by Phoenix Desertsong, Red Sox for Life

While I realize that this article may not age well, I had a hot take on the Red Sox manager situation that I simply HAD to write about: I think Dustin Pedroia should be the next manager of the Boston Red Sox.

Hot take? It most certainly is. I mean, it makes sense for the Red Sox to reach out to former players. Nomar Garciaparra has been suggested by fans, but I’m not sure he’s interested. 

Jason Varitek seems an obvious perfect fit. After all, he dealt with the Boston media for years, many of those as Red Sox team captain. He has always seemed like the perfect manager candidate and could give the team the centering influence it needs to pull together after a highly disappointing 2019 season. But, I get the impression that Jason is happy in retirement with his family and kids. I could be wrong, though. 

Mike Lowell already offered to manage for a year as a bridge to Alex Cora returning in 2021. Thanks, but no thanks, man. The Alex Cora ship has sailed.

Of course, despite his obvious wrongdoings in the past, Cora was, and still is, beloved by the players. Bringing in an outside candidate just a few weeks before spring training seems like a bad idea. Well, you already know from the title of this article what my suggestion will be: hire Dustin Pedroia as manager!

Hear me out: Pedroia just suffered another setback in his return to the field. His left knee simply isn’t cooperating. But, with two years and $25 million left on his contract, he’s pretty much forced to keep attempting a comeback. A lot of people want to see him pull a David Wright, settle for an insurance settlement, and retire. 

I don’t think that’s the right idea. With Pedey’s playing days probably behind him, why force him to rehab and sit on the bench? The Red Sox need Pedey’s competitive fire and energy more than ever. He’s a pretty unorthodox choice for a manager, I’ll admit, but since when is playing it safe worth it?

As it is, Pedroia has had an amazing playing career. I mean, look at these numbers:

• 14 seasons 
• .299 career batting average
• 1,805 hits
• Rookie of the Year
• 1 MVP
• 4 All-Star Games
• 4 Gold Gloves
• 3 World Series Rings (including 2018 when he was hurt)

Of course, Pedroia is still under contract. That’s a lot of money. He’s not going to simply walk away from it, and why should he? Pedroia earned it. Plus, by becoming manager, he could STILL return, even if just to pinch hit occasionally. I would LOVE to see a player-manager after all these years.

Is my dream of Dustin Pedroia being the Red Sox manager in 2020 going to come true? I can dream! It’s also not as crazy as it sounds.

Who do YOU think should be the next manager of the Boston Red Sox?

by     Phoenix Desertsong, Big Huge Red Sox Crazy Fan

Triston Casas is the type of baseball prospect that hobby prospectors salivate over. Many scouts believe that the Red Sox top prospect could develop into a middle of the batting order hitter. His Raw Power scouting grade from FanGraphs is a 70 with 80 potential - 80 being the top grade. His current in-game power grade is a 35 with a 65 potential. 

As for results, his 137 wRC+ mostly at A-ball is fine, and just turning 20 and graduated to High-A ball, he still projects as at least an average Major League player. The big question with him is if his hit tool - ability to hit for average - will rise from the current 25 to the potential 50. The good news is he doesn’t strike-out a ton for a young power hitter and he does take some walks, so his profile is actually pretty good.

His key rookie card is the 2018 Bowman Chrome Draft Auto. The last raw one that sold on eBay was mid October 2019 for $49.99 plus $3.50 shipping. We’ll call it a $50 to $55 card. The cheapest you’ll find on eBay the night of this writing is $60.

There are a couple of other Bowman Chrome Draft autos of Casas that are selling, however, that include the Class of 2018 auto (the refractor numbered to 250) and the Draft Night auto (refractors numbered to 99 and gold refractors numbered to 50). These are attractive targets because there are simply so few of them. The class of 2018 refractor auto you can find for about $40 plus shipping. The draft night auto you’ll be lucky to find for $85 - that comp is already graded PSA 10.

As a collector, I actually favor the serial numbered autos, but my opinion is that the refractors of the 2018 Bowman Chrome Draft auto are the best investment for ROI. That’s because it’s his official 1st Bowman card and the card with the biggest market. That being said, having already graded copies of extremely limited edition cards is a nice “go for broke” strategy. If you want to play it safe, there’s the non-auto 2018 Bowman Chrome Draft which you can find in high grade for $15-20. 

