Say what you need concerning the Red Sox entrance workplace, however the advertising and marketing group has been prime notch over the past decade-plus.
Which leads us proper to the promotional schedule that’s already obtainable on the group web site.
Two days stand out: Monday, April 17, the Marathon Day recreation towards the Angels, and Wednesday, May 31, towards the Reds.
Not that the Sox want giveaways for Marathon Monday – the annual 11:10 a.m. recreation attracts 32,000-plus followers usually – however the first 7,500 folks that enter the park for this yr’s matinee will obtain a Boston Strong T-shirt with the quantity 617 on the again.
And then on May 31 the Sox are making a gift of a 2013 championship bobblehead that can function Koji Uehara leaping into the arms of catcher David Ross.
Fantastic concepts. The Red Sox have fun 10-year anniversaries for all their championship seasons. There’s no purpose to skip it this time round.
There’s just one downside with all of the 2013 discuss that’s already began on Jersey Street: the comparisons.
The Red Sox absolutely knew what they had been doing by inviting Jonny Gomes, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Will Middlebrooks to their Winter Weekend festivities in January. They held a panel entitled, “2013: Ten years later.” And principal proprietor John Henry reminded followers that historical past may repeat itself in different methods, too, telling an offended crowd on the city corridor that no one appreciated former common supervisor Theo Epstein when he traded Nomar Garciaparra in 2004, however that commerce labored out in the long run.
Last week, the good Peter Gammons wrote a spectacular piece concerning the 2013 Red Sox over at The Athletic, however there was one quote that didn’t make a complete lot of sense:
“We didn’t have star players, we didn’t have anyone with superstar seasons,” Gomes informed Gammons.
Wait, what?
David Ortiz is a Hall of Famer and he had a Hall of Fame common season and postseason in 2013. Dustin Pedroia was on a Hall of Fame observe and had one among his finest defensive years whereas hitting .301, regardless of enjoying the whole season with a very torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb. Jon Lester was in the midst of his prime because the workers ace. And Uehara had top-of-the-line seasons ever by a reduction pitcher.
They are superstars. And these had been celebrity seasons.
The 2023 Red Sox have one celebrity and three former superstars who aren’t precisely of their primes.
Rafael Devers is the clear celebrity whereas Chris Sale, Kenley Jansen and Corey Kluber, who might be 34, 35 and 36 on Opening Day, respectively, had been as soon as in that class.
Trevor Story was a star in Colorado earlier than he harm his elbow, which may price him most of this season as he recovers from surgical procedure. Masataka Yoshida was a star in Japan, however has by no means earlier than confronted main league pitching. Triston Casas was a star on the Olympics two years in the past; does that rely?
“We might not look up there with some of the other teams in terms of superstar talent or whatever, but at the end of the day, I feel good about my guys and I think that we have the potential to shock a lot of people,” Kiké Hernandez informed reporters at Winter Weekend two weeks in the past.
Hernandez is correct, the Red Sox don’t have a variety of celebrity expertise.
The ‘23 Red Sox have only two similarities with the ‘13 team: they’re not anticipated to be excellent, and the Sox’ offseason method was as soon as once more one through which they passed over all the highest guys in free company and as an alternative constructed a group with previous guys within the remaining levels of their careers.
The comparisons finish there.
Fans are setting themselves up for disappointment in the event that they’re hoping that the ‘23 roster will have the same flair, scrappiness and confidence as a team of much more talented players that carried a city’s ache in 2013.
And that’s to not say the ‘23 team can’t shock individuals. Chances are, it’ll.
Manager Alex Cora has a means of getting essentially the most of gamers, and giving him a roster of fellows who had been as soon as elite gamers is giving him an opportunity to drag just a few miracles.
Justin Turner was as soon as an MVP candidate. Sale was as soon as a Cy Young candidate. Kluber has two Cy Young Awards on his trophy case.
There is upside within the type of veteran stars.
But when you begin matching up the 2013 roster to the one the Red Sox will enter spring coaching with in two weeks, there are severe discrepancies.
Who will play the position of Ortiz on this yr’s group? It’d need to be Devers. That’s believable.
Who will function the Pedroia of this group? Hernandez is the most probably candidate, however he’d need to be even higher than he was in 2021, when he had a profession yr.
Who is the Jacoby Ellsbury, Shane Victorino and Mike Napoli of this yr’s group?
Jarren Duran would shock the world if he performed like Ellsbury. Yoshida may probably provide the identical kind of aggressive at-bat Victorino as soon as provided. And if Casas breaks out, a Napoli-esque season isn’t out of the query.
Still, it looks as if a stretch to ask these guys to all have profession years.
Meanwhile, the beginning rotation seems to be rather a lot completely different than the 2013 group’s did.
There’s no Lester, one could be fast to note.
Spring breeds optimism in baseball, and that’s swell. Optimism might be wanted to root for the 2023 Red Sox.
But please, spare us all with the comparisons to the 2013 group.
Source: www.bostonherald.com