CATCHER - JARROD SALTALAMACCHIA
This position came down to Saltalamacchia or Christian Vazquez. The best individual season belonged to Victor Martinez, who hit .302/.351/.493 with 20 home runs and 79 RBIs and was an All Star, the only time in the decade a Red Sox catcher appeared in the All Star Game. But that was his only season with the team in the decade. Sandy Leon had a terrific season in 2016, hitting .310/.369/.476, but did not have much power (seven home runs), and did it in only 78 games and was basically a black hole on offense otherwise. So it came down to Vazquez, who played the most games and was the better defensive catcher, or Saltalamacchia, who was significantly better offensively. Ultimately, I chose the better offensive catcher, although if Vazquez (.256/.305/.384 for his career) had hit the way he did in 2019 for his career (or even close to it), this would turn out differently. Saltalamacchia led the team in home runs in 2012 and for his time on the team, hit .243/.307/.455 with 55 home runs and 181 RBIs.
FIRST BASE - ADRIAN GONZALEZ
Most of the first base options have significant issues. Kevin Youkilis and Hanley Ramirez each had very good seasons at the position, but played only one season there apiece and then played other positions. This basically comes down to Gonzalez, Mike Napoli and Mitch Moreland. Despite an All Star appearance in 2018, Moreland's offense is a significant step down from the other two, and he played a similar number of games to Napoli, so he is out. Napoli played a lot more than Gonzalez and hit .242/.350/.436 with 53 home runs and 187 RBIs during his time and was a big part of the 2013 World Championship team. Gonzalez though was an elite offensive player, having one of the better first base seasons in team history in 2011, and following up with a very good season in 2012, before he was traded away. In far fewer games, he almost eclipsed all of Napoli's numbers, hitting .321/.382/.513 with 42 home runs and 203 RBIs. It would have been nice to keep him around.
SECOND BASE - DUSTIN PEDROIA
Moving from one of the most difficult positions to determine to one of the easiest, second base has been handled by Pedroia throughout the decade, except for times when he was injured. With apologies to his temporary replacements (Eduardo Nunez and Brock Holt), no one measured up to Pedroia. His best season was 2011 when he hit .307/.387/.474 with 21 home runs, 91 RBIs and 26 stolen bases. He was an All Star in 2013 and won Gold Gloves in 2011, 2013 and 2014. He twice finished in the top ten in the MVP voting. For the decade, he hit .296/.363/.432 with 98 home runs, 513 RBIs and 93 stolen bases. Injuries have mostly decimated what has been a potential Hall of Fame career.
SHORTSTOP - XANDER BOGAERTS
This was another pretty easy call. The other players to play full seasons at shortstop in the decade were Marco Scutaro, Mike Aviles and Stephen Drew. Scutaro was a decent, steady player, but the other two do not exactly inspire awe. Bogaerts was the starting shortstop since late 2014 and was an All Star in 2016 and 2019. He was a part of two World Championship teams and won Silver Slugger Awards in 2015, 2016 and 2019. During his career, he has hit .288/.350/.451 with 107 home runs and 503 RBIs. He has not been the greatest defensive shortstop, but he has been one of the elite offensive shortstops in the game, particularly over the last two seasons.
THIRD BASE - RAFAEL DEVERS
Were you expecting Pablo Sandoval? This one really is not as close as I thought it was going to be. Despite Devers having a phenomenal season in 2019, the only All Star seasons at the position during the decade belonged to Adrian Beltre in 2010 and Kevin Youkilis in 2011. Beltre owns probably the best individual season in 2010 when he hit .321/.365/.553 with 28 home runs and 102 RBIs and led the league in doubles. He won the Silver Slugger that season. But it was his only season in Boston. Youkilis was good in 2011, but certainly not great. Will Middlebrooks and Sandoval were of course big disappointments. That leaves Devers, who had a 2019 comparable to Beltre when he hit .311/.361/.555 with 32 home runs and 115 RBIs, also leading the league in doubles. Only his defense did not measure up. Devers hit .282/.335/.501 with 63 home runs and 211 RBIs in the decade.
