While the Boston Red Sox, along with every other Major League Baseball team is in a waiting pattern thanks to the suspended start of the 2020 regular season, there are still a bunch of insightful things you need to know about the 2018 World Series champs as we inch closer to what could be the start of the new campaign. With that thought in mind, let’s find out everything there is to know about Boston and their chances of hoisting this season’s World Series hardware. Let’s check the MLB Odds and World Series Odds for the Boston Red Sox 2020 Season.
Boston Red Sox Analysis Before 2020 Season Start
Boston Red Sox 2020 MLB Odds
Boston Red Sox Offensive Analysis
Boston finished fourth in runs per game in 2019 (5.56) while ranking a stellar third in team batting average (.269) and fifth in OPS (.806). The Red Sox also finished a respectable 10th in home runs (245) and they look like a team that will score their fair share of runs in 2020 even as they head in a new direction. Boston slashed approximately $40 million of payroll and they did so by trading 2018 AL MVP Mookie Betts and 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers for outfielder Alex Verdugo and a pair of minor league prospects. Still, veteran right-fielder J.D. Martinez smacked 36 home runs while batting .304 and driving in 105 runs while star shortstop Xander Bogaerts batted .309 with 33 homers and 117 RBI.
The Red Sox will need Alex Verdugo to step up in a big way after being traded for the super popular Betts. The bad news is that Verdugo is a career 2.82 hitter that has amassed just 14 home runs in 443 at-bats while driving in a modest 49 runs. Then, there’s left-fielder Andrew Benintendi who needs to be better than the uninspiring .266 with 13 homers he hit a year ago.
Boston Red Sox Defensive Analysis
When it comes to pitching, Boston desperately needs staff ace lefty Chris Sale to return to his previously dominant form after he dealt with a flexor strain elbow injury that caused him to go 6-11 last season with a high, 4.40 ERA. Left-handers Eduardo Rodriguez and Martin Perez will join Sale and right-handers Nathan Eovaldi and Hector Velaquez in what looks like a solid, but not, overpowering starting rotation.
The bullpen also looks like a unit that will be decent, if not necessarily a strength for Boston. There’s a mix of youth and veterans that includes right-handers Matt Barnes, Heath Hembree and Ryan Brasier and lefties Darwinzon Hernandez and Josh Taylor, although their best relief pitcher is clearly, closer Brandon Workman.
Boston Red Sox Offseason Movements
Named Jerry Narron as bench coach. Signed OF Andrew Benintendi to a two-year contract. Agreed to terms with 1B Mitch Moreland on a one-year contract. Acquired LHP Jeffrey Springs from the Texas Rangers for 1B/OF Sam Travis. Fired Alex Cora manager.
Traded OF Mookie Betts To LA Dodgers for OF Alex Verdugo. Agreed to rems with OF Jackie Bradley Jr. and RHPs Matt Barnes, Heath Hembree, and Brandon Workman on one-year contracts. Acquired RHP Austin Brice from Miami for SS Angeudis Santos. Signed C Kevin Plawecki to a one-year contract.
Boston Red Sox 2020 Season Prediction
Boston looks like a team that will be good, if not necessarily legitimate World Series contenders in 2020. The Red Sox will have a new manager in former bench coach Ron Roenicke after former World Series winning manager Alex Cora was bounced after he was linked to a pair of sign-stealing scandals with the Houston Astros and another alleged scheme with Boston in 2018 that helped the BoSox win it all that year.
I’m fully expecting shortstop Xander Bogaerts and DH J.D. Drew to have monster campaigns again in 2020, but outside of those two, there are just too many unanswered questions for Boston to take down some of the other more elite AL Pennant contenders. If Boston plays to their full potential, they could definitely improve on the 84 wins they posted a year ago. If however, they have to battle injuries to any of their key performers, their rebuild could be delayed for another season or two. Besides, it’s never a good thin when you trade an MVP-caliber superstar in the prime of his career!
