The Boston Red Sox return the bulk of their roster from last year’s World Series championship team. But the 2019 edition of the Sox are not embarking on a new season without their fair share of questions, the biggest of which undoubtedly is the bullpen.
Craig Kimbrel and Joe Kelly each have departed, with the former still sitting on the free agent market and latter now a Los Angeles Dodger.
Manager Alex Cora announced the relievers Boston will open the season with, and it doesn’t quite have the name recognition or star power that some rival pens — like, say, the New York Yankees — possess.
Red Sox relievers have combined for just 15 career saves, 13 of those belonging to Tyler Thornburg, who still is fighting his way back from thoracic outlet syndrome, which claimed his entire 2017 season.
But Cora has been adamant of his confidence in the bunch Boston is heading into the season with, and it seems the relievers themselves have a massive chip on their shoulder, shrugging off the questions floating around them.
“We don’t give a crap,” Heath Hembree told the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato earlier in spring training. The 30-year-old then went on to peg an interesting label on Boston’s bullpen.
“We consider ourselves the offensive linemen of baseball.”
Matt Barnes, who, along with Ryan Brasier, is expected to close out the bulk of games in 2019, likes the moniker.
“The offensive line is incredibly important part of the team that often doesn’t get as much credit as other portions of the team,” Barnes said. “I feel like there’s a lot of time when we’re the ones doubted the most, is how I’ll say it.
“We don’t mind it at all. We go out there with a chip on our shoulder. We’re confident in what we have here, what we can do and our ability to get the job done. That’s all that matters to us. We’ve played together long enough that regardless of what anyone else writes, it doesn’t matter to us.”
It’s perhaps true that relievers are similar to offensive linemen in some ways. When they don’t perform, they are an easy target. But when they are on top of their game, it can sometimes go by the wayside.
Either way, Red Sox relievers seem to know they have some things to prove this season, and it seems they are eager to take on the task.
