The Red Sox Wednesday, December 30, 2020

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Jackie Bradley Jr. is taking a patient approach in free agency

Julian McWilliams

Sleep is at a minimum for outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. these days. On Dec. 3, Bradley and his wife, Erin, received an early Christmas gift when they welcomed their second child, Jackie Bradley III, into the world.

That has been Bradley’s main focus, even though he’s a free agent in a market that has been extremely slow to this point.

“I’ve always been, you know, of the mind-set that everything will work the way it should,” Bradley said. “It’s honestly been about being home with my family at the moment, especially with a newborn, so we’re kind of adjusting and adapting.”

Bradley has taken a measured and patient approach to this free agency period. He also has kept a realistic one. Bradley knows the pandemic and the uncertainty surrounding 2021 could make this even more of a drawn-out process.

“Writers, players, whoever it may be — owners — kind of knew it was going to be a slow offseason,” Bradley said. “I feel like everybody is kind of trying to get more information about what’s going to go on with the pandemic. Making sure that everybody’s protected in a certain way. So we ... forecast the flow, but it’ll pick up when it does.”

In Bradley’s case, things might start to pick up when , the most coveted free agent outfielder, signs. But Bradley is garnering a decent amount of interest. The Red Sox certainly weren’t shy about expressing theirs, with general Brian O’Halloran stating recently that Bradley is “definitely on our radar.”

The two sides have had contact, Bradley said. His good season in 2020 — .283/.364/.450 with 7 homers in 217 plate appearances — certainly didn’t diminish the Sox’ interest in bringing him back. Yet Bradley knows there’s a difference between conversing with a club and a deal being made.

“Things will happen when it does,” Bradley said. “We’ll all find out. We’ll see what’s really dialoguing and what’s going to come to fruition.”

Bradley, who will be 31 in April, is adamant that he’s on the better side of 30. Even though last season was just 60 games, he truly believes he has figured something out at the plate. Some of that revolves around him not caring so much about exit velocity, and in turn just making contact and getting hits, even if they’re “cheap.”

‘“I’ve always been, you know, of the mindset that everything will work out the way it should. ... It’s honestly been about being home with my family at the moment, especially with a newborn, so we’re kind of adjusting and adapting.”’

Jackie Bradley Jr.

It helped to simplify his approach at the plate in 2020, he said, and he plans on taking that into next season.

There are places that might be a fit for Bradley. The Phillies are in need of an outfielder. Former Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski now is president of baseball ops in Philadelphia. Though Bradley’s name was thrown around in trade talks, Dombrowski never pulled the trigger during his Boston tenure.

The Blue Jays and Astros also present interesting cases for pursuing Bradley.

That time will come when it comes, as Bradley pointed out. In the meantime, he had daddy duties this week, along with a quick breather at the golf course near his home in Naples, Fla.

When asked if he would name any teams beyond the Red Sox who had interest, Bradley offered a shrewd answer.

“I don’t want to give up all my cards,” he said. “There’s definitely interest, and I’m very thankful that there is.”

* The Boston Herald

Red Sox have decision to make with

Jason Mastrodonato

Three years ago this month, the Marlins traded their 26-year-old with two years left of team control and a bat that was finally showing its potential for four prospects, three of them .

Marcell Ozuna was shipped to St. Louis, where he put up two mediocre seasons for the Cardinals before he the free agent market, where he now finds himself once again.

It worked out just fine for the Marlins, who landed flamethrower Sandy Alcantara (3.71 ERA since the deal), Daniel Castana (3.03 ERA), Zac Gallen (2.78 ERA) and outfielder Magneuris Sierra (.576 OPS).

Why is this trade relevant to the Red Sox this winter?

They’ve got their own 26-year-old left fielder with two years left of team control, but a bat that hasn’t yet lived up to its potential, in Andrew Benintendi.

As the Red Sox continue to search the free agent market and consider their options via trade, Benintendi’s name sure comes up often. He’s far from an integral member of the Sox’ organization, but can be. They don’t have a lot of big league pieces that are both expendable and valuable, but Benintendi is both of those.

They don’t have a deep enough farm system to be digging into. And they already have a pair of corner outfielders on their roster in and .

