The Boston Red Sox remain in full offseason mode, freshening up after a complete final finish in the American League East last season. But that hasn’t stopped predictions for the premature 2023 season from creeping in.
And one thing about Red Sox manager Alex Cora is bold, to say the least.
2022 is a difficult chapter in the past and moving forward into next season will not be easy. This is especially true for cola. The Boston front added a few newcomers to his office, including Kenley Jansen and Masataka Yoshida, but also lost several famous names, including Xander He Bogaerts and Nathan He Eovaldi.
This will be a major issue in the future. Still, MLB.com writer Anthony Castrobins made early predictions in favor of Coke. He predicted that Cora would win his AL Manager of the Year. This is his first since debuting as a skipper in 2018.
“The Red Sox stinked in 2022, which means they won’t stink next year if recent history is correct,” Castrobins wrote Wednesday. “Cora is one of the greatest minds in baseball and most people just got out of the sign-stealing scandal he was involved in. The Sox rose from the East basement and somehow made it to October. Cora would be an obvious AL Manager of the Year contender at this point, it’s hard to say how they’re going to do that, but again, they’re going to be between the extremes Known to fluctuate, this award rewards extreme achievement.”
As Castrobins pointed out, the Red Sox’ standings have fluctuated in recent years. In 2013 and the season before he won his series in 2018, the Red He Sox had never won a playoff game. Boston has fallen short of postseason contention two of the last three seasons, and there is certainly room for improvement.
Last season, the Red Sox set a record of 78-84. Most notably, they failed to make progress against their divisional opponents, going 26-50. With plenty of offseason time left, the Red Sox will be able to add more before his February spring training.