It’s unclear if we’ll even have a 2020 Major League Baseball season, but if we do, things will look different.
For onem it’ll be a truncated season, allowing little time for a team to start slow then get hot later in the season — like what the ultimate World Series champion Washington Nationals did in 2019.
In a piece for ESPN, Buster Olney determined which member of each team had the most to prove in a shortened season. For the Boston Red Sox, Olney didn’t choose a player, rather manager Ron Roenicke.
Here’s his reasoning.
“It’s a good thing the skipper has decades of experience in baseball and a nicely pliable personality, because the employment roller coaster he’s been on is incredible. Roenicke, who managed the Brewers in five seasons, began this calendar year as Boston’s bench coach, but when the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal erupted, Alex Cora (and the team parted ways) and Roenicke was named the interim manager. Eventually, that interim tag was removed, but Roenicke is working on a one-year deal … for a baseball year that will, at best, be truncated.
“It’s impossible to know how Red Sox ownership will evaluate his work, or if there’s even a fair way to evaluate him under the circumstances. But it is what it is.
While there are plenty of players to choose from, Roenicke is a good choice. He was going to be in an interesting spot even if the season was played in full, so this is just another wrench thrown into his already wild run as the Sox’s manager.