Verdugo is an everyday player, not a platoon player, as he showed quite clearly in 2020. Baring an unlikely scenario in which Verdugo is the everyday , Renfroe’s platoon at-bats should be coming at the expense of Benintendi, who has a career .691 OPS against lefties and could use the respite.

The Red Sox will need another outfielder, preferably one who can play center field quite well. This position will be crowded.

So what do they do? Trade Benintendi and try to add some young pitching depth to their organization? Or hold onto the former No. 7 overall pick and hope his sweet swing from the left side is about to bust out after a lost year due to a rib cage injury?

That all depends on the return that chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom is able to fetch. It’s not a perfect time to be dealing a left-handed hitting outfielder, given there are a few good ones on the free agent market in Michael Brantley, Joc Pederson and, yes, Jackie Bradley Jr.

There is one key difference between Benintendi (career .789 OPS) and Ozuna (.786 OPS before he was traded). While Benintendi is coming off his worst career season, Ozuna was coming off a near-MVP season in 2017: .312 average, .924 OPS, 37 homers and a Gold Glove in left field.

But while Ozuna was never ranked better than a No. 75 overall prospect by and struggled to impress during his first four big league seasons, Benintendi was once the unanimous No. 1 prospect in baseball and has 3½ very good seasons on his resume already.

What Ozuna showed in results, many believe Benintendi has in potential.

It’s interesting to look back at Cardinals’ general manager John Mozeliak’s comments about Ozuna when the team acquired him. It sounds as if he could be talking about Benintendi.

“Whenever I watched him, I was like, ‘he could be so good,’” Mozeliak said of Ozuna at the time. “I always sort of wondered why he wasn’t. What do great players do that other players don’t? When they do things, they make it look easy. He always had a quick bat, would hit the ball hard, and I always just sort of wondered why he didn’t do more.”

And here’s what Bloom said of Benintendi at the end of his injury-plagued 2020 season: “This is a guy who has shown the ability to perform at a really high level, including in some really critical situations. Still young. Still has all that ability. It’s just a shame his year kind of got wiped out.”

Red Sox manager got the best out of Benintendi in 2018, but oversaw his drop-off in ’19.

“When this kid got drafted, he was probably the best hitting prospect coming out of college,” Cora said recently. “Those first-rounders, they don’t get lucky, they’re good. I still believe Andrew Benintendi is a good player, I think Andrew Benintendi is an impactful player and we need to get him back to that mindset that he had in ’18 and even in ’17.”

At this point it’s hard to wonder if we’ve already seen exactly the player he is: a good gap-to-gap doubles hitter with a little power, a little speed and below-average defense in left field, where he was considered the worst in the in 2019.

The Red Sox have some young pitching about ready to make an impact in , , Bryan Mata and Thad Ward. They could certainly use some more after they traded a pair of their best relievers in and in 2020.

Benintendi, who will make $6.6 million in 2021 before his final year of arbitration-eligibility in 2022, might be the best trade chip they have.

* MassLive.com

Boston Red Sox talks free agency, relationship with Chaim Bloom on & more on The Fenway podcast

Chris Cotillo

On the latest episode of MassLive’s The Fenway Rundown podcast, new Red Sox pitcher Matt Andriese joins the show to talk about signing with Boston and the ins and outs of his foray into free agency. Andriese, a former Ray, discusses his relationships with Chaim Bloom and , what it was like being college teammates with and how he co-founded a tailgate game with some other major-leaguers.

Click here to listen to the full episode. You can subscribe to the show on Spotify and iTunes.

Some highlights:

Andriese on his quick foray into free agency after being non-tendered by the Angels on Dec. 2:

“There was a lot of interest out there and I was really happy with the Red Sox, their interest. When I heard they were interested… Fenway was always one of my favorite places to visit. The long history there and familiar faces within the team and front office. It seemed like a no-brainer for me.”

“My agents did a great job. I didn’t really want to test the market too much and wait for a bunch of other people. I was just excited with what had been offered and didn’t want to go through the whole process with my wife and my kids. Just wanted some security knowing where we’re going to be.”

