Red Sox Through the Month of September

        

    The Boston Red Sox have ended their MLB 2023 season, its safe to say that the team did not reach expectations this season with a final record of 78-84. The team fell to last place in the American League east for the second consecutive year and missed playoffs again. Where I set the bar for the Red Sox this year was to make the Wild Card. There is an extra seed in the tournament these days and I believed with the talent they had on the roster they should have been able to just squeak into that last Wild Card slot. The Red Sox were not close and it really was a shame to see. 

    The reality of the season reflects of failures of Chaim Bloom... obviously, but also players themselves with consistency issues, and finally, yes Alex Cora does not leave this season unscathed.. When it comes to Bloom, he did not field a major league level pitching staff, Corey Kluber, Chris Sale, Tanner Houck, Nick Pivetta, and Garret Whitlock were the original pitching staff for the Boston Red Sox. In this the year 2023 the staff is not a legitimate rotation and an unserious approach to an MLB season. Bello and Crawford would join the fray later into the season and perform fine for the club. Alas it would not be enough to get the Red Sox over the hump. 

    The setup on defense was aswell, not MLB caliber, if the Red Sox were a below average defensive team this season, they make the playoffs. The Red Sox would be top 3 in the east with a below average defense. The Boston Red Sox were historically bad in the field this season. The Red Sox had the second most errors in all of Baseball with 102 total errors. The worst I have ever seen in my entire life. Kike Hernandez at Short Stop was the worst player in the league, Yoshida in left was bottom 3 in his position, Duran in Center, bottom 3. Devers at 3rd was the worst at his position, Casas at 1st was bottom 3. The team was constructed with unserious intentions. It looked like a kid calculating stats averages and analytics based on offensive performance. The Red Sox were composed of great batters... but not great players.

    There were bright spots to draw from, the Boston Red Sox throughout almost the whole season when they were hot... The Red Sox had a top 5 offense challenging for the best offense in the league. Yoshida hitting 300 Duvall being a Bomb machine, Duran chasing the doubles record, Devers being Devers... Casas becoming the hottest hitter in the league. The Red Sox high flying offense was exciting to watch. It wasn't just they'd spray early, it was leading the league in comeback wins. Verdugo was sensational when he was on with the walk off come from behind victories. The Boston Red Sox were absolutely sensational in the batters box... when they were on.

    They were fools gold, they were either Red Hot, or ice cold there was an extreme lack of discipline for the club. Triston Casas following the All Star break was the one player I could put with Justin Turner as reliable gotta have em' bats. Adam Duvall, Alex Verdugo, Masataka Yoshida were always hit or miss. Either Amazing or terrible, Rafael Devers had discipline issues chasing the wrong pitch, but overall fine. Jarren Duran when healthy honestly great. Trevor Story was a hole in the lineup.. Trevor Story and a slider away, name a more iconic duo. 

    The Bullpen this season was the biggest strength of this season. After Tanner Houck and Chris Sale went down (again) the Bullpen had to step up in a massive way throughout the month of July. Openers every 3 out of 5 games was a brutal stretch and they did a fantastic job through the circumstances. John Schreiber,  Mauricio Llovera, Chris Murphy, Josh Winckowski, Brennan Bernadino, Christ Martin, and Kenley Jansen were phenomenal. They Kept the Boston Red Sox above 500 going into the trade deadline pitching every single day. 

    Blooms approach for contention was always the final wildcard slot, it was never to win the World Series or even contend beyond the final Wild Card Slot. He deservedly so was fired, Alex Cora while being dealt a brutal hand with the Roster construction did not get the most out of the Red Sox players. There were heinous errors on defense, base running, it was terrible to watch, Cora looked to be checked out when he knew the team was not going to add at the deadline Kyle Barraclough, That's all Folks; all evidence of this point.

    Going into the offseason the Red Sox have fired Bloom they are in the hunt for their new Chief of Baseball operations and philosophy shift for the franchise. The Boston Red Sox should be in contention each and every year. The Red Sox are competition for World Series Championships... that's it, that's all that matters. The Bloom approach where the ceiling of a roster is the final wildcard, can not, has not, and will not ever... fly in Boston.