Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Catch-22: Three Red Sox Kids And The Future
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.