So here you go, five Red Sox questions on Opening Day. The truth, of course, is that there are considerably more.
But as we – ok, I – like to say, the more questions you have, the more losses you get. Or, more specifically, the more ifs … the more Ls. Given that we are an the analytical age where there is a formula and calculation for everything, the pertinent formula is If = L, which is another way of saying that everything rarely goes according to plan. And so, if Brayan Bello becomes and ace … and if Trevor Story plays to his peak … and if Triston Casas continues to develop … and if Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford stay healthy … well, you get the idea. The 2024 Red Sox, like the 2023, 2022 and 2021 teams before them, have relatively little margin for error.
Or maybe no margin for error.
For example: the Red Sox’ biggest offseason pitching acquisition for this year is/was Lucas Giolito, who has already been lost for the season to an elbow injury. In the process, the Sox also lost $19 million of their payroll for next season because Giolito will now almost certainly exercise his player option at that number. Already, Giolito is now one of the ifs that has produced the wrong answer, which leaves the Red Sox with a big red X in the column marked “Outcome.”
And they haven’t even played a game yet.
For now, we’re actually going to leave Giolito off the list of five questions to ponder as the Red Sox enter the 2024 season because the season starts now. Replacing Giolito with someone like Jordan Montgomery (one year, $25 million with Arizona) could have gone a long toward softening the blow, but the Red Sox clearly aren’t in the business of aggressive spending anymore. As such, welcome back to the early 1990s, when the Red Sox entered the season as a mid-market team with relatively little expectation of winning a championship.
Nonetheless, the season will go on and there will be baseball (or some version of it) played in Boston this year, and there will be consequential things to consider: