Resetting Red Sox’ offseason after busy weekend with Yamamoto looming originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Resetting the MLB landscape with an eye on the Red Sox after an eventful weekend…
Shohei Ohtani ended up in the right place. The Dodgers were the favorites from the start, and despite amateur flight trackers following every private jet from California to eastern Canada, it’s hard to imagine he was ever going to land in Toronto.
The Dodgers deserve him. They’re a marquee franchise, they’re impossibly well-run, and they did the legwork. By some accounts, they’ve been planning for this day since 2012. They cleared the books by making hard decisions on Trea Turner, Corey Seager, and Cody Bellinger, by walking away from Justin Turner, Kenley Jansen, and Craig Kimbrel, and by remaining not just competitive, but dominant.
They claimed a World Series in 2020 and they’ve won at least 100 games every year since. Ohtani desperately wants to play for a winner, and the Dodgers give him a better chance than anyone.
It’s astounding what the Dodgers have managed over the last four years. In 2020, they stole Mookie Betts from the Red Sox. Two years later, they acquired Freddie Freeman. Now two years after that, Ohtani. MVP, MVP, and MVP.
Contrast that with the Red Sox. They were never in on Ohtani because they had nothing to offer. They’ve finished last three times in four years, their farm system might be good, but isn’t obviously loaded, and they play in baseball’s toughest division. For anyone prioritizing championships, the Red Sox simply aren’t a destination.
As they enter Year Five of their plan to win from within, they feel even further away than the team Chaim Bloom inherited in the fall of 2019. That squad included Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Nathan Eovaldi. Now Devers is all that remains, and he’s simply not a franchise player, even though he’s being paid like one.
The Red Sox desperately need to regain the stature that made them players for all-time superstars like Ohtani, but it’s not happening anytime soon. …
One move that should help as long as it’s followed by something bigger is the acquisition of Cardinals outfielder Tyler O’Neill. Fans might remember his monster 2021, when he slammed 34 homers, won a Gold Glove, and earned MVP votes, but it was always a bit of a mirage, since he struck out roughly once every three plate appearances.
The ensuing two years have been marred by injuries, as well as an…