Boston has work to do this winter BOSTON RED SOX The Boston Red Sox are very active after a few years of mediocrity.
The Red Sox made waves weeks ago when they let go of director of baseball Chaim Bloom and then moved former general manager Brian O’Halloran into a new role. Many assumed the next step would be to replace the duo. As it turns out, Boston is still working to tear it down, not restore it.
According to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe, the Red Sox have fired manager Dave Bush and third base coach Carlos Febles. The pitching staff has been terrible the last two years, and Bush has been at the center of it. Boston was 21st this season with a team ERA of 4.52.
The year before, the team posted a 4.53 ERA, which was 25th in Major League Baseball. In short, it’s hard to blame Bush for the results of his pitching staff given the lack of firepower he had to work with. However, the Red Sox have had the likes of Ryan Brasier, Martín Pérez and even Jake Diekman stand out since leaving Boston in recent years. Young players like Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck also regressed a bit.
It’s not fair to blame Bush alone for the Red Sox’s lack of production, but he hardly seems like the best man for the job. As for Febles, it looks like he’s going down due to terrible defense. The team was a historically bad pitching team in 2023 and was well below average last season as well. Again, it’s hard to argue that Febles is a problem when Bloom seemed to rely on offensive players and didn’t give the team much depth. However, young players do not seem to improve with experience, which is part of the coaching duties.
Rafael Devers has been strong this season, Triston Casas has struggled mightily after we saw Bobby Dalbec not improve for three seasons. Second base has been a black hole for years, and the shortstop outside of Trevor Story and Yu Chang has also proven to be a huge problem.
Time will tell if Bush and Febles should be classified as sacks or scapegoats after another losing season
