The Red Sox are middling a bit in the 2023 season and it's hard not to imagine how much these former players would help if they were still in Boston.
Things haven't been completely bleak for the Boston Red Sox, even sitting at the bottom of the AL East standings. Frankly, that has more to do with the strength of the toughest division in baseball, which is what the Red Sox's 31-30 record entering Wednesday speaks to. That record would be good enough to tie atop the AL Central and have them within 5.5 games of the division lead in every division except the AL East and West.
But alas, that's the position that Boston is in. They are a good team stuck in a brutal division wishing they had a way to make a leap. The MLB Trade Deadline at the start of August could provide that for this club, so all hope is not lost.
However, as Red Sox fans look around the rest of MLB, it's hard not to see the former players that once suited up in Fenway Park who are thriving and miss them, especially in the context of how valuable they'd be on the current roster. These three former Red Sox in particular are the ones that left Boston but fans wish could come back.
Red Sox: 3 former players fans are missing in Boston
3. Matt Strahm, P, Philadelphia Phillies
To be frank, whenever the Red Sox let southpaw Matt Strahm walk this offseason, there wasn't too much sleep lost over it. He eventually landed with the Philadelphia Phillies but that was possibly the last time that many fans believed they'd think about the 31-year-old.
After all, in Boston, Strahm never totally put it together in his one season with the club. He made 50 appearances for the Sox a season ago, all out of the bullpen, and posted a pedestrian 3.83 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. Again, it's not a shock that Chaim Bloom, for all his faults, didn't make him a priority.
With the Phillies, however, Strahm has turned it up a notch. Used as both a reliever and starter in his 16 appearances (eight starts), Strahm has posted a 3.05 ERA and 0.99 WHIP on the season, already accruing 1.2 WAR on the year, just 0.2 shy of what would be his career high for an entire season.
Given the struggles that the Red Sox have endured with the entirety of their pitching staff this season, having a veteran like Strahm would be valuable even if he just was pitching the way he did a season ago. But if he was having the 2023 season he's having with the Phillies for Boston instead, that would've been huge to give the Sox a needed boost.
2. Xander Bogaerts, SS, San Diego Padres
Obviously, this is the big and most notable player that the Red Sox miss.
You'd be hard-pressed to find a fan who wanted Xander Bogaerts to leave Boston. And it's been wholly evident while watching the Sox in 2023 as to why. Even before we get to the bat, Bogaerts was a solid defensive player at shortstop. He was never a star with the leather, but he was overall reliable. And with the way the defense in the middle of the infield (and overall) has been a problem for Alex Cora's club this year, that's been wholly notable.
Then you have the bat and, while the Padres have struggled in their own right to start this season, Bogaerts has struggled — but even his struggling has still been overall productive. For the season, the shortstop is slashing .252/.337/.388 with seven home runs and eight doubles on the year. If he just gets even a little hot, he's right back to the star he was for the Red Sox pretty quickly.
Now, it's worth noting that Chaim Bloom and the Boston front office were not wrong for the way they handled free agency with Bogaerts in a vacuum. In no way should the Sox have given him the contract that the Padres ultimately did, paying him an exorbitant amount until he's past 40 years old.
At the same time, the part of this that should really sting for Red Sox fans is the fact that it never had to get to tha point. If Bloom and the front office had seriously began extension talks years prior when they should've, Bogaerts could've been in Boston for life. Instead, he's now moved on.
And while it might not be his best season in his career to this point, there's no denying that the Sox greatly miss him both in the field and at the plate.
1. Nathan Eovaldi, SP, Texas Rangers
With the Texas Rangers signing Jacob deGrom this offseason, the fact that also inked Red Sox 2018 postseason hero Nathan Eovaldi as well seemed to get swept under the rug a bit. It's not under the rug through the first 60 games of the season in Arlington, though.
Through his first 12 starts this season on the new club, Eovaldi has been a legitimate (and perhaps leading) AL Cy Young candidate. Posting an 8-2 record to start the year, Eovaldi has a team-high 77 strikeouts while sporting a 2.24 ERA and 0.93 WHIP with eight Quality Starts to his credit. He's been absolute nails for Texas.
As we've already discussed, the Red Sox have already weathered a fair share of pitching woes this season, something that having Eovaldi in the rotation would've surely helped with. And it only stings more that he's not just performing at the same level he did in Boston, but has elevated his performance even further.
The one caveat to all of this, of course, is the health of Eovaldi. He's stayed healthy to this point in the year, but that was a struggle for him with the Sox. He made just 20 starts for the club a season ago and, given his injury history, betting on him to put in a full season in Texas is not a safe wager.
Having said that, sometimes in MLB, teams have to take calculated risks. And with the way that Eovaldi is hurling for the Rangers, it's a tough pill to swallow that the Red Sox didn't take that risk — especially given what he meant to the franchise in 2018 and over his five-season run with the team.
