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Home , Fenway Sports Group, Garrett Richards, Jayce Tingler, Jayson Stark, Joe Castiglione, Mo Vaughn

The Red Sox Thursday, April 1, 2021

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With new faces, Red Sox begin quest to start anew, and put 2020 in the distance

Alex Speier

Opening Day typically offers the promise of renewal. Yet for the Red Sox, the first game of the 2021 season offers something more — the long-awaited opportunity for the franchise to begin officially distancing itself from the wreckage of the 2020 campaign.

An active offseason represented a potential start to that undertaking. The team that is introduced prior to Thursday’s 2:10 p.m. contest against the Orioles will be drastically different from the one that last played in front of fans on Sept. 29, 2019 — a game punctuated by diving across the plate in an extra- innings walkoff victory over Baltimore – and the one that opened last year’s fan-less, ill-fated, last-place slog through a compressed season.

Many of the most recognizable faces in recent franchise history are now gone. The last time a home opener had fans in attendance, Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., , David Price, and all collected their rings. Now, Betts and Price are Dodgers, Benintendi is a Royal, Bradley a Brewer, and Pedroia a retired dad.

Still, while much has changed with those departures and the additions of players such as new leadoff hitter Kiké Hernández, outfielder , starter Garrett Richards and late-innings contributor and Northeastern alum , there is some sense of reconnection to a time that predates the past 18 tumultuous months.

The re-hiring of – back after a one-year parting of ways that sprang from his role in a 2017 Astros cheating scandal – has created a sense of restoration inside the organization.

“It’s like he never left. Everyone missed him a lot last year,” said starter . “You feel like you’re going to get better every day being around him. It’s like he doesn’t miss anything. He takes everything in stride. It’s great having him back.”

In other areas of the team, the Red Sox have embraced change – particularly in a rotation that produced a franchise-worst 5.34 ERA last year.

For the second straight year, the sidelining of both and Eduardo Rodriguez has resulted in Eovaldi taking the ball in the team’s first game of the season. Yet the options behind Eovaldi look significantly better than at the start of 2020.

Last year, Eovaldi was followed in the first turn of the rotation by Martín Pérez, righthander Ryan Weber, lefthander Josh Osich (an opener), and lefthander Matt Hall. Osich is now gone and both Weber and Hall will be in Worcester after being outrighted off the 40-man roster in the offseason.

Though Pérez was re-signed, he’s now the team’s fifth starter. Eovaldi will be followed Saturday by promising righty (an expected fill-in for Rodriguez), with free agent Garrett Richards scheduled to start Sunday, and righthander – acquired from the Phillies in a trade last summer – taking the ball in the fourth game.

Rodriguez could be back from dead-arm as soon as next week, while Sale may return from Tommy John surgery around midseason. The group won’t be confused with the 1990s Braves, but all of its members have shown the arsenals to avoid the repetitively uncompetitive contests of a year ago.

“With us losing Sale and Eddie, it didn’t make anything easier for us. We had to ask a lot of our other guys to pick up the slack,” said Eovaldi. “I’m happy where we are now. You have the doubters out there. You can say what you want. But us having the rotation we have … it’s going to be a fun year for us. I feel like our starters are going to do a lot of great things this year.”

The lineup has likewise undergone a drastic overhaul. Of the projected starters, only , , J.D. Martinez, and Christian Vázquez were with the team in the big leagues at the end of 2019.

Yet the Sox insist that the group they field – with table-setters Hernández and along with powerful bottom-of-the-order options Renfroe (33 homers in 2019) and nine-hole hitter (8 homers in 23 games last year; a major league-leading seven spring training homers this year) -- can put up runs in bunches. The team believes it’s capable of improving on its middle-of-the-pack scoring output (4.87 runs per game, 11th in the majors) from a year ago.

“Not only are we deep, but in this era of where a lot of runs are scored through the long ball, one through nine we’re more than capable of doing that. … But I think we’ve got a little bit of everything in the lineup,” said Hernández. “I think we’re really good, a really balanced lineup, and I think we’re going to be pretty good.”

“Pretty good” sounds like a relatively modest standard for a Red Sox organization that frequently enters the year with an unabashed championship-or-bust mindset. It is the phraseology of a team whose potential emergence as a contender would have to come in spite of expectations rather than as confirmation of them.

Nonetheless, on Opening Day, such standards and hopes serve as an eye-of-the-beholder phenomenon at the beginning of a 162-game exploration in possibility. Reality can now take shape.

Red Sox leadoff man Kiké Hernández can hardly wait to get things started

Alex Speier

Kiké Hernández started anticipating Opening Day at almost as soon as he signed his two-year deal with the Red Sox in January, but he couldn’t wait quite that long to soak in his new home environment.

With the Red Sox back in Boston, Hernández stopped at the park early Wednesday. He made a point of taking in the view from the home dugout and experienced something very different from what he encountered as a visitor with the Dodgers in 2018 and 2019.

“The view from the first-base dugout is a lot more special in this than the view from the third-base dugout, I can tell you that,” said Hernández. “It felt special. The magic of Fenway, you can actually feel it from the first-base dugout.

“Like I’ve said, there’s a lot that I’m looking forward to, a lot that I’m excited about, and nothing that I take for granted.”

The 29-year-old’s eagerness for Opening Day only increased once Alex Cora approached him about batting leadoff. For weeks, Hernández has been breaking down video of Baltimore Opening Day starter John Means, looking forward to the challenge of setting the tone for the Red Sox season.

“I’ve thought about it ever since he sent me that text challenging me to be the leadoff hitter,” said Hernández.

Hernández has a recent history of impressive Opening Day performances. He cracked the Opening Day lineup for the first time in 2018, and stayed there the last two seasons. In those three contests, he went 6 for 10 with three homers and three walks, and he’s gone deep in each of the last two season-opening contests.

“The last two years have been pretty special on Opening Day, and this one is special regardless just because it’s a new team, new stadium, new city,” said Hernández. “Also my first official game being a dad. So I’m excited about a lot of things.”

Light mound work Eduardo Rodriguez, who is working back to full strength after being briefly slowed by a dead arm late in spring training, was one of several Red Sox who did light mound work at Fenway Park on Wednesday. The Red Sox have yet to make an official decision about whether the lefthander will open the year on the injured list, though Cora hinted strongly at such a possibility before the team left Fort Myers … Catcher Christian Vázquez, who required stitches when a thrown ball hit him in the face during a drill last week, will be on the Opening Day active roster … Xander Bogaerts is slated to make his eighth consecutive Opening Day start at shortstop, tying (1914-21) for the most in franchise history.

Minor details With the big league team gone north, Red Sox minor leaguers will convene for two camps. In Worcester, more than two dozen players making up the near-term big league depth (as well as some upper-level prospects) will work out at Polar Park, the new home of the Red Sox’ Triple A affiliate. That group will include three of the team’s most impressive spring performers — Jarren Duran, Jeter Downs, and — as well as pitchers , Ryan Weber, Matt Hall, and Daniel Gossett, and catcher . Several of the younger top prospects who were in big league camp, including , have stayed in Fort Myers, Fla. Other minor leaguers who hadn’t been invited to big league camp started arriving Wednesday in Fort Myers for the start of their spring training. Workouts in minor league camp will begin Friday. Teams are allowed to have 215 players and staff in camp. The Red Sox expect to have approximately 135 following the completion of COVID-19 intake protocols.

Timing it out Gates at Fenway Park will open at 12:10 p.m. for the 2:10 p.m. game. The Opening Day ceremonies are scheduled to start at 1:40 p.m. The Red Sox are asking fans to be in their seats by 1:30 p.m. NESN will broadcast the ceremony as well as the game, beginning with its pregame show at 12:20 p.m. WEEI-FM’s broadcast starts at 1:10 p.m. and will include the ceremony … More than 100 health-care workers will be in attendance, part of a partnership between the Red Sox and Dell Technologies to give 10,000 tickets to health-care workers this season.

Fenway Sports Group completes deal making RedBird and LeBron James partners

Michael Silverman

Fenway Sports Group can now sign the checks it wants to write to expand its global sports portfolio after RedBird Capital Partners closed on its $750 million investment Wednesday morning.

FSG now also has arguably the globe’s most recognizable and influential athlete, LeBron James, to help choose and close those deals.

RedBird Capital Partners, James, and James’s longtime business associate Maverick Carter were three of five new FSG partners approved by MLB overnight. Wednesday’s official announcement included the two other partners, one well-known locally.

Paul Wachter, the financial adviser to James, Carter, as well as FSG chairman , also became a partner.

The fifth new partner is Sam Kennedy, the Red Sox president and CEO who converted his long-term incentive-plan interests into an FSG stake.

In a statement, Kennedy said, “Returning home to Boston in 2002 to join the Red Sox front office represented the opportunity of a lifetime and becoming a partner in Fenway Sports Group is a dream come true. For nearly 20 years, I have been privileged to work alongside the most talented team of individuals in sports. The success we have experienced is a testament to them, and will continue to be the bedrock of our growth as we go forward.”

With its massive investment, RedBird Capital Partners, led by founder and managing partner Gerry Cardinale, becomes the third-largest stakeholder in FSG, with its investment based on an FSG enterprise valuation of $7.35 billion. John Henry, who also owns the Globe, retains the largest stake as the principal owner, followed by Werner, with FSG president Mike Gordon now holding the fourth-largest amount of shares.

Henry, Werner, and Gordon remain atop the governance chart of FSG.

“Over the years, Fenway Sports Group has been able to attract a dedicated group of executives and partnerships seeking to compete for titles in the most challenging and rewarding landscapes,” the three said in a joint statement. “Our strategic partnership with Gerry and the entire team at RedBird will enhance our ability to pursue future growth opportunities in a more accelerated way but with the same selectiveness that has served us so well.”

James’s thoughts were not included in the release, but Carter indirectly referenced the fact that he and James are the first Black FSG partners.

“Working with Fenway Sports Group for the past decade has taught LeBron and me so much about the business on a global scale, and we’ve always believed it would lead to something bigger,” said Carter. “We are proud to be part of this iconic ownership group and are excited about the opportunities that come with that to continue creating change and empowering people of every race, gender, and background to be part of the process.”

Fenway Sports Group’s shopping list remains private, but it is exploring the acquisition of NFL and NBA franchises, another European soccer club, NHL, MLS, WNBA, and NWSL teams, plus sports betting, esports, and data analytics companies.

The statement from Henry, Werner, and Gordon concluded with a message for its customer base:

“To our fans and supporters: Winning continues to be the driving force for all of us,” the statement said. “The growth of FSG as an organization allows us to further strengthen our resources and commitment to the communities we serve, and we look forward to having these talented new partners join us in the next chapter of FSG’s evolution.”

A Red Sox Opening Day that feels almost normal is cause to celebrate

Tara Sullivan

It was Pete Seeger who turned the words into a hit song, but many people know they came almost verbatim from the Bible’s Book of Ecclesiastes: “To everything (turn, turn turn), there is a season (turn, turn, turn), and a time to every purpose under heaven.”

For the Byrds, whose recording of Seeger’s song “Turn! Turn! Turn!” rose to No. 1 on 1965′s Billboard Hot 100 list, the lyrics were a plea for peace.

But here, in the spring of 2021, I hear them for a different season.

I hear them as a song for baseball, a lyrical “welcome back” to a game that was a shell of itself last year, and might be a victim of its own labor wars next year, but for now feels whole in a way it hasn’t for so long.

With Opening Day 2021 upon us, the tumultuous sports calendar of the last COVID-ravaged year approaches something — dare we say it? — almost normal. Fans, albeit in smaller numbers, are returning to ballparks. And all the teams, all 30 of them, are playing on Opening Day for the first time since 1968, the buffet of daylong action satisfying every baseball-loving appetite.

But even before the pandemic laid waste to the rhythms of our athletic seasons, the first day of the baseball season always held a special corner of our sporting hearts, the perfect first bite to a 162-game menu.

The days are getting longer, the sun is getting warmer, and here comes baseball, its inherent promise of spring awakenings and fresh starts unmatched by other sports.

“I’ve always felt that it just sort of wiped clean the past,” said legendary baseball reporter , whose youthful days in Groton set the backdrop for a lifelong career in the sport. “There is a very short period of time in-season when you start with that carte blanche, and every once in a great while, it works out.”

With a bleacher stub in his pocket, a young Gammons was at Fenway for Opening Day 1967 along with 8,000 of his closest fellow Sox fans in the vain hope the long-suffering franchise would have its first winning season in nine years.

“There was some hope,” Gammons recalled. “ was the manager, was playing second base. They won, 5-4, and I can remember leaving the park and thinking, ‘OK, well, Williams has a little fire, this is going to be fun.’

“But there was that weird feeling; we did a thing for MLB Network a couple years ago, and said it — we all consider that the most important season in Red Sox history.

“They were so bad, [owner Tom] Yawkey had talked about moving the team. [Carl] Yastrzemski had wanted to be traded but backed off at Yawkey’s request. Then three or four days later, you had a rookie named Billy Rohr, who got within one out of a no-hitter in Yankee Stadium. That thing carried over for a week and it really started something. People started saying, ‘This is the year now.’ ”

Rohr may have won only one more game in his short-lived Sox career, but his role in the culture change that started on Opening Day is secure.

