Boston Red Sox Offseason Preview
On October 30, 2013, the Boston Red Sox and Ben Cherington were kings of the baseball world. Not only were they crowned World Series Champions for the third time in a decade, they also set a new precedent in team building. After a tumultuous 2012 campaign, Ben Cherington and Red Sox ownership turned to a new model, a model in which chemistry and analytics took over as the new championship mold. Under-the-radar signings such as Jonny Gomes, Shane Victorino, and David Ross were seen as a way to rebuild the idea of clubhouse culture. 2013 was a miracle. Not to say it was a fluke, but the stars aligned. The platoon left field of Gomes and Nava produced better than anybody had hoped. Shane Victorino had a career year. David Ross took over catching duties in October to become the wily veteran that handled a pitching staff like no other since Jason Varitek. The 2013 played hard, had great chemistry with each other, and above all else, won games. The narrative changed from successful teams are built with stars (i.e., the “greatest team of all time” of 2011) to the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. With hard workers and good chemistry, anything is possible. Funny thing about chemistry, though, it only matters if you are winning.
Fast forward to the present. Everyone knows that the 2014 Boston Red Sox went from worst to first back to worst. Last winter was supposed to be a time of restoration. Maybe the team would not win the World Series. But with the additions of the two biggest bats on the market, the offense was supposed to carry the pedestrian pitching staff through October. Well, as it turns out, the two biggest bats on the market became the two biggest flop signings of the offseason. After back to back disappointing years following a world championship, the question is now this, how do the Boston Red Sox construct a team building model that yields consistent success. And consistent success does not mean winning the World Series every year. See the New England Patriots for example. Prior to Super Bowl XLIX, the Patriots had a ten year championship drought, and despite that drought, they were still seen as a model franchise.
Believe it or not, the first major addition to building a consistent winner has already happened; the hiring of Dave Dombrowski. Dombrowski has proven time and time again that he is not afraid to spend money to improve a teamand he is not afraid to make a deal, even if it means trading promising young talent. Dombrowski knows what it takes to retool this team both for success next season as well as for the foreseeable future. That being said, here are the priorities (in order) of the offseason that Dombrowski should focus on to build the next great Red Sox team.
- Rebuild the starting pitching rotation
- Revamp the bullpen with power arms
- Trade Hanley Ramirez by any means necessary
- Identify your first basemen of the future
- Finalize the outfield
I will be discussing each of these priorities in detail in upcoming posts. Stay tuned,
Sox Rants 