Personally, I’d play it safe with Casas for the time being. Yes, he is the #1 Red Sox prospect, but he just hit .254 at A-ball. Yes, his batting eye is decent and he made noise when he did make contact. I need to see more progress before I would invest in his future, outside of maybe some raw Chrome 1st Bowman cards or colored parallels of his base Bowman Draft card.

All of these points about buying and selling sports cards are just my own informed opinions. They should NOT be taken as professional investment advice. Always do your own research, as the card market can shift drastically without much notice. Remember, this is a hobby, so you must be prepared to be stuck holding any cards you collect.

Transparency notice: As of this writing, I currently own no Triston Casas cards, but may purchase some Chrome base cards or colored parallels purely for Personal Collection purposes.

by Phoenix Desertsong, Lifelong Red Sox Fan

Even most casual baseball fans know who Carl Yastrzemski is, one of the greatest Boston Red Sox players ever. But, on this 1964 Topps card entitled “Sox Sockers”  he’s sharing the card with  the Red Sox second baseman at the time. That's the slick fielding Chuck Schilling.

Far as I know, Chuck Schilling is of no relation to the much more famous pitcher Curt Schilling. What I do know is that Chuck Schilling was not a socker. He hit just 8 home runs in 1963, with a .234 batting average and .610 OPS… 1963 was actually the last time Chuck would be above replacement level.

Meanwhile, Yaz had an awesome 1963, winning his first batting title and leading the American League in hits, doubles, walks, and OBP. It was also Yaz’s first All-Star nod. Schilling hit those 8 HR… and was worth 1 WAR with the glove. The poor OPS wasn’t enough to make Schilling valuable, though. He was worth a mere 0.2 WAR in 146 games. He’d been about just as good with the glove in 1962, but even worse with the bat.

That all being said, Topps did have reason to believe that Schilling may eventually find his stroke at the major league level. After all, Schilling did bat .340 in the D league (today's A ball) and .314 at AAA. Those are obviously good marks. That offensive potential never came to be realized in the Majors. But, you can understand their optimism based on those past minor league performances.

However, Chuck Schilling DID have one very good season in MLB. That was his rookie year in 1961. Despite a mere .666 OPS, Schilling did have a .340 on-base percentage in a league-leading 737 plate appearances that year. His baseball stats didn’t look bad at all for a defensive-minded second baseman either: .259 batting average, 5 HR, 62 RBI, plus 7 stolen bases. However, he was caught 6 times, so his stolen bases weren’t so valuable.

But, where Schilling really shined in 1961 was with the glove. He led the league in assists at second base, 2nd in double plays turned, and was worth a whopping SIXTEEN runs above average by Total Zone at the keystone. Obviously, that final stat led the league. Had they been awarded at the time, Schilling would’ve won the Gold Glove, and it would’ve been entirely deserved. His defensive WAR? 1.9!

Unfortunately, Schilling never really developed with the bat. Part of that was due to a wrist injury suffered in 1962. At least in 1963 his 25 doubles and 8 HR gave him some offensive value. By 1964, he simply was too much of a liability with the bat and his play in the field began to suffer.

Schilling sort of rebounded as a bench player in 1965 before being traded after the season to the Minnesota Twins. He’d be on the Twins roster to start 1966 - as rosters were allowed to have 28 players until May 15. But, when the rosters reverted to 25 men, he retired rather than be forced to accept a minor league assignment.

Chuck Schilling did OK for himself after that, teaching high-school math on Long Island and playing competitive softball all the way until he was 69. As of 2020, Chuck Schilling is still with us. Had Schilling not suffered that wrist injury, it’s likely he would’ve stuck around as a Gold Glove-caliber second baseman for quite a few years. Fortunately, we have this and other baseball cards to remember his career by. 

Thanks for the memories, Chuck Schilling!

In one of the better trades the Red Sox made in the 1990’s, the Red Sox traded speedy, defensive minded outfielder Otis Nixon and infielder Luis Ortiz to the Texas Rangers for outfielder Jose Canseco. Obviously, it was a bit of a salary dump, with the Rangers clearly thinking they could replace Canseco’s bat with defense. To be honest, anyone with a brain at that time probably saw this wouldn’t work out.