“It re-created something that made that season so magical,” Gammons said. “They brought baseball back. All sorts of things happened — Yaz won the Triple Crown — but it also brought back Opening Day to . I really think it’s never been the same since. People have come back.”

The Sox welcome the Orioles Thursday, and despite winning the only three seasons ago, their salary-dumping, cost-shedding reset means the national spotlight is aimed elsewhere. But what Gammons says is true: This is the one point in the season where every team is equal, when every team nurtures the same championship dream and same confident belief it can happen.

“Nationally it shouldn’t really matter, and it’s not what ’67 was, but this Opening Day you pull the curtain up and I think it could be a significant day for the Red Sox,” Gammons said. “Let’s say [Bobby] Dalbec hits two home runs. People will get excited about it. And it carries over.

“It’s all so fun. We don’t have this pleasure of being around the ballpark, the clubhouse, but we know how different it is when they walk in on Opening Day. The players go from suntan lotion to hot stuff.

“It’s real baseball.”

That it is. Opening Day, full of hope, full of promise.

Last season was so strange, beset by the pandemic as well as the acrimonious negotiations between management and players just to pull off a truncated 60-game schedule. Next year might not happen at all, not if that protracted, ugly labor conversation is an indication of what’s to come.

But this season is here, with its funky new twists like seven-inning doubleheaders and extra-inning baserunners, but mostly with its more familiar rhythms and sounds.

Welcome back.

See the schedule for the Red Sox’ Opening Day ceremonies

Andrew Mahoney

Opening Day is nearly here, and the Red Sox have released the schedule for Thursday’s ceremonies.

At Fenway Park, gates will open at 12:10 p.m. — two hours before the game — for all fans, who are asked to be in their seats by 1:30 p.m., with the festivities beginning at 1:40 p.m.

First pitch is scheduled for 2:10 p.m.

After both teams have been introduced, Springfield native Michelle Brooks-Thompson will perform the national anthem. Three aircraft flying out of three New England states will participate in the flyover — an F-15 from Barnes Air National Guard Base in , an F-35 from Vermont’s Air National Guard (the Green Mountain Boys), and a Tanker plane from Pease Air National Guard Base in New Hampshire.

The Boston Fire Department A Capella Quartet will sing “God Bless America” in the middle of the seventh inning. More than 100 health-care workers will be in attendance.

NESN will broadcast the ceremony as well as the game, beginning with its pregame show at 12:20 p.m.

* The Boston Herald

Red Sox Notebook: Kiké Hernández hopeful for another special Opening Day

Steve Hewitt

When Kiké Hernández walked into Fenway Park for the first time with his new team on Wednesday, he took a moment to soak it all in.

Hernández has made just two visits to the ballpark in his major-league career, both with the Dodgers and including the , but there was something even more special about this time, his first as a member of the Red Sox.

“I got here really early today,” Hernández said Wednesday, on the eve of Opening Day. “I went to the dugout. One of the first things I did was go into the dugout. The view from the first-base dugout is a lot more special in this stadium than the view from the third-base dugout. I can tell you that. It felt special. The magic of Fenway, you can actually feel it from the first-base dugout. …

“There’s been times and there will be times (Thursday) where I’ll sit back and think about everything. I’m just really happy to be here.”

Hernández has been looking forward to Thursday’s opener against the Orioles for a long time and for a variety of reasons. Obviously, it’s his first game with the Red Sox. It’s also his first as a father. And he’ll also have a chance to start the season on the right foot when he takes the Red Sox’ first at-bat of 2021 as their new leadoff hitter, something he’s been envisioning throughout spring training.

“I’ve thought about it ever since Alex (Cora) sent me that text challenging me to be the leadoff hitter,” Hernández said. “I looked at the schedule and saw we were playing the Orioles and figured we were going to face (John) Means. I’ve been watching some video of Means the last couple of weeks. I’m excited about (Thursday). Hopefully the rain lets us start on time so we can have a nice Opening Day.”

It will be even more special if Hernández can continue his recent success on Opening Day. In his last two openers, the second baseman is 6-for-8 with three home runs and eight RBI in a pair of Dodgers victories. But even after a strong spring at the plate, Hernández won’t try to do too much to replicate those performances.

“There’s no added pressure,” Hernández said. “The last two years have been pretty special on Opening Day, and this one is special regardless just because it’s a new team, new stadium, new city. Just really looking forward to it.”

JBJ says goodbye

A day before he made his debut with the Brewers, Jackie Bradley Jr. paid tribute to the Red Sox with a letter on The Players Tribune. The former Sox center fielder revisited his journey from being drafted in 2011 to making the Opening Day roster in 2013 and how special the last decade was to him.

“April 1, 2013 — eight years ago, tomorrow — was the beginning of a new chapter for my career,” Bradley wrote. “It’s one that would be filled with hardships and triumphs, but most importantly growth. From the Merloni Shuttle to the duck boat parades; from hitting slumps to hitting streaks; from All-Star Games to Gold Gloves; and from last-place finishes to World Series championships … my baseball career in New England has been one that’s challenged me to always be present in the moment. … And to always be better than the day before.”

Betts, Hernández among top jersey sales

Mookie Betts topped the list as the most popular jersey in MLB as the season begins, the league announced on Wednesday. The list is based on sales from MLBShop.com since the end of the 2020 postseason.

Hernández was the lone Red Sox player to be in the top 20 of the list, coming in at No. 9, one spot ahead of Angels star . The new Red Sox second baseman was surprised to see his name there.

“Not just the fact that it was in front of Mike, but the fact that I was top 10 in the big leagues,” Hernández said. “To me it was mind blowing. There are so many really, really good players in the big leagues, and the fact that only eight of them sold more jerseys than me last year, I don’t know how that happened, but I’m truly humbled and honored. It really, truly is an honor to be on that list. I mean, I don’t have much to say because that was completely unexpected.” …

Fenway Sports Group on Wednesday officially announced its partnership with RedBird and the additions of LeBron James, Maverick Carter and their longtime business partner to its ownership group. The announcement also revealed that Red Sox president Sam Kennedy will become part of the ownership group. …

The Red Sox are asking fans attending Thursday’s opener to be in their seats by 1:30 p.m., as Opening Day ceremonies begin at 1:40 ahead of first pitch at 2:10. The two teams will be introduced along the baselines, with Springfield native Michelle Brooks-Thompson performing the national anthem. Three different aircrafts will perform the traditional flyover, a first for a Red Sox Opening Day ceremony.

10 bold predictions for the 2021 Red Sox

Jason Mastrodonato

Good news, baseball fans: Opening Day is Thursday, fans are being welcomed back to all 30 and as soon as the players reach the 85% vaccination mark, restrictions will be relaxed for a season that’s something close to normal.

The bad news? The Red Sox probably aren’t going to make the playoffs.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t make some bold predictions with a fresh 162-game season upon us.

Without further ado, 10 things we know for sure will absolutely happen this year (or they might not, but who’s to say?):

1. Tanner Houck will be the Red Sox’ best starting

Sure, if Houck leads the rotation, it probably wasn’t a very successful season. But at least the Sox will have drafted and developed a legitimate young starter, something they haven’t done since was selected 42nd overall in 2005. Houck was touching 97 mph in spring training, but was too erratic with his command early and got optioned back to Triple-A Worcester. Now it looks like Houck could start the year in the rotation to replace the injured Eduardo Rodriguez. His sinker/ combination is as good as anyone’s, as evident by his 21 and 0.53 ERA over three starts last season. He’s got the build and makeup to be a top-of-the-rotation starter for years to come.

2. Role players thrusted into starring roles into trouble

Trying to spend efficiently to fill a handful of holes on the roster this winter, the Sox ended up with role players they hope will be versatile enough to handle increased workloads. It all sounds good in theory, but it’s rarely a slam dunk to take players who were previously part-time guys and stick them into key roles. Kiké Hernandez has only twice in his career collected at least 300 at-bats in a season, and his highest-ever is 414 at-bats in 2019. Now he’ll be the Sox’ leadoff hitter every day, expected to be a Gold Glove candidate at second base while also spending time in center field. Marwin Gonzalez has never before had 500 at-bats in a season, either. Former Sox utility man Brock Holt would often break down with everyday use, instead excelling when playing three or four times a week.

3. Alex Verdugo will score 100 runs

He scored 36 runs in 52 games hitting leadoff for a last-place team that often looked lifeless in 2020, his first year in a Red Sox uniform. If there was any pressure after getting traded for Mookie Betts and replacing him in right field, Verdugo didn’t show signs of feeling it. He’s got as much confidence as anyone to play the position before him, and at 24 years old, he’s still got plenty of growing to do. His all- fields swing from the left-hand side should play beautifully in Fenway Park. And with J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers hitting behind him, Verdugo should be a run-scoring machine in 2021.

4. Jarren Duran logs 300-plus at-bats Verdugo is more than capable of playing center field, but the Red Sox don’t have much else going on in the outfield. is interesting but oft-injured. Hunter Renfroe has huge power but has never been an everyday player. Gonzalez and Hernandez could be needed more in the infield. And at some point soon, if not already, the Sox are going to need a regular center fielder, allowing Verdugo to settle into right, a position he handled well last year. Duran had a monster spring, finishing with a .340 average, 1.069 OPS and three home runs. He’s clearly still a work in progress defensively, and continues to take questionable routes whenever he’s turned around to give chase. But he’s fast enough and talented enough to make an impact this year.

5. Red Sox win 74 games and finish in fourth place

Before you crinkle up this newspaper or slam your laptop shut, let me tell you that this is not what I want to happen. Watching the last-place team struggle in 2020 was painfully boring. We need the Red Sox to be good to keep things interesting around here. I just don’t know where the quality innings are coming from. At this point it seems like a long shot to expect Chris Sale back before the All-Star break. Counting on oft- injured starters Nathan Eovaldi and Garrett Richards is a fool’s game. Eduardo Rodriguez is a perfect No. 2 starter, but we don’t know how his body will hold up after missing the entire ’20 season. The only reliable innings the Sox can count on are from Martin Perez, who has the highest ERA in MLB over the last three years. The bullpen has some talent, but it’s difficult to see this pitching staff being able to contain the Yankees, Blue Jays and Rays well enough to go .500 in their 57 games against them. Everything has to go just perfectly for this team, and there are too many questions to count on that happening.

Rapid fire round!

6. Bobby Dalbec will hit .247 with 31 home runs and 183 strikeouts. 7. Darwinzon Hernandez will end the year as the team’s closer. 8. Bogaerts will finish top-five in MVP voting for the second time in his career. 9. Martinez will have a nice bounce-back season but fall just short of hitting .300. 10. The Red Sox will play their best baseball in September, when prospects like Duran, Jeter Downs, Triston Casas, Bryan Mata, and Thaddeus Ward are given opportunities.

OBF: New season puts dismal 2020 behind us

Bill Speros

Opening Day for the 2021 Red Sox comes a year too late.

Baseball and its fans return to Fenway Park tomorrow.

Temperatures will be in the low 60s beneath partly-cloudy skies.

Concessionaires will be hawking their wares and victuals outside the ballpark.

Rumor has it Patriots QB Cam Newton will throw out the first pitch — after they move the mound 30 feet closer to home plate.

We kid because we can.

The 2020 Red Sox were a joke.

And New England absorbed the punch line.

Those Red Sox played unwinnable and unwatchable baseball. The roster was laden with anonymous ballplayers. The manager — Ron Whatwashisname — elicited more sympathy than generated strategy. Sixty games was 162 too many.

The Luxury Tax Threshold was team MVP.

The somnambulistic 2020 Red Sox logged their worst finish since LBJ — not that LBJ — was in the White House and a rookie pitcher named went 9-17 for a ballclub that lost 100 games.

Boston was so deep in the standings, it finished in the AL Central.

Apathy gripped the Hub like a second wave of coronavirus. Worse, the annual vaccine for baseball boredom that was Tom Brady jolted for Tampa and took Gronk with him.

Instead of turning the page on last season, let’s ban the entire book.

Too bad Dr. Seuss never weighed in on the Mookie Betts trade.

“I do not like it, John and Tom.

I do not like that Mookie’s gone.”

Hard to believe 2018 was just three years ago. Betts was dealt before last season. JBJ and Andrew Benintendi subsequently left town this past winter.

The times they are a-changing. The Patriots have a Black starting QB — at least until Jimmy G returns. Boston has a Black mayor. LeBron James will soon become a part-owner of the Red Sox. Still, John Henry’s 2021 squad is projected to have as many African American players on their April 1 Opening Day roster as ’s 1941 Red Sox had on theirs.

That would be zero.

No foolin’.

The gaping lack of African American ballplayers in the majors these days is much more a result of a generational shift in how younger athletes choose to develop their talents and MLB’s failure to grow the game among urban populations than it is the ghost of Pinky Higgins floating around ’s office.

Thankfully, this franchise has long moved past such designators when it comes to choosing — or not choosing — its athletes. Alex Cora’s starting lineup is flush with Latin players, including three-fourths of the infield, the DH and starting catcher. Past is no longer prologue.

