4 Red Sox who are playing their way out of the team's 2024 plans
The Boston Red Sox have some tough decisions to make after this season.
The Boston Red Sox have been a fairly infuriating team for fans to follow in 2023. Sometimes, they look like a team that could push their way into a playoff spot. However, they also have put up stretches where they look like they need to completely rethink their approach to roster construction. It didn't really help provide any clarity when the Red Sox front office stood pat at the trade deadline. It just feels like the Red Sox don't know who they are as an organization right now.
There are some positives to take away from the 2023 season, though. Jarren Duran, Brayan Bello, and Masataka Yoshida seem like a nice young core to build upon and Rafael Devers remains criminally underrated acros the league. However, there is no denying that Boston is going to have to make some upgrades, particularly on the pitching side, and roster changes if they want to finally emerge from the purgatory they currently find themselves in as team.
Here are 4 Red Sox who are playing their way out of the team's 2024 plans
There are a few different ways of looking at the changes that Boston needs to make going into 2024. Some players just haven't played well and the Red Sox simply need to upgrade their spots on the roster. Other guys have been okay or even good, but have some flaws and should be used in trades to fix other problems on the roster. The goal here isn't to identify pending free agents and giving a "stay or go" grade, though. That is a topic for a different day. The focus here will be on guys who are under team control for 2024, but may still need to go for one reason or another.
Without further delay, let's take a look at 4 Red Sox players that could be playing their way out of Boston after this season.
Connor Wong
The catcher position for the Red Sox has been a pillow fight to the death in 2023 between Connor Wong and Reese McGuire. Neither player has been particularly awesome this year and while Connor Wong has been the slightly better defensive player between the two this season, he still gets the nod as the catcher that needs to go after the 2023 season.
Wong and McGuire have been weirdly similar this season in terms of production, but McGuire's production came in less than half of the plate appearances after Reese missed a chunk of time due to an oblique injury. Meanwhile, Wong has posted an 83 wRC+ in nearly 300 plate appearances in 2023 and it sure hasn't seemed like he has brought much to the table in terms of game-calling if Boston's pitching this season is any indication. Boston just needs a better catcher and unfortunately for Connor, that means they should probably move on from him.
Alex Verdugo
This is a controversial one because Alex Verdugo's production on the field has not been the problem here whatsoever. Verdugo has slashed .269/.340/.420 in 2023 with a perfectly reasonable 105 wRC+ especially for a guy who has been good defensively in the outfield. Verdugo is heading into his final arbitration season and shouldn't be prohibitively expensive next season. However, there is more going on in Verdugo's case than just the numbers.
Given Verdugo's recent benching and his history of lacking maturity as a professional, it is pretty clear that the relationship between him and the organization isn't at a high point right now. When you combine that with the fact that Boston has outfield help coming from the minor leagues in Ceddanne Rafaela, Boston should strongly consider trading Verdugo this offseason. Even if he isn't an organizational fit for them, he could be a very valuable trade chip that could help them address their pitching woes during the offseason.
Nick Pivetta
Boston's pitching staff doesn't have a shortage of guys that have warts with the injury concerns of James Paxton and Chris Sale leading the way. However, there is basically no chance of Boston just eating the $27.5 million owed to Sale next season especially if he continues to pitch well now that he is back from his latest injury. Instead, the easiest place to upgrade in the rotation going into 2024 may be the spot currently occupied by Nick Pivetta.
Oddly enough, Pivetta was perfectly reasonable as a reliever for the Red Sox and it would be very defensible if Boston wanted to move him back there in 2024. However, Pivetta really struggles the second (or more) time through a lineup as his command problems and issues with the long ball become amplified the longer he is in games. This is a guy with good stuff, so perhaps just sticking to making him a reliever is the best play. In any case, he probably doesn't need to be in the rotation next season.
Chris Murphy
It probably isn't talked about enough that the Red Sox have a top 4 bullpen by fWAR in the American League this season. Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin, and the aforementioned Pivetta have been really good in relief for Boston this season with several other guys chipping in as well. However, one bullpen arm that probably needs a hard look after this season is lefty Chris Murphy.
On the surface, Murphy does not seem like a guy that should be a candidate for a roster culling as he has posted a 2.94 ERA this season and boasts a very reasonable 9.09 K/9 rate. However, a closer look points to trouble brewing as his more than four walks per nine innings pitched in the big leagues is actually a modest improvement over what he was posting in the high minors. His breaking balls are weapons to be sure, but his fastball is a bit suspect and his command is spooky enough to make one think really hard about whether or not Boston wants to take their chances on him in the bullpen in 2024.
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