Otis Nixon actually had an OK year for the Rangers in 1995, although Total Zone didn’t love his defense (-4 runs below average). He did, however, post a very good .354 OBP, and stole 50 bases - albeit being caught 24 times. He was worth 1.3 WAR, which isn’t terrible, of course. Luis Ortiz was… awful. Nixon would move onto the Blue Jays for 1996, so really the Rangers just saved some money..


Jose Canseco’s Solid 1995 Season with the Red Sox

With one year left on Canseco’s contract, the Red Sox were happy to take on a guy who hit 31 HR in just 111 games during the strike-shortened 1994 season. They wouldn’t be disappointed as he would help anchor a Red Sox lineup that included Mo Vaughn, John Valentin, Tim Naehring, Troy O’Leary, and Mike Greenwell (who was in his last season as an above-average regular). Canseco would hit 24 home runs with a .306 batting average, his highest since 1988. Canseco also reached an important milestone, as his final home run of the season off of Jesse Orosco was the 300th of his career.

The Red Sox would make the playoffs, making it Canseco’s first postseason trip in five years.However, Canseco would go 0-for-13, with 2 walks, in the 1995 American League Division Series. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise good season.


Jose Canseco’s Hot Start to 1996 Season, Followed by Back Trouble

The Red Sox would resign Canseco in 1996. It all started off well, and in 96 games he would hit 28 HR and hit .289/.400/.589. Back troubles would cause Canseco to miss all of August and most of September.  In fact, Canseco hit 26 of his 28 homers before the All-Star break, and he wouldn’t even hit a home run after July 17th.

Still, in just 198 games between 1995 and 1996, Canseco was worth 5.6 WAR. I’d say that was more than worth a year of Otis Nixon and Luis Ortiz…


Canseco Reunites with McGwire in Oakland, Red Sox Get Cash and “Wayback” Wasdin

After the 1996 season, Canseco would be reunited with “Bash Brother” Mark McGwire as he was traded back to the Oakland A’s for … “Wayback” John Wasdin & cash. While that sounds like a terrible trade, it actually would work out for the Red Sox in the long run. Despite his longball issues, Wasdin would overall be a useful pitcher. He’d eventually be a key part of a trade that brought Rolando Arrojo, Rick Croushore, and former Expo All-Star Mike Lansing to Boston. Lansing would be awful, and Croushore was ineffective in 5 games, but Arrojo was a nice find and put the Sox in the positive for that trade.

Of course, Canseco’s back troubles would linger in Oakland, but he’d still hit a few home runs along “Bash Brother” Mark McGwire. Then, of course, he’d put together a few more decent seasons, along with a monster season in Toronto in 1998, a very good season in Tampa Bay in 1999, and hung on in 2000 and 2001 to hit a few more home runs and still be a productive hitter when healthy.


My Thoughts on Jose Canseco’s Legacy

Of course, Jose Canseco is a very controversial figure in baseball. Canseco and his two books revealed the extent of the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) in baseball, which understandably upset a lot of people. Despite hitting 462 HR in his career with a very good 132 OPS+ over 17 years, Canseco will likely never get near the Hall of Fame for reasons that stretch beyond his own use of PEDs.

However, Jose Canseco remains a very popular figure in the baseball card hobby. Many collectors have created a sort of Cardboard Hall of Fame for Canseco and his cards are still highly sought after. Since his career began in the Junk Wax era and he was such a massively popular player in his time, there’s no shortage of Jose Canseco baseball cards to collect. Heck, Canseco continues to appear in current baseball card sets as recently as 2019! While he may never get a plaque at Cooperstown, Canseco will never be forgotten by the game of baseball.

...

P.S. Fun fact: Jose Canseco made his Major League pitching debut against, guess who, the RED SOX, in May of 1993. He gave up three runs on 2 hits and 3 walks...

