Red Sox 2021 Season Predictions

How Many Wins?


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    304
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Sandy Leon Trotsky

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Mar 11, 2007
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For some reason, I’m pretty worried about JD Martinez.
Well his really terrible 2020 would be the biggest, no? Second would be his barely-hitting ST 2021, yeah? So plenty of good reasons to be worried... but he was so bad last year, and the offense in general was pretty good, that anything we'd get from him would be an improvement. I suspect his stretch of being one of the most dangerous bats in MLB is over, but I don't see any reason why he won't rebound to something above an .800 OPS with 25HRs.
 

Traut

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My Desk
The problem here isn’t the offense it’s the pitching. They are a rotation of #4 starters. Their “ace” didn’t pitch last year and now has a “dead arm”. The lack of top of the rotation talent puts pressure on the bullpen throughout the season. This team is better than last year and if they finish at or even close to .500 it should be considered a success.

My prediction is 79 wins.
 

ngruz25

Bibby
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Sep 20, 2005
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In trying to put together my predictions, I am struck by the lack of base stealing threats on this team. A lot of people are predicting that Kike Hernandez leads the team in steals, I guess because he's a smallish utility guy and therefore should be fast - he's got 12 stolen bases in his career! In 7 seasons!

Anyway... I predict 82 wins.

- Wins: E-Rod
- Saves: Barnes
- Batting average: Verdugo
- HR: JDM
- SB: Xander
- HBP: Marwin Gonzalez
- Cora Discipline: Yes, for a beanball contest gone awry.
- DL for OD Roster: Garrett Richards
- WAR for Non-OD Pitcher: Chris Sale
- WAR for Non-OD Hitter: Danny Santana
- First Punch: Nathan Eovaldi
- Suspension Days: Eovaldi
- Facial Hair: The board is torn apart in the great Brasier vs. Verdugo debate of 2021, with Verdugo ultimately taking the crown.
 

cornwalls@6

Less observant than others
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Apr 23, 2010
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Well his really terrible 2020 would be the biggest, no? Second would be his barely-hitting ST 2021, yeah? So plenty of good reasons to be worried... but he was so bad last year, and the offense in general was pretty good, that anything we'd get from him would be an improvement. I suspect his stretch of being one of the most dangerous bats in MLB is over, but I don't see any reason why he won't rebound to something above an .800 OPS with 25HRs.
FWIW, and obviously a small sample size, but he swung the bat pretty well yesterday, and hit a bomb in todays game. Hopefully, his swing is rounding into form at the right time heading into the opener. Last year was such an unprecedented shit show of a season, I'm hard pressed to draw too many conclusions from it, or whatever he needed to work out this spring. If we look up in May and he's still scuffling badly, some alarm bells would go off for me. Otherwise, I think he's still young enough, and still enough of a gifted hitter, to get himself back on track.
 

joe dokes

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Jul 18, 2005
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I picked 90-94 because that's what I want to see. Sox played .400 last year with approximately 3.72 actual major league pitchers on the roster. Doubling or tripling that should lead to significant improvement.


-Team leader in Wins? Erod

-Team leader in Saves? Barnes
-Team leader for Batting Average (qualifying)? Bogaerts
-Team leader in HR? Renfroe
-Team leader in Steals? Bogaerts
-Team leader in HBP? Verdugo
-Alex Cora discipline handed down by MLB? (Yes/No.) No
-Player who makes the Opening Day Roster, who subsequently spends the greatest number of days on the DL? Cordero
-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Houck
-Non-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Santana
-Player to throw the first punch of the year (no pushes - a true swing)? Cordero
-Player with the greatest number of suspension days? Pivetta
-Stupidest Facial Hair at All-Star Break? Verdugo
 

Rasputin

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I think the pessimism is unwarranted which is no surprise because I always think the pessimism is unwarranted because pessimism sucks.

On the other hand, I just misspelled "surprise" three fucking times so what the fuck do I know?

I think this team is vastly more talented than last year and has much greater depth. Everything could go right in the shitter, which is always true, but the upside is a pretty good team. There's a bunch of young guys who could be breaking in with a splash and that hasn't really been true for a while.

91 wins

-Team leader in Wins? Eduardo Rodriguez
-Team leader in Saves? Ottavino
-Team leader for Batting Average (qualifying)? Bogaerts
-Team leader in HR? Devers
-Team leader in Steals? Durran
-Team leader in HBP? Franchy Cordero mostly because if I were facing a guy named Franchy, I'd hit the motherfucker.
-Alex Cora discipline handed down by MLB? (Yes/No.) No
-Player who makes the Opening Day Roster, who subsequently spends the greatest number of days on the DL? Pivetta
-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Houck
-Non-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Duran
-Player to throw the first punch of the year (no pushes - a true swing)? Franchy
-Player with the greatest number of suspension days? Franchy
-Stupidest Facial Hair at All-Star Break? Franchy

Seriously, WTF kind of name is Franchy?

