January 24, 2021

How Not to Tank

In recent days, the Red Sox added Enrique Hernandez and Garrett Richards to their team via free agency. These are affordable veteran signings that won’t put the club over the top, but could be valuable.

Boston’s roster boasts young talent, with most players in their prime or earlier. As we saw with Toronto last season, the Astros and Cubs of the previous decade, and the Indians and Braves of the early 1990s, young talent can gel quickly into a winning team. Most teams wait for the talent to develop before filling holes, but why not be out if front? If a team were going to tank, they would just bring up a backup middle infielder from the minors and/or keep trying to fill the fifth spot in the rotation with various prospects, and save the $17 million.

The Red Sox ownership knows they need a winner to put fans in the stands. These transactions indicate to me that the front office believes the Red Sox will be a winning team this season.

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