding
As with the offense, the Red Sox defense should be fine for the most part and should replicate their performances of 2018 and 2019. As at the plate, the only real notable subtraction was Betts and the same is true with the loss of his four Gold Gloves in right field. While Verdugo doesn’t bring the same defensive acumen, he’s solid and should fill in adequately. Having perennial Gold Glove candidate Pillar as a fourth outfielder also helps.
Elsewhere in the outfield, Jackie Bradley and his stellar defense will man center field as he plays out the final year of his contract. In left field, Benintendi needs to have a bounceback in the field as much as he does at the plate. His defense showed clear signs of regression in 2019 (although surprisingly, he was a Gold Glove finalist last year) after his solid (and sometimes spectacular) play in 2018.
Regarding the infield, other than the revolving door at second base over the last few years, there’s stability everywhere else. Devers and Bogaerts look to anchor the left side of the infield for years to come and Mitch Moreland and Michael Chavis will platoon at first base. Christian Vazquez remains the primary catcher with one or the other of newcomers Jonathan Lucroy and Kevin Plawecki as backups.
That leaves second base. Dustin Pedroia’s career is over in all but name and while Chavis did an admirable job holding down second base for most of last season, he isn’t the long-term answer there; ditto Tzu-Wei Lin, who is a nice utility guy but not an everyday player. Bloom signed Jose Peraza in the offseason and he’ll see time there, but he’s a classic low risk/low reward guy plucked off the league scrap heap.
The long-term answer at the position will hopefully be prospect Jeter Downs who came over in the Betts trade, but he’s at least a year and probably two away from being major league ready, so for now get used to seeing an ever-changing cast of characters manning second.