Red Sox spring education formally is underway.
Pitchers and catchers suggested to Fort Myers ultimate week, and the last position players accompanied swimsuit Monday as Boston held its first full-squad exercising at JetBlue Park.
The Red Sox, who are coming off back-to-back last-place finishes in the American League East, have their fair share of doubters this season.
So, what used to be supervisor Alex Cora’s message earlier than camp began in earnest?
“You’ve just bought to discover your identity. That’s the most important thing,” Cora instructed newshounds Monday at Fenway South. “Whatever we have long gone via the closing two years, we’re nonetheless the Boston Red Sox. You strive to get higher in positive areas. It’s not that you’re going to be close-minded and now not seem around at what different businesses are doing to improve. But for a whilst there, we did matters the right way.
” … I think our participant development philosophy is a exact one. The way we go about it at the massive leagues is a top one. We get criticized, like each and every different organization, but kind of like take into account who you are. It doesn’t have to do with free retailers or participant improvement or if you’re No. 1 in Baseball America. If you seem at the physique of work the last 20 years, we’ve been very successful. I don’t care what people think. There are 4 rings to show it.
“So, yeah, you’re continually searching for the North Star or some thing — making an attempt to be like that, or like this, or something — however occasionally doing that, you overlook who you are. And obviously, for the new players, probably they don’t comprehend what I’m talking about. But for the people who work right here and have been working for a while here, I’m like, ‘Remember who we are.’ Let’s not forget that. I don’t care what humans think. Two last-place finishes, all that. We’re actually top at what we do. And I suppose we’ve obtained to get returned to that.”
The Red Sox won the World Series in 2018, marking their fourth title in view that 2004. They also superior to the American League Championship Series in 2021, losing to the Houston Astros in six games, as Cora lower back to the bench following a one-year suspension.
But Boston was once plagued by using inconsistency in 2022 and 2023, ending with a 78-84 record in each season. With the AL East looking very strong, and the Red Sox having a especially quiet offseason, many are projecting any other down year for Boston in 2024.
Was Cora’s message an attempt to rally the troops, so to speak?
“Not really. I’ve been thinking about this for a while,” Cora said. “It’s one of these that you look round and you appear at what we’re attempting to accomplish, what we have tried to accomplish considering I bought right here in November of ’17. Different philosophies. Different (baseball operations leaders) — Dave (Dombrowski), Chaim (Bloom), now (Craig Breslow). But at the give up of the day, we are who we are. Teams are going to go through stretches — true ones and terrible ones. Not anybody can be the Dodgers that have been in the playoffs (11 years in a row). … That’s cool. That’s great, right? But when you’re in the dance, you’ve got to win it. And we’ve been in the dance a few instances and we gained it. Nobody can take that away from us.
“Now have we struggled the last few years? Of course. Yeah. Three out of four. Even ’19 we struggled. That was a fighting for us. But I just wanted to make sure I was once loud and clear of the way I see it. I suppose now and again trying to emulate other organizations, you deviate from who you are. And hopefully, we can get again to who we are, and other groups are like, ‘We desire to be like them.’ Right now, obviously, that’s not the case. But what actually things is what we think in (the clubhouse), how we go about our business, and, honestly, I think we’re in a suitable spot.”
The Red Sox begin the regular season with a 10-game, three-city West Coast swing, before then returning to Fenway Park for their domestic opener April 9.
There’s lots of work to do earlier than then, though, and a solid spring coaching should go a lengthy way toward catapulting Boston in 2024.
In the meantime, it’s incumbent upon the Red Sox to locate their identity.