fb-pixelBad deals in 2014 continue to haunt Red Sox - The Boston Globe Skip to main content
Alex Speier

Bad deals in 2014 continue to haunt Red Sox

Rusney Castillo is now in the minors and Pablo Sandoval is on the disabled list.Jim Davis/Globe Staff

Even now, it inspires a shake of the head. One by one, the Red Sox’ mid- to late-2014 efforts to correct an offense that had spiraled to unexpected depths resulted in still-echoing thuds that in many ways set the wheels in motion for regimen change in the organization.

July 31, 2014: The Red Sox acquire Yoenis Cespedes for Jon Lester and Jonny Gomes; Cespedes’s imperfect fit with Boston leads the Sox to trade him to the Tigers for Rick Porcello.

July 31, 2014: The Red Sox acquire Allen Craig and Joe Kelly for John Lackey and minor league lefty Corey Littrell; Craig’s slide accelerated after changing organizations, and he’s now off the 40-man roster in could amount to his second full year in Pawtucket.

Advertisement



August 23, 2014: The Red Sox sign Rusney Castillo to a seven-year, $72.5 million deal, envisioning a potential top-of-the-order or six-hole hitter capable of a dynamic impact; Castillo will now join Craig in Pawtucket after being optioned to Triple A after Wednesday’s game.

November 25, 2014: The Red Sox sign Hanley Ramirez to a four-year, $88 million deal and Pablo Sandoval to a five-year, $95 million deal; Ramirez has shown promise after his conversion to first base, but Sandoval was placed on the disabled list Wednesday with discomfort in his shoulder. The Red Sox were willing to put him on the shelf without bothering with an MRI.

The same-day deletion of Castillo and Sandoval — owed a combined $25.85 million this year — from the roster Wednesday represented something less than a surprise, given that they lack defined roles. Ironically, the team’s greatest likelihood of extracting value from both comes by having them off the big-league roster.

Castillo will get the regular at-bats he desperately needs in order to show whether he can have any offensive value in the big leagues. (It’s worth recalling that in September 2014 and the early paces of 2015, it appeared that such an outcome might be possible.)

Advertisement



Away from the awkwardness of his bench role, perhaps Sandoval will tap back into some of the abilities that, fewer than 18 months ago, had three teams (Red Sox, Padres, Giants) competing to acquire him for comparable money. To the Sox, for now, it’s worth finding out — particularly given the organization’s concerns about its third base depth should Travis Shaw either get injured or suffer a performance regression at this early stage of his career.

That Castillo and Sandoval have been unable to emerge as contributors does not bode particularly well for their futures. Free agents typically follow a steady line of decline from the beginning to the end of their contracts.

The Sox are mindful of players who followed that pattern, such as Carl Crawford, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Julio Lugo, and Matt Clement. They are likewise aware of exceptions such as Lackey and, in the early stages of 2016, Ramirez, both maligned early in their Red Sox careers but who managed to find their way back to valuable roles.

It’s simply startling to contemplate how far awry the efforts to fix the Red Sox in late 2014 went, in a way that is playing out as part of the twofold legacy of Ben Cherington. On the one hand, save for the magical run of signings in the 2012-13 offseason, his most significant big-league player acquisitions yielded poor returns, or at least have to date. On the other hand, he’d constructed the organization in such a way — with a burgeoning pool of young talent — that contractual missteps did not necessarily sabotage the club.

Advertisement



The team can maneuver around its sunk costs thanks to young and cost-effective contributions Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Shaw, Brock Holt, Blake Swihart, Christian Vazquez, and Eduardo Rodriguez. The effect of so many cost-effective players is that the team is able to make decisions for the betterment of the organization, regardless of financial standing.

“We want to compile the best players we possibly can in this organization, and then make the decision who the best 25 guys are,” said bench coach Torey Lovullo.

Will Castillo or Sandoval ever become regular contributors in Boston? That much remains unknown. But for now, at a time when the team’s big-league roster is no longer hamstrung, and when there’s no discernible trade market for either, and when neither player has stirred the pot publicly in the wake of their diminishing roles, the team has the luxury of finding out.


Follow Alex Speier on Twitter at @alexspeier.