That offseason, the Red Sox famously brought in future Hall of Fame pitcher and future Hall of Fame-level asshole Curt Schilling to, as it turned out, co-front the rotation. They also brought in Mark Bellhorn, Terry Francona, and maybe even more importantly, Keith Foulke. It was a murderer’s row of talent, from the front office on down. As it turned out, it was just barely enough to get past the Yankees in a second consecutive ALCS Game Seven. That was elation so high it lifted my ankles off the floor.

That two-year period where the Red Sox went from so close to winning to losing to so close to losing to winning represents certainly the most intense rivalry between two teams I’ve ever experienced or endured in my lifetime. And now, dear reader, 200 words into this, here is my point. The rivalry is back, my dudes! . It’s back! The Red Sox and the Yankees are the two best teams in the division, two of the three best in the AL and probably two of the best five or six in baseball. This season, this 2018, is going to be another huge brawl of a season. They got Severino, we got Sale. They got Judge, we got Betts. They got Stanton, we got JD. So I thought it might be instructive to look and see how these two teams stack up against each other, a tale-of-the-tape, if you will, or even if you won’t.

Let’s start here. PECOTA. The PECOTA projections are here and they are spectacular. Though maybe not if you’re the Red Sox. I’ve already detailed how the Sox individual projections maybe aren’t as positive as we’d wish they were, but in the end and as we all know, games are won on the field not inside spreadsheets. Which is good, because PECOTA has the Yankees finishing seven games up on the Sox after winning 96 games. By any measure, 89 wins for the Red Sox would be an unsuccessful season, but that’s where things stand as of now. FanGraphs does their own full season projections as well, and theirs are slightly more favorable to Boston (which makes them worth mentioning). They have the Sox at 93 wins, a game behind New York’s 94. Better, but not what we’re looking for.

So let’s go deeper. Let’s go position-by-position and see who has the advantage. I’ll give you the names and their projected WARP in parentheses.

Catcher

Gary Sanchez (4.4) vs. Christian Vazquez (1.7)

This is one of the Yankees’ biggest advantages. Sanchez is, bizarrely as it is to say, perhaps as good a hitter as Judge. Vazquez is a fantastic defensive catcher, but at this point in his career, that’s mostly all he is.

Picks

PECOTA: Yankees

Matt: Yankees

First Base

Greg Bird (1.5) vs. Moreland/Ramirez (combined 0.4)

We don’t really know what Greg Bird is as a player yet, but he was as highly touted as Judge was prior to the 2017 season, so there’s some nightmare fuel for Red Sox fans. He missed most of last season with an injury and didn’t hit well upon return, but he’s young and talented so much more is expected of him this season. Moreland is Moreland, and it’s still unclear to me why the Red Sox felt it necessary with a glut of talent available on the market, to give him a two year contract. Best case he and Hanley combine to form the two sides of a successful platoon, so that could happen. Or Hanley could remember that he’s actually a great hitter.

Picks

PECOTA: Yankees

Matt: Push

Second Base

Gleyber Torres (0.1) vs. Dustin Pedroia (1.3)

Torres is yet another great Yankee prospect, but for now we don’t know what he is at the major league level. Pedroia is an aging middle infielder coming off of surgery. So who knows on either of these guys.

Picks

PECOTA: Red Sox

Matt: Red Sox

Shortstop

Didi Gregorius (1.7) vs. Xander Bogaerts (1.4)

Ever since he’s put on the pinstripes, Gregorius has continued to get better. Over a similar timeframe Bogaerts’ numbers are going in the opposite direction. I’m still a Xander Believer though, more so than Gregorius who hacks at everything and seems like exactly the kind of hitter the juiced ball turns into something he isn’t.

Picks

PECOTA: Yankees

Matt: Red Sox

Third Base

Brandon Drury (0.4) vs. Rafael Devers (1.8)

Drury is Gregorius with a more boring name. He’s got some pop but he doesn’t take walks and he’s not much beyond average defensively. That’s a fine profile for a team with Sanchez, Judge, and Stanton, but it doesn’t move the needle much either way. Devers might be the second best hitter on the Red Sox. He’s that good.

Picks

PECOTA: Red Sox

Matt: Red Sox

Outfield

Left Field: Giancarlo Stanton (3.9) vs. Andrew Benintendi (2.1)

Center Field: Aaron Hicks (1.2) vs. Jackie Bradley (1.0)

Right Field: Aaron Judge (4.0) vs. Mookie Betts (5.2)

We’re doing outfield together because this is getting long. The funny thing to me is that the Red Sox are a team built on the strength of their outfielders. Their best hitter and maybe their second best hitter are both outfielders. Their best fielders are outfielders. This is an outfield-heavy team. And yet, up against the Yankees, the strength of this Boston team falls back. The Yankees won’t be able to keep up with Boston defensively but they won’t be bad there, and what ground they lose there will more than be made up for with their bats. Good lord, those bats. The “ifs” here are health. The Red Sox players haven’t shown any predilection for missing games to injury, but Stanton and Hicks both have missed significant time over their careers.