And now I'm just gonna say this and be done with it.

It's not out of the question.
 

staz

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The cradle of the game.
A very respectable 81-81

-Team leader in Wins? ERod
-Team leader in Saves? Barnes
-Team leader for Batting Average (qualifying)? J.D.
-Team leader in HR? J.D.
-Team leader in Steals? Bogaerts
-Team leader in HBP? Verdugo
-Alex Cora discipline handed down by MLB? (Yes/No.) No
-Player who makes the Opening Day Roster, who subsequently spends the greatest number of days on the DL? Eovaldi
-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? ERod
-Non-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Chavis
-Player to throw the first punch of the year (no pushes - a true swing)? Houck, he Tavarez-level crazy
-Player with the greatest number of suspension days? Houck, proudly.
-Stupidest Facial Hair at All-Star Break? Vazquez

The 2021 Red Sox get off to a surprisingly fast start, closing April a scant 2 games out of first place. The obligatory "So, what have we got here?" thread appears on the main board. Their fortunes change on May 21st in Philly when Eovaldi's ulnar collateral ligament explodes, ending his season and career. From that point until Sale's first start in late July, the Sox drop to last in the division, a tough stretch punctuated by a wild brawl in the Bronx after Tanner Houck takes exception to a Giancarlo post-HR bat flip/stare on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, which prompts ARod to make some dumbass remark about that being the Yankees' coalescing moment a la he and Tek in '04 (even though the Sox are far back in the standings). Barnes gets traded, Valdez becomes a lights-out closer and the Sox end the season on a high note, playing .667 ball over the last 2 months, giving hope for brighter days in 2022. The Minnesota Twins - at long last - bounce the Yankees out of the playoffs, assuring a restful winter across New England. In 2022 Red Sox win #10. :)
 

RedOctober3829

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Jul 19, 2005
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Team leader in Wins? E-Rod
-Team leader in Saves? Ottavino
-Team leader for Batting Average (qualifying)? Devers
-Team leader in HR? Devers
-Team leader in Steals? Verdugo
-Team leader in HBP? Hernandez
-Alex Cora discipline handed down by MLB? (Yes/No.) No
-Player who makes the Opening Day Roster, who subsequently spends the greatest number of days on the DL? Eovaldi
-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Seabold
-Non-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Chavis
-Player to throw the first punch of the year (no pushes - a true swing)? Verdugo
-Player with the greatest number of suspension days? Verdugo
-Stupidest Facial Hair at All-Star Break? Verdugo
I'm predicting 88 wins. SP overperforms, bullpen is good, and lineup is top 3 in the AL.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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When do we start worrying?
In all seriousness.... obviously 3 games in is the equivalent of what the first 2 minutes of a NFL football game?
But belch... nothing good at all. Well Houck continued to look great. But that's it. There's some serious worrisome signs both on individual levels (Devers, X and Verdugo mostly, for the core... not to mention the ones with lesser expectations) and the general team.
Now on the road in Tampa... while it would do wonders for my pessimism if they took 2/3, just taking 1 game but looking focused and productive in the other two would be okay with me. I'm not asking for much.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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When do we start worrying?
In all seriousness.... obviously 3 games in is the equivalent of what the first 2 minutes of a NFL football game?
But belch... nothing good at all. Well Houck continued to look great. But that's it. There's some serious worrisome signs both on individual levels (Devers, X and Verdugo mostly, for the core... not to mention the ones with lesser expectations) and the general team.
Now on the road in Tampa... while it would do wonders for my pessimism if they took 2/3, just taking 1 game but looking focused and productive in the other two would be okay with me. I'm not asking for much.
Yesterday was ugly, but yeah, way too early to worry or panic. The pitching looked pretty solid the first two days, unaided by the defense of course. Losing 3-0 and 4-2 suggests it's the offense that is the bigger concern. Part of that might be the cooler weather, which is not exactly encouraging considering the first road trip takes them to Baltimore and Minnesota. I hope the offense starts resembling what we saw in Fort Myers sooner rather than later. 0-3 can be overcome. 1-8 or something like that, not so much.
 

Rovin Romine

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When do we start worrying?
In all seriousness.... obviously 3 games in is the equivalent of what the first 2 minutes of a NFL football game?
But belch... nothing good at all. Well Houck continued to look great. But that's it. There's some serious worrisome signs both on individual levels (Devers, X and Verdugo mostly, for the core... not to mention the ones with lesser expectations) and the general team.
Now on the road in Tampa... while it would do wonders for my pessimism if they took 2/3, just taking 1 game but looking focused and productive in the other two would be okay with me. I'm not asking for much.
I felt they had a slight chance to make it to the WC. But that would be with many things breaking their way.