Henry skipped his annual meet-and-greet with State Run Media in Fort Myers. We may need to put his face on the back of a milk carton if he doesn’t show up tomorrow. We’ve been told he’s still fully engaged in the operation of the team. That may or may not be a good thing. We do hope he is well.

Simple is always better before any season. In 1967, Dick Williams famously predicted “we’ll win more than we lose.” He was right. This week, Cora confidentially noted: “We’re ready to go.”

COVID scares aside, the Red Sox head north carrying legitimate optimism. Their over/under in total wins is 80.5 at Boston-based DraftKings. That seems a bit on the low side given Boston’s potential. If Chris Sale can contribute after the All-Star break and Boston gets consistency from its closer, that number should be eclipsed. Cora is a tempting +1200 to be AL Manager of the Year at the same site.

Head to Rhode Island or New Hampshire to place your legal wagers.

Bet early and often.

This year’s Red Sox lineup has potential to generate runs, if not a lot of home runs. That’s fine. There’s a new “deader ball” being used in the majors this season, so don’t be surprised if HR totals fall everywhere.

J.D. Martinez remains the lineup’s epicenter. Martinez was lost at the plate in 2020, especially since he was denied in-game video for assistance. His numbers were dismal: a career-low .213 average with seven homers and 27 RBI over 54 games. He’ll get his video back this season and should/must improve if not thrive over 162 games. Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts remain worthy draws. If you believe the hype, Bobby Dalbec is a contender to be Boston’s first Rookie of the Year since Dustin Pedroia in 2007.

The pitching, always the pitching. The Red Sox will avoid “bullpen games” this year. The core of the rotation — Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi and Martín Pérez — must deliver quality innings or the rest of what is written here won’t matter a damn.

The most intriguing early-season storyline at Fenway Park may occur in the stands and not the standings. America’s Favorite Ballpark is open to 12% capacity — or about 4,500 fans. People will be seated in pods, spread apart from others. Masks will be required for all in attendance age 2 and up.

It may be worth the price of a secondary-market ticket just to check out those gleaming, environmental- friendly, fully-sanitized bathrooms. Bring your shades. These are not your father’s cigarette-butt-filled troughs. For the first time in more than 100 years, you will be safer inside than outside a Fenway Park restroom.

The Red Sox say fans will have to follow “all guidelines related to proper social distancing.” There was no word forthcoming from the team about what happens when a foul ball lands in the stands when the ballpark is 88% empty during a pandemic.

Will fans be able to leave their pods and pursue the coveted prize?

Or will they be arrested and detained by Charlie Baker’s COVID Tracers?

Tune into NESN and see for yourself.

First pitch is set for 2:10 p.m.

“Play ball!”

* MassLive.com

Boston Red Sox can compete in 2021, Sam Kennedy says: ‘The only place we have to go is up compared to last year’

Chris Cotillo

Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy is realistic about Boston’s chances heading into the 2021 season but thinks that if a few things go right, the club can reach the postseason for the first time in three years.

Appearing on this week’s The Fenway Rundown podcast, Kennedy echoed a common refrain among those in the Red Sox organization throughout spring training. The Red Sox think they can be surprise contenders.

“I shudder to say this, but the only place we have to go is up compared to last year,” Kennedy said on The Fenway Rundown. “It was so brutal. I do think we can compete. The team is so excited to have Alex Cora back. We’ve seen some of our new faces, some of our older faces performing well in spring training. I do think we’re well-positioned, obviously in a really, really tough division. Everyone has improved dramatically, so it’s going to be that much harder.

“I do think we can compete,” Kennedy said. “We need to stay in this race down to the end and try to sneak in to October. We’re certainly not the favorite. We understand that. It’s kind of nice to be in that position once in a while where you have a chance to surprise some people.”

After finishing 24-36 last year, the Red Sox turned over much of their roster, saying goodbye to stalwarts like Andrew Benintendi and Jackie Bradley Jr. while adding veterans including Kiké Hernández, Garrett Richards, Adam Ottavino and Marwin Gonzalez. Nine of the 26 players projected for Boston’s Opening Day roster joined the organization since the end of last season.

Boston had a strong showing in Grapefruit League play, posting a 16-11-1 record while staying relatively healthy throughout camp. The Red Sox were consistently one of the best offensive teams in baseball throughout spring training and a few important pitchers -- including Eduardo Rodriguez, Barnes, Ottavino, Darwinzon Hernandez and -- pitched particularly well.

The club’s camp performance has many in the organization, including Kennedy, excited for the season to get started.

“I think it really has given us a lot of hope and optimism to see the way we played,” he said. “Let’s be honest -- a lot of these guys have a chip on their shoulder. A lot of turnover, but the guys who were here last year, that was miserable. No one wants to go through that.”

After starting off 17-2 in 2018 and eventually winning 108 games and a World Series championship, the Red Sox have struggled out of the gate in the last two seasons. The club went 3-9 to start the 2019 season and 6-18 in the first 24 games of 2020. A good start in 2021 is critical.

“Hopefully, we get off to a start where we’re competitive and we’re in games,” Kennedy said. “We’re not down four or five runs in the second inning like last year. Hopefully, we’ll get off to a much, much better start and capture the imagination of New England the way we know we can when we have a competitive team that is worthy of fan support. That’s our job and we failed last year.”

Coming off their fourth last-place finish in the last nine years, the Red Sox have vowed to be better in 2021 and their roster suggests that will be the case. Though the Yankees and Rays are two of the ’s top contenders, the club believes it has a chance to make some noise over the course of 162 games.

“I think we can compete for a postseason spot,” he said. “We need health, like everybody. It’s such a cliché, but you watch what happened this week with , and (Eduardo) Rodriguez last year and Chris Sale trying to come back. We need good health. I think this club is a team that is versatile, much improved over last year and a lot deeper.”

Boston Red Sox notebook: Jackie Bradley Jr. pens farewell, thinks Alex Cora is club’s key; , prepare for new roles with NESN

Chris Cotillo

New Red Sox leadoff man Kiké Hernández has been envisioning his first at-bat of the season for weeks. When he steps into the batter’s box against Orioles lefty John Means on Thursday afternoon, he’ll be well- prepared.

“I’ve thought about it ever since Alex (Cora) sent me that text challenging me to be the leadoff hitter,” Hernández said Wednesday. “I looked at the schedule and saw we were playing the Orioles and figured we were going to face Means. I’ve been watching some video of Means the last couple weeks. I’m excited about tomorrow. Hopefully, the rain lets us start on time and we can have a nice Opening Day.

Hernández, who signed a two-year, $14 million deal over the winter after spending the last six years with the Dodgers, has gotten off to scorching hot starts in each of the last two seasons. In 2019, he had two homers in a win over the Diamondbacks on Opening Day. In July, he had a four-hit, five-RBI performance against the Giants.

“There’s no added pressure,” he said when asked about keeping the streak alive. “The last two years have been pretty special on Opening Day. This one is special, regardless, just because it’s a new team, new stadium, new city. I’m just really looking forward to it. Also, my first official game being a dad. I’m excited about a lot of things.”

Thursday’s game against the Orioles will represent the first time the Red Sox are playing in front of fans at Fenway Park since Sept. 29, 2019, when they beat Baltimore, 5-4. Approximately 4,500 fans will be on hand.

“It’s going to be awesome having our fans back,” said Sox Opening Day starter Nathan Eovaldi. “Even in spring training games, the small amount of fans allowed there, it felt like it was sold out at times. Even with them being spaced out, having our fans back in the park, our fans are one of a kind for sure. Being to be able go out and perform with them out there, it’s going to be a lot of fun for us.”

Nine of the 26 players projected to be on Boston’s Opening Day roster joined the organization this winter. For those players, including Hernández, the chance to take the field at Fenway Park as a member of the Red Sox for the first time will be special.

“The view from the first-base dugout is a lot more special in this stadium from the third-base dugout,” Hernández said. “I can tell you that. It felt special. The magic of Fenway, you can actually feel it from the first-base dugout.”

Bradley Jr. says goodbye

Former Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., who signed with the Brewers in early March, took to The Players’ Tribune to say farewell to Red Sox fans on the eve of Opening Day.

“So before each of us officially turns the page to our next chapter, I just wanted to say: , thank you,” Bradley wrote. “It was an honor.”

Youkilis, Vaughn, Burks prep for new NESN roles

Three of NESN’s new analysts -- former Red Sox stars , Mo Vaughn and Kevin Youkilis -- met with the media via Zoom to discuss their new roles. Youkilis and Vaughn will be joining the network in studio roles while Burks will work in the booth as a color analyst in addition to his pre- and post-game work.

For Vaughn, who has largely stayed out of baseball since retiring in 2004, the opportunity to get back into the game was enticing.

“It just felt good at this point in time to come back and be involved and it worked out,” he said. “I’m happy to be here, happy to give some insight having been in the game and playing the game. I’m excited. Just seemed like the right time is now more than any.

The three-time All-Star and 1995 American League MVP hopes to take fans inside the minds of the players he’s covering.

“I want the fans to understand what it feels like and what’s in a hitter’s brain as he’s walking to the plate to drive in a run,” he added. “The (analysis) of what that pitcher has versus what you’re trying to do and what you’re feeling. What the pitch count is and all those little things people don’t understand or think about, I want to be able to talk about those things. The little game within the game of hitting and the mindset of that and what it takes to be consistent.”

Both Youkilis and Burks have held different roles in baseball since retiring but have yet to work on the broadcast side of the game. Burks said he was originally supposed to join NESN for the 2020 season before the COVID-19 pandemic halted those plans.

“A new chapter in my life,” Burks said. “I played. I coached. I was in the front office. Why not try this? I’m very excited to try it.”

Youkilis, who owns the Loma Brewing Company in California, previously spent time as a scout and consultant for the Cubs under Theo Epstein. He joked his new gig is an attempt to prove doubters wrong.

“People always told me I couldn’t make it in life, and told me I had a radio face,” he said. “This is my chance to show I have more than a radio face. That’s the only reason I’m doing this. I’m trying to step up my game and show that I have a face for TV.”

A-Rod believes Cora is key

Appearing on a Zoom call Wednesday afternoon, former Yankees star and current ESPN analyst Alex Rodriguez identified the return of Alex Cora as they biggest key for the Red Sox this season.

“Well, I think they have the captain back on the ship, and I think that it starts with leadership,” Rodriguez said. “I think one of the things about baseball today that is most underrated is who is the manager, and I think having a guy like Alex back resets everything. It gives them some time to get back, and it gives them hope, because you have a guy that’s actually finished the mission. And it may not be this year, but I think with Alex, they are in good shape.”

WooSox arrive

The era unofficially kicked off Wednesday, as the players heading to the alternate training site at Polar Park arrived in town after flying from Fort Myers on Tuesday night. The team sent out a tweet showing Jeter Downs, Josh Ockimey and other players arriving in Worcester ahead of the first official alternate site workout Thursday.

Boston Red Sox’s Kiké Hernández has 9th-most popular jersey in baseball, one spot ahead of Mike Trout: ‘It’s mind-blowing’

Chris Cotillo

Major League Baseball released the list of its most popular player jerseys Wednesday afternoon, and there was a major surprise in the top 10. Since the end of last season, Red Sox utility man Kiké Hernández had the ninth-best selling jersey of all major-leaguers, ranking one spot ahead of Angels superstar Mike Trout.

On a list filled with bona fide stars and generational talents, Hernández -- a utility man who has spent the last six years with the Dodgers -- stood out. Though he was a fan favorite in Los Angeles and the list combined sales from previous and current teams, Hernández was still shocked to see his name among the game’s best.

“Not just the fact that it was in front of Mike (Trout), but the fact I was top 10 in the big leagues, to me, that was mind-blowing,” Hernández said Wednesday afternoon. “There are so many really, really good players in the big leagues and the fact that only eight of them sold more jerseys than me last year, I don’t know how that happened. I am truly humbled and honored. It truly is an honor to be on that list. I don’t have much to say because that was completely unexpected.”

The list, which tallied MLB.com shop sales of Nike player jerseys since the end of the 2020 postseason, included no other current Red Sox players. Former Sox outfielder Mookie Betts ranked first after helping the Dodgers win the World Series last fall. Two Yankees -- Aaron Judge (sixth) and Gerrit Cole (14th) -- made the list.

Most popular MLB player jerseys:

1. Mookie Betts,

2. Cody Bellinger, Los Angeles Dodgers

3. Fernando Tatis Jr.,

4. Bryce Harper,

5. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

6. Aaron Judge,

7. Ronald Acuña Jr.,

8. Francisco Lindor,

9. Kiké Hernández, Boston Red Sox

10. Mike Trout,

11. Nolan Arenado, St. Louis Cardinals

12. Javier Báez,

13. Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers

14. Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees

15. Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals

16. Christian Yelich,

17. , Atlanta Braves

18. Jacob deGrom, New York Mets

19. Jose Altuve,

20. Pete Alonso, New York Mets

Boston Red Sox hope to have players, coaches get COVID-19 vaccinations ‘as soon as humanly possible,’ Sam Kennedy says

Chris Cotillo

The Red Sox have not yet made any concrete plans to get their players and coaches COVID-19 vaccinations but hope to do so in the coming weeks, team president and CEO Sam Kennedy said on this week’s The Fenway Rundown podcast. The club is working with state and local officials to determine when the club can begin getting shots. Starting April 19, all Massachusetts residents 16 and older will be eligible to receive the vaccine.

