The Boston Red Sox failed to make the postseason after winning it all in 2018. Here are the five biggest disappointments of the season.
Everything that went right for the Boston Red Sox during their 2018 World Series run went wrong in 2019.
Coming off a championship, the team didn’t make any changes as they decided to roll with the same team they won 108 games the prior season with. There were some bullpen and closer questions that were really never answered during the season and some injuries to key players that compounded the team getting off to a slow start to begin the 2019 MLB season.
Even with those injuries, the Red Sox had more than enough talent to make the playoffs and even defend their title. But, inconsistency with the starters, bullpen issues and the offense disappearing at times proved to be too much for Alex Cora and his crew.
Finishing third in the AL East with an 84-78 record, the Boston Red Sox simply couldn’t turn it on when it was time to make a real run at the division and wild card spot.
Was it complacency?
Perhaps, but Cora summed up the 2019 MLB season with just a few words:
"“To sum it up: Very consistent at being inconsistent,” Cora said prior to the team’s final series of the season, via NBC Sports Boston."
While the entire season was a disappointment, aside from career seasons by Rafael Devers, Eduardo Rodriguez and Xander Bogaerts, here are the five biggest disappointments of 2019 for the Boston Red Sox.
5. Steve Pearce goes from World Series MVP to absent
After returning to the team on a one-year deal, there were some solid expectations for Steve Pearce playing a full season with the Boston Red Sox.
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However, as heroic as the 2018 World Series MVP was during the team’s world championship run, he was just as absent in 2019.
Due to injuries, Pearce really never settled in this past season. In just 29 games, he batted a staggering .180 and didn’t even pick up the bat again after May.
The good thing that came out of Pearce’s injury is that rookie infielder Michael Chavis got a chance to shine before an injury ultimately ended his season short. In all, the Red Sox offense survived without Steve Pearce, but the injury plagued season has him contemplating retirement.
"“I’m just going to sit at home and I’m watching football. That’s my plan,” Pearce said during an appearance on the Bradfo Sho Podcast, as transcribed by WEEI. “I’m going to decompress. It was a long year. I only had 100 at-bats so it wasn’t that bad but I hit .180 and rehabbed the whole entire year and struggled to find my swing. It has been a really long year so I would hate to make my decision right now based on the year I just had with baseball still being so close. I need to step away from the game a little bit and sit down with my family and make a decision.”"
It appears, even if Steve Pearce returned to baseball in 2020 it won’t be with the Boston Red Sox with Chavis returning and top prospect Bobby Dalbec making a push for the major league roster.
While the team didn’t end up needed Pearce’s production in 2019, his energy may have made a difference in keeping the team in the playoff race a little deeper into the season.
4. Nathan Eovaldi, the $68 million disappointment
Another 2018 World Series hero disappointed in 2019.
Mainly due to injury and a lack of consistency, Nathan Eovaldi certainly didn’t live up to the new 4-year, $67.5 million deal signed prior to the 2019 MLB season.
A beneficiary of a strong post-season performance during the team’s 2018 World Series championship run, Eovaldi was expected to stabilize the middle of the starting rotation.
It didn’t quite work out that way as the hard-throwing righty underwent elbow surgery to remove loose bodies in late April. The procedure ended up landing the 29-year-old Eovaldi on the 60-day disabled list in June, which really crippled the starting rotation, especially with the struggles of Chris Sale during that period of time.
When he did return, he was up-and-down shifting between the starting rotation and the bullpen. He finished the season positing a 6.25 ERA in 31 1/3 innings pitched over eight starts.
Overall, he posted a 5.99 ERA in 67.2 innings pitched while posting a 2-1 record. To say the entire season was a disappointment for Nathan Eovaldi would be an understatement as the team ended the season with more question marks about their starting rotation moving forward into the 2020 season.
Eovaldi may be the biggest question.
3. Rick Porcello’s lack of consistency
Entering the season in a contract year, Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Rick Porcello didn’t really help his chances of a contract extension with the team or even a big pay day by some other team once free agency begins.
In recording the worst season of his career (yes, worse than his 17-loss season), the up-and-down Porcello pretty much slipped under the radar as a huge disappointment due to the struggles and injuries to Chris Sale, David Price and Nathan Eovaldi.
In fact, if it wasn’t for the career season of Eduardo Rodriguez, the 31-year-old righty may have been more in the spotlight as one of the reasons the entire team underachieved.
It really is hard to say that when he did post a 14-12 record and started 32 games. A solid record for a middle of the rotation starting pitcher. However, it was how he performed when the team needed him most that will stand out to Red Sox fans.
Also, the 5.52 ERA he posted over 174.1 innings pitched made his overall performance seem a lot worst, especially when the team needed him as a more reliable option on the mound as far as production goes.
In all, it will be a huge surprise if the Boston Red Sox bring Rick Porcello back in 2020. He will get a nice contract somewhere, primarily due to the fact that he is a former Cy Young winner and he is also reliable health wise.
2. David Price lost his trump card
If David Price held the trump card after coming up big for the Boston Red Sox during the team’s World Series run in 2018, he played it and loss it midway through the 2019 MLB season.
With Chris Sale struggling, the Red Sox really needed Price to step up into that ace role. The lefty did it for a little while, but injuries took a toll on Price as he was shut down for the rest of the season in September due to a cyst on his wrist which originally landed him on the injured list in early August.
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Prior to that, David Price was having an up-and-down season for the Red Sox. In 16 starts before the MLB All-Star break, he went 7-2 with a 3.24 ERA. He was holding that trump card with great pride and confidence then but going 0-3 with a 7.88 ERA in six starts following the All-Star break, it was apparent he wasn’t as strong as earlier in the season.
But it wasn’t the injury and overall inconsistency on the mount that made David Price a disappointment, it was another battle with Hall-of-fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley that put the Red Sox hurler back on the wrong side of favoritism with fans.
Shocked that the 2017 confrontation between the two resurfaced, Price played his role by criticizing an MLB Network documentary featuring Eckersley during a time in the season where the team was trying to remain in contention for a playoff spot.
If not for that, David Price may have been given a pass for this season amongst the faithful of Red Sox Nation.
1. Chris Sale
The Boston Red Sox started the 2019 MLB season by locking up their best pitcher through the 2024 season with a $145 million contract extension.
Coming off a World Series champions, everything was looking great until Chris Sale got off to nightmare start. In going 1-7 to begin the season, Sale no longer looked like the dominant pitcher that earned him that new money. Not only did he struggle with velocity, he also struggled with command on the mound and keeping the ball in the ballpark.
In the first couple months of the season, the dominant lefty looked anything but and seemed both frustrated and baffled as to how to fix his struggles.
Eventually, he did get back to himself in late May, early June with multiple double-digit strikeout games and looked back to form before injury once again took its toll on the tall, lanky lefty.
And then in August, he was shut down for the rest of the regular season due to inflammation in the elbow that initially looked like it would cost him the 2020 season if he required Tommy John surgery. The Red Sox were 6 ½ games out of the wild card spot at that point, but the concern was more about the future of the team’s ace rather than the team’s short-turn playoff hopes.
In all, it was a season Chris Sale would rather forget. In going 6-11 with a 4.40 ERA in just 25 games started, the Boston Red Sox ace hopes to redeem being the team’s biggest disappointment in 2019.