The offense will be better than this, and Houck and Eovaldi seem on-track, as do many of the relievers. So perhaps, if their other starters turn out to be problem/injury-free, they'll be more competitive against a higher caliber of talent than I first thought. But it's too early to tell.

If the road proves to be bumpy (injury/underperformance from key players), they can't afford to blithely toss away games from their final W total, certainly not by squandering series against weak competition.

I'm really not a fan of Cora. Mostly because of 2019 and the whole cheating scandals. He's not impressing me thusfar with his in-game moves, and none of his mythical rapport with the players has produced results. (As it didn't in 2019.) Also, as in 2019, they seem unprepared. But we're stuck with him, and he should be mostly adequate over the long haul.
 

dynomite

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They didn't hit well, they didn't pitch well, and they didn't field well. But other than that things were pretty good!

In all seriousness, I'm not that worried. As RR says, Eovaldi and Houck were impressive, Sawamura looks like a find, and the lineup will hit. Sure, it's possible that the sum is less than the parts here, that a team of 6-7-8 hitters and #3 starters will lose 2/3 of its games, and ultimately I still feel like the ceiling for this team is probably ~.500. But I don't think they're *this* bad.
 

BaseballJones

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Well of course they're not *this* bad. They're 0-3 with a -13 run differential. That would project to 0-162 with a -702 run differential. Pretty sure that won't happen.

But.... they might actually be pretty bad. This was, aside from a catastrophic injury happening to a key player, as bad a start as you could really imagine. Getting absolutely mauled at home by the Orioles in three straight....not good. But it's only three games. Of course, the last two seasons they got off to awful starts and never recovered.

Still...be optimistic!
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Well of course they're not *this* bad. They're 0-3 with a -13 run differential. That would project to 0-162 with a -702 run differential. Pretty sure that won't happen.

But.... they might actually be pretty bad. This was, aside from a catastrophic injury happening to a key player, as bad a start as you could really imagine. Getting absolutely mauled at home by the Orioles in three straight....not good. But it's only three games. Of course, the last two seasons they got off to awful starts and never recovered.

Still...be optimistic!
They got "mauled" in one game. The first two games were close games that ultimately hinged on the bats generating absolutely nothing. Given that that is supposed to be their strength, it's easy enough to be optimistic going forward.
 

jon abbey

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The last time BOS started 0-3 at Fenway was 1948, and they finished that season 96-58.
 

sean1562

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At least our start is better than Oakland's. Swept by their hated rivals and sporting a -26 run differential.

Teams have bad series all the time. It is unfortunate it happened at home in the opening series but I am fairly confident the team isn't going to have a .160/.214/.234 line for the rest of the season.
 

themactavish

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Aug 4, 2010
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Losing 3-0 and 4-2 suggests it's the offense that is the bigger concern. Part of that might be the cooler weather, which is not exactly encouraging considering the first road trip takes them to Baltimore and Minnesota...
Well, it'll be over 80 today here in Minnesota (75 yesterday). Then again, it could be 30 next week, though 55-60 is more likely...
 

brandonchristensen

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Feb 4, 2012
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It looks like a team of unknowns slapped together because of poor planning by our previous GM.

I don’t like watching someone come up that I have zero attachment to, wondering when someone I actually know like Xander or Devers come up.

2018 feels like a decade ago. How we got here from there is insane.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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They got "mauled" in one game. The first two games were close games that ultimately hinged on the bats generating absolutely nothing. Given that that is supposed to be their strength, it's easy enough to be optimistic going forward.
I'd add that some iron gloves also played an important role in those two losses. This is something some of us worried about as this roster was put together, so to see it show up as an evident problem right away is not a good sign.
 

nvalvo

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They got "mauled" in one game. The first two games were close games that ultimately hinged on the bats generating absolutely nothing. Given that that is supposed to be their strength, it's easy enough to be optimistic going forward.
And the third game was a mauling because one starter had a bad start where he gave up a bunch of hits without yielding much hard contact and then the first reliever up showed absolutely nothing and allowed all of the inherited runners to score plus a bunch of his own. If Taylor gets a sac fly and a double play ball, that's a tight game too.

Still, as someone whose prediction was that this team is going to be pretty good as a roster, but not terribly likely to crack the playoffs coming from a hotly contested division, this weekend has made me think that is even more likely. Both Toronto and Baltimore look better than I expected: young rosters often have more upside than people give them credit for.

As for the Sox:

I think we got major good news on the pitching. Eovaldi looked great. Houck looked good. Whitlock looked like a guy who could not only hang on in the bullpen, might actually crack the rotation before Seabold. Richards looked bad — it looked like he was "flying open" again, missing high and to the arm side and low and to the glove side. But he also looked healthy, he sat 94, and the breaking stuff moved well. I'm probably in the minority, but I want to see more from him. He reminds me of Drew Pomeranz, kind of.