RIGHT FIELD - MOOKIE BETTS
No contest here. Betts is one of the best players in team history. It is a shame he likely will not be back with the team. J.D. Drew, Josh Reddick, Shane Victorino and Jackie Bradley Jr. are the other players to play regularly in right, but none of them as much as Betts, or as well. Victorino had a good season in 2013 and won a Gold Glove. But, to be honest, none of them are close to Betts. Betts was in the All Star Game four times, and won four Gold Gloves and four Silver Sluggers. He won the AL MVP in 2018 when he hit .346/.438/.640 with 32 home runs, 80 RBIs and 30 stolen bases. He led the league in average, slugging, and runs. He finished runner-up in the MVP race in 2016 when he hit .318/.363/.534 with 31 home runs, 113 RBIs and 26 stolen bases and led the league in total bases. For the decade, which does include the 2015 season when he was the primary center fielder, Betts hit .301/.374/.519 with 139 home runs, 470 RBIs and 126 stolen bases.
CENTER FIELD - JACKIE BRADLEY JR.
JBJ has the most games played at center field during the decade, taking over as the primary center fielder in 2016, more than double the number of the runner-up. Jacoby Ellsbury had the best individual season when he was the runner-up for the MVP in 2011, hitting .321/.376/.552 with 32 home runs, 105 RBIs and 39 stolen bases. He won the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger and was an All Star that season. He was also decent in 2013 when he led the league in stolen bases (52), but that was the only other season he was a regular, due to injuries. Bradley was an All Star in 2016 when he hit .267/.349/.486 with 26 home runs and 87 RBIs. Unfortunately, he has not really come close to those numbers since. For the decade, he hit .236/.317/.409 with 91 home runs, 354 RBIs and 55 stolen bases. It is his defense though where Bradley excels. He won a Gold Glove in 2018 and has been one of the elite defensive center fielders throughout his time at the position.
LEFT FIELD - ANDREW BENINTENDI
Left field has not been a great position for Boston during the decade. There have been no All Star appearances or awards. A number of players have disappointed (Carl Crawford, Hanley Ramirez, Yoenis Cespedes), and injuries have caused issues. The 2013 team featured a platoon in left with Jonny Gomes and Daniel Nava. So Benintendi largely wins this by default. He was very good in 2017, hitting .271/.352/.424 with 20 home runs, 90 RBIs and 20 stolen bases and finished second in the Rookie of the Year race. But he has stagnated since the second half of 2018. For the decade, he hit .277/.354/.442 with 51 home runs, 259 RBIs and 52 stolen bases.
DESIGNATED HITTER - DAVID ORTIZ
J.D. Martinez has been terrific, but he has only played two seasons in the decade. Ortiz played seven of the other eight (Hanley Ramirez played the remaining one). Martinez had probably the best individual season when he hit .330/.402/.629 with 43 home runs and a league-leading 130 RBIs in 2018. He was an All Star twice and won two Silver Sluggers (in the same season). But Ortiz was a great hitter throughout the decade. He was an All Star five times and won four Silver Sluggers. From 2010 through 2016, he hit .292/.383/.562 with 224 home runs and 700 RBIs. Ortiz was an absolute monster in the postseason, particularly during the 2013 World Series for which he was named MVP. As good as Martinez has been, Ortiz has been doing it a lot longer.
UTILITY - BROCK HOLT
How many utility players actually make the All Star team? I have no idea how to answer that question, but Holt did in 2015. A number of players had decent seasons at multiple positions, such as Kevin Youkilis (first, third), Daniel Nava (right, left, first) and Hanley Ramirez (first, left, DH), but Holt played every position except catcher and pitcher throughout his career with Boston. In his All Star season, Holt hit .280/.349/.379. Holt hit for the cycle twice, including becoming the first player to do so in a postseason game in Game 3 of the 2018 ALDS against the Yankees. With the Red Sox in the decade, he hit .270/.340/.374 with 23 home runs, 203 RBIs and 35 stolen bases.
STARTING PITCHER - CHRIS SALE
Sale was only with the Red Sox for three seasons during the decade, and one of those seasons was less than completely impressive, though he did strike out 218 batters in 147.1 innings, albeit with a 4.40 ERA. But he makes the team because of how amazing his previous two seasons were. He finished runner-up in the Cy Young race in 2017 when he was 17-8 with a 2.90 ERA, striking out a Major League-leading 308 batters in 214.1 innings. He was an All Star in both 2017 and 2018. For the three years, Sale has a 35-23 record, 3.08 ERA and 763 strikeouts in just 519.2 innings. He may not have been with the team as long as some pitchers who are not on this list, but he has been one of the best pitchers in the game.
