The Return Home

I have said it before, and I will say it again, the Red Sox had a great season though they did have a few holes. These holes are where the off-season focus season needs to be. I am clearly not the only one who saw these holes or felt the need to focus on these holes. One clear hole that occurred during the 2020-2021 season for the Red Sox was our defense. The 2017-2018 World Series team was unbelievable and one of the best aspects of the team was our defensive trio! This trio, JBJ, Beni, and Betts has been greatly missed and Boston has felt their absence. But Jackie Bradley Jr. is coming home!! He has been acquired for Hunter Renfroe and in addition to JBJ, the Red Sox acquired two minor leaguers, infielders David Hamilton and Alex Binelas from the Brewers.

The question on some people's minds is whether or not this was a good and worthwhile trade. After all, JBJ's batting average was 0.163 this past season, and Renfroe's batting average was 0.259. From this perspective, it might look as those this trade was not in the Red Sox's best interest. However, when we dive further into this the picture becomes clearer. During the season, Renfroe cost the Red Sox greatly. He had 12 errors during the season, leading the major league. This is something that we would never see from JBJ, who won the Golden Glove Award in 2018. JBJ is quite literally a ball magnet. He does not miss or mess up, he makes the impossible look ` so easy. The man is an absolute legend. Our defense has not been the same since the trio departed and went their different ways from the Red Sox.

The season is looking great for 2022-2023. Some of the key issues that prevented us from beating the Astros and advancing to the World Series came on the defensive end. There were numerous games throughout the series against the Astros in which the Red Sox would score and then lose the lead due to errors made on the defensive end. There were definitely other issues that caused the Red Sox some pain and extra hurdles to jump through, like issues in their pitching and bullpen. However, had the defense been stronger the Red Sox would have done significantly better. The Red Sox's upcoming season is looking very promising. The restructuring of their defense will be a huge asset.

The Magnet is Back!!- Google Images