Picks

PECOTA: Yankees

Matt: Yankees

Designated Hitter

Brett Gardner (1.8) vs. JD Martinez (2.9)

I don’t actually know who is going to DH for New York, so I picked the best Yankee projection not included in the above sections and put him here. That’s Gardner. But no leftover Yankee is going to hold a candle to J.D. Martinez in the hitting department.

Picks

PECOTA: Red Sox

Matt: Red Sox

I was going to do the pitching staffs as well, but this has already gone on too long. We’ll leave that for next time. For now, the results. Counting the outfield as three separate positions, PECOTA has Yankees 6, Red Sox 3. I have Red Sox 4, Yankees 4 with 1 push.

Any way you slice this, and I’m sure Yankee fans would disagree with my analysis, it’s close. That we know. PECOTA shows that. FanGraphs shows that. Our eyes show that. It’s going to be another fun season. Buckle the heck up.

But this isn’t a simple case of passing the buck. The 2018-19 off-season promises perhaps the biggest free agent class ever. It’s such a promising offseason that I can remember hearing about it three or four years ago, which, when you think about it, is ridiculous. Still, there’s a reason for the extreme foresight. In case you’re unaware of the specifics of this class, here is a list of players who will hit the open market after this upcoming season.

• Josh Donaldson
• Charlie Blackmon
• Drew Pomeranz
• Elvis Andrus
• Brian Dozier
• Andrew Miller
• Craig Kimbrel
• A.J. Pollock
• Daniel Murphy
• Marwin Gonzalez
• Gio Gonzalez
• Andrew McCutchen
• Nelson Cruz
• Zach Britton
• Cody Allen
• Adam Jones

Pretty nuts, right? And here’s the part about it that is crazy, bizarro, extreme, Vince-McMahon-rebooting-the-XFL-level nuts: that’s not really the list. Sure, all those guys are going to be free agents after the 2018 season, but I didn’t include three guys of particular note. I’m talking about Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and Clayton Kershaw. Those three guys are the reason people have been talking about this free agent class for half a decade.

Those are some huge names, some huge players. The thing is, in the case of the first two, both will be 26 years old in 2019 — the first year of their new contracts. Not since Alex Rodriguez signed with the Texas Rangers as a 25-year-old-to be in 2001 have we seen a player with this level of talent enter the market at such a young age. This free agent class has two of those guys. Oh, and also the best pitcher since Pedro Martinez in Kershaw. It’s truly a stacked class, and teams have been planning for it since fans became aware of it, or maybe even before that.

We’re 400 words into this thing and I haven’t yet brought up the Boston Red Sox which is odd since this is a Boston Red Sox website. Like every other team, the Red Sox are aware of this class of players. Like every other team, the Red Sox would love to have many of those players. The luxury tax is preventing that from happening. The total salary expenditure that teams must be below is $197 million. After that, penalties aplenty are levied, which increase each season teams that are over. The Red Sox kept below the luxury tax threshold last season, meaning if they go over this season the penalties aren’t too steep.

Like every other team, the Red Sox would love to have many of those players. The luxury tax is preventing that from happening.

With arbitration raises though last season’s payroll has gone up even though the roster is basically the same, putting the Red Sox over the threshold in 2018. Signing Bryce Harper or Clayton Kershaw would certainly put the Sox over again in 2019 and, considering they’d likely have to put a huge AAV towards doing so, it would contribute to putting them over again in 2020 as well. Should the Red Sox go far over they could lose their first round draft pick in addition to paying a ton of extra money as a tax for spending so much (seriously, players union, WTF?).

The effect of this on the Red Sox is to incentivize them to spend below the tax threshold. The Red Sox already have $92 million locked up in player salaries for the 2019 season, and that’s for just four guys in David Price, Dustin Pedroia, Rick Porcello, and Mitch Moreland. (They’re paying $18.45 million to a fifth in Pablo Sandoval but he’s no longer on the team.) Things get tighter if the Red Sox do shell out another $100+ million deal for J.D. Martinez or another free agent this offseason. That would likely put the Sox over the tax threshold for a second consecutive season, even without signing Harper or another big name from next off-season’s free agent class.

Now, the Red Sox could say, “Screw it, we’re going to put the best team on the field regardless of the luxury tax limit.” But that seems unlikely. The team has spent liberally over the years since John Henry bought them back in 2002, and there’s little reason to expect that not to continue, but asking the team to pay millions for the privilege of paying millions years into the future seems unlikely.

The problem as it stands now is that the team doesn’t have minor league talent that can step in for veterans on expiring contracts, meaning if everything else stays as is, free agents will have to replace free agents. For example, Rick Porcello’s deal is up after the 2019 season which sounds great. Hooray! The Red Sox will have $21 million to use. Except what do you think the going rate for a decent starting pitcher will be in two seasons? I’m guessing it’s going to be a lot, maybe something around $21 million a year. And the Red Sox will also have to replace (or re-sign) Chris Sale and they’ll have already replaced (or re-signed) Drew Pomeranz the season before, likely requiring more money. Boston’s dollars aren’t endless is the point, and guys on cheap deals can’t all be replaced at the top of the market.

