Red Sox Offseason Outlook 2018-2019
The Boston Red Sox Won The 2018 World Series Last Week.
A lot of parading, a lot of booze, a lot of hardware. But just like any business, you got to keep striving to get better and better. For the Red Sox, that way is to improve this offseason. It is tough to improve coming off a 108-win season, and even harder with all these Gold Glove Winners, but there is always the possibility, especially with multiple free agent / trade options out there. Plus, Boston has to worry about their own players heading into the free agent pool this offseason.
Let’s look at what the World Series Champs have going for them in the offseason:
Red Sox Offseason 2018-2019 Free Agents:
- Drew Pomeranz SP
- Nathan Eovaldi SP
- Craig Kimbrel RP
- Joe Kelly RP
- Ian Kinsler 2B
- Steve Pearce 1B / OF
With these guys, I only see a couple of pieces Boston should retain:
- Nathan Eovaldi
- Joe Kelly
- and Steve Pearce.
Craig Kimbrel is going to cost too much money for a closer who has shown how shaky he can really be, Ian Kinsler’s spot is going to be taken back by Dustin Pedroia, and Drew Pomeranz is…Drew Pomeranz.
Pearce, Kelly, and Eovaldi on the other hand definitely have value for the 2019 Red Sox Offseason.
Eovaldi showed how effective he can be with the new use of his cutter, Pearce showed how great of a platoon partner he can be with Mitch Moreland (who is still under contract for one more year), and Kelly has the ability to be a lockdown middle reliever. Not to mention our secret weapon in the farm system, Durbin Feltman.
None of the guys I mentioned above are going to require huge salaries so it really shouldn’t be that big of a deal for Boston, especially since Hanley Ramirez’s, and potentially Kimbrel’s, contracts will be off the books.
With the lineup and rotation staying intact for the most part, that leaves the bullpen being the biggest area of need; especially if they let Kimbrel walk.
Still, there are plenty of free agent options to replace “Dirty Craig”. David Robertson, Kelvin Herrera, Adam Ottavino, and Jeurys Familia are all out there and will cost significantly less than Kimbrel.
Overall expect a pretty uneventful offseason for Boston. They had the best team inn baseball this past year, most of the team is coming back, and their younger players are going to continue to get better. So for fans the only expectation for the offseason should be a potential overhaul of their bullpen as they try and be the first team to be repeat champions since the New York Yankees in 2000.
-Jarrod Ribaudo (@Jribs53)
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