The Best Individual Red Sox Seasons of the Century: Part One, Honorable Mentions

With offseason activities seemingly grinding to a halt, I thought I would try something a little bit different while we wait for the last free agents to come off the board. With 25 seasons of twenty-first-century Red Sox baseball in the books, I decided that it was time rank the 25 best individual seasons of the 2000s. This is part one.

I’ve done a couple of rankings like this before, but this may have been the hardest. There were just so many good seasons to choose from. To make it a little bit easier for myself, I came up with a couple of rules:

1. I decided to limit each player to their two best seasons. Without this rule, the list would pretty much consist entirely of David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez and Mookie Betts.
2. These rankings are focused mainly on regular season performance, but I did factor in postseason performance. There are players on this list who didn’t make the postseason, but there aren't any who excelled in the postseason but had poor regular seasons (2004 Derek Lowe, 2021 Enrique Hernández)

Because I am a giant nerd, I couldn’t in good conscience leave off some of my favorite Red Sox seasons. Here is the first batch of honorable mentions, ranging from 2000 to 2007:

2001 Manny Ramirez
Stats: 142 Games, 5.2 WAR, 162 OPS+, .306/.405/.609, 41 HR, 125 RBI, All-Star, MVP-9

Fresh off signing an eight-year, $160-million deal, Ramirez proved to be every bit the generational hitter that the Red Sox thought they were getting. No one is going to complain about 41 home runs and 125 RBI, but his season ended on a sour note due to a relatively poor second-half performance (.260/.367/.543) that mirrored the Red Sox' collapse in the standings.

2002 Nomar Garciaparra
Stats: 156 Games, 6.8 WAR, 127 OPS+, .310/.352/.528, 24 HR, 120 RBI, All-Star, MVP-11

After an injury-riddled 2001 campaign, Nomar showed no ill effects from his season-ending wrist surgery. The franchise icon played in 156 games and led the league with 56 doubles. This season wasn’t quite up to his 1999-2000 standards, as his 127 OPS+ was actually his lowest in a full season since his rookie campaign, but it is surely worthy of an honorable mention. 

2002 Manny Ramirez
Stats: 120 Games, 6.0 WAR, 184 OPS+, .349/.359/.647, 33 HR, 107 RBI, All-Star, MVP-9

This should have been the pinnacle of Manny's illustrious career. His 184 OPS+ turned out to be the best he'd ever put up, and his .349 average resulted in his only batting title. Alas, a hamstring injury limited Ramirez to just 120 games, and I just couldn’t put him on this list over guys who played full seasons.

2002 Pedro Martinez
Stats: 30 GS, 199.1 IP, 6.5 WAR, 20-4, 2.26 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 239 K, All-Star CYA-2 

Like Nomar, Pedro rebounded quite nicely from an injury-plagued 2001 season. Though he no longer possessed his upper-90s fastball, Martinez was still able to capture his fifth ERA title and lead the league with 239 strikeouts. Had there not been a two-season-per-player limit, I probably would have found a spot for this Pedro season, but I chose to go with two other masterpieces instead. 

2002 Derek Lowe
Stats: 32 GS, 219.2 IP, 7.2 WAR, 21-8 2.58 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 127 K All-Star, CYA-3

Who remembers Derek Lowe starting an All-Star game? A year after losing the closer job, Lowe returned to the rotation and rode 21 wins and a 2.58 ERA to a third-place Cy Young finish. This might have been the toughest omission, but some middling underlying numbers (3.34 FIP, 5.2 K/9) and the fact that he didn’t get to build on his numbers in the postseason caused him to just miss the list.

2002 Tim Wakefield 
Stats: 45 G, 15 GS, 1631 IP, 3.9 WAR, 11-5, 2.81 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 134 K

Lost in the shuffle of Lowe and Martinez’s brilliance was a career-best season from Tim Wakefield. Bouncing between the rotation and bullpen, Wakefield excelled in whatever role the Red Sox put him in, posting a career-low 2.81 ERA. Side note: I still can’t believe a team with a healthy Manny Ramirez and Nomar Garciaparra and three starting pitchers with sub-three ERAs missed the postseason.

2003 Bill Mueller
Stats: 146 Games, 5.6 WAR, 140 OPS+, .326/.394/.540, 19 HR, 85 RBI, MVP-12

Ok, maybe you remember Derek Lowe starting an All-Star game. But do you remember Bill Mueller winning a batting title? Picked up off the scrap heap by wunderkind Theo Epstein, Mueller barely edged out teammate Manny Ramirez with a .326 average, part of a fearsome Red Sox attack that set an MLB record for slugging percentage. Though his 5.6 WAR wasn't spectacular, Mueller’s career renaissance was one of the best parts of an entertaining Red Sox season.

2003 Manny Ramirez
Stats: 154 Games, 5.4 WAR, 160 OPS+, .325/.427/.587, 37 HR, 104 RBI All-Star, MVP-6

Unfortunately, Manny’s usual excellence at the plate (1.014 OPS) isn’t what is remembered most from this season. It’s his absence from a critical August series against the Yankees, claiming he had an illness despite being seen at the hotel bar with Enrique Wilson. Ramirez appeared on the track for redemption with a strong start to the postseason, including a clutch home run in the ALDS Game 5 clincher, but he hit just .208 over the final six games of the ALCS as the Red Sox fell in seven games.