The defense... looks pretty awful. I think we're going to need to overhaul the infield next off-season, and luckily there are a ton of great shortstops on the market to help us do just that. Devers is a DH, and Bogaerts would be better served at third, where his steady hands and good arm will serve him well and his limited range will be less of a liability. I wanted Lindor, but I'd be delighted with Story or Seager, both of whom should get to free agency.

As for offense, it was undeniably quiet, but we have a sub-.200 BABIP and a 3% HR/FB ratio as a team, even while we've hit a good number of line drives and fly balls and made posted pretty good contact numbers... so, I'm not too terribly worried about that. But the biggest offensive news for me has to be that JDM is off to a hot start. If he can have a great first half and get his trade value back into the black, that would be very good for the future of this team whether they decide to move him or no.

It looks like a team of unknowns slapped together because of poor planning by our previous GM.

I don’t like watching someone come up that I have zero attachment to, wondering when someone I actually know like Xander or Devers come up.

2018 feels like a decade ago. How we got here from there is insane.
But aren't we just in a fairly brief waiting period between the 2018 team and when Houck, Duran, Downs, Casas, Wong, Ward, Mata, Jimenez etc. come up over the next few seasons? I guess I'm wondering where players you have attachment to come from. (Edited to add: Hell, Noah Song is supposed to get back to baseball during or just after this season...).

And is it really all that insane? We traded the farm for Sale, Pomeranz and Kimbrel, and spent big on Price and Martinez to open a 2016-2020 window, and we won a title, and then the predictable consequences of the choices we made to build that 2018 team... happened.
 

brandonchristensen

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And the third game was a mauling because one starter had a bad start where he gave up a bunch of hits without yielding much hard contact and then the first reliever up showed absolutely nothing and allowed all of the inherited runners to score plus a bunch of his own. If Taylor gets a sac fly and a double play ball, that's a tight game too.

Still, as someone whose prediction was that this team is going to be pretty good as a roster, but not terribly likely to crack the playoffs coming from a hotly contested division, this weekend has made me think that is even more likely. Both Toronto and Baltimore look better than I expected: young rosters often have more upside than people give them credit for.

As for the Sox:

I think we got major good news on the pitching. Eovaldi looked great. Houck looked good. Whitlock looked like a guy who could not only hang on in the bullpen, might actually crack the rotation before Seabold. Richards looked bad — it looked like he was "flying open" again, missing high and to the arm side and low and to the glove side. But he also looked healthy, he sat 94, and the breaking stuff moved well. I'm probably in the minority, but I want to see more from him. He reminds me of Drew Pomeranz, kind of.

The defense... looks pretty awful. I think we're going to need to overhaul the infield next off-season, and luckily there are a ton of great shortstops on the market to help us do just that. Devers is a DH, and Bogaerts would be better served at third, where his steady hands and good arm will serve him well and his limited range will be less of a liability. I wanted Lindor, but I'd be delighted with Story or Seager, both of whom should get to free agency.

As for offense, it was undeniably quiet, but we have a sub-.200 BABIP and a 3% HR/FB ratio as a team, even while we've hit a good number of line drives and fly balls and made posted pretty good contact numbers... so, I'm not too terribly worried about that. But the biggest offensive news for me has to be that JDM is off to a hot start. If he can have a great first half and get his trade value back into the black, that would be very good for the future of this team whether they decide to move him or no.



But aren't we just in a fairly brief waiting period between the 2018 team and when Houck, Duran, Downs, Casas, Wong, Ward, Mata, Jimenez etc. come up over the next few seasons? I guess I'm wondering where players you have attachment to come from. (Edited to add: Hell, Noah Song is supposed to get back to baseball during or just after this season...).

And is it really all that insane? We traded the farm for Sale, Pomeranz and Kimbrel, and spent big on Price and Martinez to open a 2016-2020 window, and we won a title, and then the predictable consequences of the choices we made to build that 2018 team... happened.
Sure that’s possible.

2018 happened and now the majority of those players, including our entire stud outfield, is gone. The farm being gone didn’t force us to make some really bad decisions with contracts.

I doubt Mookie resigns here even if we offered the same contract, but still. I watch these games and I feel like I’m still watching spring training. I’ve never felt more apathetic to a sweep.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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I'd add that some iron gloves also played an important role in those two losses. This is something some of us worried about as this roster was put together, so to see it show up as an evident problem right away is not a good sign.
True that the defense did them no favors, but even stellar defense doesn't win a game in which you can't score at all. That defense should be overcome just by having an average offensive day (which for this offense should be 4+ runs a game).
 

DeadlySplitter

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If they start something like 2-8, I think worry is warranted. Or after 20 games they've won less than 8 games.

