Championships since purchase by John Henry group: Red Sox 4 Yankees 1
The Red Sox are 8-1 in their last 9 postseason games against the Yankees.
A big argument here all winter was which of the performances (and luck, good and bad) of 2018 or 2019 were most reasonable to repeat -- or more likely approximate -- in 2020.
In order to find out, the Red Sox had to keep Betts and Price... 2020 didn't have to be a bridge because a bounce-back to postseason contender was a possibility. Now here we are.
In my opinion, it would've been worth it -- and a hell of a lot more fun -- to watch Mookie in his salary drive season leading the Sox back to contention. And that includes if he still left next winter, because 2021 would have always been up in the air, with probable losses of Betts, JD and Bradley.
To those who were so pessimistic about this year even with Betts, but are optimistic about '21 because of our new salary flexibility, I ask this: who exactly is Bloom going to acquire in the next 12 months that will make that much difference? The best free agent starting pitchers are Stroman and Bauer -- inconsistent and/or unstable. As for trades, who is going to give up even a mid-rotation arm for JD or JBJ? Certainly, we aren't about to start swapping actual prospects, not now when Bloom is just beginning to hoard them?
I'm not saying deals in the next year won't set the Red Sox in the right direction... but I think that '21 was going to suck no matter what. Now we're staring at 2020 and 2021...
Would Cora really have been able to “cheat” by using starting pitchers in the playoffs? Even if he does get in serious trouble, I don’t think his managing of the playoffs had anything to do with it.
Apparently these guys are going to be free agents next offseason:
Starting pitchers: Corey Kluber (club option), Trevor Bauer, Robbie Ray, James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, Jake Arrieta (club option), Marcus Stroman, Jose Quintana
Adding one of them seems to be a priority.