Not so fun fact: Because of that pitching appearance, Canseco would need Tommy John surgery (elbow ligament replacement surgery) and miss the rest of the season. It also didn't help his back issues...  Missing the rest of that season, and the extra damage to his already ailing back, also likely cost him the chance at 500 HR. What do you think?

by Phoenix Desertsong, Lifelong Red Sox Fan

The Red Sox had some pretty good players back in the 1970’s. But, one you may not have heard nearly as much about was Sonny Siebert. A starting pitcher who was better known for his years with the Cleveland Indians, Siebert was mediocre in two of his four full seasons with the Red Sox. However, he was quite good in 1970, and won 15 games with a fine 3.44 ERA. He would be much better in 1971.

The Sox acquired Siebert along with Vicente Romo and Joe Azcue for Dick Ellsworth, Ken Harrelson, and Juan Pizarro. As Red Sox trades go, this was actually a good one for Boston. Azcue and Romo were replacement level, but Harrelson and Pizzaro only had one good year for Cleveland and Ellsworth never really did much after that. Pizzaro would have another good season later with the Cubs. Of course, that means the Red Sox won this trade, because although Siebert was mediocre in 1969 and 1973, he was quite good in between.

A lot went right for Sonny Siebert in 1971. Not only did he pitch very well, winning 16 games with a 2.91 ERA, but Sonny also had a great year with the BAT. That’s right, folks. American League pitchers still had to come to bat until 1973. What’s particularly incredible about Siebert’s 1971 season with the bat is that in no other season did he come close to being that good. In 1971, he hit .266/.289/.532 with 6 HR and 15 RBI. His career marks? .173/.204/.270 with 12 HR. Crazy fluke or not, it was a really nice year for Sonny.

Don McMahon may not be a household name, but he was a pretty good baseball relief pitcher for almost two decades. He actually pitched in the Major Leagues until he was 44 years old! This 1967 Topps #7 baseball card isn't exceptionally rare, but it's a nice piece of history.

Back in 1966, the Red Sox traded once all-star reliever Dick Radatz for McMahon. As it turned out, Radatz was washed up and was out of baseball a couple years later. McMahon was good in 1966 for the Red Sox, but wasn't stellar for them in 1967, essentially being replacement level. In that year, the team that would end up being the "Impossible Dream Team" traded McMahon and minor leaguer Rob Snow for infielder Jerry Adair. To the Sox's credit, they got a lot of value out of Adair, although he'd be dreadful in 1968.

Meanwhile, after being traded to the White Sox, McMahon pitched very well for the rest of 1967 and 1968 for the White Sox. He'd move to the Tigers, where he was adequate, and pitched several more seasons for the San Francisco Giants, including  one of his best years in 1970 at age 40.  McMahon would still have several seasons left in him, although he was never quite that good again.

So, this was a pretty good trade for the Red Sox, and it's a good card for vintage Red Sox baseball card collectors. Excellent condition copies can be found for $2 or less. While McMahon might not be remembered much today, he was definitely an above-average relief pitcher for a very long time. Not only was he good for the Red Sox for a bit, but he again contributed by acquiring a very useful infielder for the 1967 team. As of 2018, Don McMahon is still with us, too.

Here's to what was a great, and pretty underrated, career!

by Richard Rowell, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

Travis Shaw of the Boston Red Sox made quite an impact towards the end of the 2015 MLB Season. With a solid .813 OPS (On-Base Percentage Plus Slugging) and 13 home runs in only 65 games, it seemed clear that Shaw belonged in the Major Leagues. The son of former Major League relief pitcher, Jeff Shaw, "The Mayor of Ding Dong City," is off to a hot start in 2016, hitting .342 with a .984 OPS in his first 44 plate appearances of the season.

One of the major story lines of the 2016 Spring Training preseason for the Red Sox was the continued under-performance of incumbent third baseman Pablo Sandoval. As it turns out, the reason for Sandoval's poor performance could well be the after-effects of an injury recently discovered, as reported by Fox Sports. This could mean that the former San Francisco Giant All-Star could be out for quite some time. This is good news for Shaw, who is living up to his starting position at third base, while spelling at first base for Hanley Ramirez on occasion.

While Travis Shaw began his MLB career as a first baseman, he's been flashing the leather at third base to begin 2016. According to Shaw's player page on FanGraphs, he played league-average defense at first base in 2015, but has already 3 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) at third in only 78 innings played at the position! He also has credit for 1 Defensive Run Saved at first base. Clearly, his defense is an asset. This is in stark contrast to the-11 Defensive Runs saved that Pablo Sandoval recorded in 123 games for 2015.