Andriese on reacquainting himself with a two-seamer and cutter during quarantine:

“In my time with Arizona, I developed into just a - guy with the occasional . Late in my time there, I started throwing a couple here and there throwing some two-seams and some cutters. I’ve always had those pitchers. It’s not like I had to re-learn them. I’ve had a good feel for manipulating the ball in that sense. During the quarantine time with Anaheim, I was fortunate enough to work out at the stadium and throw some bullpens on our own essentially with a catcher. We’d throw two bullpens a week not knowing when the season was going to start. I had a lot of time to fool around with stuff and those pitches came back. Once 2.0 came back, I was having some good success.”

* The Athletic

Red Sox 2020 predictions review: Where we got it right and wrong

Chad Jennings

On Monday, our own Jen McCaffrey offered a glimpse into her shiny, sometimes-accurate Red Sox crystal ball. Her annual predictions column ranged from bold ideas ( and Jose Quintana in the rotation, Andrew Benintendi in the All-Star Game!) to practical suggestions for sustainability (an Eduardo Rodriguez extension and midseason Jarren Duran call-up).

Predictions are a fun exercise for every offseason, but we often make them and then forget them. So, to figure out whether any of us should listen to Jen’s prognosticating – spoiler alert, we maybe should! – I went back to last offseason to see whether Jen and I actually offered any viable suggestions for the past season.

Under the circumstances, I’d say we did OK. But when we miss, we miss big!

Getting it almost exactly right Jen got half of her 2020 Red Sox predictions perfectly on the nose. Among her best guesses:

1. Martín Pérez better than expected. Indeed, Pérez was the Red Sox’ most consistent starter, and as Jen predicted, “one of (Chaim) Bloom’s first smart moves.”

2. José Peraza is no . Again, spot on. Peraza was brought in to fill the Holt second base/utility role but wound up demoted.

3. re-signs. Jen even got the money almost perfect, predicting a one-year, $3 million deal.

4. takes over midseason. She predicted Dalbec would be playing first base by June 1 — turned out, the Red Sox weren’t even playing on June 1 — but her point was on the money.

5. traded to the Dodgers. The boldest prediction on Jen’s list, and she not only correctly predicted Price moving on, she got the team exactly right. (She didn’t guess it would be part of a trade, but still, pretty impressive.)

Getting it very wrong Not all of Jen’s predictions were quite so impressive. Among her biggest swings and misses:

1. Rich Hill signs and wins. Maybe Bloom should have followed Jen’s advice because Hill did have a nice season, but it was in Minnesota.

2. bounces back. Nope. Not even close.

3. Travis Lakins starts 20 games as an opener. Jen got the opener part right, but Lakins was cut and wound up pitching to a 2.81 ERA with the Orioles. Again, maybe Jen should have been calling the shots on this pitching staff.

4. Darwinzon Hernandez takes over as closer. Hard to see how Jen could have predicted Hernandez would become entangled in a pandemic and miss most of the season.

5. Mookie Betts stays in Boston. Oh, Jen. You were doing so well.

Landing somewhere in the middle My earliest “predictions” were more like suggestions when, in September 2019 — September! — I wrote a “10 step plan to make the Red Sox contenders in 2020.”

Of course, No. 1 on my list was keeping Betts, so we know right away the front office disagreed.

My suggestion for getting under the luxury tax threshold was to let J.D. Martinez go if he opted out (that was never a possibility), to non-tender Steven Wright, Heath Hembree and Sandy Leon (the Red Sox agreed on two of the three), to trade Jackie Bradley Jr. (obviously that didn’t happen), to eat salary to trade either Price or Nathan Eovaldi (that’s exactly what the Red Sox did with Price), to bring back on a one-year deal (Pérez was better), to give an everyday job (he was, in fact, cheap, but wasn’t very good), and to hold onto Tanner Houck and Bryan Mata for pitching depth (Houck lived up to the hype, but we’re still waiting for Mata).

Would my suggestions have made the Red Sox a better team? I mean, they couldn’t have made them much worse, right?

The J.D. Martinez question There was no chance of Martinez opting out of his contract this winter, but last winter was a different story. It was at least conceivable he would choose to enter the free agent market after two strong years in Boston, which led me to ask this question in November 2019:

Will it help or hurt the Red Sox if J.D. Martinez opts out?

