The Boston Globe's Alex Speier rightly points out that
the Red Sox may be on the verge of building the core of their team around two or three 22-year old players—all of whom are beginning to show signs of stardom. Specifically, they are:
Xander Bogaerts,
Mookie Betts and
Eduardo Rodriguez. In this dismal season, these three are rare shining lights of baseball competence. One can envision a plan (assuming the NOG and BenCher really
have a plan) that nurtures these 'core three', while slowly but surely shedding the franchise's "old guard". There is, of course, the danger of the
'Middlebrooks Effect'—where a promising young player shows early signs of productivity and then fizzles. But, Bogaerts seems to have figured out his offensive
and defensive posture; Betts is showing more and more signs of established stardom every day; and Rodriguez has righted his ship after one bad outing. Feeding this core with more and more talent from a loaded farm system
might produce "the next great Red Sox team"—sooner than any blockbuster trades. Not
this year, but soon.
