As a Red Sox fan, I’m incredibly excited about the 2017 season. But before I get into the good parts of the upcoming season, let’s talk about some of the negatives. First, David Ortiz has retired and that’s a huge hole to fill in the middle of the lineup. Not only that, Ortiz was the emotional leader of the team and I believe that early on in the season, we’re going to see obvious signs of the team missing Big Papi. Second, David Price will be starting the year on the disabled list. While that sounds bad, it really isn’t, as he just needs a few extra starts at the minor league level to get his stamina up to where it should be before the season starts. Another pitcher starting the season on the disabled list is reliever Carson Smith. He might not return from Tommy John surgery until the middle of May, but when healthy, he is one of the better relievers in the game so not having a solid setup man like Smith might hurt a little bit.
Now let’s talk about the positives, because as fans that's really what we want to hear, and since we were just talking about Smith, let’s stick with him. Along with newly acquired reliever Tyler Thornburg and All Star closer Craig Kimbrel, the Red Sox have arguably the best 7-8-9 punch in the MLB when Smith is completely healthy. This is going to be a huge step up from last year when the late innings had to be pitched by guys like Junichi Tazawa and an aging Koji Uehara. Sticking with pitching, when Price comes back the Red Sox have three legitimate number one starters because as Jared Carrabis has told Red Sox fans all off-season, Chris Sale is on the Red Sox. Along with Sale and Price, we can’t leave out last year’s Cy Young award winner Rick Porcello. I believe that the back end of the rotation will sure up, especially if the top of the rotation pitches to expectations, and whatever combination of Drew Pomeranz, Steven Wright and Eduardo Rodriguez is used will be effective because no team will be able to escape a three game series without having to see one part of the monster that is the top of the rotation. When pitchers have insurance like that, it gives them more confidence, because it also makes them feel that the hitter might not be as concerned with them considering that they are either coming off of or getting ready to face a Cy Young winner/candidate (Sale is the only member of the three headed monster that hasn’t won the award… yet).
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Now aside from Ortiz being gone, the offense is pretty much the same, led by MVP runner up from last year Mookie Betts. Now if we look at the rest of the projected Opening Day offense, only three men in the lineup have not been named All Stars: Mitch Moreland, Andrew Benintendi and Sandy Leon. Speaking of Benintendi, he’s the consensus #1 prospect in the game of baseball, and if he continues the success he had in limited playing time last year, the road to AL Rookie of the Year will be a breeze for him. He’s a very exciting player to watch in all aspects of the game. Now you’re probably wondering why I haven’t mentioned Pablo Sandoval’s name yet, and especially wondering why he isn’t under my negatives for the year. Well that’s because the slimmed down Sandoval is batting .333 this spring and also has not yet committed an error. I hope that’s a sign of things to come, because the Sox will need him to help fill the void left by Big Papi. Excited for the season yet? I sure am.