“We are working hard to try to identify the best possible way to get our players vaccinated when they come back and when they’re eligible,” Kennedy said. “Obviously, with different players, different health concerns. We’ll be back together here in Massachusetts. My hope is we can get them vaccinated as soon as humanly possible. Obviously, that will be done in coordination with state and our medical team which has been guiding us all along. It will be in April -- it’s our hope -- and as soon as possible.”

The Red Sox flew from Florida to Boston on Tuesday night ahead of their Opening Day matchup against the Orioles, which is scheduled for Thursday afternoon. At this point, it’s unclear if any players or coaches have been vaccinated yet, though manager Alex Cora said Tuesday he would get the vaccine as soon as it’s available to him.

The team isn’t planning to mandate that its players and coaches get vaccinated, though has tried to incentivize doing so by promising to significantly relax COVID-19 protocols if 85% of the league’s players and coaches are vaccinated.

“We cannot mandate nor would we try, but we strongly encourage it,” Kennedy said. “It’s personal choice but our hope is that every single human being who can get vaccinated will. We’re told told by the scientists and the experts that they’re safe and most importantly, effective. Hopefully, everyone who can possibly get vaccinated will do that.”

Kennedy isn’t sure if the Red Sox will all get vaccinated as a group or if they’ll have different players get shots on different days in order to minimize the effect of potential side effects. Those are the types of conversations Kennedy is having with chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and his staff.

“We do need to think about needles going into arms and any side effects that people may have,” Kennedy said. “We need to think through that from a baseball (operations) perspective. Chaim and team need to figure that out. Do you stagger? At the end of the day, I think you get the vaccine when you can get the vaccine. That’s my preference, to get it behind us. Hopefully, we figure it out here as the team comes north.”

Fenway Park served as a mass vaccination site for much of the year, with 56,228 Massachusetts residents having been vaccinated at the stadium. Though the site has shut down because the season is about to begin, Kennedy is tremendously proud of the organization’s role in trying to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We really believe the ability to play in a small part with the recovery with Fenway as a mass vaccination center is one of the most important things we’ve ever done, if not the most,” Kennedy said. “I think it’s rare you can point to something and say, ‘Wow, that saved a life, or two, or three.’ I think by definition, you can say that.”

LeBron James officially joins Boston Red Sox, Fenway Sports Group as part owner; FSG is valued at $7.35 billion

Christopher Smith

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James officially has joined Fenway Sports Group, making him a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox.

Fenway Sports Group announced an investment into the company by RedBird Capital Partners. It puts Fenway Sports Group’s value at $7.35 billion. The Boston Globe’s Michael Silverman reported that it is a $750 million investment.

Red Sox president Sam Kennedy also became a Fenway Sports Group partner.

“As part of the overall transaction, LeBron James, Maverick Carter and their longtime business partner Paul Wachter will exchange a previously held interest in Liverpool Football Club and become part of FSG’s ownership group along with RedBird.” per the release.

“Working with Fenway Sports Group for the past decade has taught LeBron and me so much about the business on a global scale, and we’ve always believed it would lead to something bigger,” Carter said in the release. “We are proud to be part of this iconic ownership group and are excited about the opportunities that come with that to continue creating change and empowering people of every race, gender and background to be part of the process.”

Red Sox president Sam Kennedy was asked on MassLive.com’s The Fenway Rundown about James and Carter joining as part owners before the deal became official.

“We do have a partnership with LeBron and Maverick through , have become business partners with them and built a friendship and a relationship over the past decade or so,” Kennedy said. “So if something were to come together, I would see them being very active and involved at the Fenway Sports Group level and helping us achieve our ambitions as a sports entertainment, media, real estate business that has global aspirations. We’ve got the Red Sox. We’ve got Liverpool. We’ve got real estate. New England Sports Network. . So I think you see us potentially expanding into other sports. And Maverick and LeBron are incredible business people. They have built great businesses. Obviously LeBron’s still playing and I think he has a long playing career in front of him.”

Boston Red Sox president Sam Kennedy previews 2021 season, getting fans back inside Fenway Park on The Fenway Rundown podcast

Chris Cotillo

With Opening Day on Thursday, Red Sox president & CEO Sam Kennedy joined this week’s episode of MassLive’s The Fenway Rundown podcast for a wide-ranging interview to preview the 2021 season. Kennedy discusses the club’s plans for increasing the capacity of Fenway Park throughout the season and vaccinating players. He also talks about his expectations for the 2021 Red Sox, if the club is still relevant in Boston and more.

Here are some highlights:

Kennedy on increasing the capacity of Fenway Park as the season goes on:

“Subject to the state and city’s approval, we would hope to bump up from the 12%, maybe some point in May, if possible. Then go to a larger percentage at some time after that. Maybe June. It’s kind of like picking round numbers going month-to-month. We’re sort of backing into a period where we hope to be able to have full capacity when a time is here where vaccinations are available. When vaccines are available for everybody and it’s easy to get vaccinated and the general public has them widely and readily available, it seems like that would be an appropriate time. Working back from that, we would look to increase capacity, up from 12%, maybe to 25%, then 50% and then 100%.”

Kennedy on if the Red Sox might soon move out of Fenway Park and the future of the ballpark:

“No chance, no way, no how, never. Fenway is so special. Situated in the heart of the city. It’s such an important part of who we are as Bostonians and New Englanders. What I envision next is development around the park that we’re engaged in. We’re building a 5,000-person live music venue right out behind the bleachers right now. It’s going to be absolutely incredible. The MGM Music Hall at Fenway. I envision more development, more activity, more life and more energy. If we can all imagine a post-pandemic world, the Fenway neighborhood is the place you’re going to want to be. To live here, to work here, to play here, to enjoy yourself. I’m looking forward to the next generation of the Fenway neighborhood which is literally being built around us at this very moment.”

* The Eagle Tribune

It's fast start or bust for Sox

Bill Burt

BOSTON – Hope Springs Eternal today. It is the case around here about 99 percent of the time.

Today is an unofficial New England holiday (we still have to work our eight hours), has been for decades – opening day at Fenway Park.

Winter is officially gone. Flowers are blooming. And lawns are greening as we speak.

After winning four World Series championships over a 15-year run, after a drought of 86 years, you’d expect even more optimism.

Of course, your expectations would be wrong.

After two years of bad baseball, the Red Sox are on the clock.

In other words, the “honeymoon” after the World Series win in 2018, maybe the greatest Red Sox team ever, is over.

Even with the lovable “Mr. Positive,” Alex Cora, in the manager’s seat, the man the vast majority of fans wanted to manage this team going forward, that isn’t going to sell with “Ws.”

As in wins.

As in wins in April.

Lots of them.

The state of our New England sports teams, as we know them today, April 1, 2021, are not what our kids are used to.

Our kids -- those in their mid-20s and younger -- are used to championships or, at the worst, championship contention.

And as of today, the Red Sox are not considered contenders.

Worse, Red Sox fans are being mocked. And, even worse, it’s not even the fanbase of the favorites, the New York Yankees.

Some rich L.A. Dodgers fans – I hope they’re rich! – put an expensive sign up on the billboard next to Fenway Park reading:

“Dear Boston, THANK YOU FOR MOOKIE BETTS, Sincerely Dodgers Fans and @pantone294”.

Great. A constant reminder of the Betts dump.

Well, that sign will lose a lot of it luster if the Red Sox do something they haven’t done in since 2018 – get off to a great start.

That team won 17 of its first 19 games.

And other than 10 days in which they were a half-game or full-game back of the Yankees, they never looked back.

In 2019, they were 6-13 through 19 games. In 2020, they were 6-13 through 19 games and 6-18 through 24 games.

Both dreadful, non-competitive seasons.

While this 2021 Red Sox team appears to be a leg up on last year’s squad, there are holes and question marks galore.

But that isn’t an excuse fans will accept, not after the last two epically slow starts.

The Red Sox need to show some spunk beginning today.

And they need to do that for another three-plus weeks after that.

With the Red Sox losing their ace for at least a few days, this won’t be easy. Everything, especially winning, starts in the five-man pitching rotation.

Cora is going to have to get creative and push those same buttons he pushed two years ago when he had the Midas touch.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) the Red Sox have a unique opportunity to add some fans.

The Celtics and Bruins fandom, as we speak, are not happy. Their teams, after nice starts, are flat, uninspired and losing too much.

Six of the first nine games are against the Orioles, which are ranked, unofficially of course, 29th out of 30 major league teams today.

That’s an ample and early opportunity to get some good karma around here, which we are in need of.

This is no April Fool’s joke. The Red Sox had better be better than we think they are in April … or else.

* WEEI.com

LeBron James officially joins Red Sox ownership, becoming team’s first Black owner

Alex Reimer

LeBron James is officially a member of Red Sox brass. The all-time great will become part of Fenway Sports Group’s ownership group along with his longtime friend and associate Maverick Carter.

Fenway Sports Group is the parent company of the Red Sox and Liverpool F.C. James, who first signed a partnership with FSG in 2011, previously owned shares of Liverpool.

FSG will also receive an infusion of cash from a private investment firm.

“We are pleased to welcome to our ownership group LeBron, Maverick and Paul (Wachter), with whom we have enjoyed successful collaboration for over a decade,” Red Sox principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner said in a statement. “Their addition is an important milestone for FSG and expands and deepens a longtime friendship and relationship.”

James and Carter will become the first Black owners in Red Sox history, a milestone James addressed earlier this month.

“I think for me and my partner, Maverick, to be the first two Black men to be a part of that ownership group and history of that franchise, I think it’s pretty damn cool,” James told reporters.

The Red Sox were the last MLB team to integrate, infamously passing up opportunities to sign and Willie Mays — at least according to legend. James joining the team’s ownership is a transcendent moment in franchise history. It could lead to him buying his own team one day.

Currently, Michael Jordan is the only Black principal owner in the major sports leagues.

“My goal is to own an NBA franchise,” James said to reporters recently. “It’ll happen sooner than later.”

Kevin Youkilis admits he'll probably be homer as Red Sox analyst

Alex Reimer

Kevin Youkilis is upfront about whom he’ll be rooting for this season while sitting in NESN’s studios: the hometown nine.

On a Zoom call Wednesday, the Greek God of Walks admitted he’ll probably support the Red Sox from behind the desk. “I’ll probably be a homer,” he said. “I’m not going to lie to you.”

Youkilis is one of four new NESN analysts this season, along with Ellis Burks, Mo Vaughn and Jonathan Papelbon. The first three were present for the Zoom session.

When asked about why he was deciding to pursue TV, Youkilis joked it was too prove he doesn’t have a face for radio.

He says he can be both biased and insightful.

“You can still be a homer and analyze,” Youkilis said. “When you have to analyze a situation, fans are drawn into people in the broadcast booth or analysts within the game for certain reasons. But we have the ability, when a player makes a mistake, it’s probably more of a mental mistake than physical mistake. So if we can walk through why these mistakes are made, it’s probably better for the fans.”

“Youk” was a fan favorite around these parts, batting .287 with an .875 OPS in nine seasons with the Red Sox. He was an integral part of the 2007 championship team, and one of Theo Epstein’s most-heralded draft picks.

Given Youkilis’ place in the analytics movement — he’s a central early character in Michael Lewis’ “” — it was interesting to hear his thoughts on the current state of baseball, where the three true outcomes reign.

In a possible preview of his studio work, he defended the game’s direction, and said it’s always changing.

“The game always evolves in different ways,” Youkilis said. “If you love this game, you’ve just go to adapt with it.”

What I have learned about these Red Sox

Rob Bradford

Before boarding the flight to Boston Tuesday, Alex Cora neatly summed up the Red Sox' 1 1/2 months in Fort Myers.

"We’re ready to play baseball," the Sox manager said. "We have a good baseball team, we do. And obviously we got to go out there and perform. We know there's a division that there's three great teams and one that is on the rise, you know, with their program. And you have to be on point since day one, and I do believe we did an amazing job in spring training. The guys, they bought into the concept of running the bases well and playing good defense and all the stuff that we taught from November until now, we will keep talking about it. But, to put it in an easy way, we have a good baseball team."

Could be.

After witnessing an entire month's worth of spring training baseball while participating in the Red Sox' radio broadcast, I can understand where Cora is coming from. If you base this team's fortunes off what it displayed in the Grapefruit League, there should be some guarded optimism.

And don't think for a second feeling good about yourself heading out of Southwest Florida isn't important. It isn't about the wins and losses, but rather the on-field momentum. Some good Red Sox teams got off to bad starts because of poor late-March play heading into the regular season games, with 2019 serving as the latest example.

Will they go above the 80 1/2 wins Vegas has set for their over-under win total? Will they make a run at the postseason? Will they -- gulp -- actually pull a 2013 and overachieve all the way until late October? Who knows.

All we have to go by is what we have witnessed to date. So, with that in mind, here are some things we learned along the way to Opening Day ...

