The Boston Red Sox are starting to get very active after a few years of mediocrity.
The Red Sox made waves weeks ago when they let go of chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and then moved former general manager Brian O'Halloran into a new role.
Many expected the next move would be to replace the duo. As it turns out, Boston is still working on tearing it down, not building it back up.
The Red Sox have fired pitching coach Dave Bush and third base coach Carlos Febles according to The Boston Globe's Alex Speier.
The pitching staff has been atrocious over the last couple of years and Bush was at the center of it. Boston ranked No. 21 with a 4.52-team ERA this season. A year prior, the team posted a 4.53 ERA, which was No. 25 in Major League Baseball. At a glance, it's hard to blame Bush for the results of their pitching staff given the lack of firepower he had to work with.
That said, the Red Sox have seen the likes of Ryan Brasier, Martín Pérez and even Jake Diekman excel since departing from Boston in recent years. There also has been some regression from young players such as Garrett Whitlock and Tanner Houck.
It's not fair to solely blame Bush for the lack of production from the Red Sox pitching staff but he hardly appears to be the best man for the job.
As for Febles, he appears to be taking the fall for a horrendous defense. The team was a historically bad fielding team in 2023 and was far below average the season prior as well.
Again, it's hard to claim Febles is the problem when Bloom appeared to lean toward offensive-minded position players and did not equip the team with much depth.
However, the young players do not appear to be getting any better with experience, which falls on the coaching staff. Rafael Devers regressed heavily this season, Triston Casas struggled mightily after we watched Bobby Dalbec fail to improve across three seasons. Second base has been a black hole for years and shortstop play outside Trevor Story and Yu Chang proved to be a massive issue as well.
Time will tell if Bush and Febles should be classified as worthy firings or scapegoats after another lost season.
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