BOSTON — David Ortiz could only carry the Red Sox’s offense so far.
A lot went wrong for the Red Sox this season as the club stumbled to a 71-91 record. The biggest issue from start to finish was the offense, which lingered near the bottom of the league in several categories.
“Offensively, we’re still poor. Offensively, you saw the results,” Ortiz said Thursday after visiting with pediatric patients at Massachusetts General Hospital. “It’s not a secret to anyone that we need some thunder. We need some thunder, and it’s just what it is. We lost a lot of games — one-run games — and they know and everybody knows that we need to increase our offense.”
The Red Sox led the majors in runs scored last season (853) en route to an American League East crown and a World Series title. The story was far different this season, as Boston ranked 11th in the AL in runs (634), 13th in average (.244) and 13th in OPS (.684). Key hits were elusive.
The Red Sox front office, recognizing the team’s biggest flaw, prioritized adding offensive firepower at the Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline. Boston acquired Yoenis Cespedes and Allen Craig from the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals, respectively, before then signing Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo to a seven-year, $72.5 million contract less than a month later.
Cespedes performed well, Castillo showed promise in 10 major league games, Xander Bogaerts turned things around and Mookie Betts looked dynamic. Some good things happened. But Boston’s offense, collectively, didn’t dramatically improve down the stretch, creating questions as to whether next season could yield more frustration.
“We’ve got to fix things. We’ve got to secure the offense, got to be there,” Ortiz said. “This is a division where if you’ve got no offense, you’re not going to get away with like you get away with sometimes in some other divisions. This is a division that you definitely need offense.”
Ortiz was the one invariant in 2014. As pieces shifted around and production fluctuated, Ortiz continued to thrive, putting together a franchise-record eighth season of 30+ homers and 100+ RBIs. Ortiz will turn 39 years old in November, though, so it’s reasonable to wonder just how long he can sustain his high level of success. The burden of being the guy amid an inconsistent unit clearly is taking its toll.
“In my case, I can tell you this was a tough year. I ended up putting up good numbers, but I felt the pressure more than ever this year because it seems like you’re not getting any younger, everybody’s bringing their best right at you and, at my age, it’s kind of hard to keep up with it,” Ortiz said. “I don’t know how I figured it out, but it’s not an easy thing to do. Hopefully being back and being healthy and knowing what we are capable to do, we’ll come back, bounce back next year and put up a good season together.”
Ortiz expressed faith in the Red Sox front office’s ability to build a contender for 2015. The nine-time All-Star obviously will be an integral part of Boston’s rebound effort, but this season showed the man needs help.
Photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
