It’s early yet but the 2015 Red Sox appear to be an interesting if flawed group worthy of our attention. If some things change and maybe some additions are made we might reach the admiration stage, but for now we’ll happily settle for attention-worthiness. Happily because, you’ll note, this is a number of steps above 2014, a season that maybe could only be done justice by Reds Manager Bryan Price.
If we’re looking for admiration, we have to step back one season prior to 2013, when a championship appeared as if Ben Cherington just happened to find one in the bottom of his back pocket while taking a post-lunch stroll through the Common. Not unlike the 2004 squad, the 2013 team dissolved almost as quickly as it emerged. Some have retired, some have remained, but many have scattered, ashes from an urn, floating on the winds to new destinations where, they hope, the cycle will be repeated.
For us now, we have the 2015 team and the hope and promise they bring, but as we focus on our new friends, perhaps it is worth a look back on old friends to see how they’re making out. What follows is a series of questions intended to test your knowledge of the 2013 team, the World Series, and what those players who brought you the third World Series win in the last 10 seasons at the time have done since.
1. Two years later, what percentage of the 2013 team remains on Boston’s roster?
A) 33%
B) 50 %
C) 67%
D) 75%
E) 82 %
2. Which member of the 2013 team has been the most valuable player by WARP since winning the World Series (so including 2014 and 2015)?
A) Jacoby Ellsbury
B) Dustin Pedroia
C) Jon Lester
D) John Lackey
E) Jarrod Saltalamacchia
3. Which pitcher other than Jon Lester and John Lackey won a 2013 World Series game?
A) Jake Peavy
B) Felix Doubront
C) Brandon Workman
D) Junichi Tazawa
E) Ryan Dempster
4. Which member of the 2013 team has played for the most teams since hoisting the World Series trophy?
A) Felix Doubront
B) Stephen Drew
C) Andrew Bailey
D) Franklin Morales
E) Alfredo Aceves
5. Which former Red Sox’s new team is doing the best in the standings so far in 2015?
A) Andrew Miller
B) Jonny Gomes
C) Jarrod Saltalamacchia
D) David Ross
E) Jose Iglesias
6. After David Ortiz’s .688 batting average, the next highest for a Red Sox player during the World Series was .250. Who did that?
A) Dustin Pedroia
B) Xander Bogaerts
C) Daniel Nava
D) Jonny Gomes
E) Jacoby Ellsbury
7. Which member of the 2013 Red Sox left the team in 2014 only to return to the organization this season?
8. Which member of the 2013 Red Sox has been the least valuable by WARP this season?
A) Jon Lester
B) Jonny Gomes
C) Andrew Miller
D) Jarrod Saltalamacchia
E) Stephen Drew
9. Of the now moved on 2013 Red Sox, who put up the best OPS+ in 2013?
A) Jarrod Saltalamacchia
B) Stephen Drew
C) Jonny Gomes
D) Will Middlebrooks
E) Jose Iglesias
10. Of the now moved on 2013 Red Sox, who has the most home runs this season?
A) Jarrod Saltalamacchia
B) Stephen Drew
C) Jonny Gomes
D) David Ross
E) Jose Iglesias
Photo by Kelly O’Connor, sittingstill.smugmug.com