One way out for the Red Sox is if David Price opts out of his contract after the 2018 season. If he does, the Red Sox are off the hook for the remaining four years, $127 million. That money could be spent directly on a Kershaw or, probably more likely, Sale.

While the Red Sox could make a run at Kershaw, and damn the luxury tax, the other two generational talents are less likely to sign in Boston. Both Harper and Machado play positions the Red Sox already have covered for the significant future. Machado plays third base where the Red Sox are hoping Rafael Devers will be for the next six seasons. Sure Boston could move him to first or deal him and try to add Machado, but doing that is a significant step towards the luxury tax threshold. Harper seems the more realistic of the two at least in terms of fit, as one of Jackie Bradley or Andrew Benintendi could be moved to make room. And that would be fine. Harper is that good. But the thing is the Red Sox don’t have to do that. They don’t have a hole at third or a hole in the outfield corners, which means they’d be both replacing a good player and doing so by adding one of the biggest contracts in baseball history. Considering their place against the cap (we’re just going to call it what it is, a soft salary cap), doing that seems unlikely.

You never rule it out though. This is the Red Sox. This is Dave Dombrowski. These are great, great players. You never rule it out. But right now, where the Red Sox are, with David Price’s deal on the books until it isn’t, and $18.5 million due to Pablo Sandoval this coming season and the one after it, the arbitration raises coming due, and the lot, it doesn’t seem like the right time for the Red Sox to make a huge addition. All of which means they may just sit out the greatest free agent market of all time.

Or, you know, not.

That is some damn good pitching.

What Went Right in 2017

This was the best year of Sale’s career, hands down. He racked up 308 strikeouts while only walking 43 guys, making Sale the first 300 strikeout pitcher in the American League since Pedro Martinez. It’s only his first season in Boston and Sale’s already getting compared to Pedro. And get this – his peripherals say he should’ve been even better. That’s just mind-boggling to think about.

His first half was absolutely dominant. He recorded eight straight games with 10 or more strikeouts. When the dog days of August came, Sale buckled down, and registered seven scoreless starts of six innings or more in the second half – and all of them came with eight or more strikeouts, as is customary for any Sale start. Sale led the Red Sox in almost every pitching category, and if it wasn’t for Craig Kimbrel, he would’ve been tops in K/9 and strikeout rate as well. He might have been the best hitter on the team, too.

Sale’s constant presence in the rotation was a much-needed boon to this team, as David Price and Eduardo Rodriguez dealt with injuries, Drew Pomeranz with fatigue, and Rick Porcello with a chronic case of suck – and yes, that’s the scientific term for it. It’s pretty easy to see that without Sale this Red Sox team would be a lot worse than 93 wins and a division title, and they might’ve not even made the Wild Card game had Sale not been there. This man and his slider were the bedrock of this Red Sox team.

Sale’s season had so many career-bests and historic markers that it’s hard to describe, yet easy to undersell. So here’s his season in a single pitch:

We hardly knew ya, Kyle Seager.

What Went Wrong in 2017

His second half was somewhat okay relative to his first half? That might honestly be it. Might miss out on a Cy Young Award, but hey, it would be a bit unfair for the Red Sox to say they have three Cy Young Award winners in their rotation, so I can see the parity in it.

But if Sale goes his entire career without getting a Cy Young, it’ll be a travesty.

What to Expect in 2018

It’s hard to say “more of the same”, because Sale did so many things well. He’s in his prime years, and I want to believe he’ll do something like this again, but it’s extremely hard to keep producing at such a high level like Sale did in 2017. Could he do it again? Absolutely. But we have to understand that even an average Sale season is still a superb year, and if he’s not going to be historically good again, I don’t think we can really dislike Sale for being really, really good instead.

Sale’s going to be good, and he’s going to be must-watch TV. There aren’t many predictions that are as slam-dunk as that.

Photo by Bob DeChiara – USA TODAY Sports

It is hard to put numbers to this, admittedly. Watching the team though, you got a sense there was something missing. Not just Ortiz the man, but the team was missing something vital, the keystone to a bridge or the top of a pyramid. Initially I expected Dustin Pedroia to take over that role from Ortiz and Pedroia has to some extent. However, there is still something missing. Maybe it’s because Pedroia hasn’t had the MVP-type season this year, or because he’s struggled with injuries, or simply because, through no fault of his own, Pedroia isn’t Ortiz. Whatever it is, the star power on the field and the will to win that Ortiz exerted haven’t been there.

Teams can win without “star power” and winning clubhouses are happy clubhouses, usually in that order. But having watched this team all year long, there has been something missing. It’s like a decent chili that doesn’t have that kick.

I know this probably sounds like some hocus-pocus-y crap. Teams can win without “star power” and winning clubhouses are happy clubhouses, usually in that order. But having watched this team all year long, there has been something missing. It’s like a decent chili that doesn’t have that kick. Or a car that looks good and runs fine, but there isn’t any extra when you really put the pedal down. I know this kind of analysis is maybe more suited for the mainstream media than Baseball Prospectus, or even your high school cousin’s Red Sox blogspot page. And yet I can’t shake this thought: it isn’t a coincidence that the Red Sox came back in the ninth inning Wednesday, on a night when Xander Bogaerts homered and Mookie Betts had three hits.

