Red Sox's 'Final Offseason Grade' From ESPN Will Leave Fans Excited For 2025

Is it Mar. 27 yet?

Feb 18, 2025; Lee County, FL, USA; Boston Red Sox third base Alex Bregman (2) participates in media day at JetBlue Park at Fenway South. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox are entering the 2025 Major League Baseball season with legitimate postseason expectations, and it's frankly been a while since that was the case.

Though the Red Sox made it to the playoffs in 2021, they really haven't come into spring training with much buzz since 2019, when they were the defending World Series champions. And that's because they hadn't made enough offseason moves in years past to inspire confidence in the overall roster.

This offseason, the Red Sox finally changed the narrative. They traded for Garrett Crochet to become their ace. They signed Walker Buehler to add veteran presence and high upside to the rotation. And just as some were worrying they'd run out of steam, they signed Alex Bregman for a franchise-record annual salary.

On Tuesday, ESPN's David Schoenfield handed out "final" offseason letter grades to each of the 30 Major League Baseball team. And the Red Sox received an "A" grade, accurately capturing the excitement echoing throughout the fan base these days.

"The Red Sox get bumped up from a B- in our previous mid-offseason edition after signing Bregman in mid-February, even if that's creating some positional awkwardness as Rafael Devers said he doesn't want to move from third base to a DH role," Schoenfield wrote.

"Having too many good players is a good problem to have and Alex Cora should be able to manage the Devers situation. Bottom line: The Red Sox added two stars, and if Buehler can find his old form, they have a chance to contend for an American League East title they haven't won since 2018."

The Red Sox weren't far from being a playoff team last season, finishing five games behind the final Wild Card teams at 81-81. Crochet and Bregman alone could be enough to get them there, as the two combined for 8.2 rWAR last year, and that's without factoring in possible contributions from Buehler, Lucas Giolito, or a healthy Trevor Story and Triston Casas.

Expectations are high, as they should be for a big-market team like Boston. Now, it's on the Red Sox to take the field on Mar. 27 and prove for the next six-plus months that those expectations were justified.

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