Mazz: On this opening day for the Red Sox, ask for more than a fling
This year, on Opening Day for the Red Sox, don’t settle for just a fling. Instead, ask for the ring.
OK, so that’s corny wordplay. But before you interpret that as a suggestion that the Red Sox are ready to win a championship, they’re not. At least not yet. But as the Red Sox finally embark on a season in which they have, dare we say, potential, let’s emphasize that the Sox owe you more than one good year. What they owe you is merely the beginning of a new era, something they are once again positioned to provide under the ownership of Henry, Werner and – we think? – Epstein.
Get the message? Over the last 15 years or so, the Red Sox have dragged you through a tumultuous existence. Starting in 2012, the Red Sox have finished last, first, last, last, first, first, first, third, last, second, last, last, third. They won two World Series. They finished last six times. They have missed the playoffs in five of the last six years. And if they miss the postseason again this season, they will have failed to reach October in four straight years for the first time since 1994, the third depressed (and depressing) campaign under manager Butch Hobson and eight years before anyone knew of John Henry.
Those mercurial ups and downs, as we all know, can make for a difficult existence. For each World Series the Red Sox have won during that span, they have finished last three times. When that kind of darkness rests on the other side of a title, well, the high isn’t worth the lows.
So what is this year going to be? Will it be just a sugar rush that ultimately leaves you curled up in a corner like a pacified toddler? Or can the Red Sox actually give the start of something much bigger and better?
Here’s the good news: with prospect Kristian Campbell starting today at second base while infielder Marcelo Mayer and outfielder Roman Anthony stand just offstage, the Red Sox seemingly a have a nucleus in place for the next several years. That is assuming, of course, that the Red Sox don’t somehow foul it all up. Campbell, Mayer and Anthony average just under 21 years old. Garrett Crochet, the left-handed pitcher who will start today after being acquired in an offseason trade, won’t be 26 until May.
The Red Sox seemingly have cornerstones scattered all around the perimeter of fabled Fenway Park, which means this really shouldn’t be about anything remotely limited to 2025.
It’s not about the next six months, folks. It’s about the next six years. At least. Maybe even 10. That shouldn’t be too much to ask for a Red Sox organization that apparently has enough resources to more than $600 million for Juan Soto … or $300 million for Yoshinobu Yamamoto … or whatever amount it may take to secure Crochet.
The Red Sox are now worth roughly six times what Henry and Co. paid for them back in 2002. Ownership has made enough to buy Liverpool, Roush Racing, the Pittsburgh Penguins and a good chunk of the PGA Tour in the interim. At the same time, Red Sox fans have been handed lollipops while Daddy’s attention has been elsewhere.
So, beginning today, what will become of the Red Sox going forward? Good question. To date, Crochet hasn’t been appetized enough to agree to a long-term extension. Love him or hate him, neither has Triston Casas. (He, too, is just 25.) Both you and the Red Sox should know by now that winning your attention is much easier than keeping it, and the latter is now the challenge before them. That means the job has now really just begun, and that means they now need to further invest in what they have at least partially rebuilt – on the field and off.
Don’t settle for the lollipops.
This now has the chance, again, to be something far bigger and better.
