The Best Individual Red Sox Seasons of the Century: Part Seven, Honorable Mentions 2008-2015

This series focuses on the best Red Sox single-season performances of this century. To read previous installments, click the links below.

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six

2008 Kevin Youkilis
Stats: 145 G 6.3 WAR 144 OPS+ .312/.390/.569 29 HR 115 RBI All-Star MVP-3

Though Youk had been a solid contributor throughout his first three MLB seasons, 2008 was the year he took the leap into superstardom. He set personal bests in nearly every category, and his 29 home runs, 115 RBI, and .312 average were the best marks of his 10-year career. His performance was critical for a team that traded Manny Ramirez at the deadline and saw David Ortiz miss time with a wrist injury, and he was rewarded with a third-place finish in the AL MVP voting. Though his postseason performance was uneven, Youkilis did manage to hit a pair of home runs in the ALCS against the Rays but went 0-for-3 in Game Seven.

2008 Jon Lester
Stats: 32 GS 210.1 IP 6.1 WAR 16-6  3.21 ERA 1.27 WHIP 152 K 6.5 K/9

Much like Youkilis, Lester made a huge leap in 2008 and ended up taking over the ace mantle from Josh Beckett. The workhorse tossed 210 innings with a solid 144 ERA+, highlighted by his no-hitter of the Royals on May 19th. Though Lester established himself as a rotation anchor, it would take until the following season for him to begin to rack up the strikeouts, as his 6.5 K/9 would be his lowest total until 2020. Had there been an ALDS MVP, Lester probably would have taken home the honor after two dominant outings against the Angels, but his postseason ended on a sour note with a pair of losses to the Rays in the ALCS. 

2009 Kevin Youkilis
Stats: 136 G 6.6 WAR 146 OPS+ .305/.413/.548 27 HR 94 RBI All-Star MVP-6

It’s very difficult for a first baseman to rack up such gaudy WAR numbers, but thanks to elite defense (including some great work at third filling in for Mike Lowell), an exceptional eye, and solid power, Youkilis turned in his second consecutive six-WAR campaign. In fact, Youkilis may have topped the seven or even eight-win mark had he not missed time in May with an oblique injury. Nonetheless, another All-Star-worthy campaign from the Youkster helped the Red Sox advance to their third straight postseason and sixth in seven years. 

2009 Jason Bay
Stats: 151 G 5.2 WAR 134 OPS+ .267/.385/.537 36 HR 119 RBI All-Star MVP-7

Caught between the 2007 World Series team and the 2011 collapse, this Jason Bay season often gets lost in the shadows, but it was fun and unexpected. At age 30, Bay set career highs with 36 home runs and 119 RBI, effectively replacing a slumping David Ortiz as the team’s premier slugger. Unlike 2008, however, Bay would not be able to carry the Red Sox offense in the postseason, as he went just 1-for-8 in the club’s three-game sweep at the hands of the Angels. Those proved to be the last games Bay played for the Red Sox, as he signed an ill-fated 4-year deal with the New York Mets after the season.

2009 Jon Lester
Stats: 32 GS 203.1 IP 6.2 WAR 15-8 3.41 ERA 1.23 WHIP 225 K

On the surface, Lester’s numbers may look a lot like his breakout 2008 campaign, but he was a far better pitcher in 2009. The left-hander increased his strikeout total by 73 despite throwing just seven fewer innings, helping him lower his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) from 3.64 to 3.15. Along with Josh Beckett, Lester anchored a rotation that was unable to find any other effective starting pitchers (remember Brad Penny?). In his only postseason appearance, Lester matched zeroes with future Red Sock John Lackey before giving up a three-run homer to Torii Hunter in the fifth, which proved to be the difference in the first game of a three-game sweep. 

2009 Jonathan Papelbon
Stats: 67 G 68 IP 3.5 WAR 38 SV 1.85 ERA 1.14 WHIP All-Star

It was business as usual for Papelbon, who racked up 38 saves and a 1.85 ERA en route to another All-Star appearance. Though his 3.5 WAR was the second-highest of his career, Papelbon certainly made things interesting in 2009, as his 24 walks were three times his total from 2008. This would, unfortunately, foreshadow his disastrous postseason appearance, as after recording the first two outs of the ninth inning of Game 3, Papelbon would allow four straight baserunners, the last of which being a two-single to Vladimir Guerrero that gave the Angels a 7-6 lead.