Those have been rare events especially lately this season. Bogaerts hit 21 homers last season. He has seven now and his slugging percentage is down 40 points from last season. Betts has been fine overall. His WAR numbers look good because he’s a fantastic baserunner and an exquisite fielder. But offensively he’s taken a couple steps back from last year. The on-base is down 20 points and the power is down 80 points.

There are reasons for those downturns in performance, of course. Bogaerts has been dealing with injuries, playing through them because the team needed him on the field, even though his performance suffered for it. Betts has been healthy (as far as we know) but pitchers have been beating him to death with sliders and he’s worked himself into some bad habits. It’s not a coincidence that the Red Sox had their worst month in July (they went 13-14), with Bogaerts hitting .163/.227/.225 and Betts hitting .243/.313/.383.

The Red Sox have gone 11-2 in August which you could say kinda blows my argument that the Red Sox are now Mookie and Xander’s team out of the water, because neither guy has done much beyond mere adequacy since the calendar flipped. But the point isn’t that Mookie and Xander won those 11 games by themselves. It’s not that they did anything to win those games at all. It’s that if this Red Sox team is going to do anything special, anything worth remembering, it’s going to be with those two driving the bus.

And that’s not just 2017. It goes for the next few seasons as well. Despite protestations to the contrary, the 2018 Red Sox aren’t likely to feature Giancarlo Stanton, or for that matter, Manny Machado or Mike Trout. Stanton ain’t coming through that door, people. And while it would be exciting, in the end it isn’t necessary if Mookie and Xander play like the superstars they can be. Betts doesn’t have to finish second in the MVP and Xander doesn’t have to have hit 21 homers every season, but for this iteration of the Red Sox to do anything, those two have to be the David Ortiz. They have to stand up and deliver. They have to bring it when it needs to be brought.

Which brings us back to the ninth inning against St. Louis two nights ago. Down 4-2 with Xander up, Red Sox fans were hoping for an infield single. Maybe a pop-up down the line that falls in. Something lucky needs to happen because Xander simply hasn’t been hitting the ball hard. And then he did! And it went over the monster! That was…unexpected. I’m not sure that ball is out at any other ballpark, and I wouldn’t claim he got all of it (it may have gone higher than it did far) but I’ll be damned if it didn’t count either way. That at-bat was the best possible outcome, both for that night and the future.

Then, down a run with two outs and runners on first and second, Mookie Betts came up. Mookie’s clutch stats are all over the map this year, which makes sense given what we know about clutchness. With two outs and runners in scoring position he has a .972 OPS (good). In late and close situations (defined by Baseball Reference) he has a .745 OPS (bad). This situation was late and close and there were two outs and a runner in scoring position (???). And Mookie lined one off the wall scoring two runs for the win. Huge. Simply huge.

Look, I know the ball he hit wasn’t scorched and I know it was a slider that didn’t slide, but like Xander, Mookie hit it hard enough. Performing when you don’t have your best stuff isn’t always pretty, but both guys made it happen on Wednesday when the team needed them to the most.

The 2017 season has yet to fully unfold, but what we do know now is that this Red Sox team needs both Mookie and Xander if they’re going to win the division and make noise in the playoffs. But I’d argue their contribution to the Red Sox is bigger than that, just like that of Ortiz before them and Pedro before him. This team for the next few seasons will be defined by the successes and failures of Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts. Other players will come and go and make impacts (good and bad) while they are here, but this Red Sox team belongs to and depends on Betts and Bogaerts. That was never more clear than Wednesday night, when, lit by Fenway’s lights and scored by its crowd, Mookie stood center stage, arms outstretched and beaming in a shower of red Gatorade. It’s good to have a king again. It’s even better to have two.

Photo by David Butler II – USA TODAY Sports

Players get hurt, players have bad runs, and teams hit patches where it seems every single player can’t do something for a month or more. The crazy thing about baseball is that that stuff happens and it doesn’t mean the team isn’t any good. There was a period of time where, over an 82 game span, the 2004 Red Sox went 41-41. That’s more than half a season of the greatest, most important Red Sox team of all time playing like an utterly forgettable also-ran. In a more specific and urgent sense, none of the stuff that has happened to the 2017 Red Sox is disqualifying for overall success, and indeed it isn’t difficult to see how this team could end up being really good. So let’s look at that!

How could the 2017 Red Sox be really good? To me, this all starts with Chris Sale. Sale isn’t peak Pedro, but he’s as close as Boston has come since the greatest of all time left town. By FanGraphs WAR, the top two seasons ever by a Red Sox starting pitcher are Pedro’s 1999 and 2000 in that order. The next four are by Roger Clemens and the four after that are all by Cy Young. Pedro’s best begins at 11.6 WAR and Young’s worst of his best is 7.7 WAR. Sale is at 6.5 now, and on pace for roughly two more wins between now and the end of the season. That would put him in fourth place all time, ahead of all of Young’s seasons and ahead of three of the Rocket’s four. That’s the kind of amazing season Chris Sale is having: better than any season Cy Young ever had in Boston and better than almost every season from maybe the greatest pitcher ever in Clemens. Now, imagine that guy (Sale) pitching twice in a best-of-five series, or three times in a best-of-seven series. There is a very real opportunity for Sale to have the kind of post-season impact previously reserved for Madison Bumgarner.

