Connector Staff

To say this Red Sox season has been a disaster is beyond an understatement. Coming off winning the World Series in 2013, a season when most baseball writers had picked them behind teams such as the Rays and Blue Jays to win even the AL East, there were high hopes around Red Sox Nation that the team would go for a repeat.

However, there were question marks surrounding the team, especially involving the departure of center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury and shortstop Stephen Drew (before he was re-signed in May). These two veterans were replaced by Jackie Bradley, Jr. and rookie phenom Xander Bogaerts, respectively. Will Middlebrooks, a player who is still valued for his potential power, would be the everyday third baseman.

Jon Lester would continue to be the ace of the pitching rotation, with John Lackey and Clay Buchholz behind him. Things were exciting around Fenway. Our team won the World Series for the third time in a decade! Then, well, the season started.

Nobody really understood why the Red Sox were a BAD team. They weren’t mediocre, they weren’t slightly below-average; they were terrible. Sure, some individual performances were pretty good – Jon Lester had arguably the best season of his career, Brock Holt was a dynamic leadoff hitter who sparked numerous wins and made tremendous plays at seven positions, and even the hyped rookies (Bradley Jr. and Bogaerts) showed flashes of potential, with Bradley’s golden glove (perhaps he will win one someday) and Bogaerts going through stretches when he showcased an above-average bat, despite some shaky fielding.

Also, David Ortiz put up another 30-homer season in which numerous people doubted if he could do it again. Come the All-Star break, the team was not really a team as much as it was a collection of baseball players.

That is why, on the morning of the trade deadline, July 31, Red Sox All-Star pitcher Jon Lester and at-times-clutch outfielder Jonny Gomes were traded to the Oakland Athletics for their slugging Cuban outfielder, Yoenis Cespedes. I don’t really want to say the Sox got the better end of the deal, but I’ll just say that at the time the Oakland A’s looked like a lock to win the AL West; now, the A’s are battling the Seattle Mariners for a wild card spot, and another wild card spot will likely go to whichever team doesn’t win the AL Central between the Tigers and Royals.

Meanwhile, Cespedes has been unstoppable since joining the Sox, and he is exactly the type of hitter the team needs behind David Ortiz, at least for a few more years. Also, the Red Sox made another big splash by signing another Cuban outfielder, Rusney Castillo. Castillo is small but powerful, with speed and a good bat, and should be another great Red Sox for his contractual seven years

All in all, the season is memorable for being completely unmemorable. That is, besides the huge trade at the deadline. Hopefully the trade for Cespedes and signing of Castillo pave the way for the Sox to be more aggressive this winter. Jon Lester, feel free to come home if the owners don’t low-ball you. Other veteran pitchers likely available will be James Shields, who knows the AL East, and Phillies star Cole Hamels. There’s also quite the logjam in the outfield. Cespedes, Castillo, Bradley, Jr., Victorino, Craig, Betts, Nava, Holt… some of these guys will be gone come next season. Perhaps some will be packaged in a deal with some top minor-leaguers for a superstar – somebody like, I don’t know, maybe Giancarlo Stanton (may he recover from that terrible injury first). A few superstar hitters and pitchers next year, and who knows, maybe we’ll be worst to first to worst to first.