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For 36 of the 37 innings they played in Seattle over the weekend, the Boston Red Sox 2024 season actually looked quite promising. In 22 innings pitched, the starting pitching struck out a combined 27 batters with a 1.64 ERA. Rafael Devers, Tyler O'Neill, and Enmanuel Valdez launched clutch home runs. Even the defense looked mostly solid, highlighted by a spectacular sliding play by Trevor Story to rob Julio Rodríguez of a single. Of course, the 37th inning saw Joely Rodríguez meltdown on the mound, a crucial error in right field by Wilyer Abreu, and a walk-off single at 12:30 am EST that left the sourest of tastes in Red Sox Nation's mouths.
So while early returns on this season aren't a disaster by any means, there are still a number of issues for the Sox to clean up. And given that they aren't expected to contend in 2024, with sudden budget restrictions being imposed by ownership, they can and must start the messy process of building a more sustainable future roster.
With that nebulous future in mind, here are four moves the Red Sox should make as soon as physically possible to set themselves up for success.
Trade closer Kenley Jansen
"You go to bed, you wake up in the morning, you have a bad back," said Kenley Jansen. Told @WebsterOnTV it was frustrating and that he wasn't sure if it was something he'd be managing all season.
— Tom Caron (@TomCaron) March 31, 2024
Having a top-tier bullpen only matters to a club once the rest of the roster is ready to contend and so far, it doesn't appear the Red Sox are all that close. And the last thing a team that considers itself strapped for cash should do is commit $16 million a year to a 36-year-old with a bad back that spent the offseason griping about the state of the current roster. Right now, Kenley Jansen is a luxury asset with all sorts of risk factors.
Now, for all we know, the Sox have already been trying to trade Jansen and haven't been able to find a suitor. But if that's the case, they have to be willing to compromise on either the amount of retained salary or the quality of prospects coming back. Shedding any or all of Jansen's albatross salary would allow them to take on a controllable starting pitcher in another trade and still leave space to spend big within the cap restrictions in the offseason. And given that he's already left the team high and dry once this season due to his aches and pains, the window to get anything at all back for Jansen could be closing any minute.
DFA Joely Rodríguez, call up LHP Brennan Bernardino
Red Sox pitcher’s not named Joely Rodriguez this year:
IP: 32.1
H: 20
ERA: 1.39
K: 42
BB: 5
HR: 2 pic.twitter.com/93Uthou8Yt— It’s Yoh-time (@itsyohtime) March 31, 2024
The most stunning move the Red Sox made to cut the Opening Day roster down to the requisite 26 players was ship Brennan Bernardino down to AAA Worcester, despite his 3.20 ERA and 3.41 FIP in 50.2 innings last season.
It's plausible to justify the move if it really was down to Bernardino versus Joely Rodríguez for that last spot, if only because Rodríguez was out of options. But one series was all the evidence we needed: Rodríguez is no longer a major league pitcher and the time to give Bernardino his well-deserved next opportunity is now.
Rodríguez's main two offerings are his sinker and changeup, both of which look like inferior offerings compared to even his own low career standards. The changeup has about 250 more RPM than a year ago, which actually works to Rodríguez's disadvantage, while the sinker is down in both spin and velocity.
He wasn't able to strike out lefties when the Sox needed it most on Saturday night and against righties, his stuff must look like pregame batting practice. There's no reason to keep giving opportunities to a pitcher who clearly can't get the job done when there are other arms to assess within the system.
Option OF Wilyer Abreu to AAA
The more heralded of the two prospects acquired in the Christian Vazquez trade to Houston, Wilyer Abreu impressed in his big-league cameo in 2023, putting up a .862 OPS in 85 plate appearances. But he struggled mightily all Spring Training and has come out the gates looking lost at the plate in 2024, striking out in four of his first eight trips to the plate, getting picked off first base for no good reason, and committing a back-breaking error in right field Saturday night in extra innings.
With two options available, it should be a no-brainer to give Abreu a chance to get his mind right and play every day in AAA.
It is clear Cedanne Rafaela deserves the chance to start in center field and the Red Sox would be inhibiting the development of both to give Abreu sparse starting opportunities in the place of Rafaela and Tyler O'Neill. Allow Masataka Yoshida to play a game here and there in left field and get more players at-bats in the DH role while Abreu finds his confidence down in Worcester.
Sign FA 3B Evan Longoria
This is the longshot of all longshots because it is contingent on A) Longoria accepting a bench role for a small salary and B) his willingness to move to Boston at 38 years old. But it should be a no-brainer at this point to bring in a veteran leader like Longo, because the younger hitters on the team clearly could use some guidance.
Justin Turner's one-year cameo was invaluable to the Sox because his professionalism and disciplined approach wore off on first-timers in the lineup like Triston Casas and Jarren Duran. It may not have been feasible to bring Turner back for the $12 million he got from Toronto, but the Sox will desperately miss his wisdom this season as they try to get Vaughn Grissom, Enmanuel Valdez, and Abreu big-league ready.
The mentorship of a potential future Hall of Famer in Longoria would do wonders for the future outlook of the team's offense–and hey, maybe he could hit a few more balls over the Green Monster while he's at it.