2010 Adrian Beltre
Stats: 154 GP 7.8 WAR 141 OPS+ .321/.365/.553 28 HR 102 RBI All-Star MVP-9

After five underwhelming seasons spent in the offensive hell that is Safeco Field, Adrian Beltre signed a one-year contract with the Red Sox with the hopes of rebuilding his offensive value. It’s safe to say that he succeeded, as the future Hall-of-Famer batted a career-high .321 and led the league with 49 doubles. Beltre was a perfect match for Fenway Park, and I will always say that one of Theo Epstein’s biggest mistakes was not extending Beltre for the rest of his legendary career. Instead, the Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez, and Beltre signed a five-year deal with the Texas Rangers. 

2010 Jon Lester
Stats: 32 GS 208 IP 5.2 WAR 19-9 3.25 ERA 1.20 WHIP 225 K All-Star CYA-4

While this was one of the rare seasons that Lester did not pitch in the postseason during his 16-year career, 2010 has a very strong case for the best regular season performance of Lester’s Red Sox tenure. His 19 wins and 225 strikeouts ended up being career highs, and he once again averaged nearly seven innings per start. Though the Red Sox were out of the race by early September, that didn’t stop Lester from earning Cy Young votes for the only time in his Red Sox career, finishing fourth behind Felix Hernandez, David Price, and C.C Sabathia. 

2010 Clay Buchholz 
Stats: 28 G 173.2 IP 5.6 WAR 17-7 2.33 ERA 1.20 WHIP 120 K All-Star CYA-6

Clay Buchholz remains one of the most frustrating Red Sox in recent memory, as he alternated injury-plagued effective seasons with healthy, terrible ones. Though he only pitched 173 innings in 2010, there is simply no question that it was the best season of his career. His 187 ERA+ was the best in the majors, and he racked up 17 wins en route to a sixth-place Cy-Young finish. Though a pedestrian 6.2 K/9 and 3.61 FIP indicates he may have benefited from some good fortune, this season is certainly still worthy of an honorable mention. 

2011 Adrian Gonzalez 
Stats: 159 G 6.9 WAR 155 OPS+ .338/.410/.548 27 HR 117 RBI All-Star MVP-7

Adrian Gonzalez Red Sox’s tenure always gets a bad rap because he is grouped alongside Carl Crawford, but there were few better hitters in the game during his year and a half in Boston. His 2011 season was particularly spectacular, as he sprayed balls all over Fenway Park en route to an MLB-leading 213 hits and a .338 batting average. The increase in home runs from leaving spacious Petco Park never came, but Gonzalez made up for it with 45 doubles. Though Gonzalez continued to hit during their September collapse, he drew criticism for his seeming indifference towards missing the postseason and his poor fit in the clubhouse, which played a part in his trade the following summer.

2011 Dustin Pedroia
Stats: 159 G 8.0 WAR 131 OPS+ .307/.387/.474 21 HR 91 RBI 26-34 SB GG MVP-9

By WAR, this was Pedroia’s best season, as he played in 159 games and set career-highs in home runs, stolen bases, and OPS+. After a slow start, Pedroia went absolutely scorched-earth in the summer, batting .395/.471/.663 from June 5th to August 3rd, and continued to hit through the Collapse. This should probably be in the top 25 by purely statistical measures, but I couldn’t bear to put two members from one of the most disappointing teams in Red Sox history on the list. 

2011 Josh Beckett
Stats: 30 G 193 IP 5.8 WAR 13-7 2.89 ERA 1.03 WHIP 175 K All-Star CYA-9

Following an injury-plagued 2010 campaign, Beckett bounced back with his best season since his 20-win 2007 season and arguably the second-best of his career. He posted a career-low 2.89 ERA and struck out 175 batters, helping him receive down-ballot Cy Young votes. He might have finished higher than ninth if not for two disastrous starts to end the regular season, the last of which was a six-run clunker against the lowly Orioles that helped open the door for the Rays to pass them in the standings. 

2013 Dustin Pedroia
Stats: 160 G 6.1 WAR 115 OPS+ .301/.372/.415 9 HR 84 RBI 17-22 SB GG All-Star MVP-7

Despite a thumb injury that sapped his power and limited him to just nine home runs, Pedroia was the most valuable player (according to WAR) on the 2013 World Championship team. He made up for what he lacked in pop in durability, consistency, and his usual terrific defense, resulting in his fourth Gold Glove. It’s a shame that we remember Pedroia as having an injury-riddled career because in six years from 2008 to 2013, he topped the 154 games plateau six times. Pedroia may not have put up flashy offensive numbers in the postseason (.238/.286/.302), but his heads-up double play in Game 6 of the ALCS was the most underrated play of the championship run and set the stage for Shane Victorino’s grand slam.