- First things first, we have to reveal some fun facts picked up on the spring training broadcasts. 1. once filled in for Jonny Most for an early 1980's Celtics game; 2. Hall of Fame Joe also did play-by-play for the Muhammad Ali/Chuck Wepner fight one day before his son was born, asking a bloodied Wepner in the middle of the ring after the epic brawl, "Was it worth it?"; 3. Will Flemming's nickname growing up was "Bones"; 4. Joe also recently received a check for 53 cents as payment for his voice appearing on the 1980's television show "St. Elsewhere".

This was simply about getting Casas immersed into better competition without overwhelming him. His 16 plate appearances (1 hit) was about right considering where he is and how much the Red Sox need to prioritize the likes of Bobby Dalbec, Michael Chavis and Marwin Gonzalez at first base. Watching the 21- year-old it's clear he has a ways to go. The approach -- choking up on the bat, slightly hunched over -- clearly has meaning behind it, but it didn't result in many hard-hit balls this time around.

1. My guess is yes. The dead arm happens to a lot of pitchers in spring training. In this case the timing was simply terrible. (It was also striking to me how many people didn't know what "dead arm" was when Rodriguez experienced it in that two-inning outing; 2. The neck issue last Fall really set back Sale, with his COVID diagnosis not helping either. Sale lost at least a month between the two. The good news is that he will be rehabbing in Boston, with throwing off a mound not too far away. Realistically, we're talking a June or July return; 3. Martinez came on at the very end of camp after struggling mightily on pitches on the outside edge, which was seemingly the only place he was being pitched. It's still not the 2019 swing, but it's hard to bet against him considering the only definitive hiccup was a two-month stretch.

That idea seems unrealistic at the moment. Hernandez struggled throughout spring training locking in on throwing consistent strikes, even in the shortest of stints. He got better toward the end of spring training, but isn't entering the regular season carrying the utmost of confidence when it comes to locking down important late-inning outs.

A tremendous amount of credit should go to Chavis for coming into camp with the kind of athleticism that put him in a different conversation. While keeping his power, the infielder showed the ability to play three of the four infield positions at a much more palatable level. But he didn't leave Fort Myers without some of the same questions he came into town with, still needing to consistently master the high fastball. There were times he rifled the pitch to right-center, but that was in the Grapefruit League. He needs to continue his momentum in Worcester in order to truly change the perception that has been built throughout baseball.

I'm going with third. I think they will be better than people think, and I have a feeling either Toronto or Tampa Bay may hit an unexpected bump in the road.

That story has yet to be told.

Matt Andriese was legitimately one of the best pitchers in camp, flashing a difference-making (which he also taught newcomer ). This could be a sneaky very important Chaim Bloom acquisition.

The Red Sox' chances begin and end on the arms in the starting rotation. That brings us to the most surprising player on the roster: Garrett Richards. He is getting his chance to show he is more than just the Spin-Rate King. If he can emerge into a top-of-the-rotation option, it will go a long way to changing this team's fortunes. If he doesn't, it might mean one too many round of uncertainy.

Fastest: 's translator. Slowest: Darwinzon.

1. Devers; 2. Verdugo; 3. Martinez.

We will have to take their word for it because access is so limited, but it definitely appears to be a much livelier bunch than last year. Some of that is the integrations of bigger personalities, including Verdugo actually participating instead on the outskirts due to his back rehab. But an enormous impetus for the new energy level comes from Cora. We have no idea how that might translate into wins and losses, but the energetic chip-on-our-shoulder mentality can't be a bad thing.

No matter what I answer here, the over/under on times we utter something along the lines of "Jackie would have had that" is about 100. For me, Verdugo is the best centerfielder and I would hesitate moving him around too much, even for the sake of covering ground in right field in Fenway Park. Hunter Renfroe can handle right, and he should also be allowed to navigate his new surroundings. (He does have the best arm of the bunch.) Jarren Duran has potential, but is clearly a step behind those two, running into miscommunication with Renfroe multiple times thanks to indecision/bad routes. He will be good. It's just going to take a little more time.

I felt like they viewed Matt Barnes as the guy all along, and when he came out of the gate touching 98 mph while working a smidge faster, that was only reinforced. That said, Adam Ottavino has been legitimate good, breaking out the same Frisbee slider and 94 mph fastball that got him that Yankees contract. The only caveat is that much of Ottavino's dominance came against B-level players in Grapefruit League action, most of whom were completely overmatched.

My off-the-top-of-my-head answer is Richards. But this allows for the Tanner Houck debate. I got the sense he was putting too much pressure on himself out of the gate in spring training, having invested so much time getting prepared with the likes of Noah Syndergaard and Corey Kluber at Cressey Performance Center. But once he settled down, the hard work has translated into more intrigue. There simply aren't many pitchers in baseball with a slider like the one Houck possesses, with his fastball now getting up to 98 mph. If he can somehow find confidence in that third pitch (a split-fingered fastball) this could be one of the Red Sox' most important surprises.

Some other thoughts/observations ...

- could be a legitimate everyday second baseman in the majors. At least that's what he has shown as a member of the Red Sox. If that's the case than it frees up to Kiké Hernandez to be used as a fail- safe in an uncertain outfield.

- For those making the Franchy Cordero/Wily Mo Pena comparisons, understand that these two don't share the same body types. Pena was stockier and not as athletic. Cordero reminds me a slightly more muscular Jayson Heyward. It's easy to see the intrigue with Cordero, but it's also probably good the Red Sox pick their spots somewhat until they fully figure out what they have. His spring training basically lined up with every scouting report coming in: 18 plate appearances, seven strikeouts, five hits, solid play in the outfield.

- Cora said Hernandez might be the best defensive second baseman in baseball. After watching him I will say this: Kiké is definitely in the conversation.

- Rafael Devers' defensive inconsistency didn't go anywhere. But it certainly does feel like he will be able to hit the ground running offensively more than most years. His 56 spring training plate appearances were the most of his career.

- Marwin Gonzalez is a better defensive player than I thought, and put on really good swings from both side of the plate. But there might be a bit of a learning curve when it comes to playing the left field wall at Fenway. That was a problem on a couple of occasions.

- While Whitlock is clearly slated to help out of the bullpen, if he keeps going down this road the righty could very well become a viable 2022 starting rotation option. Thirty-eight of his 42 minor-league outings came as a starter, and with his newly-discovered changeup such an idea seems more feasible than ever. If nothing else, his frame and delivery certainly look the part.

- Did I mention Joe Castiglione once filled in for Jonny Most?

Red Sox reliever Hirokazu Sawamura explains the culture shock supplied by Alex Cora

Rob Bradford

It has been a month of adjustments for Hirokazu Sawamura.

There was new baseball. The new mound. The new . And even the new mentality.

"Here in America they really focus on your strength instead of your weaknesses," Sawamura told WEEI.com. "But in Japan, unlike America, they really focus on your weakness and you try and work on your weaknesses and make them your strength. But here they don’t care about your weaknesses. They focus on the strength and make the strength more of a strength and build up your confidence."

In an interview conducted in his native language, Sawamura went into greater detail regarding the differences between the approach he came from and the one he was not adjusting to.

To help illustrate the point, the reliever relayed his experience with Red Sox manager Alex Cora following what was a rocky spring training debut.

After his first two outings (in which he walked three batters each time out), Sawamura rebounded with a string of solid performances.

Flashing a fastball that sits around 96-97 mph, an above-average slider and a hard split-fingered pitch, Sawamura only gave up one hit and two walks over his last three Grapefruit League appearances.

* NBC Sports Boston

10 big questions for 2021 Red Sox ahead of Opening Day

John Tomase

The 2021 Red Sox won't have to clear a particularly high bar to surpass 2020. Finish .500, play a full season, don't make us watch the worst rotation in franchise history and voila: improvement.

Boston fans have been conditioned to demand significantly more, however, thanks in no small part to the Red Sox, who have claimed four World Series titles since 2004. Plenty of fans view the start of each season as a championship-or-bust endeavor.

They should recalibrate their expectations. The Red Sox are beginning a rebuild that they believe will lead to the creation of a sustainable contender, assembled with homegrown talent and augmented by free agent strikes that only a big-market team can afford.

Before they get there, they'll have to take their best shot at 2021. Most prognosticators peg them for 78 to 82 wins, which probably puts them fourth in the American League East behind the Yankees, Blue Jays, and Rays.

"We're ready to play baseball," said manager Alex Cora. "We have a good baseball team. We do."

With the season set to open on Thursday vs. the Orioles, there is a path for the Red Sox to reach the postseason, and it's worth exploring how they might succeed or fail.

So in that spirit, here are the questions and answers that could define the season.

1. What the hell happened to the Red Sox at the end of Spring Training? A little over a week ago, we assumed Eduardo Rodriguez would pitch to Christian Vazquez on Opening Day, followed nine innings later by Matt Barnes closing out the victory. Then Rodriguez experienced a dead arm, Vazquez got drilled in the face with an errant throw during drills, and Barnes seemingly contracted COVID.

This led to a giant scramble, with Nathan Eovaldi being bumped into the Opening Day role for the second straight year, Cora considering replacements for Vazquez behind the plate, and the front office beginning the grim task of quarantining a handful of players and staff while hoping that Barnes' infection didn't spark an outbreak.

That was a week ago. Clarity arrived in the last couple of days, with E-Rod probably headed for a short stint on the injured list, Vazquez awaiting the removal of stitches before officially being cleared to play, and Barnes seeing his positive COVID test tossed after a series of negatives.

The first turn through the rotation won't look like the team envisioned, but the best-laid plans of January often require contingencies in April -- or in this case, March.

2. How bad is Eduardo Rodriguez' injury? When Rodriguez left his March 22 start after two innings that featured diminished velocity, Red Sox fans were right to fear the worst. He hasn't thrown a pitch in an actual big league game in more than 540 days after battling COVD-related myocarditis, and no matter how many times he or the Red Sox proclaim he's healthy, it's hard to believe it until we see it.

Return to form? Rodriguez' spring training ERA (13.2 IP) 2.63

That said, Rodriguez threw a public bullpen over the weekend and sounded positive in a later Zoom interview. Were he badly injured, he wouldn't be throwing off a mound and he wouldn't be conducting interviews. Those are good signs that he's on the road to recovery.

Whether he can hold up for an entire season after not pitching last year is another story, but let's chalk up his current predicament to dead arm and hope that he's back soon.

3. Breaking down the Red Sox 2021 rotation without openers There are no plans to use openers, even during the uncertain first turn through the rotation, which will feature Eovaldi on Thursday vs. the Orioles, followed by Tanner Houck on Saturday (unless Rodriguez is deemed ready to go), Garrett Richards on Sunday, Nick Pivetta on Monday vs. the Rays, and Martin Perez on Tuesday.

Assuming Houck returns to the alternate site once Rodriguez is cleared, the Red Sox should feature better starting depth, whether it's Houck, or fellow right-handers Thaddeus Ward and Connor Seabold.

4. Could the Red Sox bullpen be really good this year? The Red Sox have the makings of a deep bullpen, which is part of the reason they're opening the season with 14 pitchers and only a three-man bench. Now that he's out of COVID protocol, Barnes should close, with veteran right-hander Adam Ottavino and hard-throwing lefty Darwinzon Hernandez the primary setup men.

The Red Sox feature multiple looks, whether it's the power splitter of Japanese import Hirokazu Sawamura, the fastball/slider combo of Rule 5 pick Garrett Whitlock, 95 mph heat from left-hander Josh Taylor, or righty Phillips Valdez deploying his changeup.

Barnes, Ottavino, Darwinzon Hernandez, Whitlock, and Taylor combined to allow only four runs in 33 spring innings. They appear locked in for the start of the season.

5. The Red Sox will be versatile on offense. Should we care? Sort of. Marwin Gonzalez and Kike Hernandez are two of the most versatile players in history, but the ability to play everywhere typically accompanies a reluctance to let them play every day. Neither has ever recorded 500 at-bats in a season, but the Red Sox plan for both to be everyday players, with Hernandez probably splitting his time between second base and center field while leading off, and the switch-hitting Gonzalez seeing significant action in left field and at first base.

Reserve Christian Arroyo can play all over the infield, while 1B-2B-3B-LF Michael Chavis will open the season at the alternate site despite slamming six homers in spring training.

That's a lot of versatility. Versatility is good. Production is better. The Red Sox hope to marry the two.

6. 2021 expectations for Alex Verdugo, Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez The Red Sox offense is built around four hitters: Alex Verdugo, Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez.

Ready to rake Red Sox' MLB rank in team batting average (2020) 3rd

All have the ability to be All-Stars, and each is dangerous in his own way. Verdugo sprays the ball around the park and plays with energy, Devers likes to impersonate a bad-ball-crushing Sr., Bogaerts can impact the game with average, power, and speed, and Martinez is a station-to-station slugger who's capable of hitting .320.

Add Vazquez, who could be an All-Star himself, as well as the possibility of home runs at the bottom of the order in Bobby Dalbec, Hunter Renfroe, and Franchy Cordero, and the Red Sox will be able to beat you in multiple ways.