After Sale, imagine a healthy David Price! Yes, Drew Pomeranz has been fantastic this season, as good as anyone could’ve hoped, and he’d be fine starting game two, but he’s no healthy David Price, and neither is Rick Porcello or Eduardo Rodriguez. I said at the beginning of the season that David Price’s regular season almost didn’t matter. What mattered is how he pitches when the playoffs come around. His latest arm ailment throws that into question but if Price can get healthy enough to be the Red Sox number two starter, Boston can get three Sale/Price starts in a five game series and five in a seven game series. In other words, the only way the Red Sox lose a playoff round is if someone beats either Sale or Price. While you’re thinking how beatable Price is, remember we’re talking about a pitcher who put up a 2.52 ERA in July while striking out 25 percent of hitters and walking just 6.5 percent. That’s a heck of a number two. Cleveland’s starting staff can’t compete with that and neither can Houston’s, and that’s before we’ve even discussed what Eduardo Rodriguez or Drew Pomeranz can do.

The main competition for the Red Sox in the AL this season comes from the Indians, Astros, and Yankees. You could argue that the Red Sox advantage in starting pitching isn’t so big because the Indians have Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco (and they do), while the Astros have Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers (and they do). Except neither first starter is in the same league as Chris Sale (though Kluber isn’t far off), and neither second starter is nearly as good as a healthy David Price. If Price comes back healthy, he represents a huge advantage for the Red Sox in the post-season.

The same could also be said of Craig Kimbrel. We’ve all seen the impact relievers can have in the post-season, and with Kimbrel authoring one of the best reliever seasons we’ve seen in Boston in a long time, the opportunity for him to have an out-sized impact on the Red Sox’s postseason fortunes exists. The fact that manager John Farrell has occasionally been willing to use Kimbrel for longer outings and earlier in games when the leverage is higher during the regular season, and that bodes well for the same strong usage patterns in the playoffs. The fact that the Red Sox bullpen has been so good this season doesn’t hurt either, as they are equipped to cover for Kimbrel in the ninth should he be needed earlier in the game.

Finally we get to the offense which, there’s really no other way to put it, has underwhelmed this season. Coming off a July that saw Boston collectively hit a profoundly mediocre .248/.315/.367 (and honestly I’m shocked it’s that high), the mood surrounding the offense was understandably pessimistic. However, in the seven games since July ended (with six of those admittedly coming against the garbage White Sox), Boston has hit .288/.357/.559. They’re not that good they’re absolutely able to get that hot for periods of time, such as, oh I don’t know, five or seven game stretches.

Individually, we’ve seen odd seasons from Xander Bogaerts and Mookie Betts featuring less power than we know is there. The same could be said, in fact, of Jackie Bradley, Dustin Pedroia, Mitch Moreland, and even though maybe unfairly, Andrew Benintendi. That’s quite a group of players for whom a collective small bump towards career average could mean a substantial uptick in team offensive production.

Put it all together and you’ve got a team with a potentially dominating top of the rotation, a fantastic bullpen (and imagine, if Price does get healthy, how adding Pomeranz to the pen would look), and offense that’s over due for a break out. The ’04 team’s comeback against the Yankees, the ’07 team’s comeback against the Indians, and pretty much every damn thing about the 2013 team teach us that in the baseball playoffs you never know what can happen. But it’s not all luck, despite Billy Beane’s famous statement. Having Madison Bumgarner can help. Having Keith Foulke doesn’t hurt. The Red Sox have reasonable facsimiles of those guys, and a lineup with the capability to get moving at a more productive clip. It’s not hard to squint into the sun and see this Red Sox team doing something we haven’t seen since the august October of 2013. So when it happens, if it happens, you can be shocked, you can be surprised, you can be euphoric, but don’t say nobody ever saw it coming.

Photo by Bob DeChiara – USA TODAY Sports

Recently on BP Boston’s own Red Seat Podcast, the discussion turned to to where Ortiz fits in all time in the Red Sox organization. Given where we are in Ortiz’s career, it’s a worthwhile and interesting topic (listen to the podcast here), and I wanted to chime in. Ortiz has been an amazing player, but the highest single season OPS+ of his career is 173. That’s incredibly good, but Ted Williams averaged an OPS+ of 190. Averaged! Williams had seven seasons with an OPS+ over 200. That means he was literally twice as good as the average player in seven seasons of his career. Ortiz has been having perhaps the best final season of any player, hitting .321/.406/.632. That’s an OPS 65 percent above league average. Williams, in his final season, at age-41, hit .316/.451/.645. That’s an OPS 90 percent above league average. Can you fathom that? I can’t.