Awful series but the pitching minus one starter and one reliever was more than adequate - that should portend good things.
2018 happened and now the majority of those players, including our entire stud outfield, is gone. The farm being gone didn’t force us to make some really bad decisions with contracts.
Had to overpay Price (it's a shame he declined so fast... not every FA deal has to be a stinker, see Scherzer, Max... Red Sox need to catch a break sometime here) to maximize our window with the position players. He came through when Sale was down in October 2018 - I have no regrets on the contract, even though we're eating a lot of dead money for two more years.

Ownership claiming recently that they knew they were in trouble in early 2019 - but still signing Eovaldi to that deal - rankles me. Sale took a discount to stay and his upside is really high, I will continue to defend that deal.
 

nvalvo

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Sure that’s possible.

2018 happened and now the majority of those players, including our entire stud outfield, is gone. The farm being gone didn’t force us to make some really bad decisions with contracts.

I doubt Mookie resigns here even if we offered the same contract, but still. I watch these games and I feel like I’m still watching spring training. I’ve never felt more apathetic to a sweep.
(I'm worried this is derailing the thread, so .)

I guess this gets us down to brass tacks.

They were not keeping everyone. We all agree on that. They could afford to extend two or three of the 2018 core (call it Betts, Sale, Rodriguez, Benintendi, Bogaerts, and Bradley), and they kept Sale and Bogaerts. I, personally, would have tried to extend Bogaerts and Betts, but it takes two to tango, and Bogaerts accepted a team-friendly deal while Betts (entirely appropriately!) did not.

But even if we'd successfully gotten to yes with Betts, we wouldn't be out of the woods. The reason that Betts gave for why he accepted a deal from LA that he had turned down from Boston was the difference in farm systems, although not in so many words. He talked about how the Dodgers looked set up to be competitive for the life of his contract. If he had signed with Boston, we'd be asking him to spend his prime in a rebuild, because we would still have insufficient pitching depth and no cap space to buy it in free agency. Compare to the Dodgers, who have Buehler, Gonsolin, May, Urias, Uceta, and Carillo — all of whom are starting pitchers who are either established or close to the majors, all of whom are pre-arb, and all of whom are under age 26. If I'm a 27 year old superstar in late 2019 deciding which team is likely to be competitive for more of the next six or eight seasons during which I'm likely to be at my peak, well, it isn't hard.

So, while I guess you're right that the farm situation didn't force us to hand out bad contracts, it did condition which contract offers were accepted. Maybe if, during the 2017-18 offseason, we still had a top farm system with a second Michael Kopech striking out 14 per 9 innings as a starter in high A, Betts looks more favorably on the 8/$200m contract extension we offered him. Maybe he counters with 10/$240 or 13/$300m or something, and ownership bites. But we only had one Michael Kopech, and you can't have your cake and eat it too.

In any case, we really only handed out one bad contract: Sale's. And even that deal was a reasonable amount of money in market terms for an extension for an ace, but in my view a pretty scary contract for someone with his health history, and here we are. Hopefully he comes back full strength and delivers value. Sale at 5/$145 looked good next to Strasburg at 7/$175 or Scherzer at 7/$210 (all three deals have deferrals). I was relieved when it was announced that it came in under $200m.

Maybe Eovaldi's deal is also bad, but it just isn't really that much money, and if he's healthy at mid-season it would be tradable for a small positive value.

Ownership claiming recently that they knew they were in trouble in early 2019 - but still signing Eovaldi to that deal - rankles me. Sale took a discount to stay and his upside is really high, I will continue to defend that deal.
Maybe it was a "we're headed for a rebuild anyways at some point in the next few years, so let's go for it in 2019 and 2020 and see if we can win one more with this group" and then that didn't work out.
 

jon abbey

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Also the end result is the same, but I will continue to argue that Dombrowski did not empty the farm, he inexplicably stopped focusing on filling it, and since the other AL East teams have continued to fill theirs, Bloom has an uphill battle ahead of him (still).

Edit: And I will also continue to think that when you have the best team in franchise history (2018), you basically have to do all you can to bring that team back intact the following year (2019), and deal with the consequences later if it doesn't work out.
 

OurF'ingCity

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I'm really not a fan of Cora. Mostly because of 2019 and the whole cheating scandals. He's not impressing me thusfar with his in-game moves, and none of his mythical rapport with the players has produced results. (As it didn't in 2019.) Also, as in 2019, they seem unprepared. But we're stuck with him, and he should be mostly adequate over the long haul.
You mean other than the best single season in Red Sox history? At this point Cora has one year of managing when they did great, and one year of managing when they did shitty. And then they did even worse when he was temporarily replaced. He's not anywhere on my list of concerns at the moment.

