The Red Sox Have Me “Seeing Red”
Opinion on the Red Sox’s 2020 Off-Season
Bill Marquardt, with permission
Boston Red Sox face Cleveland on August 20, 2018. Abington High School Softball players are honored for their Division 3 state softball title.
There are not many things that make me angry in my life. One thing that does is the Boston Red Sox 2020 off-season. The off-season for any team is a time to get better by making trades and signing free agents. This was not the case for the 2020 Sox.
In 2019, the Red Sox went 84-78 finishing third in their division (A.L. East) and missing the playoffs. One of the main problems last year for the Red Sox was not only their pitching, but their bullpen. They had a 4.70 ERA (earned run average), while the league average was a 4.49. They also had 31 blown saves which led the league.
Along many other fans, I would have thought the Sox were going to make a splash this off-season by signing some impactful free agents that would immensely help them for the upcoming season. They needed bullpen upgrades, and they needed to fill two starting pitching spots with David Price (don’t even get me started on that disgrace of a trade) being traded to the Dodgers and Rick Porcello signing with the Mets.
With at least nine highly coveted starting pitchers one of which won the World Series MVP in Steven Strasburg. Countless number of good bullpen pitchers that would have been upgrades to the majority of their current bullpen pitchers. Most of Boston’s pitcher signings have been bad players. One of the Red Sox lackluster signings was Martin Perez who in his eight year career he has only had one season with a sub 4.00 ERA and he is going to be the Red Sox 4th starter.
I question the Red Sox front office determination to win with one of if not the best lineups in the league even without Mookie Betts. The front offices’ excuse for not getting any good free agents was they want to reset the salary cap, so they don’t have to pay the luxury tax. (After 3 years which the Red Sox would have been this year is 50% of how much you went over.) Even though John Henry’s (owner of the team) net worth is 2.7 billion dollars so he could pay the luxury tax what even it maybe. The Sox also raised ticket prices going into this season which would only help John Henry pay for the luxury tax.
My hopes for this team are not high but I will still be watching just about every game. For more of my Red Sox’s takes check out my sports show, Late Night Sports on YouTube.
Hope you enjoy the 2020 Red Sox’s season to the best of your ability.