Most Overlooked Acquisition From Each Red Sox World Series Run

The Red Sox have had a solid little run since the turn of the century, wouldn’t you say?

In the first 22 seasons of the 2000s, Boston made 11 postseason appearances, won the American League East five times, won more than 90 games on 13 separate occasions and, oh yeah… won four World Series titles.

Although sustained success hasn’t followed the Red Sox — they’ve finished last in their division the same amount of times they’ve won it — those four titles prop that spans up among the best in Major League Baseball. There are plenty of legends who made those titles possible, with Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Jon Lester, Dustin Pedroia, Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts serving as focal points on winning teams.

They weren’t the only ones, however.

Here are the most overlooked acquisitions for each Red Sox team to win a World Series (since 2004):

2004 – SS Pokey Reese
The Red Sox did a lot of housekeeping around the trade deadline in 2004, shipping franchise cornerstone Nomar Garciaparra off to the Chicago Cubs and adding the likes of Orlando Cabrera, Doug Mientkiewicz and Dave Roberts.

Mientkiewicz was on the receiving end of the final out and Roberts swiped the most famous bad in team history, so those guys can’t possibly be “overlooked.” Instead, it is preseason addition Pokey Reese that lands on this list.

Reese started more games than both Garciaparra and Cabrera in the middle of the infield that season, showing off his two-time Gold Glove award-winning defense as one of Boston’s most sure-handed gloves. The then-31-year-old had the final putout of the Red Sox’s historic comeback in the American League Championship Series over the New York Yankees and was on the field as Keith Foulke clinched things against the St. Louis Cardinals.

(Who could forget his sweet inside-the-park home run against the Kansas City Royals.)

2007 – RP Hideki Okajima
Daisuke Matsuzaka arrived in Boston as the biggest international free agent signing the Red Sox ever made to that point. His arrival far overshadowed that of fellow countryman Hideki Okajima, who arrived on a modest contract to serve as a middling reliever for the club.

11 innings. 11 Ks. 2.45 ERA.@mikelowell25 remembers how clutch Hideki Okajima was for the 2007 @RedSox. #WeKnowPostseason pic.twitter.com/QLERRfjrPL

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) October 14, 2019

In the first two months of the season, it became clear that Okajima was the far more important piece to that club’s success. The 2007 AL All-Star began his career by giving up a home run on the very first pitch he threw, but would go on to keep opponents scoreless for the next two months. In a new role as Jonathan Papelbon’s setup man, Okajima was nearly perfect and built a 2.22 ERA in 69 innings pitched. Not bad for the afterthought.

2013 – UTI Mike Carp
The 2013 Red Sox were a weird team. Ortiz, Lester and Pedroia were there, but it felt like just about everyone else was a newcomer. The problem is, all of those guys had signature moments during that run. Mike Napoli, Shane Victorino and Jonny Gomes all hit signature home runs during their postseason run.

Mike Carp, on the other hand, was just a solid contributor. Carp slashed an incredibly respectable .296/.362/.523 with nine home runs and 43 RBIs in 86 appearances across first base and the outfield. He was overlooked, but boy was e solid.

2018 – IF Eduardo Núñez
Yes, we’re cheating here.

Núñez was acquired in the middle of the 2017 season, but it’s kind of hard to choose one of the 2018 trade deadline acquisitions. You know, 18-inning superstar Nathan Eovaldi and World Series MVP Steve Pearce. Instead, we take the guy who split time with a young Rafael Devers at third base and filled in admirably when asked to play second base. In a season full of moments, he also happened to have one of the best, slugging a pinch-hit home run in Game 1 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.