Beyond just defense, the advanced statistical metrics are a fan overall of Shaw's 2016 performance so far. Baseball-Reference has Shaw's work so far being worth 1.1 Wins Above Replacement (WAR). Keep in mind that an average Major League starting position player accrues about 2 WAR in a season. Shaw has provided that much value in just a dozen games. In fact, 1.1 WAR is the same number that Shaw accrued in all of 2015. While the projection systems ZiPS and Steamer don't see him keeping up this pace. Taking into consideration his work so far, they still see him as a roughly league-average player with a projection of an averaged 1.6 WAR in 120 games (thanks to FanGraphs Depth Charts for this info!)

Clearly, Travis Shaw has earned a place in the Major Leagues with the Red Sox. Some very difficult decisions will have to be made when Pablo Sandoval is ready to return to play, as Shaw clearly appears to be the better ballplayer at this point.

Ordinarily, even as big of a baseball fan as I am, I don't really pay attention to Spring Training stats. At this early stage, hardly anyone even has at-bats or many innings pitched. But standing out already is Brennan Boesch, who was signed by the Red Sox to a minor league contract in January 2016. In 11 at-bats, he's 4-for-11 with a home run and 2 RBI. He's also scored 4 runs already. Does this mean anything? Probably not. He's always hit well in spring training throughout his career.

On the pitching side, reliever Heath Hembree, who hopes to make the team, has thrown 3 scoreless innings across 2 innings. He's only surrendered 1 hit and 1 walk, and has recorded 6 strikeouts. Good start, Heath!

While I'm not following as closely as I have in the past, I'll check in from time to time to see who's lighting up the stat leaderboards in March. Spoiler alert: none of it actually matters when the season starts! But it's still fun to see, and with certain guys on the cusp, a good performance never, ever hurts!

The "Thrill of Victorino" has definitely become a distant memory for Red Sox Nation. Shane Victorino was a huge part of the 2013 World Champion Red Sox team, but since then, he's been plagued by injuries. It's not like prognosticators didn't see this coming. So for the Red Sox to acquire anything for Victorino was going to be a win at this point. The Sox found a taker, the Los Angeles Angels. In exchange for him and about $3-4 million to cover the $4.5 million or so remaining on Victorino's contract, the Red Sox will acquire infielder Josh Rutledge.

Victorino probably isn't going to be much more than a bench bat for the Angels, probably to platoon with current Angels' left fielder Matt Joyce. It's good for him, though, as the Sox have had the hot Alejandro De Aza playing right field lately, and the Sox needed to make room for Rusney Castillo, who's been stuck at AAA Pawtucket for most of the season. Shane gets to go to a contender rather than be mired in last place.

The Sox receive only minimal salary relief, but really, what they were really after was Rutledge. While the infielder had a nice offensive showing in 2012 with the Rockies, he's a bat-first player. He's a career -11 DRS second baseman and -20 DRS shortstop. Perhaps the Sox are hoping they can fix his defensive woes; they did it with Xander Bogaerts, after all. If Rutledge becomes just passable on defense, he could be a very useful player. While Rutledge is arbitration eligible after this season, it's doubtful he'll get much of a raise his first time through as he's spent the 2015 season so far in AAA. To his credit, he's performed fairly (.727 OPS).

Really, what this comes down to is the Sox getting future value while giving up a short-term asset. Rutledge probably would have been a non-tender candidate for the Angels this off-season anyway. This way, the Sox can see if he can live up to his offensive potential while helping him to be a better infielder. There's really nothing to lose on either end of this deal.

Will Rutledge be more Brock Holt (utility all-star) or Jonathan Herrera (replacement level disappointment)? Maybe he'll be something in between, but he's worth the shot. Victorino can still play some defense, although he's not what he was, but he's better than what they've had. The Angels needed outfield depth, and Victorino was the most obvious and cheapest upgrade.

On May 20th 2014, Xander Bogaerts had some good offensive numbers. Sure, in the field he was having some mental lapses, but at the plate, he was flirting with a .400 OBP with a respectable batting average hovering around .300. After only a .378 SLG in May, the power began to come. But with an injury to the ineffective Will Middlebrooks the Red Sox made the strange decision to give Stephen Drew $10 million to come back and play shortstop.

