The Boston Red Sox have a recent history of losing star players. From trading Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Rafael Devers to the San Francisco Giants, to losing Xander Bogaerts and Alex Bregman in free agency, the team’s front office has not been willing to invest in its star players. As a result, fans are left thinking what will happen with the team’s new face of the franchise, Roman Anthony.
To help explain fans’ concerns, you have to go back to the 2020 offseason when Boston’s then Chief of Baseball Operations, Chaim Bloom, dealt former AL MVP and four-time all-star Mookie Betts, along with former AL Cy-Young award winner, David Price, for a package of Dodgers prospects headlined by Alex Verdugo. In addition, this trade helped Boston get under the luxury tax threshold, which turned out to be the start of an ownership trend.
Gone are the years of Boston acting like a big-market team. In the years since the trade, the team has been criticized for prioritizing cap restraints when assembling the roster.
Two years later, homegrown superstar Xander Bogaerts decided to leave Boston after nearly a decade by signing an 11-year, $280 Million deal with the San Diego Padres. Bogaerts, during his time with the Red Sox, was a career .292 hitter and helped bring two World Series championships to Boston.
Following Chaim Bloom’s Red Sox tenure, fans were expecting the next Chief Baseball Officer to prioritize its homegrown stars, but they got a mixed bag with Craig Breslow. While Breslow got Boston back to the postseason last season by largely retaining the team's young core, he is best known for fumbling the team’s third base situation.
This time last offseason, Boston had two all-star third basemen in Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman. Devers, at the time, was the team’s face of the franchise, in the middle of a 10-year, $313 Million contract extension. Bregman, on the other hand, had just signed a three-year, $120 Million contract with opt-outs after the 2025 and 2026 seasons.
Fast forward a year, and neither player remains in Boston. Devers was traded to the San Francisco Giants in what turned out to be a salary dump, which created a huge void in the middle of the order. Bregman opted out of his contract and signed a five-year, $175 Million contract with the Chicago Cubs.Â
Roman Anthony Must Signal a Change in Boston's Retention Strategy
The Red Sox's track record of losing star players should scare fans. This year, the team’s youth movement is in full effect, and time will tell which players will stick around in Boston for the long haul.
The team’s best position player is Roman Anthony. Anthony, 21, was a former top prospect in baseball and unsurprisingly burst onto the scene as a rookie last season, finishing third in AL Rookie of the Year voting. He was rewarded with an eight-year, $130 Million contract extension, which should keep him in Boston through the 2033 season.
The Boston Red Sox need to start retaining their star players. After roughly half a decade of losing premier talent with Chaim Bloom and now Craig Breslow running the show, fans are skeptical of what the future holds for Roman Anthony.
The decision is easy on paper. Keep your best players, especially homegrown ones, and go back to building World Series-caliber rosters. The team has acted like a big-market team in the past, and fans are reminiscing on those days. Under Craig Breslow and the team’s ownership, the Boston Red Sox need to view last season’s Wild-Card berth as year one of the Roman Anthony era and keep him in Boston for the long term.Â