More broadly, I'm not terribly worried about the Devers/Bogaerts/Vergudo/etc. core - those guys all have enough career PA such that I think we know more or less what their seasons are likely to look like when all is said and done (with room for variance up or down, obviously). My concern with the offense is that the non-core pieces don't pan out - that the 2013-style flyers on guys like Gonzalez/Hernandez/Renfroe produce only mediocre results and none of the fringy Chavis/Dalbec/etc. prospects establish themselves as true everyday major leaguers.

Nothing I've seen so far leads me to change my preseason expectation that the pitching should be improved, but "improved" from 2020 still may mean mediocre-to-average at best. If they want a chance at the playoffs it is still going to have to be their offense that carries them (having non-terrible defense would help too).
 

Rovin Romine

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You mean other than the best single season in Red Sox history? At this point Cora has one year of managing when they did great, and one year of managing when they did shitty. And then they did even worse when he was temporarily replaced.
To the extent you think Cora's pixie dust did something for the 2018 team, transforming the 2017 AL East winner into something more potent, he owns the beyond-regression that came on his watch.
 

JimD

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We'll have a lot better idea of Cora's managing abilities after this year - if 2018 Cora was the real deal, he should be capable of keeping this roster in contention for a wild-card well into September.

The weekend sweep by the O's was dispiriting, but I have no serious expectation for a playoff run this season - I just want to see good baseball (which didn't happen until last night) and tangible signs that some of the players who will form the next great Red Sox team are already here. The performances of Houck and Whitlock were very encouraging on the latter front - Houck in particular deserved a win, and I think the tone around the fanbase would be very different right now if the offense had been able to show up on Friday or Saturday and we were looking at a 2-2 team right now. To use a Pats analogy - this weekend was like being down 10-3 in the early minutes of the second quarter of game 1 and Cam has made a couple of good passes during a drive that sputtered in the red zone, but all talk radio wants to talk about is the pass he drilled into the ground in front of Edelman.
 

chawson

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One of the more interesting storylines to me is who the Sox might flip at the deadline. All sorts of odd dynamics there, including Sale’s return and the extra innings management everyone’s doing this year. It’s too early to really dig into, but that’s one thing I’m paying attention to. The way the Sox manage our starters’ innings informs how valuable they might be at the deadline. Given where we are in the team’s win cycle, Eovaldi, Perez, Richards and maybe even E-Rod could all be on the table.

I’d have to think Eovaldi would be mighty valuable if he stays healthy and pitching at this level, and we may have enough reinforcements (Sale, Houck, Whitlock, Seabold) to support trading him even if we’re in a race. If we’re 2 games down in the WC on July 31, that’ll be a tough call for Bloom.
 

Sandy Leon Trotsky

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One of the more interesting storylines to me is who the Sox might flip at the deadline. All sorts of odd dynamics there, including Sale’s return and the extra innings management everyone’s doing this year. It’s too early to really dig into, but that’s one thing I’m paying attention to. The way the Sox manage our starters’ innings informs how valuable they might be at the deadline. Given where we are in the team’s win cycle, Eovaldi, Perez, Richards and maybe even E-Rod could all be on the table.

I’d have to think Eovaldi would be mighty valuable if he stays healthy and pitching at this level, and we may have enough reinforcements (Sale, Houck, Whitlock, Seabold) to support trading him even if we’re in a race. If we’re 2 games down in the WC on July 31, that’ll be a tough call for Bloom.
Sox are definitely at an interesting crossroads... the way Chaim has the team currently constructed, they're definitely transitioning out of their most recent WS core and into (hopefully) a new one. If they stay competitive, then I think the team as it currently is constructed could basically stay together for another 3-4 years with some minor tweaks... or they could use some of the older parts to REALLY rebuild (possibly even adding Xander on the trade block- which I would hate--- but he has to be if the team is falling behind and X is putting up a good season).

I'm still bullish on the team- I think the pitching is going to be good to very good and great when Sale comes back. I KNOW Devers will get it together.... Verdugo, etc.... The bullpen is looking great. My hope is that this team as it is is basically the team through the year and they don't have to do any of that stufff.
 

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One of the more interesting storylines to me is who the Sox might flip at the deadline. All sorts of odd dynamics there, including Sale’s return and the extra innings management everyone’s doing this year. It’s too early to really dig into, but that’s one thing I’m paying attention to. The way the Sox manage our starters’ innings informs how valuable they might be at the deadline. Given where we are in the team’s win cycle, Eovaldi, Perez, Richards and maybe even E-Rod could all be on the table.

I’d have to think Eovaldi would be mighty valuable if he stays healthy and pitching at this level, and we may have enough reinforcements (Sale, Houck, Whitlock, Seabold) to support trading him even if we’re in a race. If we’re 2 games down in the WC on July 31, that’ll be a tough call for Bloom.
Barnes would be another potential sell high candidate that would be Bloom-like.
 

Rovin Romine

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I will set up a poll for one of the tiebreakers:

-Stupidest Facial Hair at All-Star Break?