And that might be the problem. After watching David Ortiz over the last 14 years, it’s hard to imagine anyone better than him, let alone substantially better. But Williams was, and when you look at it, there’s really no argument against him. Look at career WAR (we can’t use WARP because it only goes back to 1950). Ortiz is at 55.5, a number that, let’s admit, is partially dragged down by the DH penalty. Williams though, in his career, put up 123.1. If you add 20 extra WAR to Ortiz’s number, which you can’t do, but if you did, it still wouldn’t be close to Williams’. Williams was that good, and it’s difficult, I think, for us to imagine a player being that good unless we saw him do it with our own eyes. We’ve seen Ortiz work his magic but most of us never saw Williams.

After watching David Ortiz over the last 14 years, it’s hard to imagine anyone better than him, let alone substantially better.

“Okay, Matt,” you say. “Fine. Use WAR to make your point. But what about all the things Ortiz has done that WAR doesn’t capture? The off-the-field things, like his speech after the Marathon Bombings, his rallying of the team in the 2013 ALCS, and all his clutch post-season hits?” You’re absolutely right. Those are all very important and WAR does not, by itself, take the measure of a player’s career. Ortiz’s post-season glory will be, I think, his ultimate ticket into the Hall of Fame, and there aren’t many (any?) players who can match that part of his resume. Certainly Williams can’t. And Ortiz’s powerful speech that helped, as much as it could, heal the city after those horrific and monstrous events, is a true credit to the man, and yet another in a long list of reasons why we love David Ortiz.

But we’re talking about the greatest player in Red Sox history. Those things move the needle, for sure, but Williams was so much better than Ortiz on the field that you’d have to put your hand on the scale and then pretty much sit on the scale to get Ortiz even close. And that’s before we consider what Williams did off the field. Williams helped start the Jimmy Fund, which has raised more than $750 million to fight pediatric cancer since its founding in 1948. Williams frequently visited sick children in the hospital and is personally responsible for helping raise millions of dollars to help fight the disease. Williams is also a war hero (he’s a WAR hero also, but we’ve already discussed that). In fact, he was a war hero twice. He missed the 1943, ‘44, and ‘45 seasons to serve in World War II as a fighter pilot. Then, he missed most of the 1952 and ‘53 seasons to serve again, this time in the Korean War. It’s not hard to imagine that, had Williams played those five seasons instead of serving his country, he’d have hit another 150 home runs or more. What is hard to imagine is a player voluntarily giving up his age-24, 25, 26, and most of his age-33, and 34 seasons when his country needed him.

And really this comparison is an almost impossible one for Ortiz, because Williams isn’t just the greatest Red Sox of all time, he’s the greatest hitter of all time. After Williams though, the list doesn’t get much easier. Roger Clemens is demonstrably one of the five greatest pitchers of all time. Pedro Martinez is probably the greatest pitcher ever over a six- or seven-season peak. Again, Ortiz is great, but I don’t see how he bests either. It’s like running a race where before you start you know you can’t finish any higher than fourth. That’s an unfair standard to hold Ortiz to, but that’s how it goes when you put on a Red Sox uniform.

About the only argument for Ortiz is what he did in the postseason and the teams he was a part of. And that’s really the rub. He was a part of those championship teams, but he was not the team all by himself. His performances in the postseason will stand the test of time but he doesn’t win in 2004 without Manny, without Foulke, without Derek Lowe, and on and on. The Red Sox don’t win without him either, but he can’t get full credit. That’s not how team sports work. The same is true of 2007 and 2013, too.

There are few feelings in my life I hold closer than the joy of beating the Yankees in 2004 and winning the World Series immediately after. I made damn sure I was at the parade that year and it was amazing. I stood in the cold rain with the rest of Red Sox nation and saw Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Mark Bellhorn (LOVE Mark Bellhorn), Curt Schilling, Keith Foulke, Johnny Damon, and Theo Epstein, the Boston boy who grew up to put the team together, float through the city and down the river on duckboats and into history. That team, man. That team! So much amazing about that team, but perhaps the most remarkable thing is that Boston had never before put together a team remotely that good since the Red Sox dominated the sport back in the 1900s and 1910s. The other greats in Red Sox history never had a chance to play on a team of that caliber and when looking back through the annals of the franchise it’s not fair to hold that against them.

David Ortiz has been a great player, and hopefully he will remain so for at least another month and a week. He deserves all the adulation and the ceremonies he’s receiving, but he’s not the greatest Red Sox of all time. That’s no insult. Making the list at all is impressive.

Photo by Winslow Towson/USA Today Sports Images

I love baseball for many reasons but the stars of my youth and their gregarious personalities have influenced that more than anything.  From Pedro Martinez’s hilarious and self-deprecating humor off the field and his bulldog demeanor on the mound to the outgoing nature and swagger of David Ortiz there has never been a shortage of these on Yawkey Way.  Boggs is no exception and it seems that the longer he’s away from the game the more his legend continues to grow.