7. Which Red Sox player will get the most MVP votes? Devers. The 32 homers he hit in 2019 came in the final 125 games, because he slumped in April and didn't hit one for a month. If he avoids the slow start this year, he's 40 homers waiting to happen and that's going to transform the offense.

8. Who's facing the most pressure: Nathan Eovaldi or J.D. Martinez? The former is entering the third year of a $68 million extension that has seen him throw barely 100 innings so far. The Red Sox will go as far as their rotation takes them, and that means getting not only a full season out of Eovaldi, but a productive one. Twenty-two starts with a 4.58 ERA won't cut it.

The latter is coming off a miserable season that he admitted traced in part to not being ready to play in the middle of the pandemic. There are no excuses this year, especially since Martinez knows he wouldn't be here if he had opted out of his contract.

If the Red Sox didn't want him when they believed he could bounce back and slam 30 homers, imagine how they'll feel if he fails to hit fastballs again. His presence in the middle of the lineup is essential to letting everyone else be themselves.

9. Alex Cora is back. What difference will he make? From a culture perspective, Cora is a difference-maker. He had his hands in every level of the organization during his first stint, and that's not going to change now that he's back after serving a one-year suspension for his role in the Astros' sign-stealing scandal.

His greatest impact may come not so much in the dugout, but in preparing the next generation of contributors, whether it's speedy center fielder Jarren Duran, slugging first baseman Triston Casas, or well- rounded second baseman Jeter Downs.

The fact that all three were exposed to Cora's methods and expectations should only help them as they complete their climbs through the minors.

On the field, Cora will demand accountability. He's proven adept at preaching tough love with Rodriguez and providing words of encouragement for Devers. The Red Sox will be prepared. Whether they have the talent to reach the playoffs is another question. Speaking of which...

10. Predicting whether the Red Sox can reach the postseason in 2021 Yes they can, but they'll need some help and more than a little luck. A world where Rodriguez, Eovaldi, and Richards pitch to their ceilings instead of their injury-riddled floors is one in which the Red Sox can compete for a division title.

They'll need at least two of those guys to deliver to be a factor in the wild card race, because the offense should produce enough power to beat up on bad pitching and the bullpen looks like it will do its part.

The playoffs still feel like too big of an ask, thanks primarily to run prevention. Without Jackie Bradley Jr. patrolling center, the defense will suffer. Bogaerts, for all of his offensive strengths, isn't beloved by the defensive metrics. Devers must avoid leading American League third basemen in errors for the fourth straight year.

That's too many questions to view the Red Sox as legitimate contenders. PointsBet has their over-under at 79.5 wins and while they should beat it, it probably won't be by much. Maybe they can eke out 85 wins and remain in the hunt until the final couple of weeks.

After last season, we shouldn't get greedy. Take it and hope that the team's long-term plan means better days are actually on the horizon.

Your guide to Red Sox futures bets entering 2021 season

Tom Giles

With an improved pitching staff and Alex Cora back at manager, the Red Sox are projected to make a jump this year. But that's relative to how bad they were in 2020.

Our friends at PointsBet posted their MLB futures and player props in advance of the season opener. The takeaway: The 2021 Red Sox will win more games but they're a long way from being considered a contender.

Let's start at the very top -- odds provided by our partner, PointsBet Sportsbook.

2021 World Series odds The Red Sox open the season at +5000, tied with the Brewers for the 19th-best odds in baseball. That means a $20 wager on Alex Cora's team would clear $1,000. As for the more realistic options, the Dodgers top the list at +350 to repeat and the Yankees check in right behind them at +550.

2021 American League odds Those rival Yankees, as you'd expect, are the favorites to win the American League pennant at +235. Right behind them are the Sox - as in the White Sox - at +425. You have to scroll down to 10th on this list to find the Red Sox, who check in at +2200.

2021 AL East odds The most glaring reality check lies in the list of odds to win the AL East. With Tampa Bay coming off a World Series appearance and Toronto making key additions headlined by the signing of , Boston finds itself as a distant fourth in the division.

But with that lack of respect comes value. A $20 bet nets $400 if the Red Sox can claim the AL East for the fourth time in the last six years.

YANKEES -304 BLUE JAYS +440 RAYS +600 RED SOX +2000 ORIOLES +10000

2021 win total and postseason odds Those long-shots aside, the most measurable conversations revolve around how many games the 2021 Red Sox will win and whether or not they'll make the playoffs.

PointsBet has set their win total at 79.5 and also has the option of betting on their win percentage (over/under 49.7%). For context, the 2020 Red Sox won just 40% of their games. Over a 162-game schedule, that would have come out to roughly 65 wins.

The oddsmakers essentially have the Sox making a 15-win jump, which they've actually done three times in the last decade (2013, 2016, 2018).

It's also worth noting that a 15-win jump would leave the Red Sox around 80-82, leaving them under .500 and almost certainly out of the playoffs. That shouldn't be much of a surprise, as Boston's odds to make the postseason are +250 and the odds that they miss the playoffs for a third straight year are -400.

In this case, it doesn't help that MLB went back to the 2019 playoff format of three division winners and two Wild Card teams after opening things up to eight teams in each league in 2020.

Player Props As you'd guess, the Red Sox aren't expected to pick up much in terms of regular season awards. But here's where they check-in ahead of the 2021 season.

American League MVP MIKE TROUT +200 (FAVORITE) RAFAEL DEVERS +3300 (T-15TH) XANDER BOGAERTS +3300 (T-15TH) J.D. MARTINEZ +4000 CHRISTIAN VAZQUEZ +5000 ALEX VERDUGO +6000

American League GERRIT COLE +310 (FAVORITE) CHRIS SALE +2500 (T-10TH) EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ +4000 (T-19TH) NATHAN EOVALDI +4000 (T-19TH)

American League Rookie of the Year RANDY AROZARENA +350 (FAVORITE) BOBBY DALBEC +1600 (T-12TH) JETER DOWNS +4000 (T-27TH)

* BostonSportsJournal.com

A breakdown of 2021 Red Sox roster

Sean McAdam

As marketing slogans go, “The 2021 Red Sox: We Won’t Be as Horrendous as We Were Last Year!” doesn’t have much appeal.

And yet, for a team determined to accomplish its rebuild in a measured, incremental way, that’s where the Red Sox stand on the eve of the 2021 MLB season.

Twice already in the last decade, the Red Sox followed last-place finishes the year before with a complete turnaround that saw them finish first the following season, including the logic-defying worst-to-champions accomplishment from 2012-2013.

Spoiler alert: don’t expect that to happen this year.

Rather than splurge at the free agent trough for a quick fix, the Red Sox are instead focused on “sustainability” — constructing an organization, from top to bottom, that can expect to contend for an extended period.

Such an approach takes time, since it requires not only an infusion of talent at the major league level, but also an overhaul of the minor league system which can regularly supply young (and affordable) supplements to the major league roster.

With that model, progress will be measured in more modest steps. Will the 2021 Red Sox be better than a year ago? Almost certainly, if for no other reason that this edition features a competent — if not without flaws — starting rotation, something last year’s club so obviously lacked.

But the quality of the competition in the American League East means that Red Sox’ progress will be moderate. Talent-wise, they’re not in the same class as the Yankees, and both the Rays and Blue Jays are also ahead of them, having begun their own retooling.

One talent evaluator offered this (relatively) sunny outlook: “They’re better today then they were when the spring started. I like the way they’ve come together this quickly. I give Alex (Cora) credit for that. People react to him favorably. They’re going to surprise people. With good health, they could contend. I wouldn’t be shocked.”

A look at the Red Sox’ roster, position-by-position, with observations from a group of evaluators:

ROTATION: Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi, Garrett Richards, Nick Pivetta and Martin Perez.

It doesn’t appear the Red Sox will have to resort to an opener this year. Nor will they turn to Matt Hall or Mike Kickham to make spot starts. Those factors alone suggest an improved rotation. And yet questions abound: How will Rodriguez respond after missing all of last year? Can Eovaldi and Richards remain healthy and finally make good on their elite stuff? Is Pivetta a late-bloomer?

Then there are the wild cards. Tanner Houck, who will pitch the second game of the season, will be a factor. How big and how soon will be dependent on the performance and health of others. Then there’s Chris Sale, who vows to contribute, but given his winter setbacks, probably not before the All-Star break.

Matt Andriese provides a depth option in the bullpen.

SCOUT’S TAKE: “I think they could be more than competent. Health is what you hold your breath on. If you’ve got three or four guys like Houck, then that changes your perception about what they have coming. How much depth do they have? What I like about Richards is he’s a leader and he won’t be afraid to get in guys’ faces if need be. I also like the fact that all the starters have uniquely different styles. I like the diversity of the rotation. It’s a rotation that won’t give you similar looks and I think that’s valuable.”

BULLPEN: Matt Barnes, Adam Ottavino, Hirokazu Sawamura, Darwinzon Hernandez, Josh Taylor, Matt Andriese, Garrett Whitlock, Phillips Valdez, Austin Brice.

Cora has yet to announce whether Barnes or Ottavino will close to start the season. Neither has had much experience (or success, for that matter) in that role, which is troubling. The arrival of Sawamura could be key — as long as he can command his splitter and figure out the MLB strike zone. Hernandez and Taylor need to bounce back after decidedly unimpressive seasons in 2020. The Sox will look to Andriese to provide bulk innings, with the occasional spot start. Whitlock, making a big jump from A, will be fascinating to monitor. His stuff and poise are legit.

SCOUT’S TAKE: “I expect that Sawamura, sooner of later, will show up in closer’s role. With that split, it’s almost inevitable. I know that everyone is worked up about the back end, but that will resolve itself, one way or another. It always does. There’s a lot of different looks here, from stuff to style, and that’s a good thing. I don’t know quite to expect from Ottavino, but I know he’ll compete. Barnes nibbles too much. He can be overpowering at times, but I still have to be convinced trust him in back end. He’s stubborn. Hernandez is kind of an enigma. If it were up to me, he’d be back at Triple A, learning on how to use all three pitches and working on repeating his delivery (as a starter).”

INFIELD: Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, Kiké Hernández, Bobby Dalbec The left side of Devers and Bogaerts returns, and there will plenty of focus on Devers early in the season. Can he get off to a better start? Can he cut down on the carless errors? And what impact will Cora have on him. Quietly, Bogaerts has morphed into the team leader and longest tenured player. His consistency is underrated. Hernandez will be the regular second baseman, but will he be able to handle periodic shuffling to the outfield? Dalbec seems poised for a bust-out season.

SCOUT’S TAKE: “Devers can drive you crazy at times. He can make some plays and also miss some. It looks like he has (mental) lapses at times. Can they live with that? I guess it could be worse. People know Bogaerts for his range, but he makes up for some of that with his knowledge of the league. I like Hernandez at second; I hope they keep him there. I have no concerns about Dalbec as a first baseman, but they should give him some time at third, too, to let him maintain that angle over there.”

OUTFIELD: Franchy Cordero, Alex Verdugo, Hunter Renfroe, J.D. Martinez.

This is the area where the roster has undergone the biggest overhaul. Fourteen months ago, only Martinez was part of this organization and he’ll see limited playing time there, mostly consigned to the DH spot. The Sox are in big trouble if Martinez doesn’t rebound at the plate. With in-game video back and a normal spring training, he’s out of excuses. Verdugo is the most accomplished of the group, but is he being properly utilized in center. Both Cordero and Renfroe come with questions. Cordero is plenty toolsy, but hasn’t been able to stay on the field. It’s unknown what he can provide in left. Renfroe has plus-power and a strong arm, but putting him in charge of right is a big ask. And he’ll need to hit righties better to warrant an everyday spot.

SCOUT’S TAKE: “I like Verdugo a lot. He can play anywhere and he always brings the energy. I expect he’ll benefit from the most from having fans back in the stands. With Renfroe, right field in Fenway is going to be challenge. What they get from Cordero is anyone’s guess; he really hasn’t played enough (at the major league level) to get a good read on him. But my question is, who’s the fourth guy out there and where does he play? Beyond handling the pitching, this will be Alex’s challenge. There’s a potential for al of run production, but I think they need more depth here.”

CATCHING: Christian Vazquez, .

Although it might not seem it, Vazquez has established himself as one of the better two-way catchers in the game and is now a reliable (.800) offensive player. His arm strength was never up for debate. As this is the last guaranteed year on his deal, it will be interesting to see how the Sox value him, especially with Connor Wong developing. Plawecki is that baseball rarity: a dependable No. 2 with the ability to contribute with the bat twice per week.

SCOUT’S TAKE: “I like the tandem. When you look around both leagues, I’m not sure there’s many that are better. Vazquez can get a little sloppy (catching) one-handed, but he’s athletic and quick and he can get to balls. I think he’s gotten better as a game-caller. He may not be a Gold Glover, but he’s solid back there, day-in and day-out. I hope Plawecki gets enough at-bats to keep his rhythm. His defense is average but consistent. He’s accepted (the No. 2 role), and that’s big.”

BENCH: Marwin Gonzalez, Christian Arroyo.

