3 Things The Red Sox Need To Do This Offseason
BOSTON (CBS) -- The 2015 Boston Red Sox season came to an end on Sunday, with the Sox dropping their finale 3-1 to the Cleveland Indians.
Boston finished the campaign a disappointing 78-84, last place in the AL East. It was a tumultuous season for the team, dealing with disappointing free agent additions in Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval and a disastrous starting rotation that finished with a 4.39 ERA (good for 13th in the American League and 24th in baseball). Not to mention, they lost their manager in August when John Farrell announced he was battling lymphoma.
The team announced on Sunday that Farrell will be back on the bench next season, and the majority of his staff will remain intact. That's the team's first big move for 2016, but their work is far from done.
98.5 The Sports Hub's Tony Massarotti joined Dan Roche on WBZ-TV's Sports Final on Sunday night, and gave his three-point plan for new president Dave Dombrowski and GM Mike Hazen to improve the team for 2016.
1. Get Rid Of Hanley Ramirez
The Red Sox gave Ramirez a four-year, $88 million deal (with a vesting option for a fifth year at $22 million) last winter. It was an adventure every night he was in the outfield, and the team seemed to turn things around after Ramirez was out of the lineup late in the season. After hitting 10 homers in April, Ramirez went ice cold over the summer and finished the season with a .249 average, 19 homers and 58 RBIs in 105 games played. His year ended when the team placed him on the disabled list on September 5, which is very uncommon given rosters expand when September rolls around.
The team has asked Ramirez to come into spring training next season 15-20 pounds lighter, but Mazz says getting Ramirez out of Boston should be a priority this offseason.
2. Find A Front-End Starter
Ideally, Mazz would like to see the team sign soon-to-be free agent David Price or someone else on the open market. But if they need to trade for an ace they need to make sure they're dealing away the right players.
3. Build The Bullpen
After opponents hit .264 off the Boston bullpen in 2015 (27th in baseball), Mazz wants to see Dombrowski and Hazen find a new closer so Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa can serve as the team's set-up men.
Roche and Massarotti also discuss Boston's catching situation for 2016, with Blake Swihart, Christian Vazquez and Ryan Hannigan all under contract. Tune in to Sports Final every Sunday night at 11:35pm on WBZ-TV!