Now on the surface, okay, this doesn't look terrible. You move Bogaerts over to third base and let Drew handle the position that he's best at. The Red Sox knew that no one would sign Drew until after the Amateur Draft in June. Because the Red Sox offered Drew a $14.1 million qualifying offer in the off-season, any team that signed him before the early June draft would have to surrender a first-round draft pick and the Red Sox would receive a compensatory draft pick in return. Because of the situation, the draft pick would have been no longer applicable. There were teams that wanted Drew, but were patient enough to wait. But the Red Sox, with their season not going so well, decided to pay Drew the pro-rated amount of the $14.1 million they originally offered him. Scott Boras really must have talked Ben Cherington into it.

At the time, I was not crazy about the move, but I couldn't have even imagined how badly Drew would go on to play, and how destroyed Xander Bogaerts' confidence would become.

Bogaerts was not a very good defensive shortstop in those first two months. But he would be even worse at third base. He would rack up -7 Defensive Runs at the position in only 385 innings (read: very bad) with a -28.8 UZR/150 (read: very, very bad.) In June his batting line would be .135/.176/.250, something resembling a pitcher's batting line in the National League. In July, he started to come around, but not by much, batting .228/.253/.342. By this point, Drew was already playing himself off the team, with his own .176/.255/.328 batting line. To be fair, defensively he was okay, recording a modest 2 DRS saved with the Sox in around 300 innings. He saved the Red Sox perhaps a few runs in the field. But his lack of offense was so bad that they shipped him off to the Yankees on July 31st - plus cash - for Kelly Johnson. Johnson didn't even last 10 games before being shipped off in a waiver wire deal to the Orioles that included Jemile Weeks.

With Bogaerts now free to play shortstop again, in August, he played in fewer games and did even worse. He was perhaps the worst offensive player in baseball, with a .123./.195/.167 batting line in 21 games. In September, though, Bogaerts regained his confidence and in 24 games, he hit .313/.317/.490 with 4 home runs. While it’s not good that the plate discipline evaporated, it’s good to see the power and average return. Unfortunately, a hamstring injury ended his season early as they held him out in the last few games as a precautionary measure.

The good news is that it appears Bogaerts was not irreparably broken by the Red Sox's clear mistake in seeming to give up on him. They never actually gave up on him. But they didn't bother to realize how much signing Drew and not letting a young player that was excelling on offense a chance to work through his struggles. Brian Butterfield is a legendary infield coach. Derek Jeter has for years been below average defensively as a shortstop - at least according to the defensive metrics - and he's a sure-fire Hall of Famer! Bogaerts was displaying incredible plate discipline and while the power wasn't developing quite as quickly as the Sox had hoped, he was showing exactly why a 21-year old was in the Major Leagues.

Clearly, being forced over to third base with the looming prospect of Will Middlebrooks - who the Red Sox have given far too long a leash to - returning from injury really got inside Xander's head. Fortunately for Xander, Middlebrooks kept having complications, so he still kept playing - and playing - and playing very badly.

But you had Stephen Drew making $10 million and playing a solid defensive shortstop. So, nope, sorry, Xander, keep sucking at third. His defensive struggles clearly destroyed his focus at the plate and he turned into a nearly useless hitter for three months. The Sox could have had an above average starter at shortstop despite his defensive struggles. Instead, they got a replacement level shortstop and a below replacement level third baseman - for $10 million and a lot of grief on poor Xander's part.

I put the blame squarely on Ben Cherington for allowing himself to make such a stupid desperation move to sign Drew and put manager John Farrell in the impossible position of having to continue to play a young player whose confidence had been destroyed at a position where he was clearly uncomfortable and blowing seemingly easy plays.

Of course, the struggles of the Red Sox go far beyond that. Dustin Pedroia was playing all season with a bum left hand, destroying his power numbers. Mike Napoli, likewise, displayed next to no power this season due to his own ailments. David Ortiz was fantastic, yes. But for a long time, Brock Holt was the second-best hitter on the Red Sox, playing way over his head. Mookie Betts was that man for the rest of the season.

