8 observations on the 2021 Red Sox as spring training begins

Here’s a little baseball about something that’s… well, inside baseball.

Do you know all those bits of statistical data that your likeable neighborhood writer (or wise-acre columnist) uses to feed his stories daily with facts and context?

Not all of them come from accounting and author research. Some do, perhaps even the most for the more enterprising writers who have mastered baseball-reference.com’s Stathead search feature.

But even freelance homework is often supported by information provided by the Daily Notes Package provided by Justin Long and the Red Sox public relations staff. Over the season, the package is a marvel, requiring daily updates of information such as: “Xander Bogaerts has hit six home runs in his last 12 games against California-born right-handed pitchers at Camden Yards” or ” The veteran southpaw has allowed seven at home play in his last 17 innings and may want to consider apprenticeship in a trade during the winter. Plumbers really make a lot of money, you know.

OK, you know I’m kidding on that last one. There are no sneaky, editorial or career change suggestions in the play notes. No sir. Just the facts, and a lot of them. They are extremely useful, not to mention the fun to browse just for the sake of finding a baseball fix before games start.

So it was a pleasant surprise – and one of the best confirmations to date that, yes, the season and hopefully better days are finally around the corner – when a longtime email appeared in my inbox. reception Tuesday, titled Red Sox Spring Training Game Notes.

The notes were full of interesting information about the makeup of the Red Sox 40-man roster – and let me tell you, is it still necessary, with so much turnover compared to the club’s bullet from last year.

Here are some of the revelations and factoids from the notes, followed by my usual digressions and tangents on what they mean …

Twelve of their 31 RHPs are new to the Red Sox organization in 2021. Quick, how many of that dozen can you name off the top of your head? There’s Adam Ottavino, whom you may have heard of for the Northeast. (This is the baseball version of “Did you know Chris Hogan played lacrosse?”) There’s Garrett Richards, his intriguing turnover rate, and his Carl Pavano injury history. There’s Matt Andriese, Hirokazu Sawamura, and rule 5 picker Garrett Whitlock.

How much is this? Only five? Hmmm… is Alfredo Aceves back? John Wasdin? The original Pat Mahomes? Maybe the mysterious Dominican man Robinson Checo has finally arrived at the camp? (The correct answers are: Matt Carasiti, Frank German, Daniel Gossett, Zac Grotz, Kevin McCarthy, Kaleb Ort and Josh Winckowski who are not on the list. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to identify them in a list of their headshots.)

The Sox led the AL with a .265 batting average in 2020. They also placed third in baseline percentage (.330), slugging (.445) and OPS (.776). Not that batting average is still the glamorous statistic it was in Wade Boggs’ heyday, but I have to admit I had no idea the Red Sox were the first in the league to strike last season. – or that they were third in these other important categories. The Rangers, on the other hand, reached 0.217 as a team. How can this happen? They were basically a line of modern Stan Papis (career average of .218.)

Either way, even though the Red Sox were only fifth in points per game last season (4.87), it’s further confirmation that offense isn’t and won’t be the problem. for this team, especially if JD Martinez can start spinning again on fastballs.

The 2020 Red Sox have used 16 MLB starters, three of whom have started only one game as “openers.” And this, my friends, is further confirmation that the launch staff were running open auditions last season while running a worse franchise. 5.58 ERA. Even taking into account the use of openers – which we’re just going to have to get used to as baseball fans – 16 starters is an absurd total, especially for a 60-game season. In 2004, the Red Sox used eight starters in 162 games, with Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Derek Lowe, Bronson Arroyo and Tim Wakefield making 157 of those starts. (Pedro Astacio, Abe Alvarez, and Byung-Hyun Kim did the other five.) The 2007 Champions used nine starters, while Champions 13 and 18 used 11 each.

Most important for the 2021 Red Sox, by far, is that the starting rotation – whether via the return of Eduardo Rodriguez and, in the summer, Chris Sale, the emergence of Tanner Houck or Nick Pivetta, the good health and fitness of Richards and Nathan Eovaldi, or all of the above – delivers reliability and quality. Last year they had neither.

The oldest Red Sox player in the camp is 35-year-old Adam Ottavino. Maybe that’s because his college years with the Huskies were revisited so much after the Red Sox acquired him from the Yankees earlier this month, but I had no idea he was their oldest. player. All other members of the list are 33 years of age or younger. While Chaim Bloom bolsters the quality of the 40-man roster, he also rejuvenates the Red Sox on the sidelines. The plan is taking shape. You see it, right?

Christian Vázquez (June 2008 draft), Xander Bogaerts (2009 international free agent) and Matt Barnes (June 2011 draft) are the oldest members of the Red Sox organization. See this as further evidence of the relative youth of the Red Sox roster, or, with some justified cynicism, use it to globally note that veteran players don’t have the option to extend their careers into their 30s. like before. But it’s also worth noting that in terms of MLB service time, Vazquez (six years, 31 days), Bogaerts (seven years, 42 days) and Barnes (five years, 110 days) have less cumulative time with the Reds. Sox that Carl Yastrzemski himself had entered in the 1980 season.

Matt Barnes made 323 relief appearances for the Red Sox, fourth in franchise history behind only Bob Stanley (552), Mike Timlin (394) and Jonathan Papelbon (393): This Barnes fact did not surprise me. He’s been the late-inning relief pitcher that’s just good enough to stay in a big role for five seasons now. (He’s such a mainstay in the reliever box that it’s easy to forget he started games for the Red Sox, a pair in 2015.) But I was impressed, if not surprised, that Timlin is second in the standout list for the Red Sox, if only because he was almost 37 when Theo Epstein signed him in January 2003. If Koji Uehara was the ultimate low anxiety closer, the one who always remained calm and walked out, then Timlin owns that title for the setup men. The Sox should have cloned it for future generations when they got it.

Alone two duos have already started up to four straight opening days at SS and 3B for the Red Sox. Bogaerts and Rafael Devers, who have formed the left side of the infield for three opening days so far, are set to join the company which includes shortstop Freddy Parent / third baseman Jimmy Collins (1901- 06) and Everett Scott / Larry Gardner (1914-17). As a kid of the ’70s, I admit to blinding surprise and bitterness that Rick Burleson and Butch Hobson didn’t make the cut here. They started together in 1977-78 and 80, but Jack Brohamer started at third base alongside The Rooster on opening day 79. Hobson was still recovering – you guessed it – from an operation. at the elbow.

Among the MLB and NFL, NBA and NHL, the only other franchises to have won as many as the four Red Sox championships since the start of 2002 are the New England Patriots (6), San Antonio Spurs (4) and Los Angeles. Lakers (4).

You would never know that by listening to us, would you? Imagine telling your devastated self of October 1978, or your crushed self of October 1986, or your bitter self of October 2003 that there would come a time when they would have won four World Series championships in 19 years. , and we always would. find ways to have enough.