On the final day of the 2020 season J.D. Martinez asked reporters if they believed the 60 games that came and went should be considered a real season.
Well, they gave out awards. They crowned a World Series champion. And guys made money off going on hot two-month hot streaks.
It was a real season. It was also a season that helped saved the Red Sox in more than a few ways.
Sunday night, we will get that reminder one more time.
Thanks to the train wreck that was the Red Sox' 2020 campaign, Chaim Bloom and Co. will get the opportunity to select fourth in this year's Major League Baseball Draft. Thank you 24-26 record.
Want to get your head around what an absolute gift this was to the Red Sox? Understand that the Nationals went 24-33 in 2019 before going on to win the World Series.
For the Sox, there was never going to be a world championship. But, instead, there were the seeds that helped expedite Bloom's revitalization project.
The gifts supplied by 2020 ...
Nick Pivetta: He is establishing himself as a legitimate middle-of-the-rotation starter who just so happens to be making $613,000 this season and will be under Red Sox control for three more seasons beyond this one.
Connor Seabold: While he has been hurt all season -- just now starting to find his way back on a field -- the belief is that this will be a legitimate major league starter in the coming years.
Hudson Potts, Jeisson Rosario, Jacob Wallace, Zach Bryant: While none of these players (who represent the returns for Mitch Moreland, Kevin Pillar and Josh Osich) are setting the world on fire during the first few months of minor-league season, they are still young with enough potential to suggest the major leagues will one day be in at least one of their futures.
Hunter Renfroe: This is a player whose two months with the Rays produced a .156 batting average, paving the way to a one-year deal worth just $3.1 million (with two more years of arbitration-eligibility).
Christian Arroyo: Bad seasons lead to the opportunity to try new guys out. A lot of them didn't work out. This one sure did.
Garrett Whitlock: The Red Sox got to pick at No. 4 in last December's Rule 5 Draft. This, of course, allowed them to scoop up another hugely important piece of this season's puzzle, who also figures to be another anchor in the 2021 rotation.
The 2021 first-round pick: Jack Leiter? Henry Davis? A high school shortstop? Who knows what kind of the player the Red Sox will land Sunday night. But understand that to have the opportunity to scoop up this type of impact talent is a gift for any team. Last year, the Royals got Texas A&M hurler Asa Lacy with the fourth pick. He has 72 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings for High-A Quad Cities. The year before it was Nick Madrigal going to the White Sox. Before ending his 2021 with a torn hamstring, he was hitting .305 as Chicago's everyday second baseman.
You get the idea.
