And now the offseason begins.
The Red Sox season is over (in a competitive sense, at least; there’s nothing wrong with just enjoying a few baseball games over the weekend). For the third year in a row and the fifth time over the past six seasons, the Sox will not be playing postseason baseball. But this year’s collapse feels a little bit different than the collapses of the past two seasons, because there really was a playoff berth there for the taking. Alex Cora didn’t mince words about what happened, simply saying that the team blew it. (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)
But there were some developmental successes this year, particularly with some younger and inexperienced players like Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, Tanner Houck, and Jarren Duran, who now see how hard it is to stay consistent over 162. In that sense, Triston Casas says it was “a good year to get our teeth kicked in.” (Greg Dudek, NESN)
So now it’s officially time to start thinking about the offseason. Craig Breslow has been doing just that, and he recently spoke to the Globe about his offseason plans, saying that the Sox will pursue bullpen help, right-handed hitting help, and rotation help, and that the team will explore options via both trades and free agency. In other words: Breslow wants to make the Red Sox better and will use different means to do so. Insightful! I’m not going to criticize Breslow for saying nothing, because I don’t expect him to actually outline his plans to the media. But I will note that he said essentially the same thing at the beginning of last offseason. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
As for bullpen help, how about Luis Guerrero? The Pride of Jamaica Plain has had an outstanding start to his big league career over the past few weeks and will certainly be in the mix to break camp with the team next season. But he doesn’t just want to be in the mix, he wants to be an MLB closer eventually. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
Liam Hendriks hopes to help the bullpen next season, too. He hasn’t played a single inning of big league ball in 2024, but it still sounds like he had a better time this year than last year in Chicago, when he reportedly found himself in the middle of a clubhouse rift with the failing White Sox. (Buster Olney, Jesse Rogers, ESPN)