The American League East is a true beast these days, and the Boston Red Sox have yet to separate themselves from the pack in any meaningful way this winter.
Everyone in the division is in some way chasing the Toronto Blue Jays, the defending AL pennant winners who came within inches of winning the World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles have also been the two most active teams in the division in free agency thus far.
Amid the disappointment of Boston not signing any free agents this winter thus far, however, it may hearten some Red Sox fans to know that the Blue Jays know they have it rough in trying to stay ahead of the game.
Mark Shapiro pays Red Sox compliment
During an appearance on MLB Network Radio on Sunday, Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro showed the Red Sox serious respect, crediting the young roster for setting Boston up to remain relevant in the pennant race for many years to come.
“Our division is an absolute beast,” Shapiro said. “We already knew Baltimore was going to be better than they were last year.. the Yankees, you know they’re not done, they’re going to make adds. Tampa’s going to be better, they’re never bad, just gonna get better.
“And Boston probably is positioned as well as any team in all of Major League Baseball, I don’t know if there’s a team positioned for the next five years better than the Boston Red Sox, with young talent and flexibility.”
Shapiro used that entire quote block to make the point that the Blue Jays don’t consider themselves done searching for talent this offseason, so Red Sox fans certainly shouldn’t feel comfortable at the sound of his words. In particular, Toronto has emerged as a suitor for third baseman Alex Bregman this week, which no Red Sox fan wanted to see.
However, it’s good for the pessimists of the fan base to occasionally remind themselves that with the Garrett Crochets and Roman Anthonys of the world in tow, this Boston team is still genuinely moving in the right direction.
