I can firmly say that the Boston Red Sox were the best bad team of 2024. They may have ended the season at literally .500, and they may have squandered the faintest playoff chance with a dreary August, but this team had low expectations and ended the year in third, ahead of the Blue Jays and Rays. They had two MVP caliber seasons from their star players, their three best starters went 30 or more games and stayed consistent, and are bringing up people that could be major pieces for a while. This season was definitely a win for the Sox, and considering their intentions this offseason, they want to climb the division again as soon as next year.
Trevor Story came into this season more motivated and fired up than he's been in years, then, like he has so many times in Boston, immediately got injured. Unlike Anthony Rendon you feel bad for Story, because he gives his all whenever possible, and just hasn't been able to keep it together with the Sox. In 26 games he hit .255 with 10 RBIs and only 2 homers. Something good has to be on the way.
2025 Prediction: Finally, Story gives Boston one of those 30-homer years they were promised way back in 2022.
Somehow, Nick Pivetta has found more consistency in Boston than he did in Philadelphia, even if you can make the argument that the Phillies have been more consistent in the last few years than the Sox have been. Pivetta had some shaky starts early on but evened out, ending up with a 4.14 ERA, 172 strikeouts and a 1.126 WAR. I think the Sox took a flyer on Pivetta in 2020 and didn't think they'd wind up with a solid innings eater for the rest of the decade.
2025 Prediction: I think the Sox might try to re-sign him for a spell, but if not, lands in a 4th starter spot for an NL Central team.
This current incarnation of the Sox has a lot of Yankee killers. Obviously Rafael Devers is a big one of those, but this year I found out first hand how lethal Masataka Yoshida can be against the Yanks. We had the game pretty much won, then Yoshida hit a massive home run and tied things up, and suddenly there was nothing we could really do. Yoshida has become a pretty strong DH type. He's not as consistent as most power DHs, but when he's on he's unstoppable. This year he hit .280 with 10 homers and 54 RBIs. Two of those homers came against the New York Yankees.
2025 Prediction: For some reason, New York aside, Yoshida has to this point struggled to hit home runs in the majors. That all changes next year.
Another guy who had some nice luck against the Yanks when I saw them was Romy Gonzalez, a former White Sox infielder [he won the 2B gig over Leury Garcia a couple years ago] who was responsible for the majority of the innings at 2B in Trevor Story's absence. Gonzalez was above average, hitting .266 with 29 RBIs and 6 homers, and was strong defensively.
2025 Prediction: Becomes the requisite superutility-IF and does well for himself.
I would not have predicted that, of all people, Rob Refsnyder would become one of the most celebrated fringe guys in Boston. I had no opinion of him when he was with the Yankees. He left no impact. And then he winds up in the Sox' system and becomes another Lou Merloni type 'EY GETTA LOADA DIS GUY' bench favorite there. I keep expecting the novelty to run out and it hasn't happened. In 93 games, Refsnyder hit .283 with 11 homers [MORE THAN YOSHIDA] and 40 RBIs.
2025 Prediction: Okay a downturn has to happen, but...either way he's still gonna do something fun in Fenway. He can't lose with these fans, it seems.
Triston Casas' injury sent the Red Sox into a tailspin, as they didn't have many backup 1B options readily available [save for someone like Refnsyder, which...no]. They tried Garrett Cooper, he didn't work. So they went with Dominic Smith, who did not make camp with the Cubs and couldn't even find work with Tampa. Smith got 84 games at 1st, and like Refsnyder he very quickly became the favorite of Sox fans, hitting .237 with 6 homers and 34 RBIs. Once Casas returned, Smith was very quickly cut, much to the ire of the Sox massive. His end of the year with Cincinnati, reunited with former Mets teammate Amed Rosario, didn't go quite as well.
2025 Prediction: If he couldn't make camp with the 2024 Cubs, can he make camp with somebody this year? Maybe. Or maybe he takes the minor league assignment and waits for a similar moment to 2024.
The lone deadline move the Sox made was poaching Danny Jansen from Toronto to replace, ironically, Reese McGuire as backup to Connor Wong. Jansen's defense spoke for itself, but he only hit .188 with 3 homers and 6 RBIs in 30 games, drastically less exciting than his first half stats.
2025 Prediction: I actually think he'll be a nice fit for Tampa, though don't count on them bringing him back if it goes well.
And in the haze of the final month of the year, as the Sox already knew they weren't making the playoffs, they filled a now-vacant rotation spot by calling up former Yankee prospect Richard Fitts, netted in the Verdugo deal. In a city like Boston, that's not a name that'll be responded to with subtlety. They just said goodbye to a guy they lovingly proclaimed Dick Mountain, you can't hand them a guy named Richard Fitts. "Ey, I wondah if he'll do any ads fuh K9! Right boys?" Anyway, Fitts slid right into the rotation, and in 4 games had a 1.74 ERA and a 0.6 WAR. He's not particularly flashy, but he seems to be one of those 'stay in without allowing much' types. Honestly, with Houck, Bello and Crawford they're good on flashy, and having a good innings-eating workhorse could be good for this team.
2025 Prediction: Fitts' appeal to this rotation will heavily depend upon A.) whether or not the Sox go for a smart rotation addition and B.) how healthy Garrett Whitlock is. Probably hinges most on the second one. Anyway he'll be solid enough in a low rotation role next year, when given the opportunity.
Coming Tomorrow- As per usual this decade, a ton of leftover Reds.
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