Red Sox Get Lukewarm Offseason Grade Despite ‘Extremely Busy’ Winter

The Boston Red Sox made a lot of moves this winter, acquiring Ranger Suarez, Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Johan Oviedo, Caleb Durbin and more.

And yet, because they lost Alex Bregman, Lucas Giolito, Jhostynxon Garcia and others, they don’t appear significantly better than last year. While they improved their starting pitching and defense, their lineup remains light on power and may struggle to score runs.

This is reflected in FanGraphs’ preseason projections, which are only one win higher for the Red Sox compared to last season’s projections.

Granted, Boston still projects to be a playoff contender and one of the better teams in the American League. However, it doesn’t feel like the club took the next step this winter to become championship-caliber.

Accordingly, the Red Sox’s offseason has received mixed reviews. This week, The Ringer’s Anthony Dabbundo gave it a B- in his winter grades for all 30 MLB teams.

“The Red Sox were extremely busy this offseason, but there’s no evidence they have actually improved the roster as a whole. Their preseason projected win total last season (86.5) is one win less than this season (87.5),” Dabbundo wrote.

While Boston made some good moves and marginal upgrades on the pitching side, it missed out on a chance to bolster its offense with a middle-of-the-order bat.

“It’s not a great sign for the Red Sox’s pitching development that they had to trade for Sonny Gray and sign Ranger Suarez to a five-year deal in the same offseason,” Dabbundo wrote added. “Both are perfectly solid mid-rotation starters, but Boston surely would have preferred to have just kept Alex Bregman or landed Bo Bichette with those same resources.”

He did praise the Red Sox for acquiring Contreras, who projects to be a considerable upgrade over Triston Casas at first base.

That may not be enough for a lineup that ranked 27th in home runs after trading Rafael Devers last year, but Boston appears to be banking on elite run prevention to win ballgames this season.