The Boston Red Sox had some notable departures in the offseason, but Xander Bogaerts isn’t ready to buy into the notion that they’re now underdogs.
With Mookie Betts, David Price, Brock Holt and Sandy Leon among those now playing for different teams, many have pegged the Red Sox to finish third or worse in the American League East. But during an interview Friday on WEEI, the Sox shortstop explained why he’s not buying that.
“Come on, man. If you look at our roster, the way that it’s built, obviously we’re not kind of destined to be last place,” Bogaerts said, via WEEI.com. “Obviously we’re a pretty talented team from top to bottom. Obviously we can be much better in the pitching area. We’re not loaded like the Tampa Bay Rays, but there aren’t a lot of teams that are loaded like that.
“It’s really tough to have everything. A team that has both, that’s obviously going to be an advantage for you as an organization. We have guys that always step up. We have a couple guys that have been on the (injured list) now, so hopefully we can get them back, like Eddie Rodriguez. Hopefully we can get him back in camp. We’re missing a couple other key guys to our pitching staff. Hopefully we can stay safe, and once we get those guys back we’ll get ready to roll.”
Certainly, the Red Sox lineup has the potential to be dangerous, but starting pitching remains a massive question mark. However, in a 60-game season, weird things are bound to happen and it’s probably way too early to be ruling Boston, or any other team for that matter, out just yet.
