Chairman Tom Werner said at Winter Weekend what most Red Sox fans knew to be true.
“Last year, our pitching wasn’t the best,” he claimed.
“Our pitching depth caught up with us after we were competitive for half of the year,” he continued.
During an on-stage Q&A session later in the evening, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow was questioned about the quickest route for the Red Sox to regain their competitiveness.
“Moving the pitching forward,” he answered.
Nevertheless, the Red Sox haven’t made many changes to their staff, and there are still three weeks until pitchers and catchers report for spring training.
The Red Sox added starter Lucas Giolito over two days at the end of December, but the following day they traded veteran Chris Sale to Atlanta, deducting him from the rotation. The same group who returned to the mound to contend for rotation places last year, one starter in, one starter out.
The Red Sox now appear to be highlighting their internal possibilities much more and betting on their current bunch to advance as a unit, despite a stated desire to add to the rotation this winter. Brayan Bello and rookie Giolito top a group of starts that also includes Josh Winckowski, Tanner Houck, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, and Garrett Whitlock in the rotation. The lone other free agent signed this winter, Cooper Criswell, is expected to fill a long-man or spot-starter role as well.
For over thirty years, I have owned Red Sox season tickets. I share two lower grandstand seats on the third base side with Bob Purdy, a lifelong friend. Each year, in December, we get together at one of our favorite bars, have martinis, and write out checks for the games. Then, in March, we would get together again (same bar, same martinis) to divide out the tickets for our weekday schedule, which usually included 48 games.
This year, not so much. We reconnected in the same bar, shared the same martinis, but couldn’t decide whether to part with $5,606 once more. Or do we bid farewell to something we loved a lot in the past but no longer as much?
A few weeks ago, Bob remarked, “My heart says yes, but my analytical brain says no.” I agreed. On either side of the should-I-stay-or-should-I-go debate, we could both argue. But it might feel more like a chore than a pleasure to trudge into games when the club is struggling, as it has lately. Would it be considered masochism to fork out the cash for the 2024 season?