With no way to truly do the man justice — and with Bryan Grosnick having already summer up his career – I thought it would be best to give the namesake of my long-time dynasty league team his due with 26 “facts” about his life and playing career.  I say facts loosely because some stories are legend but a few common themes unite them all:  Beer. Chicken.  Any yes many many hits.  

1. Wade Boggs accumulated 88.3 fWAR over the course of his 18-year playing career, which ranks fourth all-time amongst third basemen behind Eddie Matthews, Mike Schmidt and Alex Rodriguez.  
2. 70.8 of his fWAR was accumulated in his first 11 seasons, all with the Red Sox.
3. His 70.8 fWAR ranks him third all-time for fWAR accumulated while in a Red Sox uniform, only behind Carl Yastrzemski at 94.8 and Ted Williams at 130.4.
4. Legend has it that Boggs once consumed 64 beers on a cross-country flight from Boston to Los Angeles. While the number is disputed, the beer of choice is not.  
5. Wade Boggs drinks but one beer, none other than Miller Lite.
6. Known for his affection for chicken, Boggs tried his hand at sharing his favorite chicken recipes with all of us in his little-known recipe book and only known foray into writing Foul Tips: My Favorite Chicken Recipes—it is spiral bound.
7. Throughout his 1,625 games with the Red Sox, Boggs slashed .328/.428/.462. His OBP ranked behind only Jimmie Foxx at .429 and Ted Williams at .482.
8. Boggs finished his playing career with 3,010 hits, a fact which he honors with his excellent twitter handle @ChickenMan3010.
9. Boggs won five American League batting titles over his career, in 1983 and from 1985-1988.  All of these were won in a Red Sox uniform.
10. In 2005, Boggs was selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with 91.9% of the vote in his first year eligible.
11. Boggs was an 11-Time All-Star with eight of his selections coming while wearing a Red Sox uniform.
12. While he never won a World Series with the Red Sox he did reach one in 1986.  
13. When Boggs did win a World Series with the hated Yankees in 1996 he celebrated by riding on a police officer’s horse.
14. The number of beers consumed by Boggs is still very much up for debate. However former teammate Jeff Nelson is on the record saying “50-60 beers was not just an isolated incident but was something he did on almost every cross country flight.”
15. Boggs led the American League in OBP six-times, in 1983 and from 1985-1989.
16. In 1987 and 1988 he also led the American League in OPS.
17. 200+ hit seasons are very hard to come by, but Boggs had seven such seasons with the Red Sox.
18. As good as he was with the bat, Boggs was no slouch defensively, winning two golden gloves late in his career in 1994 and 1995.
19. While filming an appearance on my favorite comedy show “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Boggs reportedly told Charlie Day that the actual number of beers he drank on the flight was a staggering 107.  Day shared this fact with the world on the Jimmy Fallon Show.  
20. From 1986-1988 Wade Boggs led the American League in fWAR amongst position players. His marks were 7.7, 8.9, and 8.6.
21. During this impressive stretch Boggs also put up an fWAR of 8.8 in 1985, but was unable to best the mark of 9.7 set by Ricky Henderson.
22. While he wasn’t considered a power hitter by any stretch of the imagination, Boggs could hit doubles.  He had 40 or more doubles eight times over his career with the Red Sox.
23. Do you like Silver Slugger awards?  Boggs has eight of them, six while playing for the Red Sox.
24. His .338 career batting average with the Red Sox is second only to the great Ted Williams.
25. Over his time with the Red Sox, Boggs led the MLB in batting average, hits, doubles and on base percentage.
26. From May 26th forward no player will ever again wear a number 26 Red Sox jersey. Boston fans will ALWAYS remember Boggs for what he did on the field while with Boston and we will cheer him on this year when his number 26 is retired in the place where he delivered the best moments of his storied career.Photo by Gregory Fisher/USA Today Sports Images

Going Deep

The Red Sox front office has a lot of work to do this offseason to mould the roster into a collection of talent that will win more often than it loses. According to Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com (and really anyone else who attended last week’s press conference), Dave Dombrowski is focused on improving the pitching staff. The best way to go about doing so remains unclear. Sign free agents? Trade prospects/younger players? While the Red Sox tend to have one of the highest payrolls in the game, it seems clear that not all of the changes to the roster are going to come through free-agency. Signing a free agent like David Price will keep all those precious, budding prospects in the system, but it does not come without other risks. Alex Speier reminds us that big spending does not always correspond to winning; in fact the correlation between payroll and winning is at a low point. Trading a package of prospects/younger players (e.g., Rafael Devers, Anderson Espinoza, Jackie Bradley Jr., Blake Swihart) to get a frontline starter like Sonny Gray seems like a reasonable approach. But, as you know, starting pitching is not the only thing that needs considering, Tim Britton, of the Providence Journal, explores free agent and trade options for fixing the bullpen. In the end, the way to best improve the club’s pitching staff is not likely to be to go all-in on path A (free agents) or path B (trades). Taking a measured approach and integrating the two sounds like the right path.

