In 2018, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series. In 2019, they won just 84 games. In the off-season, they fired manager Alex Cora because of his connection to the sign-stealing controversy in Houston. So they head into the 2020 campaign with a new Chief Baseball Officer in Chaim Bloom, and they are in the unusual spot of entering a season with an interim manager, Ron Roenicke. His interim status comes from the fact that Cora’s firing came at an odd time in the offseason cycle in Major League Baseball. The opening of MLB’s regular season has been put off for at least two weeks because of the coronavirus, but for sports betting enthusiasts looking at futures wagers on the outcome in the American League East, the pennant and the World Series, it’s time to take a look at what Boston can do this season and their MLB Odds.
MLB: Boston Red Sox — Analysis Before the Season
Boston Red Sox Offensive Analysis
The offense should still be able to rake, as the batting order still has J.D. Martinez, Jackie Bradley Jr, Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benitendi and Rafael Devers. One thing that we have learned in Major League Baseball, though, is that offense alone cannot win championships. I expect the Red Sox to score plenty of runs, but I wonder what they will do when a pitcher’s duel erupts.
Boston Red Sox Defensive Analysis
The pitching questions begin with Nathan Eovaldi. He will need to contribute in the Boston starting rotation if the Red Sox are going to contend. Chris Sale returns to the starting rotation, but questions about his health and durability are valid. He went 6-11 with a 4.40 ERA last year, and the team shut him down in August. He has a flexor strain in his pitching arm, so he had already fallen behind schedule in the spring when the coronavirus hit and spring training was closed. So the rotation may be a year or two away from elite contention, and the bullpen still has some holes that the team needs to fill. The defense, though, should be solid again. Bogaerts has good range at short, and Devers has a solid glove at third base. Alex Verdugo, who was the biggest piece that the Dodgers sent east in exchange for Betts and Price, is a plus defender in right field, and he can hit for power.
Boston Red Sox Off-Season Movements
The Red Sox added Kevin Pillar, and he has a career batting average of .261, with 76 home runs and a .296 OPS in 3,062 at bats. He enters his eighth season in the major leagues. They also brought in Martin Perez, who has been a mercurial starting pitcher in both Texas and Minnesota. Over the last three seasons, his ERA has been a whopping 5.21, and his WHIP has been 1.57. He has mixed dazzling outings with dreadful ones. Can moving to Boston help him find his niche near the back of the rotation? Or will the pressure of the Boston media and fan base make his numbers go even higher?
The biggest Beantown transaction was the tarde of Mookie Betts to the Dodgers. He won the MVP award in Boston two years ago and hit .301 with 139 home runs and 470 RBI for the Sox. David Price and Rick Porcello, two starting pitchers who had veteran savvy and who had delivered in big moments, are out of Boston. Brock Holt had played in Boston for seven seasons, hitting .297 and posting an OBP of .369, but now he is in Milwaukee. It looks like Boston is not-too-subtly working toward a rebuild.
Boston Red Sox 2020 Season Odds
We’ve had bigger comeback stories than this one, of course. Consider where the Washington Nationals were listed in odds sheets last year, and now they are the defending world champions. The Red Sox need banner years from Eovaldi and Perez in the rotation, and they need Sale to be healthy. They also need the offense to keep clicking. So for now they are an interesting sleeper bet, but the Yankees and Astros are both ahead of Boston — and for good reason.
