The Starters

Left Field

Brock Holt

2015: 129 games (58 at 2B, 33 at 3B, 20 at RF, 8 at LF, 7 at SS, 5 at 1B, 2 at CF, 1 at DH), .280/.349/.379, 2 HRs, 8 SBs (1 CS), made 1st All-Star Game.

The Brock Star’s propensity for excellent production before the All-Star break and a precipitous decline afterwards carried itself to its logical conclusion last year. He earned an I-shit-you-not All-Star nod on the strength of his utility player heroics and .791 OPS, and then not-unexpectedly crashed down to Earth with a very pedestrian .653 OPS the rest of the way.

I guess what I’m saying is that you could do much worse than Holt as an opening day left fielder, but he’s probably better suited to fill in at other spots once injuries inevitably come into play. And that means a certain 27-year-old Cuban would-be phenom is going to have to step up.

Center Field

Jackie Bradley, Jr.

2015: 74 games (32 at RF, 27 at CF, 17 at LF), .249/.335/.498, 10 HRs, 3 SBs (0 CS)

That’s right, it’s everyone’s favorite mercurially talented outfielder, hopefully ready to finally lay claim to his rightful everyday spot in Boston’s outfield. When he’s not making catches at the wall look routine or throwing the ball from home plate over the center field wall for kicks and giggles, he could either be found going 5 for 40 (see May through July) or looking like Willie Mays’ secret mutant son (see August). This is a guy who had 55 hits last year, and most of them were for extra bases. So yeah. He could be pretty good.

Right Field

Mookie Betts

2015: 145 games (133 at CF, 11 at RF, 1 at DH), .291/.341/.479, 18 HRs, 21 SBs (6 CS), 19th in MVP voting.

Mookie slashed his way into the hearts and minds of Sox fans last year despite the team’s dreadful overall performance. He’s one of maybe 2 or 3 players that I think of as untouchable (in terms of trade discussions), and it’s as much for his bat as for stuff like this:

via GIPHY

Yeah, he’s tremendous. If both he and Bradley can come close to their performances at the plate in the 2nd half of 2015 – well, that would probably be too much to hope for, but it would be amazing. And it’s hard not to feel good about Betts in right field. He’s already proven that he’s more than capable of handling center, and it’s no slight against him that Bradley is a better fit for center field. Mookie is an incredible athlete, but he’s also a converted second baseman. And JBJ is a savant.

The Bench

Rusney Castillo

2015: 75 games (48 at RF, 24 at LF, 6 at CF, 2 at DH), .253/.288/.359, 5 HRs, 4 SBs (5 CS)

Not a super showing for Rusney last year, and that performance combined with his struggles this spring have led to Brock Holt starting in left field. So far, he can’t really run, he doesn’t walk, he doesn’t slug, he doesn’t hit for average, he plays okay defense, and he’s 28 years old. I’d say it’s now or never, except that the Sox are due to pay him $11 million a year for the next 4 years. Oh boy.

Chris Young

2015: 140 games (76 at RF, 55 at LF, 15 at CF, 2 at DH), .252/.320/.453, 14 HRs, 3 SBs (1 CS)

A Yankee last year, Young is a pretty durable guy, having played at least 100 games every year since 2007. He was an All-Star in 2010 for Arizona, and hey, you know, he’s pretty good. He had the 5th best fielding percentage among AL outfielders last year. You could do much, MUCH worse than Young as a backup outfielder. And we have (see Craig, Allen).

Stay tuned for more roster analysis over the next couple days as we scratch and claw to make this blog look respectable.