The good news is that shortstop belongs to Xander Bogaerts in 2015. Now he has to rediscover his plate discipline, as he has clearly become far more aggressive at the plate. Honestly, they should let Bogaerts be the player he was clearly becoming in May. This guy has the ceiling of a Derek Jeter-like player. You can lose a few runs on defense to have an extraordinary offensive shortstop. Remember Derek Jeter!? The guy that Xander idolized? The guy that you honored at Fenway in his last ever Major League Baseball game? Yeah, that guy.

The Red Sox definitely blew this season for Bogaerts. It was just one major mistake in a season full of nagging injuries, poor performances, absolute disasters and lack of execution on the part of most of the roster. Besides Joe Kelly, the Red Sox starters have been awful since the departure of Jon Lester and John Lackey. Buchholz had four good starts in a row before returning to his previous form. This team hasn't been mediocre. They've been atrocious. Without John Lackey’s and Jon Lester’s performances, they easily would have had the worst record in baseball.

I just hope they didn't break Bogaerts. I don't think they did, but wow, they failed him this year. As for what will happen with Will Middlebrooks, I'd rather take my chances by signing Chase Headley - who should be an off-season bargain. I'd rather have a Gold Glove third baseman with league-average offense than a guy who just strikes out all the time and is below average at the hot corner. Fortunately, Xander is still a special player and should be a fixture up the middle in Boston for years to come.

(Postscript December 4, 2014 - Fortunately for Xander, the Red Sox signed Pablo Sandoval to play third base for the Red Sox for at least five years and Hanley Ramirez to play left field. So Xander's future at shortstop for the Red Sox looks quite secure.)

There were not a lot of people that thought Jarrod Saltalamacchia would build off of what was easily a breakout 2013 campaign. "Salty" was a major component of the Red Sox improbable run to the World Series. Despite his defensive handicaps, he put up very strong offensive numbers for a backstop, compiling 2.9 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) according to Baseball-Reference. The Red Sox decided that he was only worth a two-year contract, and although Saltalamacchia wasn't looking for big money, he desperately wanted that third year. The Minnesota Twins and the Miami Marlins came calling with three-year pacts. The Twins offered a bit more money than the Marlins, but being from Florida, "Salty" took a bit less money to "go home."

It's been a rough season for Salty in Miami. He's essentially been worth about replacement level after his bat has seemingly abandoned him in 2014. He's been fine at home with a .748 OPS, but away he's had only a paltry .611 OPS - oddly enough with a higher walk rate. His defense is about as mediocre as it's been, as well.

The Red Sox decided to go defense-first at catcher and signed the veteran A.J. Pierzynski, long known as a controversial player, to a one-year contract worth about $8 million. While defensively he was perfectly fine and a huge upgrade over Salty's questionable abilities, he simply could not hit. He was worth -0.3 WAR to the Red Sox in 72 games before being flat out released in July. He was picked up by the Cardinals who were desperate for a catcher after All-Star Catcher Yadier Molina went out with injury. He proceeded to be even worse, racking up -0.6 WAR. Pierzynski looked finished after 2013, and he most certainly is now.

So from a straight "do the Red Sox miss Salty" standpoint, it would actually stand to reason that they in fact do, but fortunately the Red Sox have Christian Vazquez. While Vazquez hasn't hit for beans, he's made outstanding plays behind the dish that have made him worth 1.1 WAR in only 55 games according to Baseball-Reference (0.7 WAR according to FanGraphs). David Ross has played at about replacement level as his back-up.

While I can't see the Red Sox really going forward with Christian Vazquez as the number one catcher next year, it appears that they are willing to do so at the cost of offense. Vazquez is as good as advertised and will probably end up being a Gold Glove catcher in the near future. But he's going to top out as an elite back-up for a good team. The Sox need someone like a Russell Martin for at least 2015 and 2016 while they see what top prospect Blake Swihart really is. But the fact is that the Red Sox knew Vazquez's defense would be worth his poor showing at bat, and he may yet improve a bit.

So do the Red Sox miss Salty? Not that horribly yet. Vazquez has been more valuable than Salty this year with his back-stop work. Maybe the Sox were right to let Salty go, but man, they should've just given the job to Vazquez, then.