But I need nominations.

Santana.
Verdugo.
Vazquez.

Who else?
 

Rasputin

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I just want to point out that we just won our 90th game and a large majority of us didn't think that was going to happen.

Let's enjoy whatever madness we have left
 

LoneWarrior1

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I just want to point out that we just won our 90th game and a large majority of us didn't think that was going to happen.

Let's enjoy whatever madness we have left
I was thinking the same thing reading page one. The early part of the thread really exemplifies how people (in general) “shift the fences” as time goes on. This season would have been a success by most everyone’s expectations at the beginning of the season.
 

Rovin Romine

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I was thinking the same thing reading page one. The early part of the thread really exemplifies how people (in general) “shift the fences” as time goes on. This season would have been a success by most everyone’s expectations at the beginning of the season.
It's not shifting the fences so much as rational readjustment.

In spring training, there was a lot of uncertainty regarding the health and effectiveness of key members of the ballclub. When that uncertainty was resolved (in an overall very positive way), expectations, unless one was brain-dead, should have been adjusted accordingly.

But people don't like to admit their shots in the dark could ever be wrong, mere guesses based on threading through many unknowns. Hence the current confirmation bias we see in other postings on the site, claiming "well, they're not *really* this good" or "the only way they are this good is if they played above their heads."
 

Rovin Romine

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At this time, we should congratulate our members who picked the 90-94 bracket.
I think only a few committed to a specific number, and are thus possibly eligible for the no-prize, depending on the final record:
Chawson and pk1627 - 90.​
Rasputin - 91​
Apisith - 92​
90 wins, we take the Wild Card game and lose the ALDS

Wins? E-Rod
Saves? Sawamura
Batting Average (qualifying) - Bogaerts
HR? - Dalbec
Steals - Renfroe?
HBP - Kiké Hernandez
Cora discipline - No
DL days - Gonzalez
Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Schreiber (or Sonny Gray?)
Non-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Danny Santana
Punch - none
Suspension days - Verdugo
-Stupidest Facial Hair at All-Star Break? Richards

Other predictions:
Franchy hits >25 bombs
Chavis, Duran, Houck and Barnes are traded during the season
Dalbec has a .850 OPS and >30% K rate
Andriese declines but Whitlock has a breakout year and earns a spot in the 2022 rotation
Edit: and back to my original thoughts now that Barnes and 8 others are ok.

This can be a decent team if someone like Cordero turns on (a la Ortiz 2003) and a pitcher like Richards is surprisingly good. I pick 90 wins. Cora will have these guys gelling. Make the playoffs? Yes

-Team leader in Wins? Eduardo Rodriguez
-Team leader in Saves? Barnes
-Team leader for Batting Average (qualifying)? Xander
-Team leader in HR? Devers
-Team leader in Steals? Duran
-Team leader in HBP? Dalbec
-Alex Cora discipline handed down by MLB? (Yes/No.) Now I understand. Yes. There will be some brushback wars (see Pivetta below) and Cora will get a day.
-Player who makes the Opening Day Roster, who subsequently spends the greatest number of days on the DL? Reliever. I’ll guess Whitlock
-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Sale
-Non-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Duran
-Player to throw the first punch of the year (no pushes - a true swing)? Pivetta
-Player with the greatest number of suspension days? Pivetta
-Stupidest Facial Hair at All-Star Break? Vaz
I think the pessimism is unwarranted which is no surprise because I always think the pessimism is unwarranted because pessimism sucks.

On the other hand, I just misspelled "surprise" three fucking times so what the fuck do I know?

I think this team is vastly more talented than last year and has much greater depth. Everything could go right in the shitter, which is always true, but the upside is a pretty good team. There's a bunch of young guys who could be breaking in with a splash and that hasn't really been true for a while.

91 wins

-Team leader in Wins? Eduardo Rodriguez
-Team leader in Saves? Ottavino
-Team leader for Batting Average (qualifying)? Bogaerts
-Team leader in HR? Devers
-Team leader in Steals? Durran
-Team leader in HBP? Franchy Cordero mostly because if I were facing a guy named Franchy, I'd hit the motherfucker.
-Alex Cora discipline handed down by MLB? (Yes/No.) No
-Player who makes the Opening Day Roster, who subsequently spends the greatest number of days on the DL? Pivetta
-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Houck
-Non-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Duran
-Player to throw the first punch of the year (no pushes - a true swing)? Franchy
-Player with the greatest number of suspension days? Franchy
-Stupidest Facial Hair at All-Star Break? Franchy

Seriously, WTF kind of name is Franchy?

And now I'm just gonna say this and be done with it.