One of the perils of a 14-man staff is that it leaves you with just a three-man bench for position players (two, really, if you consider one of limited to catching). Gonzalez is a veteran who figures to have a strong clubhouse presence, with the ability to help out all over the infield and the corner spots in the outfield. His offensive drop-off since leaving Houston, however, is both alarming and suspicious. Arroyo is getting a chance with his fourth organization. Cora has remarked about his athleticism and likes his potential to slug while helping out up the middle.

SCOUT’S TAKE: “With both of these guys, you’re going to get some dangerous at-bats off the bench. I think Arroyo is, at best, average at second, so if you’re losing him late (in games), are you gaining or losing defense? With Marwin, you have to be careful not to over-expose him. Used properly, he can be dangerous and diverse.”

Fearless predictions and odd musings about the 2021 MLB season

Sean McAdam

Here we go, again. This time with (what we hope is) a 162-game season. And, thankfully, with fans in the stands.

Here’s how I see the 2021 season unfolding:

AL EAST

New York Yankees. The best starter in the league and a deep, powerful lineup. The rotation is suspect and the bullpen depth isn’t what it was. But still the best in the East. Tampa Bay Rays. The loss of key two starting pitchers will be felt, but the Rays seem to churn out pitchers regardless of the challenges. And they’re almost always better than they’re supposed to be. . A strong offseason has been offset by an injury-plagued spring. George Springer and Marcus Semien make the lineup stronger, but beyond Hyun-Jin Ru, the rotation is weak. Red Sox. At the very least, they’ll be more competitive and entertaining. They’ll score plenty of runs, per usual, but the pitching is very much a question mark. . Could well be the worst team in the league. The rebuild is, predictably, taking a long time.

AL CENTRAL

Chicago White Sox. This isn’t just a baseball team; it’s a sociological experiment. Can a 77-year-old man come out of retirement and related to players young enough to be his grandchildren? Certainly, he’s been given a lot of talent with which to work. . At this point, the regular season is just a pretext. The real test will come in October, when the Twins will attempt to snap a postseason losing streak that has now stretched 17 years and 18 losses. Indians. After being one of the more consistent teams in the game over the last half-dozen years, the Indians have stripped things back. Think good thoughts for . Kansas City Royals. Give the Royals credit — with a series of busy (if modest in cost) moves, they’re at least trying to win. . The Tigers have a lot of quality young arms, but they’ll take their lumps until they figure things out.

AL WEST

Los Angeles Angels. It would be nice to see both Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani in the postseason, would it not? Improved pitching and overall depth could make it happen. Houston Astros. The top half of the lineup is still fearsome, but the rotation is highly suspect and can only do so much. Oakland A’s. The A’s have reinvented themselves once again. Chances are, they’ll be better than expected; if not, they’ll simply sell at the deadline and start again. . One of these years, the longest playoff drought in North American sports will come to an end. This, however, is not that year. . Joey Gallo will be fun to watch. Beyond that, there’s not a lot to recommend here. Good thing they’ve got that new ballpark. AL WILD CARDS: Tampa Bay, Minnesota AL CHAMPS: Chicago over New York

AL AWARDS

MVP: Shohei Ohtani CY YOUNG: Lucas Giolito ROOKIE: Bobby Dalbec MANAGER OF THE YEAR:

NL EAST

Atlanta Braves. The Braves could well be the second-best team in the game. But for that to mean anything, they’ll have to do something they couldn’t do last October: get past the Dodgers. New York Mets. Expectations are sky high, and traditionally, that’s meant trouble for this franchise. A slow start could cost manager dearly. Washington Nationals. Like the Red Sox last year, it seems hard to believe that the Nats were world champs just two seasons ago. They’ll be better, but likely not good enough in a tough, deep division. Philadelphia Phillies. Dave Dombrowski has already left his mark in a short time, but the pitching isn’t nearly good enough to be a factor. Marlins. Speaking of hard-to-believe: the Marlins were in the postseason last year. Really. I checked.

NL CENTRAL

Milwaukee Brewers. This team has a lot of question marks, but if Christian Yelich can return to form, that alone could be enough to take the game’s worst division. St. Louis Cardinals. Nolan Arenado makes them more compelling, but there are too many holes to see a path to the postseason. Chicago Cubs. No one ever accused Theo Epstein of being stupid. With a rebuild in place and the uncertainty created by a number of veterans in walk years, it appears he got out at just the right time. Cincinnati Reds. At least they have Luis Castillo to watch every five days. . One of the game’s most beautiful ballparks will host one of the game’s most anonymous teams.

NL WEST

Los Angeles Dodgers. Go ahead, try to spot the weakness on this roster. We’ll wait. San Diego Padres. The Padres spent a lot of money and make a lot of moves to close the gap, but they’re still not as good as their neighbors to the north. Arizona Diamondbacks. Though they’ve got some talented players, the D’backs find themselves caught behind two powerhouses. San Francisco Giants. Mike Yastrzemski and the return of Buster Posey will make them interesting. But nothing will make them relevant in this division. Colorado Rockies. Like the Red Sox a year ago, they’ve traded their franchise player. Unlike the Red Sox, however, they’re continuing to pay much of his salary. NL WILD CARDS: San Diego, New York NL CHAMPIONS: Los Angeles over San Diego

WORLD SERIES: Los Angeles over Chicago

NL AWARDS

NL MVP: Juan Soto NL CY YOUNG: Jack Flaherty NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Ke’Bryan Hayes NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Jayce Tingler

* The Athletic

Red Sox season preview: Key questions facing a retooled team, plus our predictions

Jen McCaffrey

As the Red Sox embark on the 2021 season Thursday, there will be plenty of hurdles to leap — from Alex Cora’s managerial return to a division deep with talent. After a brutal year last year on and off the field, the beginning of this season feels like a fresh start in more ways than one.

A COVID-19 scare this past weekend could have created an Opening Day roster headache for the Red Sox over the final days of camp. But Matt Barnes’ test was deemed a “non-infectious positive” on Monday and he and eight others who’d been isolated from camp returned to the team later that day. It underlined how precarious the situation with the virus still is and how teams need to remain cautious, especially as they begin to travel more frequently.

While it’d be difficult for this season to be worse than last, the Red Sox still face plenty of challenges, including Chris Sale’s Tommy John recovery and Eduardo Rodriguez’s delayed start to the year. The Red Sox could benefit from a strong start this year — and playing six of their first nine games against the Orioles will likely help with that.

The Opening Day roster bears little meaning because there will be so many moving parts over the next few weeks, but here’s how our Chad Jennings sees Thursday’s lineup shaping up against Orioles lefty starter John Means:

Lineup 2B Kiké Hernández CF Alex Verdugo DH J.D. Martinez SS Xander Bogaerts 3B Rafael Devers RF Hunter Renfroe LF Marwin Gonzalez C Christian Vázquez 1B Bobby Dalbec

Rotation RHP Nathan Eovaldi RHP Tanner Houck RHP Garrett Richards RHP Nick Pivetta LHP Martín Pérez

Bench LF Franchy Cordero 2B/SS Christian Arroyo C Kevin Plawecki

Bullpen RHP Matt Barnes RHP Adam Ottavino RHP Hirokazu Sawamura LHP Darwinzon Hernandez LHP Josh Taylor RHP Matt Andriese RHP Garrett Whitlock RHP Austin Brice RHP Phillips Valdéz

Unlikely to be available opening day

LHP Eduardo Rodriguez, RHP

Key alternate site players:

INF Michael Chavis, INF Jonathan Arauz, RHP Colten Brewer, C Connor Wong

Key questions Will J.D. Martinez bounce back after an awful 2020?

I’m going to play it conservatively on this one. I don’t think Martinez is going to hit .200 again like he did last year, but I’m not sure he’s the .950 OPS hitter anymore. That doesn’t mean he’s not going to hit, I just think it’ll be a bit below that 2018-19 season when he was in his prime. There has been a lot of talk about the lack of video last year affecting him, and he’ll surely benefit from having that back this year.

But I think what’s getting overlooked is that he’s getting older. This isn’t to say he’s in steep decline because of age. I think last year was an outlier. Still, it’s only natural to drop off a bit. He turns 34 this summer and has talked at points throughout the spring about needing extra work in the training room to loosen his shoulder and taking better care of his body overall. He’s said he wants to be more intentional about that aspect of his preparation, that he needs to put in more time in that area and can’t just show up ready to go. I do think he’ll have a bit of a chip on his shoulder this year to prove that he’s still got plenty of power left, and maybe that will drive up his numbers.

Martinez talked at length about his work this winter rebuilding his swing and figuring out what was off last year. FanGraphs has him hitting .264 with an .826 OPS and 27 homers. I think he’ll hit slightly better than that, but I’m not expecting him to be the .300 hitter with an OPS near 1.000 that he was in 2018 and 2019.

When should we expect Chris Sale to be back?

The Red Sox continue to give the vague timeline of a midseason return for Sale. At this point, it’s trending to be a post All-Star break return. The lefty, who turned 32 this week, is officially one year removed from surgery, but did deal with a few setbacks along the way, including a neck muscle/nerve issue in December and a COVID-19 diagnosis in January. He has yet to throw off a mound, but is throwing on flat ground. Pitching offered some insight into the monotony of recovery.

“They’re not exciting milestones,” Bush said. “It’s moving from three days a week throwing to four, from four to five, from 90 feet to 120 feet, then from long toss to some mound work, from 10 pitches on the mound to 15. It’s not a glamorous progression. There are very few high-intensity moments where you say, ‘Wow this is a big step.’”

One interesting note for Sale is that he’s returning to Boston with the team when the season starts and will continue his rehab, strength and conditioning with the medical team in Boston. The Red Sox clearly want him around the club and perhaps want to keep a close eye on his progress.

Who will be the closer?

The Barnes situation over the weekend seemed to indicate Ottavino would take over the ninth, but now that Barnes is back, Cora said he’s still not ready to name a closer.

Whichever pitcher gets the ninth, the other will take over the eighth inning setup duties. Sawamura, Hernandez and Taylor figure to slot into late-inning roles with Brice and Valdez in the middle innings. Whitlock and Andriese give the bullpen length, but if Whitlock continues the performance he put up this spring, he might get higher leverage spots as the season progresses.

Cora wants to stick with 14 pitchers and 12 position players in order to give the pitching staff as much depth as possible. The flexibility of Marwin Gonzalez and Kiké Hernandez to play so many positions allow him do that.

Will Jarren Duran have an impact this season?

I think so, but don’t expect to see him for a couple of months. He’s already been reassigned to minor league camp, meaning he’ll stay in Florida and continue on with minor league spring training, which begins on Friday in Fort Myers.

Duran played in 24 of the team’s 28 Grapefruit League games this spring, showing that they’re trying to maximize his playing time. Other than his stretch at the alternate site last summer and the month or so in the Puerto Rican winter league, Duran has been starved for daily reps, especially in the outfield. As a player who only converted full-time from second base to the outfield in 2019, the daily outfield reps will help with reads off the bat and positioning. It was apparent at points this spring that he needs work in that area.

At the plate, he continued to show the power he developed last season with his swing change. Of his 16 hits, 10 were extra-base hits with six doubles, a triple and three homers. He only drew two walks though, compared to 19 strikeouts. We always say not to read into spring numbers, but in his case, continuing to show that kind of power after redeveloping the swing last year is a good sign. All of this is to say, he’s an exciting player to watch and he’ll likely be a main attraction at Polar Park in Worcester once their season starts in May. If all goes well, he could be in Boston by early July.

Is whatever’s going on with Rodriguez a big deal?

After a very strong spring, Rodriguez is working his way back from a “dead arm” issue he experienced in his final start on March 22. He’s thrown a few bullpens since, but the Red Sox scratched him from the opening day start and Cora said it’s very likely he begins the year on the injury list. Originally there was some thought Rodriguez might be able to make the fourth or fifth start of the season early next week, but the Red Sox don’t want to push him.

“We’re running out of time and you’ve got to go through the progression with him,” Cora said. “We’re not going to cut a few things just to have him.”

It seems like the Red Sox are understandably being extra safe with Rodriguez given the myocarditis he battled last summer. Rodriguez pitched well this spring with four earned runs allowed in four starts over 13 ⅔ innings. He walked two and struck out 15. It’s never a good idea to read much into spring numbers, but in Rodriguez’s case, it was promising to see that kind of return to the mound. That said, it’s not uncommon for pitchers to experience fatigue at the end of camp. In this instance, it’s better to err on the side of caution and let Rodriguez debut a week or two into the season rather than push him for the sake of it right from the get-go.

“We aren’t going to rush him,” Cora said. “He’s an important part of what we’re trying to accomplish and for what he went through last year, his body, the testing that we do after bullpens and the next day will dictate what we do in the near future. But we’re comfortable that this is something that’s not going to take long, but we just have to be smart with it.”

Is Franchy Cordero ready to play a major role?

Cordero didn’t arrive at camp until March 11 following the Andrew Benintendi trade and a COVID-19 delay in the Dominican Republic. At the time, there seemed to be little chance Cordero would be ready for the opener, but he surprised the Red Sox and ramped up quickly.

In six games, he recorded five hits, including a triple and a homer, though he did strike out seven times. He’s expected to make the roster and potentially be the primary left fielder against right-handed pitching.

Cordero does have a lengthy injury history, though, and with him, it’s never been about his talent; it’s been a question of whether he can stay on the field.

