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Felger & Mazz

How can the Red Sox keep Felger interested in 2024?

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The Boston Red Sox get their 2024 season underway on Thursday Night in Seattle as they take on the Mariners. On Tuesday’s Felger and Mazz, the guys discussed the Red Sox and Felger gave his thoughts on what he would like to see out of the Red Sox this season to keep him interested.

 

What does Felger want to see out of the Red Sox in 2024? 

Felger: My first thing is to win enough games to be in it! I mean, I’m just talking selfishly and personally, that’s what keeps me in. I want to know the teams competitive for a playoff berth, that I eventually get a playoff game or a playoff series and so the games matter and I watch and I don’t care if “Harold Fennefessy is out there”, never mind Brayan Bello and Tristan Casas and all those guys. Put out “Harry Schmedlap” and I’ll watch it if you’re in the playoff race. Number two, give me some individual players to start drawing my attention and my hope going forward. That’s what I would want. I don’t care if you kick it around all season long if you’re still in it. What was I just going to say on top of that?

Felger: Joe, what’s their over under on the season?

Joe Murray: I think it’s 78.5.

Felger: Okay. Now I’m going to ask you for a prediction or if you’re betting that…are you betting over or under?

Joe Murray: I’m going to go under.

Mazz: Me too.

J-Stew: I did go under.

Mazz: See this is the problem! This is the problem! Mike, tell me who they can rely on in the rotation. Who?

Felger: Yeah. I don’t have that.

J-Stew: Pivetta.

Mazz: Wrong!

J-Stew: He made 30 starts last year, Tony.

Mazz: No he didn’t. He pitched out of the bullpen. So like, I generally agree with everything that you said. I would love for them to be in that spot in September and if that happens than that, then I think the thing that I want has also happened, which is they’re going to be in a position to go into next year with a real team. Because right now I don’t feel like it’s a real team. I don’t.

Kevin Maggiore has been producing on the Felger & Mazz program since January of 2022 and has been producing with 98.5 The Sports Hub since 2018. Kevin also produces New England Patriots broadcasts on The Sports Hub and has produced Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins broadcasts in the past. Kevin grew up in Saugus, Massachusetts and is still in the area today. A lifelong hockey fan, Kevin collects hockey jerseys and has over 100 jerseys in his collection. Kevin loves spending his time away from the office on the golf course. Kevin writes about all New England sports from Patriots football to Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins.

Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!

The 2024 Red Sox offseason grades

Locally, the offseason grades for the 2024 Red Sox have been nothing short of abysmal. And that was true even before the team’s primary acquisition, right-handed starter Lucas Giolito, was lost for the season (and saw contract doubled) with an elbow injury.

But nationally, the grades for the grades for the Sox haven’t been much better.

If you read this year’s season preview by Alex Speier in the Boston Globe, you know that the long-term projections for the Red Sox are a little scattered, which is to say that, at a minimum, there is great uncertainty. Recently, our own Tyler Milliken offered some relatively positive predictions for the Red Sox entering this season, which is perhaps a reminder that there is always the chance (however microscopic) things will go right.

While noting that many of these offseason grades were given to the Red Sox as far back as 6-8 weeks ago, here is a reminder of what people have been saying about the Red Sox outside of the city limits.

ESPN (David Schoenfield)

Grade: F

What’s going on here? Good question. Perhaps the winter wouldn’t look so underwhelming if minority owner Tom Werner hadn’t exclaimed back in the November that the team would be going “full throttle” this offseason — a comment that Werner eventually told MassLive’s Sean McAdam “wasn’t the most artful way of saying what I wanted to say.” Maybe full throttle — like a lot of teams — only applied to signing Ohtani or Yamamoto. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Giolito signing after he gave up 41 home runs (and now he’s already hurt and could be facing season-ending surgery), and the structure of the deal means they are on the hook for 2025 no matter Giolito’s status. The big question is why the Red Sox are running a $179 million payroll that is well below the $235 million payrolls they ran in 2018-19.

  • The Athletic (Tim Britton, Grant Brisbee and Aaron Gleeman)

    Grade: D

    We’re into Year 5 and Regime 2 of shrugging our shoulders at what the Red Sox are trying to do. It’s cute to point out the factually correct but still irreconcilable dynamic of this franchise finishing last more than any other while still winning as many titles as any other over the last dozen years. But this more recent stretch, commencing of course with a certain 2020 trade, feels as aimless as any the Sox have encountered in a generation. When exactly is this team’s window of contention?

    Needing an influx of pitching, Boston has thus far settled for adding Lucas Giolito and subtracting Chris Sale. Again, shrug. There may not be a more obvious match in free agency remaining than the Red Sox and Jordan Montgomery, who would help the whole picture here.

    Tyler O’Neill lends balance to the lineup, and Vaughn Grissom gives the Sox someone who, in theory, can play a major-league second base. But full throttle? I’ve seen real lawn mowers with better giddyup. Sorry, I meant reel lawn mowers.

  • USA Today (Gabe Lacques)

    Grade: D

    Rafael Devers was right to pop off: Boston’s done virtually nothing. Its total lack of appeal to elite free agents like Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been five years in the making.

  • FOX Sports (Jordan Shusterman)

    Grade: C-

    The few moves Boston has made — signing Lucas Giolito, dealing Chris Sale for a core infield piece in Vaughn Grissom, swapping out Alex Verdugo for Tyler O’Neill — all look pretty good to me in a vacuum. But when you’re coming off consecutive last-place finishes, and you communicate promises of a “full-throttle” offseason meant to get back into the playoff mix, these medium-splash deals aren’t nearly enough to move the needle, let alone satiate a fan base angry and starving for its team to start acting like the Boston Red Sox again. With many parallels to San Francisco, Boston, too, still has the opportunity to salvage a winter of frustration by landing a Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery. Otherwise, the vibes are likely to remain bitter in Beantown as camp opens.

  • CBS Sports (R.J. Anderson)

    CBS Sports (R.J. Anderson)

    Grade: B

    We gave the Red Sox a “B” back in January because we felt they had made some sensible bounce-back bets on starter Lucas Giolito, infielder Vaughn Grissom, and outfielder Tyler O’Neill. Maybe that B stood for boo-boo? Almost three months later, Giolito could miss the entire season; Grissom seems certain to miss Opening Day; and O’Neill … well, he’s dealing with a calf issue, but that seems like small beans given his company and his injury history. (The Red Sox have since signed veteran reliever Liam Hendriks, who is also expected to miss the year following Tommy John surgery.) We’ll stand by the B out of respect for how tricky forecasting player health is (even for the professionals), but we acknowledge their winter no longer looks nearly that strong.

  • Bleacher Report (Kerry Miller)

    Grade: F

    Even before finding out that Giolito might miss the entire season with an elbow injury, this was a brutal offseason.

    They knew damn well that starting pitching was their glaring weakness, and their grand solution was to trade their oft-injured ace for an unproven middle infielder while replacing Sale with a pitcher coming off back-to-back barely sub-5.00 ERA campaigns—all while refusing to sign Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery.

    The Red Sox are still considered the favorites for Montgomery, which would be a great big, last-minute splash. But even that would only bring them from an F up to maybe a C, as we went into the offseason rather assuming they would land one of the several marquee starters available.

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