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August 14, 2024

I’ve made a habit of giving you all a monthly Red Sox update throughout the MLB season in this here newsletter. Unfortunately in the last month or so, the Red Sox have come back to earth after becoming a “team of destiny” candidate for the better part of the summer. Before I hit on some of the negatives that have been rearing their ugly head since the All-Star break, let’s take a second to appreciate how far we out-kicked our coverage this year.

I don’t care if this team makes the playoffs this year, it was a success regardless. The young kids have been fantastic, the team plays with a ton of heart, Andrew Bailey saved what looked to be an abysmal pitching staff in spring training, and turned them into one of the best in baseball. We’ve been plagued by injuries since the jump and are currently two games back in the Wildcard race. Craig Breslow put on an under appreciated masterclass at the trade deadline, filling just about every hole this team had without giving up anything of true value. Yes I know Nick Yorke was one of our top prospects but as I mentioned in my last piece, he was stuck in a logjam at second base in Boston. Turns out, this was the highest his value was going to be before he touched the big league level. It was a great move and we got upside in return with Quin Priester.

I was going to just tack this on to the last bit but I’d be remiss not giving the big 3 their shine. The Red Sox promoted their top 3 prospects from AA.

To AAA Worcester on Tuesday: SS Marcelo Mayer (MLB No. 5 prospect), OF Roman Anthony ( MLB No. 14 Prospect), and C Kyle Teel (MLB No. 27 Prospect) have been ripping the cover off the ball in Portland this year and have been rewarded by taking their final steps towards “The Show”. THIS is the biggest win of the season for the Sox; the continued development of these top prospects. In a time where ownership refuses to spend, it’s of the utmost importance that we produce top tier homegrown talent, and that’s just what we’ve done here. Everybody groaned over the Chaim Bloom moves (including me)…

but the payoff is ALMOST here! These 3 (along with guys like Casas, Rafaella, and Sogard who are already impacting the team in big ways at the big league level) and other top prospects like Braden Montgomery, Miguel Bleis, and Luis Perales are all going to be championing this franchise for the better part of the next ten years. Think about how the Astros created sustained excellence, look at what the Orioles are doing RIGHT NOW. This is the secret sauce and the Sox have copied it perfectly.

Alex Cora was asked about the Trios ( we need a name for them) promotion and had this to say:

“There’s a lot in player development that is not only what happens in between the lines. I told them in spring training individually, I said there's no age limit in the big leagues. You can make it at 19 or you make it at 35. It doesn't matter. If you're good, you're good. “

"The fact that they are going all together over there is going to be fun to watch," added Cora. "They are going to be part of this in the future. I'm glad they are doing an outstanding job."

Some good praise there for the young stars, but it doesn’t sound like there are any plans for them to contribute to a late playoff push. If they’re not all on the opening day roster in 2025 somebody needs to be tried for war crimes!

Speaking of a late playoff push, let’s talk about why we’re on the outside looking in. Since the All-Star break we’re 10-13, which doesn’t sound HORRIBLE but it’s more the way we’re losing and how many wins we’ve been leaving on the table. Of those 13 losses, 3 are by 1 run, 7 are at home, 2 were to the Rockies…. The fucking Rockies…. and one of THOSE losses was by 13 runs (THE NUMBERS MASON)! Brutal stuff. We knew August was gonna be tough, and we knew at the beginning of the season the playoffs were going to be a stretch. However with a lot of guys coming back from injury, Liam Hendricks is throwing to batters, Casas is on a rehab assignment in triple A, and went yard last night. With guys coming back and the team outplaying expectations all year I want to believe that we can make a late playoff push. Alas, I fear we’ve already seen this version of the Red Sox play their best baseball in 2024. I again want to stress that no matter what happens this season, 2024 was a MASSIVE win. At the very least we’ve inspired hope for the future, and I hope that idea can convince ownership to invest in this core. I hope we see what “full throttle” really means, and I hope that the next generation of this team can find their way to glory because the building blocks are in place and there’s nothing quite like Fenway when the Sox are on top.

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