The question was based on two scenarios: Martinez could stay and give the Red Sox a $23.75 million slugger, plenty productive but also very expensive. Or, he could leave and the Red Sox a ton of money while opening a giant hole in the lineup.

I didn’t account for the third scenario, which actually happened: Martinez stayed, cost a ton of money, and delivered a shockingly bad season. He literally had the lowest WAR in baseball, according to FanGraphs.

The cost of trading David Price Two months before Price was traded, we tried to dig into the challenges of moving such a hefty contract. This was on the heels of the Angels giving up a first-round draft pick in order to rid themselves of Zack Cozart’s remaining $12 million. From our story on December 10:

And if the Angels had to give up a first-rounder to dump one year of Cozart, what would the Red Sox have to give to dump three years and $96 million worth of David Price? The question was posed to a rival executive, who texted back a image of the president of the United States, his arms spread wide, his head nodding up and down. One word flashed on the screen: “Yuge!”

Turns out, the Red Sox didn’t have to give up a prospect at all. They just had to trade away Betts, and just like that, half of Price’s money was off the books. I’d say that qualifies as “Yuge!”

Two days later, after the 2019 Winter Meetings had ended, I wrote a bunch of takeaways starting with this one: “The gut feeling is that David Price will be traded. The Red Sox likely will have to pay down his salary, but as the pitching market took shape, and free agents scored massive contracts, a Price trade felt more and more realistic. As the days went by, it became a bigger part of the regular conversations.”

At least I got that part right.

Our early roster projections I don’t think of roster projections as true predictions. Especially early in the offseason, they’re just assessments, taking stock of the current roster and sifting through outside possibilities.

Here’s the Red Sox 2020 roster as we projected it on Nov. 5, 2019 (the start of the offseason), and on March 27 (when we were getting the sense that the roster might expand in a shortened season), and the actual Red Sox team that opened on July 24.

Nov. 5 March 27 July 24

Lineup Lineup Lineup M. Betts RF Benintendi LF Benintendi LF R. Devers 3B Devers 3B Martinez DH X. Bogaerts SS Martinez DH Devers 3B Martinez DH Bogaerts SS Bogaerts SS A. Benintendi LF M. Moreland 1B K. Pillar RF C. Vazquez C K. Pillar RF Vazquez C B. Dalbec 1B Vazquez C Chavis 1B J. Bradley CF Bradley CF Bradley CF M. Chavis 2B J. Peraza 2B J. Peraza 2B

Rotation Rotation Rotation C. Sale Rodriguez Eovaldi E. Rodriguez Eovaldi Pérez D. Price Pérez R. Weber N. Eovaldi R. Weber (opener) B. Johnson (opener) M. Hall

Bench Bench Bench S. Leon C K. Plawecki C K. Plawecki C M. Hernandez INF J. Lucroy C J. Lucroy C S. Travis UT Chavis 2B/1B M. Moreland 1B T. Lin UT Lin UT Lin UT J. Araúz INF J. Araúz INF Y. Muñoz UT A. Verdugo OF

Bullpen Bullpen B. Workman Workman Workman M. Barnes Barnes Barnes H. Hembree Hembree Hembree R. Brasier Brasier Brasier C. Brewer Brewer Brewer J. Osich A.Brice A.Brice M. Walden Walden Walden D. Hernandez Hernandez Osich J. Taylor Taylor P. Valdez H. Velazquez B. Johnson D. Covey J. Springs

The projections actually weren’t too bad, largely because the Red Sox didn’t add much during the offseason. The bench evolved, Dalbec was bumped by the Moreland re-signing, and the depth pitchers changed quite a bit, but the general direction of the team — except for the Betts/Price trade — was fairly predictable as far back as early November.

In fact, if you replace Betts with Verdugo, that Nov. 5 projected lineup could be the lineup in 2021. Of the other 19 players in that Nov. 5 projection, though, only nine are still in the organization, and only six were active at the end of last season.