Seven of the ten playoff teams this year finished in the top-12 for home run totals this season. The Pirates, Royals, and Cardinals are the only three teams that finished lower (23rd, 24th, and 25th, respectively). The phrase Joe Sheehan has been championing this postseason appears to be correct: “ball go far, team go far.” The Red Sox finished 15^th in home runs last season with 161, ten behind the 12th place Cubs. To some extent the Sox were a team that had difficulty hitting for power; their isolated slugging of .149 was a tick below league average (.150), ranking 17th in the game. These numbers prompted Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe to wonder who will generate power for the Red Sox in 2016. Better seasons from Hanley Ramirez and Pablo Sandoval will ameliorate some of the power problem, but might the front office need to acquire someone who can hit some bombs? Someone like free agent first baseman Chris Davis? Maybe, but that move necessitates trading Hanley Ramirez, or pressing reset on the left field experiment, which seems less than ideal. For what it is worth Dombrowski has said that he is comfortable with the team’s power, and likes that they did not strike out a lot (18.4 K% was fourth lowest in baseball). Power is not the only issue the offense had last season, though. Another concern, pointed out by Alex Speier in his 108 Stitches newsletter, is that the offense was only good at Fenway:

Home: .290/.349/.451 (.160 ISO; 80 HR)

Away: .241/.302/.382 (.139 ISO; 81 HR)

It is true that overall Fenway is a hitter’s park, but not as dramatically as those numbers suggest. Perhaps assuming the offense is a clear strength is not entirely correct. While they did score a lot of runs last year, there are deficiencies to consider. Regardless, given Dombrowski’s comments in Cafardo’s article and his stated priority of improving the pitching, it seems doubtful that the team will make a major acquisition on the offensive side of the ball.

Quick Hits

The catcher position was a bit of an on-the-fly adventure for the Red Sox in 2015. Peter Abraham writes that the Red Sox will benefit from the depth they have at the position, as Christian Vazquez will resume his place as the starter, and Blake Swihart, Ryan Hanigan and Sandy Leon can fill in as backups. Alternatively, Swihart can be used as a trade chip to improve other areas of the team, like the rotation. Ian Browne of MLB.com had similar thoughts on the Red Sox’s options at catcher.

One of the fun parts of the 2015 season was watching the Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts, Rusney Castillo outfield. But, as good as they looked, Jason Mastrodonato of BostonHerald.com reminds us that starting jobs are not yet guaranteed for two of these three players, and that the Red Sox will look to add outfield depth to their roster. It will be difficult but Mastrodonato suggests that trading the suddenly inept Allen Craig could be part of this venture, or as part of a move aimed at repairing another aspect of the team, like, say, the bullpen.

Dustin Pedroia is revered in Boston for his scrappy, always-play-hard, can-do attitude. But in recent seasons this approach has contributed to injury and the desire to rush rehab efforts in order to get back on the field. Ironically, doing so can lead to more time on the disabled list, or diminished performance upon return. Pedroia talked to Rob Bradford of WEEI.com about the hamstring injury he suffered this past season, how his returning to play too early was costly and his regret for not allowing himself more time to heal.

I think that any time Pedro Martinez reflects on his time in Boston it is a must-read (or listen, or watch). The latest is Pedro talking with Chad Finn of Boston.com about his six-inning, no-hit relief performance in Game 5 of the 1999 American League Division Series (ALDS) against the vaunted offense of the Cleveland Indians. Pedro was pitching hurt that day. Last year, he told Jonah Keri of Grantland that his relief-outing in the 1999 ALDS permanently damaged his arm.

How about another article about a former-Red Sox great? Jim Litke of the Associated Press writes about Manny Ramirez’s current role as a coach (of some sort) with the Chicago Cubs. Manny is being Manny, primarily helping the younger, hispanic players on the club, but is also around to talk hitting with anyone who will listen.

Photo by Mark L. Baer/USA Today Sports Images

You know this, of course, and you’ve been reminded of it many times over the past few weeks. From Pedro’s moving Hall of Fame induction speech to the many Pedro montages that’ve made the rounds  to his number retirement ceremony last night at Fenway Park, fans have been given the chance to relive some of the magic that only Pedro can provide.

We’re getting in on the action at Baseball Prospectus, which is why we’ve put together an incredible look back at Pedro’s career through a new Hall of Fame eMag, available now in both the App Store and Google Play. Including articles from Sam Miller, Doug Thorburn, RJ Anderson, Tim Britton and BP Boston’s own Bryan Joiner, plus a collection of Pedro’s BP Annual comments, a video archive and more, this eMag is a great way to remember and learn something new about the first Red Sox pitcher in history to have his number retired.

Relive Pedro’s dominant 1999 season. Gain an understanding of his place among the all-time greats. Watch his dazzling changeup baffle Hall of Fame-caliber hitters, and browse through the five defining games of his Red Sox career. Most of all, just enjoy reading how other people view Pedro and revel in his uniqueness. We’ll never see another like him again.

Download the 2015 Hall of Fame Class: Pedro Martinez eMag on your iPhone, iPad or Android, and also check out our eBooks on John Smoltz, Craig Biggio and Randy Johnson.

Photo by Greg M. Cooper/USA Today Sports Images