They absolutely are not able to rebuild from within in 2022. Maybe 2023 some more arms could come up? Right now, the strength of their farm is much further away than 2022. I'm not sure they have anyone they can rocket through the system unless they are throwing Bello in the pen.
I'd rather miss out on the WC game than get destroyed in it. Sure, it would be great to eliminate the Yanks, but there's a 73% chance the Yankee crowd goes home happy.
An 8-21 streak against good teams is actually very meaningful. If they struggle to beat good teams, you can't say "well, it's just a crapshoot in the playoffs." In this situation, the deck would be extremely stacked against the Red Sox.
The issue is that at some point, these guys need to be replaced by prospects from the minors.
Maybe they just call up Feltman to take the Richards bullpen spot?
Do they try to start the season with Seabold in the rotation?
This team wasn't built to be a playoff team. This team was built to be an "also ran" IMO. They played above their heads for 2/3's of this season and are going to coast to the playoffs.
Marwin is already gone. I'm fine with the other guys leaving, but I still lean towards trying to get ERod to stay on the QO. Sox should have money to spend this winter. I just hope they don't go the frugal route do to "uncertainty" over the CBA.
Not sure we can really pat ourselves on the back for beating the O's. Losing to good teams and then beating up on bad teams isn't a recipe for playoff success.
Of these players, the only real keepers are:
Verdugo
Kiké
Renfroe
Whitlock
Schwarber
The rest you can throw back in the pond and it won't affect the team.