There's been, for me, a lot of silver linings. In no particular order:
1. Devers' return to form, showing that the first few weeks were just a slow start. He's been unreal since that slow start. Last 25 games: .327/.376/.614/.990, 7 hr, 26 rbi. He's the real deal and it's nice to have that confirmed. A true star.
2. Eovaldi rounding into form. He had some rough starts there, but really came on his last four starts. And (while all starts count) if you take away his one disastrous start on Aug 15 (9 h, 8 r in 5.1 ip), his overall numbers are solid: 43.0 ip, 42 h, 12 r, 12 er, 5 bb, 49 k, 2.51 era, 1.09 whip, 10.3 k/9. That's encouraging as we prepare for 2021.
3. Verdugo. The guy is a really good baseball player. Unfortunately for him, he'll always be linked to Mookie, who's simply a much better player, and that's not fair. But Verdugo is very very good both offensively and defensively. Excellent pickup by Bloom.
4. Houck. Electric stuff, looks like a legit MLB arm.
5. Dalbec. Hate the gazillion strikeouts, but the guy has HUMONGOUS power. When he hits homers, they're not 380 foot fence-scrapers. They're 445 foot bombs. And he hits them to all fields. Definitely a guy to keep on the MLB squad and try to cut down on his K's, but man you gotta love the power.
6. Vazquez. I was wondering if 2019 was a fluke, but he's followed it up with a solid year: .801 ops, 114 ops+. Excellent overall player.
7. Hernandez. I know he got limited opportunity this year, but he's followed up his 2019 season with a nice little performance this season. Clearly he has the goods to be a solid MLB reliever.
8. The money. Excellent job to get under the luxury tax, which gives them TONS of freedom moving forward.
9. Restocking the system. They've added a lot of talent to the farm system, which can be brought up in the next few years or traded away for better MLB talent. Good job by Bloom to get some terrific prospects.
10. A high draft pick. Unfortunately, they played just well enough to move out of a top-2 draft position, but they're still going to draft high in each round, which should mean they can acquire some excellent young talent in next year's draft.
11. Bonus: Noah Song's military commitment has kept him from playing ball, but every day that goes by is another day closer to him stepping on the baseball field again.
12. Bonus #2: The recovery of Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez. Covid really messed with EdRo, but he's had a lot of time to recover without the team worrying about games on the field. Hoping he's fully good to go for 2021. Plus, he pitched a lot of innings in 2018 and 2019, and it's nice for him to ease some of the strain on that arm. Might help in the long run. As for Sale...it turns out to be a "perfect" (if there ever was one) season to sit out due to TJ surgery. He should be on schedule to return midway through 2021 with a rebuilt and fresh arm. Would be ENORMOUS to get these two guys back and pitching like they're capable of. The July 2021 Red Sox should be vastly better with the development of the young guys and the return of Sale and EdRo.