2013 Jacoby Ellsbury
Stats: 134 G 5.8 WAR 113 OPS+ .298/.355/.426 9 HR 53 RBI 52-56 SB 113 OPS+ MVP-15

Like nearly every player on the roster, Jacoby Ellsbury disappointed in the 2012 trainwreck season, as a right shoulder injury limited him to just 74 games in which he accumulated just 0.9 WAR. Fortunately, 2013 represented a return to form, albeit without the power of his breakout 2011 season. Ellsbury led the majors with 52 steals while being caught just four times, while his 113 OPS+ was the second-best mark of his career. Had a foot injury not wiped out most of his September, Ellsbury might have challenged the franchise record of 70 stolen bases he set in 2009. Like Pedroia, Ellsbury had no signature offensive moments during the championship run. Still, with a .344 average over 16 postseason games, he was the Red Sox’s second-most consistent hitter besides Ortiz. 

2013 Shane Victorino
Stats: 122 G 6.0 WAR 118 OPS+ .294/.351/.451 15 HR 61 RBI 21-24 2B GG MVP-22

One of the many veterans acquired by Ben Cherington during the 2012 start-from-scratch offseason, Shane Victorino was thought to be on the downside of his career-low .704 OPS in 2012. The 32-year-old, however, proved to be exactly what the Red Sox needed, as he racked up 6.0 WAR with excellent baserunning, a little bit of power, and his usual sparkling right-field defense that landed him his fourth Gold Glove. The only downside was a nagging hamstring injury that cost him a quarter of the season and eventually forced him to give up switch-hitting for the postseason. While Victorino struggled throughout most of the postseason (.216/.333/.314), he made his hits count. His grand slam in Game 6 of the ALCS put the Red Sox ahead for good, and his three-run double in Game 6 of the World Series helped get the party started in what would turn out to be the championship clincher. 

2013 Clay Buchholz
Stats: 16 GS 108.1 IP 4.3 WAR 12-1 1.74 ERA 1.02 WHIP 96 K All-Star 

No player on this list missed more time than Clay Buchholz in 2013, but that just speaks to his dominance. His season started with a Pitcher of the Month award in April and a 9-0 record, but a mid-June neck strain would wipe out two months of action and prevent him from even receiving Cy Young votes. His postseason would also be affected by an injury, this time a shoulder injury that caused him to record a decreasing amount of outs in each of his four postseason starts. It’s not like the Red Sox needed Buchholz to make 30 starts, given they won 97 games and the World Series title anyway, but it was extremely disappointing to see a potentially historic season cut short. 

2013 Jon Lester
Stats: 33 GS 213.1 IP 2.7 WAR 15-8 3.75 ERA 1.29 WHIP

If we were looking at just the regular season, this Jon Lester season may be the worst of any honorable mention. His 2.7 WAR,  3.75 ERA, and 110 ERA+ are the worst of any pitcher in this series, and there is nothing particularly special in his underlying numbers. For much of the season, Lester looked exactly like he did in his disappointing 2012 campaign, but he turned it back on in August with a 2.19 over his last 10 starts.  This set the stage for October, where Lester won four of his five starts and pitched to a 1.56 ERA. His World Series performance (15.1 IP, 1 ER) would have been more than good enough to win MVP honors in nearly every other year, but unfortunately for Lester, the next guy on our list had a pretty good series. 

2013 David Ortiz
Stats: 137 G 4.4 WAR 159 OPS+ .309/.395/.564 30 HR 103 RBI All-Star MVP-10

A part of me felt sick leaving this season off the list, but there are just too many great David Ortiz seasons. From his “this is our f—ing city” speech after the Boston Marathon bombings to his mind-blowing .688/.760/.1.188 World Series performance, Big Papi put the city of Boston on his back and carried them to a World Series title. His 159 OPS+ in the regular season was his highest in a full season since 2007, and his game-tying grand slam in Game Two of the ALCS completely flipped the series on its head. If you want to nitpick, he only played in 137 games due to a lingering Achilles injury, and he managed only one other hit in the ALCS besides the grand slam. For those reasons, I went with two other Ortiz seasons, but this particular campaign will always have a special place in Red Sox lore.