Red Sox have moves to make this offseason
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One playoff win in the past two seasons.
That’s the sort of success the Red Sox have had as of late. Not to harp on how those games actually went, but one thing is definitely clear from the Cleveland series and the Houston series: the Red Sox need more to win a title.
That sounds crazy since they have gone out and got guys like David Price, Craig Kimbrel, Chris Sale and Drew Pomeranz over the past couple seasons to boost their staff, but this straight up ain’t cutting it. So let’s take a look at what they need to do this offseason.
Get a manager — Simple. Find a decent manager. There’s a ton of them on the market (preference should probably go to Alex Cora). Just get someone who isn’t awful. Also, it should be someone who doesn’t want his team to be overly-aggressive running the bases.
Get a power bat — They ranked dead last in the AL in home runs (168) this past season. That’s not a great way to win ballgames. Maybe someone like Giancarlo Stanton or JD Martinez is the answer there. I don’t know. Just get someone who can crush balls.
Get a 1B — Different than above. They need a first baseman. They should try to get someone a little better than Mitch Moreland. Top free agents include: Eric Hosmer, Lucas Duda and Logan Morrison.
Get a 4th OFer — No more Chris Young. So the Red Sox should probably add a backup outfielder to the mix, unless they go out for Stanton or Martinez and make Jackie Bradley Jr. the No. 4 guy. Or they could get one of those big names, move Betts to CF and trade Bradley and obtain another backup outfielder. Or Rusney Castillo *cringes* could do it. So yeah, there’s some options here.
Get a left-handed reliever — Let’s be honest: the Red Sox bullpen should be really good next year to the point where some pretty decent guys probably won’t make the team. That said, their two lefty options are Robby Scott and Fernando Abad. Scott is getting surgery and Abad is the baseball equivalent of a benchwarmer. Plus you don’t know what Robbie Ross Jr. is gonna do. Wouldn’t hurt to improve there.
Re-sign Eduardo Nunez — That’s a nice infielder to have on the roster. Would definitely help if they could keep him.
Add catching depth — Christian Vazquez, Sandy Leon and Blake Swihart are out of options. Vazquez and probably Leon are going to make the team next year, so the Red Sox need a respectable replacement level catcher in case one of those two dudes gets hurt.