A good idea at second base (sort of) When the non-roster deadline dumped a few more free agents into the open market last winter, we singled out five who might have fit the Red Sox needs. One of them actually signed with the team less than two months later: Peraza.

We might have been right about the signing, but we – and the Red Sox – were wrong about Peraza’s potential for some low-cost production. His bat was so disappointing, he didn’t even last the year.

Turns out, the Red Sox should have steered toward some of our other non-tender suggestions: Starting pitchers Taijuan Walker and delivered productive seasons, and César Hernández wound up being a pretty good for the Indians, leading the league in doubles while winning a Gold Glove.

A bad idea at first base Every year, I present a few Black Friday bargains that might fit the Red Sox, and I had a decent enough idea last winter with reliever David Phelps, who had a good first half in Milwaukee.

But I was way off on my first base suggestion.

The idea of signing a left-handed hitter on the cheap was spot-on, and the Red Sox nailed it by re-signing Moreland, but my suggestion was , a pure power hitter who could platoon with Chavis or hold down the fort until Dalbec was ready.

Decent idea, but Adams was the wrong guy. The Braves signed him, and Adams hit just .184 with two homers. He was released just a few days after the Red Sox managed to trade Moreland for a couple of prospects. One of many reasons you don’t want me running the show.

Open to the opener Because Bloom was hired out of Tampa Bay, it was easy to wonder whether the opener strategy might follow him to Boston. In fact, Jen wrote last December that the Red Sox considered the opener an “attractive option as they seek to patch rotation holes.”

As spring training got started, we were still exploring the possibilities for an opener role (though a presumptive favorite for the job, Marcus Walden, never got a chance). Indeed, the Red Sox kicked off the season with an opener, had eight games started by a pure opener, and started another 10 games with a sort of hybrid opener/starter (Chris Mazza, Andrew Triggs, Mike Kickham). It would have been interesting to see whether the Red Sox would have used that strategy had their rotation actually held together with Sale and Rodriguez healthy. Was the opener going to be a go-to strategy, or was it simply the last resort of a desperate team?

Red Sox best-ever home runs, leftover edition: J.D. Drew, , more

The Athletic Boston staff

The top of the list of the best home runs in Red Sox history was the easy part. Few will quibble with the likes of , and Dave Henderson heading up our rankings.

Rounding out the list isn’t as easy. Every Red Sox fan has home runs that were special to them.

The full list:

1-10: David Ortiz … and who else? 11-20: , Mookie Betts and Yaz Some will always remember J.D. Drew’s 2007 playoff as their best-ever. For others it might be Bernie Carbo’s blast that paved the way for Fisk’s. One of the many shots by surely ranks atop the list for many fans. Many will remember a walkoff home on a day they were at the park as their personal favorite.

So after compiling our list of the 20 best home runs in Red Sox history, we felt compelled to provide a spillover edition. So here we’re offering 15 more that we think made some of the most memorable impact.

Jerry Adair — Aug. 20, 1967 It was the second game of a Sunday against the Angels, the Red Sox having won the opener 12-2. The Sox trailed in the nightcap 8-0 in the fourth , but kept pecking away. Then in the eighth inning Jerry Adair, a veteran acquired from the White Sox in June, hit a Minnie Rojas into the screen atop the for a that proved to be the game-winner in the 9-8 victory. The homer enjoys cult status for older Sox fans, thanks to broadcaster ’s television call of the play, the entirety of which is included in the iconic “Impossible Dream” record album. In a classic example of letting the moment do the talking, Coleman made the call and then said nothing for nearly 33 seconds, the crowd roaring, until he resumed: “Jerry Adair has hit his second home run of the 1967 season …” Adair often called it the biggest moment of his career. — Steve Buckley

Don Baylor — Oct. 12, 1986 Dave Henderson’s Game 5 ALCS homer — with one strike left before the Red Sox would have been eliminated — gets all the accolades, and for good reason. In fact, we ranked that as the fourth-most memorable homer in Red Sox history. But Henderson’s heroics would never have occurred if not for . With the Red Sox trailing 5-2 entering the top of the ninth and trailed 3-1 in the , Baylor came to the plate with one on and one out facing Mike Witt. Bill Buckner reached on a single and Dave Stapleton entered as a pinch-runner. Baylor drew the full before swatting the sixth pitch he saw to deep left out of the park to bring the Red Sox within 5-4. Three batters later, Henderson would launch his series-altering two-run home run and would back that up with the game-clinching put them back in the 11th. — Jen McCaffrey

