Article: Happy Trails, Bobby Dalbec

[Adam Morgan]

A quick look back at Dalbec's ill-fated tenure with the Red Sox.

As Bobby Dalbec exchanges one pair of Sox for another, this is a good time to look back on his legacy in Boston. A fourth-round pick for the Red Sox out of the University of Arizona in 2016, Dalbec made his major league debut in the cursed 2020 season. Although it was a shortened season, it was Dalbec’s most productive for Boston. He batted .263 with 8 home runs in 23 games; putting up 0.6 WAR.

In his first full season in 2021, Dalbec maintained a positive WAR, batting .240 with 25 home runs. He did, however, strike out 156 times in his 133 games, for a strikeout rate of 34.4%. The league-average rate was 23.2% that season. In 2022, he lowered his strikeout rate to 33.4% but the league also lowered its strikeout rate to 22.4%. Unfortunately, that was the lowest Dalbec’s strikeout rate would go. By 2023, Dalbec had lost his spot on the major league roster and was playing more games in Worcester than in Boston. He played well in Worcester, batting .269 with 33 bombs, but his call up to the big club was less successful; he batted .204 with one home run and 28 strikeouts in 21 games. In what we now know was his final season with the Red Sox, his numbers slipped even more across the board. He batted .252 with 20 home runs in Worcester and .133 with one home run with the Red Sox over 37 games. The diminished pop, ever-rising strikeout rate, and cratering batting average made Dalbec's spot on the roster untenable.

What intrigues me about Dalbec is how quickly his stature declined. In 2019, the New York Post reported that the Red Sox were interested in acquiring Edwin Díaz from the Mets, but such a deal would have to include Dalbec or Tristan Casas. Five years ago, he was bandied about as a central part of a trade deal that would have brought one of the league's premier closers to Boston. Now, he was allowed to walk with no compensation and seemingly no regrets. It is a cautionary tale for all the prospect-huggers out there, but I wish Bobby nothing but the best in Chicago.

 

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[notin]

First Fisk, now this!!!

 

If the White Sox are smart (and they rarely are), they would let Dalbec pitch and try to be a two way player.

 

Or in this case, a one way player who has taken at bats…

[notin]

Also I seriously doubt the Mets valued Dalbec and Casas equally.  There may have been an iteration of that deal that included Dalbec, but no way was he the top piece.  Someone worthwhile must have also been in there.

The Mets dealt away consensus top 100 prospect Jarred Kelenic to get Diaz, and also had to take on the waining years of the mightily overpaid Robinson Cano.  I can’t see them unloading Diaz for a package headlined by Dalbec.

[moonslav59]

The guy really mashed over his first two sesasons, mainly in 2020 and the second half of 2021.

.959 first 92 PAs of career (2020) 

.895 middle 316 PAs of 2021 (.867 in last 345 of '21)

Total for first 545 PAs (156 games 2020-2021)

.243  33  94 (.819 OPS)

That's a pretty nice start to a career, despite the 195 Ks in 156 games.

[Bellhorn04]

Perfect opportunity for him!

[notin]

Like most, I won’t miss Dalbec.  But hey, he gets to, as Trey Wilson said in “Bull Durham,” - “keep showing up at the ballpark and keep getting paid to do it.”  

Or words to that effect…

[mvp 78]

On 1/10/2025 at 4:47 PM, Bellhorn04 said:

Perfect opportunity for him!

Their roster is a mess and the corners have LHB’s at the moment. He’ll be on the Opening Day roster IMO.