The baseball offseason is always a time for teams to asses themselves and try to bring in free agents to fill holes in their roster for the next season. For the Boston Red Sox, this offseason has been a productive one to say the least. After a terribly disappointing 2014 season, the Sox have made themselves relevant once again with the huge offseason acquisitions of Hanley Ramirez and Pablo “the Panda” Sandoval; as well as the trades last season which got them Yoenis Cespedes and Allen Craig. With rumors of Jon Lester being brought back to Boston after the trade for Cespedes, there is a possibility that the huge offseason still is not finished yet for Boston. If the Red Sox acquire Lester they will re-gain a former staple of their pitching staff on top of the other game-changing players they have already gotten recently. However, one question for me still remains: how will these new stars fit with the core Sox such as David Ortiz?
The Red Sox this season are going to have a problem that many teams wish they had: too much depth. According to RosterResource, this is the projected starting lineup for the Boston Red Sox in the 2015 season
1. Shane Victorino, RF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. David Ortiz, DH
4. Hanley Ramirez, LF
5. Pablo Sandoval, 3B
6. Mike Napoli, 1B
7. Rusney Castillo, CF
8. Xander Bogaerts, SS
9. Christian Vazquez, C
Assuming that this is in fact the lineup that the Sox use in 2015, they will have Yoenis Cespedes, Allen Craig, and Brock Holt all on the bench. Many fans of other teams are probably thinking that these guys would certainly find themselves in another starting lineup somehow, some way. In a lineup like the one Boston has, there is just too much depth in certain position (especially the outfield) to get some of the league’s best players on the field consistently. Sure, it’s a good problem to have, but it is still a problem.
The outfield in Boston is by far the biggest issue in this lineup logjam. The Sox have a stocked starting outfield and two outfielders on the bench who are known league-wide. If any of the outfielders–such as Castillo or Victorino or even the new addition, Ramirez–begin to slip up, Cespedes and Craig will be waiting there for an opportunity. That is exactly where unity issues could potentially arise between old Sox and new Sox. With new guys like Cespedes and Craig presumably waiting on the bench and guys like Hanley Ramirez already coming into the starting lineup right away, these veteran Sox players who have been around longer could have issues with the fact that Boston is almost overstocked (if that is really possible).
On top of the outfielders potentially losing their starting spot to the new guys, let’s not forget David Ortiz. With Cespedes being the power threat that he is, Ortiz losing his DH spot is an increasingly legitimate possibility. In 2014, Ortiz had his second-lowest batting average since he came to Boston (.263) and his second-lowest OBP (.355) in the same time span. On top of lowered batting average and OBP, Ortiz has a lot of trouble when defenses put the shift on him, and to make it all worse for Ortiz he is starting to get up there in age. He just turned 39 in November, and it is safe to say that his prime is past him after 17 seasons in the league. When Boston looks at these two players, it may be Ortiz who finds himself riding the pine in favor of a younger and more athletic Yoenis Cespedes.
Looking at all of these pieces being put together, it seems as though Boston can become a baseball powerhouse once again starting this season. However, there will be rough times that they will have to overcome. Too much talent on one roster can become difficult to work with at times (look at some of the NBA “big threes” and “dream teams” of late for reference). If, and only if, the veterans and young guns can all come together, long time Red Sox or not, this team can put themselves at the top of Major League Baseball once again.
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Photo by Michael Ivins/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images
