Oh my, Justin Turner to the Red Sox!
This was reported back in mid-Dec, must have just been finalized or something. I guess he will be a right handed DH. Play for Devers on his days off.
As to Devers, I really hate to see 11 year contracts but if you are going to have to sign a player for 11 years, I think Devers is the right guy to sign. Devers is 4 years younger than Bogaerts (I think SD is going be saddled by this in a say 5 years). Judge is over 30 also. Devers got a little more total money than Correa (although Correa, who is 2 years older, got 12 years).
The Red Sox were 4th in OPS (in the AL) and 4th in runs scored last season. Hitting was not the problem. Pitching was. So we are going into the season with Sale, Kluber, and Paxson as projected starters. The walking wounded. I think the bullpen will be fine, much improved, but it won't help if the starters can't get out of the 4th inning (or are injured and can't pitch at all). So are we going to need to rely on Bello, Seabold, Winckowski, Houck, Crawford?
Our rotation will probably be:
Pivetta
Kluber
Whitlock
Winckowski
Crawford
Bello
Unless Sale and/or Paxson prove healthy. Wacha is still out there as a FA. I would say that if one of Sale and Paxson can pitch, and one or two of the young pitchers surprise, and we sign another vet, and all the other stars align, and we get lucky in every other possible way, we could be in the playoff hunt.
I think, though, that their offense has gotten significantly worse. They added:
• Justin Turner (.278, 13 homers, 81 RBI last season)
But lost:
• Bogaerts (.307, 15 homers, 73 RBI)
• JD Martinez (.274, 16 homers, 62 RBI)
They also exchanged Vazquez for McGuire, which is a net loss on offense:
• Vaz: .274, 9 homers, 52 RBI for the whole season; .282/8/42 w/Boston (84 games)
• McGuire: .269, 3 homers, 22 RBI for the whole season; .337/3/12 w/Boston (36 games)
As of now, the projected lineup (though not necessarily in this order) is thus:
Yoshida
Devers
Turner
Casas
Story
Verdugo
Hernandez
McGuire
Arroyo
• Yoshida is, of course, a complete unknown at the MLB level, so he could be anywhere from bad to great, but will likely be somewhere in between.
• Of the 8 others, only one hit 20+ homers last year (Devers, 27).
• There are several IFs, any of which could go Boston's way—or not: IF Story stays healthy and on track, IF Casas becomes the hitter we hope for, IF Verdugo finally shows more power, IF Yoshida is a legit major-leaguer, etc.
• The lineup is exceedingly thin on power—the 8 major-leaguers hit a combined 94 homers last season (ugh), and Yoshida isn't really a power hitter, so this could be one of the weakest lineups in MLB. And I can easily see many of those guys having crappy AVE/OB/SLG/OPS.
I have low expectations for the offense, and I also expect injuries and low output from the rotation. And probably another last-place finish.