2003 Trot Nixon
Stats: 134 Games, 5.1 WAR, 149 OPS+, .306/.396/.578, 28 HR, 87 RBI

Throughout his decade in Boston, Nixon became a fan favorite due to his hard-nosed style of play and ability to grind out at-bats. He was mostly a role player rather than a star, but 2003 proved to be the exception. Nixon set career-highs in nearly every category, including home runs (28), on-base percentage (.396), slugging percentage (.578), OPS (.975) and WAR (5.1). Nixon continued to rake right into the postseason, posting a 1.061 OPS in 11 games and hitting a series-saving, walk-off home run in Game 3 of the ALDS. It’s unfortunate that Nixon’s career-best season tends to get lost in the shuffle of one of the greatest offenses of all time, because he was legitimately one of the best outfielders in the American League that season.

2004 Jason Varitek 
Stats: 137 Games, 4.0 WAR, 121 OPS+, .296/.390/.482, 18 HR, 73 RBI, 10 SB

Varitek’s value to the 2004 Red Sox goes far beyond the numbers. Sure, he hit a career-best .296 and posted a phenomenal 121 OPS+ for a catcher, but his most impressive feat was how he managed the pitching staff.  This is especially true in the ALCS, where he caught every inning in the draining, seven-game affair and managed to survive Tim Wakefield’s dancing knuckleball in the extra innings of Game 5. Much like Nixon, Varitek’s impact often flies under the radar when we remember the heroics of the 2004 squad, but there is no chance the Red Sox break the curse without him.

2004 Johnny Damon
Stats: 150 Games, 4.3 WAR, 117 OPS+, .304/.380/.477, 20 HR, 94 RBI

As good as the 2003 Red Sox offense was, they could have been even better. Johnny Damon posted easily the worst numbers of his four-year Red Sox tenure, batting just .273 with a meager 94 OPS+. Fortunately, Damon returned to form in 2004, raising his average to .304 and notching his first 20-homer season. After a red-hot ALDS, Damon fell into a terrible 3-for-29 slump over the first six games of the ALCS, but made up for it and then some with a two-homer, six-RBI masterclass in Game 7. He also came up huge in the World Series clincher over the Cardinals, blasting a leadoff homer off Jason Marquis to give Derek Lowe all the run support he would need.

2005 Manny Ramirez
Stats: 152 Games, 4.4 WAR, 153 OPS+, .292/.388/.594, 45 HR, 144 RBI, 112 R, All-Star, MVP-4

2005 was another typical, productive Manny Ramirez season, as he tied a career-high with 45 home runs and collected 144 RBIs, the most of his eight years in Boston. What is more surprising is that his .292 batting average was actually his lowest mark since 1994, which speaks more to how great a hitter he was than any real drop in effectiveness. Though the Red Sox were swiftly bounced from the postseason by the White Sox, Manny gifted us with one of the coldest home run celebrations of all time in which he started taking off his batting gloves before even leaving the batter's box.

2006 Manny Ramirez
Stats: 130 Games, 4.5 WAR, 165 OPS+, .321/.439/.619, 35 HR, 102 RBI

I feel like every Manny season is worthy of a mention, but 2006 was tracking to be his best. His 1.058 OPS was his highest since 2002, and his 100 walks ended up being the highest total of his career. Much like 2002, however, Ramirez's season was derailed by injury, as right knee soreness limited him to just seven games after August 26.

2006 David Ortiz
Stats: 151 Games, 5.8 WAR, 161 OPS+, .287/.413/.636 54 HR, 139 RBI

Choosing the best David Ortiz seasons is a nearly impossible task. There are the postseason heroics of 2004 and 2013, the gaudy all-around numbers of 2007 and 2016, and, of course, this record-setting 2006 campaign. Big Papi’s home run off Johan Santana on September 21 set a new Red Sox franchise mark with his 51st round-tripper of the season, breaking a 68-year-old record held by Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx. The only reason this season doesn’t crack the top 25 is because of the two-season-per-player limit and the fact that the Red Sox missed the postseason.

2007 Mike Lowell
Stats: 154 Games, 5.0 WAR, 124 OPS+, .324/.378/.501, 21 HR, 120 RBI All-Star, MVP-5

Originally considered a throw-in in the Josh Beckett/Hanley Ramirez trade of 2005, Mike Lowell emerged as the perfect complement to protect Ortiz and Ramirez. His 5.0 WAR and 120 RBI easily set his career highs, with the latter mark ranking seventh in the American League. Lowell continued to rake right onto the postseason, batting .353/.410/.608 and taking home World Series MVP honors. Much like Lowell’s career as a whole, this wasn’t the most flashy season, but one that is certainly worthy of an honorable mention.

2007 David Ortiz
Stats: 149 Games, 6.4 WAR, 171 OPS+, .332/.445/.621 35 HR, 117 RBI, All-Star, MVP-4

In most cases, one’s home run total declining by 19 from the previous season would qualify as a disappointment. Yet there is a very strong argument that Ortiz was actually a better hitter in 2007 than in his record-setting home-run barrage of 2006. His 111 walks and .445 on-base percentage paced the American League while his .332 batting average and 1.066 OPS were career-highs. He continued to rake right on into the postseason, though certainly not on the level of his 2004 and 2013 heroics. This is where I once again tap the “two-seasons-per-player” sign.

2007 Hideki Okajima
Stats: 66 G, 2.9 WAR, 2.22 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 69 IP, 63 K, All-Star

In terms of pure awesomeness, this season has to rank inside the top 10. With his one-of-a-kind wind-up and epic entrance music (worth checking out on YouTube), Okajima quickly became a fan favorite, but don’t be mistaken: This guy could really pitch. In his first MLB season, he quickly emerged as the premier set-up man and became the Red Sox's sixth All-Star after winning the final vote. With the Eric Gagne acquisition going up in flames, Okajima took an even bigger role down the stretch and into the postseason before running out of gas in the World Series. Okajima’s career quickly teetered off after a few seasons, but his 2007 heroics alone make his Red Sox tenure a massive success.