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while giving the Sox quality defense at first
base and did not go on the disabled list despite
a fractured left big toe, re-signed with
the Sox as a free agent.
And then there is Mookie Betts, the runner
up to Mike Trout as American League
MVP in 2016 who didn’t quite match that
dazzling performance in 2017 but remains
one of the best two-way players in the game.
Down season? Betts still scored 101 runs,
drove in 102, hit 24 home runs, and collected
career bests in doubles (46) and walks (77).
Betts batted leadoff in exactly half of
Boston’s games last season. Cora plans to
use him in the No. 1 hole on a regular basis
in 2018, comparing the impact he can
make at the top of the order to that made
by Houston’s George Springer, the 2017
World Series MVP who hit five home runs
against the Dodgers.
“You put a guy like Mookie, he can hit
one off the wall or over the wall, it’s 1-0
us or a man on second with no outs,’’ said
Cora. “I think that’s important. He can do
a lot of stuff also running the bases. I’m
looking forward to it.’’
Cora emphasized that the Red Sox offense
will not revolve exclusively around
the long ball.
“We have a lot of talent,’’ he said.
“They’re athletic, and we’re going to help
put them in situations where they’re going
to be successful. That’s the plan.’’
The Sox have speed. They stole 106
bases last season, one of three American
League teams to swipe 100 bases or more. But
the Sox also led the majors in base-running
outs with 81 (not including caught stealing),
an area that new first-base coach and base
running instructor Tom Goodwin intends to
address this spring. He will continue to urge
the Sox to be aggressive on the basepaths,
but make smarter decisions.
Yet, for all the attention that will be
focused on the Red Sox offense this spring,
the team’s greatest strength is undeniably
the pitching staff. The Sox ranked second
in the American League and fourth in the
Majors with a 3.70 ERA, the team’s lowest
mark in 25 years.
Chris Sale, runner-up for the American
League’s Cy Young Award, led the
Majors with 308 strikeouts, and he and
Drew Pomeranz became the first pair of Sox
left-handers in 64 years to win 17 or more
games in the same season. Rick Porcello,
Mitch Moreland is happy to
be returning in 2018 to help
his team take care of some
unfinished business.
Photo by Billie Weiss.
the 2016 Cy Young Award winner, struggled
last season but still led the staff in starts
with 33 and was plagued by a lack of run
support: He received no runs in 10 of his
17 losses, and 1 or 2 in the other 7. The Red
Sox were 15-0 when they scored at least
three runs for Porcello last season.
David Price missed big chunks of the
season with elbow issues and made just
11 starts, but pitched effectively out of the
bullpen at the end of the season, and at
32 the 2012 Cy Young Award winner is expected
to be a major force in the Sox rotation.
Knuckleballing Steven Wright is
back after missing all but the season’s first
month after knee surgery, and Rodriguez,
recovering from offseason knee surgery, is
hopeful of being ready by Opening Day.
Even while missing Price, Wright and
Rodriguez for extended portions of the
season, Sox starters still led the American
League in quality starts (88) and were second
in strikeouts (1,001).
The Red Sox bullpen proved just as
formidable, anchored by closer Craig Kimbrel,
who had a season for the ages, leading
Major League relievers in WHIP (0.68) and
strikeouts per 9 innings (16.43). Kimbrel
came within one strikeout of fanning exactly
half of the batters he faced last season
(126 of 254), a percentage that ranks as the
highest in Red Sox history (49.6).
Boston’s bridge to Kimbrel, which last
season accounted for four scoreless streaks
of 15 innings or more, should be even stronger,
with full seasons from setup men Carson
Smith, who did not pitch until September
because of Tommy John surgery, and
Tyler Thornburg, who missed all of last season
after undergoing surgery for thoracic
outlet syndrome. They join holdovers Joe
Kelly, who held opponents to a .202 batting
average and routinely threw 100 mph in
2017, and Heath Hembree, who appeared
in a career-high 62 games in his first full
season as a Sox reliever, with plenty of
competition looming for the other spots.
The Sox showed their mettle last
season with 10 walkoff wins, seven more
than they had in 2016, and led the majors
with a franchise-record-tying 15 extra-
inning wins last season. Complementing
the team’s pitching was strong defensive
play, particularly behind the plate, where
Christian Vazquez and Sandy Leon combined
to throw out 39 percent of base
runners trying to steal, and in the outfield,
where Betts and Bradley often made nightly
highlight-reel catches and Benintendi
quickly mastered the nuances of playing
the Green Monster.
So the pieces are there for Cora and his
new coaching staff to groom a team built to
play deep into October. It has been five seasons
since the Red Sox have played in the
World Series. Only one first-year manager in
Sox history has taken a team to the Series in
his first year as a big league manager; that
was Dick Williams, skipper of the Impossible
Dream 1967 team. Will the native son of
Caguas, Puerto Rico, duplicate that feat? The
journey begins here, in Fort Myers. ■
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