Mark Bellhorn — Oct. 23, 2004 The euphoria of beating the Yankees in the ALCS almost eclipsed the excitement of actually reaching the . But if the Red Sox had lost to the Cardinals, it would have left an awkward feeling of disappointment in a year where they had achieved so much. In Game 1 of the World Series, the Red Sox let leads of 4-0, 7-2 and 9-7 slip away. Then Mark Bellhorn’s two-run, go-ahead homer in the bottom of the eighth offered more confidence that they actually would pull this whole thing off. The game was tied 9-9 after gave up the lead with two runs in the top of the eighth, but Bellhorn capitalized with his third homer of the postseason after reached on an . The Sox won 11-9 en route to a series sweep. — Jen McCaffrey

Jackie Bradley Jr. — Oct. 16, 2018 A personal story about this one: My wife doesn’t really follow baseball, so when Bradley went deep to seal Game 3 of the ALCS against the Astros, she frantically texted me. There was something happening in our apartment complex, she said. Neighbors were going crazy. I had to tell her about the Bradley grand slam. Fans started chanting J-B-J at The Garden during a Celtics game that night. In the moment, Bradley’s grand slam really felt like one of those catapult moments that made a Red Sox championship not only possible, but damn near inevitable. A definitive blow against the defending champs put the Red Sox in control and on their way. — Chad Jennings

Tony Conigliaro — April 8, 1969 The Jack Hamilton fastball that struck Conigliaro in the face on the night of August 18, 1967, sidelined the young Sox slugger for almost 18 months. Such were the dire forecasts about Conigliaro making a comeback that for a while he even considered remaking himself as a pitcher. But on April 8, 1969, with the Red Sox opening the season against the at Memorial Stadium, Conig hit a two-run, 10th- inning homer off lefty Pete Richert. “It was just great playing again,” Conigliaro said. “Never mind the rest of it.” — Steve Buckley

J.D. Drew — Oct. 20, 2007 Drew is not especially beloved among Red Sox fans after his five-season stint in Boston. But he’ll always have this moment, when his grand slam in the first inning of Game 6 in the 2007 ALCS turbo-boosted the Sox on a six-game win streak that ended in a World Series title. The Sox were down 3-2 in the series and Drew’s home run powered a 12-2 win. For many Sox fans, he validated his $70 million contract right there. — Sean Leahy

Dwight Evans — April 7, 1986 The 1986 season was a memorable one right from the very first pitch. Evans stepped into the box in Detroit facing in the season opener and took the very first pitch he saw out of the park. It was the first time a player had homered on the first pitch in a season-opening game in baseball history. The feat was repeated in 2018 when the Cubs’ homered in the MLB season opener against the Marlins’ Jose Urena. — Jen McCaffrey

Nomar Garciaparra — May 10, 1999 It had been five decades since the Red Sox had a player hit two grand slams in one game before Garciaparra did it against the Mariners. The bashed his first in the bottom of the first down the right-field line. He followed it up with a two-run homer in his next at-bat in the third and then capped his ridiculous day with a second grand slam in the eighth, this time into the left field net. The 10 RBIs that day tied a Red Sox record, a feat that hadn’t been achieved since drove in 10 runs June 18, 1975. — Jen McCaffrey

Trot Nixon — May 28, 2000 Nixon’s home run at Yankee Stadium didn’t factor into a championship, but it was an emotional lift for Red Sox fans and provided all the offense needed for Boston to win one of the best pitchers’ duels in franchise history. Pedro Martinez (for the Red Sox) and (for the Yankees) traded zeroes on the scoreboard for eight before Nixon took Clemens deep into the right-field seats in the top of the ninth on a two-run shot. Martinez put two runners on in the bottom of the inning before closing the door on a four-hit . — Sean Leahy

