2024 Record: 81-81
Chief Baseball Officer: Craig Breslow (Entering year 2)
Manager: Alex Cora (Entering year 8)
Notable Offseason Acquisitions: Aroldis Chapman ( 1 year 10.7 Million), Garrett Crochet (Trade), Walker Buehler (1 year 21 Million), Alex Bregman ( 3 years 120 Million)
Ending the 2024 season with the only .500 record the Boston Red Sox have a lot to look forward to in 2025. With key names like Liam Hendricks and Lucas Giolito expected to return to the pitching staff this season, The Sox will have a dangerous rotation if Giolito can return to the All Star form he showed in 2019 the Boston Red Sox will have one of the best rotations in the league.
With the Alex Cora as the manager for the Red Sox the team will look to make another push for glory. With the last playoff appearance for the Red Sox coming in 2021 the Red Sox have a lot to prove. The last time the Red Sox won the World Series was in 2018 which was also Alex Cora’s first season as team manager and his second consecutive season in the World Series, his first World Series appearance being in 2017 with the Houston Astros as a Bench Coach under AJ Hinch.
Looking at the rotation for the Red Sox, it’s projected that Lucas Giolito if healthy makes the big league roster as a starter to go along with Garrett Crochet who started for the Chicago White Sox last season, being one of the few bright spots in a team that struggled. Then Bryan Bello despite having an ERA just under 5 Bello was dominant for the Sox allowing the lowest batting average against in his short 3 year career with a batting average against being .252. Then one of the best pickups being Walker Buehler, the 2x World Series winner comes from the Dodgers who recently won the World Series in 2024 over the New York Yankees in 5 games. Buehler had a regular season to forget in 2024, starting 16 games and getting a decision in 7, with a regular season record of 1-6, however in the 2024 playoffs he played like a different person, with a record in 2024 of 1-1 in 4 appearances and 3 starts, he also posted a 3.60 ERA in those 4 games. Then rounding out the starting 5 will be Tanner Houck, the 2024 All Star will have a lot to prove in this 2025 season with a 2024 record of 9-10 mixed with an ERA of 3.12 Houck has a lot of work to do to prove that his All Star selection in 2024 wasn’t just a fluke but that he truly is as good as everyone says he is. With a batting average against being.231 Houck knows how to miss the barrel of the bat.
The Red Sox bullpen has also gotten an upgrade from the 2024 season. With the addition of Liam Hendriks before the 2024 season Sox fans got excited but never got to see him close out a game. The reason wasn’t due to having another closer however, the actual reason was the fact that Hendricks underwent Tommy John Surgery and missed the entire 2024 season. The Sox also added former Yankee Aroldis Chapman to their list of closers on the roster. Chapman who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates last season finished the year with a 5-5 record in 68 appearances, going 14-19 in saves as well, The Missile will have some competition for the closer role, specifically with Liam Hendriks and Chris Martin.
Now taking a look at the offense. The Red Sox have some tough decisions to make at the third base position. All Star Rafael Devers has come out publicly and said that he will not leave the third base position, as he told reporters, “No. Third base is my position. It’s what I play. I don’t know what their plans are. We had a conversation. I made it clear on what my desires were. Whatever happens from here, I don’t know” (ESPN). Devers being unwilling to move gives the Red Sox some challenges, Devers has 12 errors in the 2024 season which isn’t a horrible number, however Alex Bregman only had 10 errors. Looking at it from an offensive perspective, Rafael Devers had a batting average of .272 while Bregman had an average of .260, both averages are respectable, however the difference grows when looking at the On Base Percentage (OBP) where Devers had .354 against Bregman’s .315. Both players are going to make an impact in the lineup for the Red Sox it will ultimately come down to what is shown at Spring Training. Alex Bregman has put on a show early in Spring Training with 3 hits in 5 at bats including a home run, however Devers still has not hit the field as he was sidelined to end the 2024 season with shoulder inflammation, he remains to not play as he is building up the arm strength once again.
The future for the Boston Red Sox looks bright. Craig Breslow has shown the city of Boston that the Red Sox are going to be competitive in 2025 with the aggressive additions of former All Star Aroldis Chapman, Walker Buehler and Alex Bregman.
