It’s Week 1 of the new year, so it’s still a good time to gaze ahead with cautious optimism. Here are 12 things — one for each month on the calendar — that I’m looking forward to about the upcoming Red Sox season.
January
A sense of direction for this team
Please tell me this isn’t overly optimistic, that we don’t have to wait until February for this market to really break open. Surely the big boys will come off the free agency board in the next few weeks, which will set the market and free a team like the Red Sox to make informed decisions about its missing pieces. I’m not expecting the Red Sox to spend on Trevor Bauer or George Springer, but I do think they could make multiple additions that reshape the roster in a meaningful way. Clarity about the rotation, the bullpen, second base, and center field will give us a better sense of what to expect.
Advertisem*nt
February
Eduardo Rodriguez reporting to camp healthy
We’re used to injuries in baseball. We’re used to players showing up in spring training, after lost seasons, trying to shake off the rust and get back into form. But after an unprecedented year, we’re left with the curious case of Rodriguez, a would-be Opening Day starter who was hit hard by COVID-19, nearly got back on the field, then had to shut it down because of a resulting heart condition. All indications are that he’s on track for a relatively normal spring, and I can’t help but look forward to seeing it.
March
Jarren Duran so close he can taste it
I don’t think Duran is going to make the Opening Day roster, but I do think he should arrive in spring training hell-bent on making the Red Sox at least consider it. It’s always interesting to see young guys make an impression in spring training, and the Red Sox now have enough guys on the cusp — Duran, Jeter Downs, Bryan Mata, Connor Wong, Connor Seabold, Hudson Potts, etc. — that those impressions could carry real weight. These won’t be years-away hypotheticals. They’ll be legitimate possibilities.
April
J.D. Martinez and Andrew Benintendi with something to prove
There’s an easy argument that these two were among the least productive players in baseball last season. Martinez ranked last in fWAR among qualified players, and Benintendi had the lowest slugging percentage — by a lot — among players with at least 50 plate appearances (Tzu-Wei Lin slugged almost 50 points higher). But Martinez and Benintendi are better than that. At least, they should be. So them opening a season with so much to prove should be worth watching.
May
The return of Noah Song (maybe)
In theory, Song is one of the top prospects in the Red Sox minor league system, but he hasn’t pitched since 2019 because of a service commitment to the U.S. Navy, and the soonest he could return is in May. That’s when he can apply for an early release after two years of active duty. And while it’s possible he could return then, it might be unlikely. Song currently is in flight school, and the Capital Gazette reported this summer that it would be “extremely rare for a service member to be granted early release midway through flight training.”
Advertisem*nt
June
Chris Sale getting back in a game
There’s no defined timetable for a return from Tommy John surgery, but roughly 14 months is in the ballpark. Sale had surgery on March 30, 2020, which puts him at 14 months right around June 1. To be fair, July 1 might be more likely — the Red Sox aren’t going to take many chances with this guy — but I think it makes sense to think about Sale returning, or being close to returning, sometime in the month of June. When Sale’s right, there aren’t many pitchers more fun to watch.
July
Decision time for Chaim Bloom
Without a complete roster — and with free agency still jammed with impact players — it’s pretty hard to set Red Sox expectations, and that makes it hard to predict what they’ll do at the trade deadline. But it could be a tough decision for Bloom. Last season’s Red Sox were so bad, it was obviously a time to sell, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the 2021 Sox fall much closer to the middle of the pack. Do they move Matt Barnes? What about E-Rod if he hasn’t signed an extension? Could they be close enough to add a piece or two without sacrificing their long-term approach?
August
Alex Verdugo playing in front of a crowd
Even if the regular season starts on time — right now, Opening Day is scheduled for April 1 — it seems safe to assume ballparks won’t be packed right away. In fact, we can’t say with any certainty that Fenway Park will be filled to capacity at any point this year. But let’s hope, at some point, there’s a good number of fans allowed through the gate, and they’ll get to see the new guy’s passion in person. Verdugo’s Red Sox debut was impressive, and he brought an energy and outward enthusiasm that was largely lacking. It should be fun to see this fan base react to him.
September
Someone — anyone — making his case for 2022
Whatever happens this season, whether the Red Sox are in contention or well out of the hunt, their focus will remain on sustainability for years to come. That means, even if they’re chasing a playoff spot down the stretch, they’ll also be evaluating their options for 2022 and beyond. By the end of this season, it’s possible Duran, Downs and Mata could be in key roles. It’s also possible less-touted prospects — think of Christian Arroyo late last season — could be playing their way into bench and bullpen jobs. For a team like the Red Sox, the future is always a priority.
October
Keeping the excitement on the field
Here’s my personal reality of October baseball: it’s fun to cover a good team that’s playing meaningful games in the playoffs, but it’s also fun to sit at home and watch good teams play meaningful games on television. It’s a win-win (for me, anyway). For a Red Sox team that might or might not be a playoff club, I guess it’s worth looking forward to an October in which they are not in the process of hiring either a new head of baseball operations (as they were in 2019) or a new manager (as they were in 2020). The last time they had a status quo October, they won the World Series!
Advertisem*nt
November
The drama of the Collective Bargaining Agreement
At this point, we’re playing fast and loose with the phrase “looking forward to,” because I’m certainly not looking forward to the CBA fight that seems inevitable at the end of this season. The current CBA expires at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 1, so the month of November should be the final opportunity to avoid a mess. If the two sides can come to an agreement without a stoppage, that would be most welcome. Let’s all hope for the best in November (or even earlier, if that’s possible).
December
A Red Sox team starting to build instead of re-build
My expectation is, over the next six weeks, the Red Sox will try to build a competitive team, but only if that competitive team feels sustainable. Bloom already has said the Padres all-in trade for Blake Snell would not have made sense for the Red Sox at this juncture. But if this season works reasonably well, next winter might be an opportunity to prioritize the short-term just a little bit more, and that could be just in time for a potentially fascinating 2021-22 free agent class plus a new set of CBA rules. We’ve seen Bloom try to set his long-term foundation. I’d like to see what he does when his roster seems almost ready to go for it.
(Photo of Duran: Frank Franklin II / AP)
Chad Jennings is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the Boston Red Sox and Major League Baseball. He was on the Red Sox beat previously for the Boston Herald, and before moving to Boston, he covered the New York Yankees for The Journal News and contributed regularly to USA Today. Follow Chad on Twitter @chadjennings22