STARTING PITCHER - JON LESTER
Lester was an All Star three times during the decade, in 2010, 2011 and 2014. He was a consistent and reliable starting pitcher, if not quite the ace of the staff. He did finish in the top five in the Cy Young vote twice, including 2014 which he finished as a member of the Oakland Athletics. For the decade, he had a 3.64 ERA, a 68-47 record and 899 strikeouts. Lester was terrific in the 2013 postseason, winning four games and losing just one and allowing just one run in 15.1 innings in the World Series, while striking out 15. Boston probably should have held on to him.
STARTING PITCHER - RICK PORCELLO
Even though his time with the Red Sox has been up and down, it is hard to make this kind of list without including the only pitcher who won the Cy Young Award for the team during the time period. Porcello has largely been an innings-eater during his time in Boston, but in 2016 he narrowly won the Cy Young Award by going 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA and 189 strikeouts in 223 innings. For his time in Boston, he was 73-55 with a 4.43 ERA and 852 strikeouts. He pitched in five full seasons in Boston, mostly in the middle of the rotation.
STARTING PITCHER - CLAY BUCHHOLZ
Of the starting pitcher candidates for this list , Buccholz had the longest tenure, pitching with the Red Sox through the 2016 season. He was an All Star twice, in 2010 when he was 17-7 with a 2.33 ERA, and 2013 when he was 12-1 with a 1.74 ERA. With Boston, he was 69-47 with a 3.78 ERA and 737 strikeouts in 977 innings. He finished sixth in the Cy Young vote in 2010. Other pitchers strongly considered for this list were Josh Beckett, Eduardo Rodriguez, David Price and John Lackey. Beckett was an All Star in 2010, but struggled in other seasons. Price and Lackey had injuries that took out a chunk of time. Rodriguez looks like a rising star but just had his breakout season in 2019.
Tazawa was an underrated, yet extremely important member of the team's bullpen in the early half of the decade. He also impressed during the team's postseason run in 2013, appearing in 13 games with a 1-0 record and a 1.23 ERA. For the decade, Tazawa pitched in 296 games, throwing 286.2 innings, with a record of 15-17 and a 3.23 ERA. He struck out 295, walking just 66. He struggled a bit in his last two seasons, but his previous few were terrific.
RELIEF PITCHER - MATT BARNES
Ultimately, I could not include Tazawa without Barnes. So it came down to including both, or neither. I wanted to have a setup man in this post, so I chose to include both. Their numbers are fairly similar, which is why it did not make much sense to have one and not the other. Barnes has been the primary setup man for the last few seasons, and played a big role on the 2018 champs. Barnes has pitched in 301 games, with 314.1 innings. He had a 25-18 record and a 4.07 ERA, but has been improving each season. He is a high strikeout pitcher, notching 407, with a high of 110 in 2019 in just 64.1 innings.
RELIEF PITCHER - KOJI UEHARA
In one of the most important free agent signings of the decade, the Red Sox signed Uehara to set up newly acquired Joel Hanrahan in the bullpen. But Uehara quickly became the team's closer, having one of the greatest seasons of all time out of the bullpen, going 4-1 with a 1.09 ERA and 101 strikeouts versus just nine walks in 74.1 innings, saving 21 games. He was particularly impressive in the postseason, saving seven games en route to the ALCS MVP award. He had diminishing returns each subsequent season in Boston, but had a 14-13 record, 2.19 ERA, 79 saves and 291 strikeouts versus 37 walks in 226 innings. He was an All Star in 2014.
RELIEF PITCHER - CRAIG KIMBREL
If Kimbrel can get his career back on track, he looks like a potential Hall of Famer. He was acquired in a trade with San Diego prior to the 2016 season, one of the few reliever trades that worked out well for Boston. He spent just three seasons in Boston, but was an All Star in each one of them and won the Mariano Rivera Reliever of the Year Award in 2017. Kimbrel saved 108 games with the Red Sox with a 2.44 ERA while striking out 305 in 184.1 innings. His only real black mark was his struggles in the postseason. Other relievers considered for this post were Brandon Workman, Jonathan Papelbon, Joe Kelly, Alfredo Aceves and Craig Breslow.
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