It's not out of the question.
92 wins. I'm a homer.
-Team leader in Wins? Richards.
-Team leader in Saves? Barnes.
-Team leader for Batting Average (qualifying)? Xander.
-Team leader in HR? Xander. He should be at his physical peak.
-Team leader in Steals? Duran.
-Team leader in HBP? JD Martinez.
-Alex Cora discipline handed down by MLB? (Yes/No.) No.
-Player who makes the Opening Day Roster, who subsequently spends the greatest number of days on the DL? Dalbec.
-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Sale.
-Non-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Duran.
-Player to throw the first punch of the year (no pushes - a true swing)? Chavis.
-Player with the greatest number of suspension days? Barnes.
-Stupidest Facial Hair at All-Star Break? Verdugo.
 

streeter88

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I was wondering about this… I was one of the many who picked 80 to 84 wins. I didn’t at the time see much pitching, and the competition in the AL East looked pretty stiff.

The Red Sox certainly outperformed almost all of our expectations, but I think as others have pointed out about “shifting fences” up above that people started to get used to the idea that the Red Sox were pretty good in July. And then all of a sudden their inability to vaccinate really hurt them, and turned off a lot of fans I suspect.

Anyway congratulations to everyone who picked 90+ wins, and congratulations to the Red Sox no matter how the wildcard derby finishes up.
 

Rovin Romine

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92 wins. I'm a homer.
-Team leader in Wins? Richards.
-Team leader in Saves? Barnes.
-Team leader for Batting Average (qualifying)? Xander.
-Team leader in HR? Xander. He should be at his physical peak.
-Team leader in Steals? Duran.
-Team leader in HBP? JD Martinez.
-Alex Cora discipline handed down by MLB? (Yes/No.) No.
-Player who makes the Opening Day Roster, who subsequently spends the greatest number of days on the DL? Dalbec.
-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Sale.
-Non-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Duran.
-Player to throw the first punch of the year (no pushes - a true swing)? Chavis.
-Player with the greatest number of suspension days? Barnes.
-Stupidest Facial Hair at All-Star Break? Verdugo.
Apisith has won the no-prize!
 

Rovin Romine

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I wonder what the odds of Vaz leading the team in steals would have been
I don't think anyone contemplated it. It's a trivia-question-fest sort of year.

Other questions - given the fact that made WC1:
-the odds nobody would hit .300?, or
-that no starter would make it to 14 wins.

I've added some runners up and made a correction, as Houck was on the opening day roser. (Let me know if there are more?)

-Team leader in Wins? Eduardo Rodriguez - 13, Nathan Eovaldi - 11.
-Team leader in Saves? Matt Barnes - 24, Adam Ottavino - 11.
-Team leader for Batting Average (qualifying)? Xander Bogaerts -. 295, Alex Verdugo - .289.
-Team leader in HR? Raffy Devers - 38, Hunter Renfroe - 31.
-Team leader in Steals? Christian Vazquez - 8, Alex Verdugo - 6.
-Team leader in HBP? Enrique Hernandez - 9, Marwin Gonzalez -8.
-Alex Cora discipline handed down by MLB? (Yes/No.) No.
-Player who makes the Opening Day Roster, who subsequently spends the greatest number of days on the DL? (Your guess is as good as mine, but FWIW, there is no DL. I'm betting Arroyo though.)
-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Eduardo Rodriguez - 1.9, Chris Sale - 1.6
-Non-Pitcher not on the Opening Day Roster who makes the greatest subsequent contribution (WAR)? Kyle Schwarber - 1.8, Jose Iglesias - 0.4, (in-Org. Connor Wong with 0.3)
-Player to throw the first punch of the year (no pushes - a true swing)? None (AFAIK)
-Player with the greatest number of suspension days? None (AFAIK)
-Stupidest Facial Hair at All-Star Break? Vazdugo, Danny "Power and Speed" Santana.

Opening Day Roster:
Catcher (2): Christian Vázquez, Kevin Plawecki
First base (1): Bobby Dalbec
Second base (1): Kiké Hernández
Shortstop (1): Xander Bogaerts
Third base (1): Rafael Devers
Utility (2): Marwin Gonzalez, Arroyo
Outfield (3): Cordero, Alex Verdugo, Hunter Renfroe
Designated hitter (1): J.D. Martinez
Starting pitchers (5): Nathan Eovaldi, Garrett Richards, Martín Pérez, Nick Pivetta, Tanner Houck
Relievers (9): Matt Barnes, Adam Ottavino, Hirokazu Sawamura, Darwinzon Hernandez, Josh Taylor, Matt Andriese, Garrett Whitlock, Austin Brice, Phillips Valdez
 

Rovin Romine

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I was considering going through the posts and creating a second No Prize for correct particular guesses. Probably in the off season.

But if anyone's bored/anxious with waiting, be my guest. I am totally amused at my own bad guesses.

Also if anyone has photoshop skills and wants to help put together Apisith's No Prize, PM me. (I can do it with text, but an image based one would be cooler.)