Trot Nixon — Sept. 3, 2003 Nixon’s grand slam capped a wild six-run rally in the ninth inning to give the Red Sox a crucial 13-9 win and move them with one game of the American League Wild Card lead. Adding to the drama, missed his fourth straight game with flu-like symptoms, and told manager he couldn’t pinch hit in the ninth for with the bases loaded. But Merloni singled to bring the Red Sox within one run before walked to tie the game and Nixon hit his mammoth grand slam into the upper deck of Philly’s soon-to-be-shuttered Veterans Stadium. The matchup, a one-game trip to make up a rained-out game from June, was the first in a nine-game, four-city road trip in which the Red Sox went 7-2 and took over the wild card lead for good. — Jen McCaffrey

Manny Ramirez — April 6, 2001 This game marked Ramirez’s debut in front of the crowd after signing an eye-popping eight- year, $160 million deal in the offseason. They chanted his name, and he didn’t make them wait before delivering on that giant contract. He blasted the first pitch he saw from Ryan Rupe into the net above the left-field wall, charging up Red Sox fans and tying the game at 3-3 en route to an 11-4 win in the home opener. — Sean Leahy

Mo Vaughn — April 10, 1998 The Red Sox entered the bottom of the ninth in their home opener losing 7-2. The Mariners brought their closer, Heathcliff Slocumb, on in relief of , who surrendered just two hits and struck out 15 in eight innings. Bad decision. The Sox scored three times and drove Slocumb, Tony Fossas and from the game before Seattle manager called on Paul Spoljaric to face with the bases loaded. Vaughn turned on an 0-2 pitch and hooked it around Pesky’s Pole for a walk-off grand slam and improbable 9-7 victory. It was an early sign that this Red Sox team, which would end a two-season playoff drought, would be different. — Sean Leahy

Ted Williams — Sept. 13, 1946 Williams was a dead pull hitter. He also hit the baseball a long, long way. He did, however, hit one inside- the-park home run during his career, and it was quite memorable. In the first inning of a Friday afternoon game against the Indians at Fenway — yes, it was Friday the 13th — Williams hit a pitch from right-hander Red Embree to left field, defying the famous Williams shift used by Indians manager . Williams slid home with an inside-the-park home run, which turned out to the only run of the game in Boston’s 1-0 victory. With the Yankees beating the Tigers about an hour later, the Red Sox thus clinched their first pennant since 1918. — Steve Buckley

Ted Williams April 30, 1952 More than eight years before hitting a home run in his last at-bat in the big leagues, Williams hit a lesser- known last at-bat round-tripper. But it was big at the time: Playing in his last game before leaving the Red Sox to rejoin the United States Marine Corps to serve in the Korean War, Williams socked a two-run homer in the seventh inning off right-hander Dizzy Trout. A pre-game ceremony was held for Williams, who, it was thought by some, wouldn’t be playing again. The Boston Globe’s Jack Barry wrote that Williams was “fittingly climaxing a 14-year career” with the home run. — Steve Buckley

Carl Yastrzemski — May 16, 1970 Yastrzemski committed himself to a much-talked-about bulking-up regimen for the 1970 season, and his work was on display for all the baseball world to see on a Saturday afternoon in mid-May. With two on in the eighth inning he hit a 2-1 pitch from Indians right-hander Dennis Higgins that cleared the old back wall of the center field bleachers to the right of the flag pole, a Fenway rarity. Though there are various accounts about players hitting home runs out of Fenway to the right of the flag pole, the Red Sox media guide cites six instances: (1937), (1937), Bill Skowron (1957), Yastrzemski (1970, Bobby Mitchell (1973) and (1975). The Yaz home run is said to have traveled 450 feet. — Steve Buckley

So what did we leave off?

Undoubtedly we will hear from some of you in the comments below asking how we could have turned aside the likes of Shane Victorino, Jonny Gomes, , Eduardo Nunez and in these rankings. All hit home runs that helped power Red Sox title runs. We also don’t have a shot from Jim Rice, who’s fourth on the Red Sox all-time home run list. But these are champagne problems for a franchise that has been playing for 120 years. We aimed to capture the best and most significant home runs in franchise history. We know your choices may differ, but there’s no right or wrong answer here, especially the deeper we get into a list like this.