Talkin’ baseball: Red Sox in spring training, JBJ and the DH

Your Boston Red Sox have been in Fort Myers, Fla., working out since Feb. 18, when pitchers and catchers had their first workout, and spring training games began Feb. 28. With that bogus 20-pitch rule in effect (where managers can end an inning that’s getting out of hand), and with other gimmicks – such as games ranging from as short as 5 innings to conventional 9-inning games --- it’s hard to get a handle on the 2021 Red Sox, but here are a few first impressions:

Red Sox quiz: Who was the Red Sox Sox first DH? (Answer at the end of this post.)

* Pitching: Pitching will be the key, as it always is. New acquisition Garrett Richards has looked abysmal in his only two outings, but otherwise, it’s too early to tell about the pitching since Chris Sale will be out until July and the team is understandably taking it slowly with Eduardo Rodriquez, who is on the mend after his COVID and myocarditis battles.
But the Sox must leave camp with five solid starting pitchers – and no openers --- in order to have a chance to compete in the American League East. Without a stable and improved rotation, they’ll be lucky to be a .500 team.
* Outfield defense: This will be a major downgrade from the recent past. Incredibly, the outfield that from 2017 through 2019 had been compared favorably to the Jim Rice-Fred Lynn-Dwight Evans trio of the 1970s, is no longer.
Now they have Alex Vergduo and a bunch of fourth outfielders to choose from, including super subs Kiki Hernandez and Marwin Gonzalez. That combination isn’t exactly encouraging for those who want to believe that the Red Sox will be capable of competing in the American League East with the ever-powerful Yankees, the defending AL champion Tampa Bay Rays and the significantly improved Toronto (Buffalo-Dunedin) Blue Jays.
* Jackie Bradley Jr. will be missed: I agree with those who insist that Jackie Bradley Jr. will be sorely missed as he was the best centerfielder to roam Fenway Park since Fred Lynn – and none other an expert than Lynn himself agrees.
“To me, a center fielder’s job is to play defense first. And if he hits, great,” Lynn told Boston Globe columnist Chad Finn in remarks that were included in Finn's Saturday column. “You’re anchoring the outfield, whether your flank guys are good or not. Just so happens they were pretty good when he was there, but sometimes they’re not. … He’s in charge, He’s an aggressive fielder, you know. He goes after everything, which I love and he can cover ground. He could throw and he thinks about it.”
Lynn also thinks that the fans will really miss Bradley this year.
“I know how it is. When you lose somebody of Jackie’s caliber moving to another team (he signed with the Milwaukee Brewers), the fans really take it hard. They’re going to miss seeing the type of defense that Jackie played. He’s a special player.
“Whoever plays center after him, they’re always going to be comparing that person to Jackie. ‘Oh Jackie would have caught that, or he would have thrown him out’ …. that kind of stuff. He made fans believe he could make any play.”
That’s heady praise coming from Lynn, who before COVID, would be a frequent visitor to the Red Sox Legends Box at Fenway Park. Lynn, by the way, is still in great shape and he remains extremely knowledgeable about baseball. I had a chance to meet him in 2018, when he was inducted into the Pawtucket Red Sox Hall of Fame, and his command of game situations was impressive. He’s also a genuinely nice guy and enjoyed talking baseball.
So if Lynn says the Sox will miss Bradley, that’s good enough for me.
* Designated hitter: It’s ridiculous that the DH could revert to being used only in the American League for 2021 after being universally used in 2020’s shortened season. That would be a colossal mistake for baseball, which should never have allowed the DH to be split between two leagues when it started in the 1973 season, with the National League not using it. It’s been used at AL parks in the World Series since 1976 and in interleague play at AL parks since 1997.
Quiz answer: Orlando Cepeda in 1973. He hit .289 with 20 homers and 86 RBI.