SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — It feels as though the Boston Red Sox should have a welcome mat outside Fenway Park with the several new additions they made this offseason.
The free agents the Red Sox signed, whether it was Adam Duvall, Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin, Justin Turner or Corey Kluber, all seem to fit a certain criteria.
They are all veterans with plenty of experience in the big leagues and Red Sox second baseman Christian Arroyo believes that type of player will provide added benefits than just the talent they bring to the diamond.
“We’re bringing in a bunch of veteran guys and I think having a veteran presence is always soothing,” Arroyo said at Red Sox Winter Weekend last Saturday. “We lost veteran guys. We lost (Bogaerts), we lost J.D. (Martinez), we lost (Nathan Eovaldi), Rich (Hill), (Michael) Wacha so far, obviously he hasn’t signed yet so we’ll see.
“All those veteran guys come in they kind of give a piece of mind, especially with this roller coaster of a season no matter what it is. It’s a long year. There’s ups, there’s downs and when you have those veteran guys who have been there a lot, they just bring that calmness to you.”
Many of those players have ties to the Los Angeles Dodgers, making them aware what it is like to try to succeed in a big market with bigger expectations. Both Turner and Jansen won a World Series title with the Dodgers in 2020 while Martin, who Los Angeles acquired mid-season last year, was with the Atlanta Braves when they claimed the crown in 2021.
Kiké Hernández was teammates with Turner and Jansen on the Dodgers and the Red Sox shortstop knows it can be “intimidating” for players to suit up in a big market if they haven’t been in that environment before.
But with experience in pressure-packed markets, the additions the Red Sox made can help the rest of the team stay composed if the waters of the season get rough.
“Bringing in guys that have been there, done that it’s going to be huge, especially because we have such a good mix of veteran and younger guys,” Hernández said. “We need as many voices as we can to help the younger guys (and) rely on us to handle the adversity throughout the season.”