Will Bobby Dalbec set a Red Sox rookie record for homers?

With eight homers in 23 games last season and another seven in 19 spring training games this year, Dalbec certainly has put himself in that conversation. The Red Sox rookie record for homers is 34, set by Walt Droppo in 1950. hit 31 his rookie year in 1939 and hit 30 in 1997. That’s it — just three Red Sox rookies with 30 or more homers. Dalbec has as good a chance as any Red Sox rookie in recent memory of eclipsing that record. For what it’s worth, the major league record for homers by a rookie is 53, set by the Mets’ Pete Alonso in 2019. The Yankees’ Aaron Judge holds the American League record with 52 in 2017.

Season prediction: 85-77, 3rd place, no playoff spot.

This may be far too optimistic, but I feel like if you’re reading this and eagerly anticipating the season, you need a little optimism, right? That said, while it might be optimistic, I don’t think it’s a wildly unrealistic prediction. This team isn’t perfect. It is not going to win the division. But the Red Sox are far more interesting and competitive than they were last year. They have much more depth and versatility, which are words we’ve used ad nauseam this spring. We’ll finally get a chance to see if that versatility offers real- world benefits soon. The Red Sox have a fairly strong lineup, but there are questions with the rotation. Health will likely be a determining factor in how the Red Sox fare this season, but if they stay mostly healthy, they could finish in the mid-80s win range. Is that enough to squeak into a wild card spot? Probably not. The Twins, White Sox, Rays and Jays all appear to be in contention for wild card spots, too. But who knows? That’s why they play the games.

Red Sox starting pitching looks bad. So can Alex Cora fix this team? 9 takeaways

Steve Buckley

On April 12, 1967, with the Boston Red Sox having already been dismissed as 100-to-1 long shots to win the American League pennant, a gallant gathering of 8,324 filed into chilly Fenway Park to watch the hometown nine post a 5-4 Opening Day victory over the .

And so began what came to be known as the Impossible Dream. Baseball would never be the same in Boston, and never again would there be an empty seat on Opening Day.

Or so we thought. But the pandemic is still the pandemic, and because of that Fenway Park will be reduced to 12 percent capacity Thursday afternoon when the Red Sox host the Baltimore Orioles in what will be the smallest Opening Day crowd since ’67, when ’s four RBIs — including a three-run homer off ChiSox right-hander John Buzhardt — got the season off to a good start. (I’m not counting last year, when no fans were allowed inside Fenway.)

Opening Day doesn’t make or break a season, of course. Of the four editions of the Red Sox that have won the World Series this century, three lost the first game of the season.

What we can agree on is that as the season progresses and larger crowds are invited into Fenway, it would help if the Red Sox gave people a reason to show up. Are you ready for some baseball? Since Fenway ground rules won’t allow you access to the bullpen to do some light tossing, here are some observations about the Red Sox to warm you up for the season.

1. The Alex Cora Factor To borrow a stock market term, the fact that Boston baseball fans seem to be all in on Alex Cora’s return as manager is a leading indicator that interest in the Red Sox remains high.

Allow me to elaborate. Though my polling is decidedly unscientific, it appears Sox fans are overwhelmingly supportive of the decision to give Cora a second chance to manage the Red Sox. If interest in the Sox was really and truly down, especially after the Mookie Betts trade and the scrapheap of a 2020 season that followed, it’d be easy for Sox fans to use the return of Cora as just another reason to dump on the team.

That’s not happening. Part of this is because Cora banked a ton of goodwill in 2018 — not just because of the championship but because he presented himself as a youngish guy with a folksy, old-school manner. And his willingness to admit mistakes was refreshing.

The sign-stealing gimmick in which he participated as bench coach of the 2017 Houston Astros — good Lord, banging on trash barrels — was reprehensible. The price he’s paid is that his one-year suspension is now cemented to his resume. But Leo Durocher was suspended for the 1947 season, and he’s in the Hall of Fame. So Cora, like The Lip, merits a chance to make things right. Red Sox fans are giving him that.

2. The starting pitching really is bad It’s as though baseball writers throughout North America held a meeting during spring training and passed a rule: You have to pick the Red Sox to go 80-82 or 82-80. That’s it, one or the other. No exceptions. The reason most prognosticators are laying out a six-month win-one-lose-one path for the Red Sox is obvious: The team has a good lineup that will produce runs but a makeshift starting rotation that’s going to give up a lot of runs. As a result, look for a lot of lacrosse scores this season.

Nobody’s expecting the Red Sox to pull a 1971 Orioles and produce four 20-game winners (Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar and Pat Dobson, if you’re keeping score at home) because that’s simply not ever going to happen again. The game has changed. I doubt we’ll even see two 20-game winners on the Red Sox, which happened in 2002 with Pedro Martinez (20-4, 2.26) and (21-8, 2.58). But even assuming lefty Eduardo Rodriguez makes a full return and becomes ace-like, after that it’s hoping Nathan Eovaldi can stay healthy for an entire season, hoping Garrett Richards builds on the comeback he mounted with the Padres last season after Tommy John surgery, hoping 24-year-old Tanner Houck is ready for the big time … and so on.

It’s that last one that should excite Red Sox fans, especially after the kid pitched 4 1/3 shutout innings against the Braves on Monday.

One of the cool things about being able to do your own multiple replays on high-def television is watching a really good, sweeping slider, as we’ve seen from Houck. Wish we had that technology to review knuckleballs when was in his prime.

3. And what about the defense? It’s great that Theo Epstein has taken his considerable talents to MLB Headquarters to help bring more snap, crackle and pop to baseball. As he told Jayson Stark and on The Athletic’s “Starkville” podcast, “We want to see more athleticism on display.” Here’s one way to help achieve that goal without focus groups and rule changes: Play better defense.

That’s something people will be monitoring with the Red Sox this season. To be more specific, members of the “Jackie Bradley Jr. is the Greatest Defensive Center Fielder in Red Sox History Society” reserve the right to say, “Jackie woulda had it” any time this season we see deep flies bouncing around out in the triangle. Don’t let anyone say you’re not allowed to do that. You can do that. Talk. Talk about good defense. Talk about bad defense.

4. Meanwhile at third base … was a Hall of Fame-bound hitter from the moment he arrived in the big leagues. But he worked tirelessly over the years to hone his skills at third base, finally winning a couple of Gold Gloves late in his career after he joined the Yankees. But he definitely played Gold Glove-caliber defense for the Red Sox, and that’s what counts.

So … Rafael Devers. It’s likely the third baseman hasn’t come close to submitting his best season, even though in 2019 he had 32 home runs, 115 RBIs and a .311/.361/.555 slash line, but his defense needs to get better. Much better. And while Devers might turn out to be the biggest beneficiary of Cora II, the manager needs to call out his third baseman if the defense isn’t there.

5. Ron Roenicke is Red Sox royalty Forced into an impossible role in 2020 — asked to run a dispirited, broken-down team — Roenicke was more administrator than manager. But he kept his composure throughout the debacle, then was edged out the door so that the team could conduct a “search” for a new manager.

Roenicke had been bench coach for the 2018 Red Sox. Whenever that team is brought back to Fenway for reunions is when Sox fans should give this man a two-minute standing ovation.

6. Ellis Burks and his Eck-like path to Boston NESN created plenty of buzz when it announced it was adding Ellis Burks, Mo Vaughn, Kevin Youkilis and Jonathan Papelbon to its Red Sox coverage. Solid choices, all of them. But while Vaughn, Youkilis and Papelbon had their best seasons as members of the Red Sox, Burks falls into a different category. He came up with the Red Sox and was an emerging star — he received MVP votes and won a Gold Glove in 1990 — but is probably better known for his years with the Rockies and Giants.

As I was thinking about Burks the other day, it occurred to me that his return to Boston is not unlike ’s. The Eck had some fine seasons with the Sox early in his career, became a star with the Oakland A’s, returned to the Red Sox in 1998 to close out his career, then emerged as a NESN star.

Burks had those promising early seasons with the Red Sox but spent the majority of his 18-year stint in the majors elsewhere before, like Eckersley, he returned to the Sox in 2004 to close out his career. He won’t be going to the Hall of Fame, as Eckersley did, but he is going to NESN.

Burks, like Vaughn, is a glorious maybe in Red Sox history. Had they remained with the Red Sox, had they not suffered injuries, they might have merited Cooperstown consideration. Still, they had fine careers for which they should be proud. And they are going to rock on NESN.

7. Anniversaries for Pedro, Eck Opening Day will mark the 23rd anniversary of Pedro Martinez’s first game as a member of the Red Sox as well as Eckersley’s first game in his return to the Red Sox.

It was April 1, 1998, Opening Day, and Martinez allowed just three hits in seven shutout innings (11 strikeouts, two walks) in a 2-0 Sox victory at the Oakland A’s. Eckersley, whose age had finally caught up with his uniform number — 43, relieved Martinez and worked two-thirds of an inning, allowing a single by former A’s teammate , who, like Martinez and the Eck, wound up in the Hall of Fame.

It’s eye-popping to see Pedro Martinez and Dennis Eckersley as teammates in the same box score.

8. Not cleaning up the streets Kudos to the city of Boston for making things right with the Fenway Park street vendors. As you’ll recall, the city wanted to bar these over-the-wall vendors from selling their wares for the first couple of months of the season in deference to ongoing social-distancing guidelines. But the vendors had a lawyer, Glen Hannington, and they also had a supportive member of the Boston City Council in Michael Flaherty.

“Fenway Park is more than just a stadium, it’s a game-day experience for that entire area,” Flaherty told me Tuesday. “It would not be right for these vendors not to be there — on Opening Day and every other day of the season. Many of these vendors are multi-generational family businesses which are exactly what we should be prioritizing in our return to business following the pandemic.”

I’m not naive: While many vendors are out there trying to make a few extra bucks, some of them have done very, very well for themselves over the years. But try to imagine arriving in the area around Fenway Park and not being able to do business with The Sausage King on the corner of Lansdowne and Brookline.

As we continue our slow, albeit sometimes bumpy climb out of the pandemic and look forward to some form of normalcy, it’s understandable that decision-makers would want to keep safety as a top priority. But the city’s initial announcement was an overreach, and it has been fixed: Licensed street vendors who hawk hot dogs, sausages, peanuts and other ballpark fare will be back at it on Opening Day, provided they adhere to established guidelines.

Flaherty is proud to note he was at Fenway Park in 1979 for ’s 3,000th career hit. The Southie kid was 10 years old.

“My father took my brother John and me,” Flaherty said. “On the way in, we bought this program that had a whole profile on Yastrzemski.”

9. Prediction time My forecast for the Red Sox: 82-80.

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Trout ranks 10th in MLB jersey sales, behind Kiké Hernández

NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Trout, the consensus best player in baseball, ranked just 10th on the list of top- selling jerseys released Wednesday by Major League Baseball, behind even Boston Red Sox utility player Kiké Hernández.

Trout had the league’s fourth best-selling uniform two years ago, but the three-time MVP has slipped behind players that recently have starred in the postseason or changed teams. Trout’s Los Angeles Angels haven’t made the playoffs since 2014, and the 29-year-old signed a $426.5 million, 12-year deal to remain with them before the 2019 season.

Hernández is no slouch as a player, but his stat line hardly suggests he’d have baseball’s ninth most popular jersey. He batted .240 with 68 homers and had valuable defensive versatility over six seasons with the reigning World Series champion Dodgers, but his placement more likely reflects the charisma and colorful antics that made him a fan favorite in Los Angeles. The 29-year-old apparently has generated buzz in Boston since signing a $14 million, two-year deal this offseason. His jersey sales total includes both Boston and LA uniforms.

Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts retained the top spot, with teammate Cody Bellinger second. Los Angeles also placed left-hander Clayton Kershaw (fifth) and shortstop Corey Seager (13th) on the list.

San Diego shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. ranked third. The 22-year-old signed a $340 million, 14-year deal with the Padres this spring, setting up the budding superstar to spend most or all of his career there. T

Bryce Harper of the Phillies ranked fourth, two years removed from leading the list after he left the Washington Nationals to sign a $330 million, 13-year deal with Philadelphia. Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge, also a former top jersey seller, ranked sixth.

The New York Mets have three players in the top 20, led by new shortstop Francisco Lindor at No. 8. The Mets acquired Lindor from the via trade this offseason and have been trying to sign him to a long-term deal before he can become a free agent after the season. Lindor has said he won’t negotiate once the season starts. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom ranked 18th and slugger Pete Alonso was 20th.

Nolan Arenado also cracked the list after changing teams, appearing at No. 11 after being traded from the Colorado Rockies to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Just a few years after dominating the list, the Chicago Cubs have only one player in the top 20 — shortstop Javier Báez at No. 12. Teammates Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant previously ranked among the league leaders in jersey sales, but fan interest has waned with all three players eligible for free agency after the 2021 season.

Reigning NL MVP Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves ranked 17th, with teammate Ronald Acuña Jr. seventh. AL MVP Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox did not make the list, nor did NL Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer (formerly Cincinnati Reds, now Dodgers) or AL winner Shane Bieber (Cleveland Indians).