How the Red Sox 2014 season is both a disappointment and an opportunity

There is no shame in a World Series hangover. Many teams, from dynastic greats to flash-in-pan Wild Card darlings, struggle in the immediate aftermath of a championship run.

There are more factors than could we could list here but repeating is difficult. Doubly so when a club is determined to avoid paying for past performance, allowing key contributors to depart for bigger paychecks.

Today, the Red Sox are at the interesting intersection between the present and future of the franchise.

2014 was something of an experiment. Layer low-ceiling veterans over unproven kids in hopes that they come together to form the foundation of another playoff run. Instead, both ends of the age spectrum underperformed.

From reclamation project Grady Sizemore to known commodity A.J. Pierzynski, sent packing by the Sox on Wednesday, the Sox took their shots and missed, gambling very little in the process, and can now turn their attention to the future.

With their playoff hopes dwindling, the Sox can make the most of an uneviable position, sitting on a cache of potential free agent trade pieces, with an eye towards next year as their robust farm system gives them options at the big league level.

It’s a balancing act, of course. The jump from the minor leagues to the show is enormous, and the adjustments required are not for the faint of heart. All the top Sox prospects posted gaudy numbers as they raced to Boston, only to stall at the game’s highest level. Jackie Bradley Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Will Middlebrooks, and others demonstrated that, despite our best wishes, player development is not a linear process and wishing for anything otherwise is a recipe for disappointment.

Red Sox fans and management looked to this cohort of blue chippers to produce like the gaggle of youngsters that fueled their run to the 2007 title, with Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, and Jon Lester flanking established Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz as they rolled to their second title in three seasons.

The same game plan didn’t produce similar results right this season, but there is plenty of good left in Pedroia, Napoli, and Ortiz.

For the Red Sox, the next balance is trading veterans versus gutting next year’s club. Though Jon Lester is their best trade piece, they don’t play baseball  in a vacuum and the alternate universe in which the Sox trade Lester is not one you or I inhabit.

The Sox won’t move him for many reasons. Replacing his production is all but impossible and Boston is determined to work out a team-friendly contract extension with their left-handed ace. Doing him the indignity of a midseason trade is sure to undercut any of those good feelings.

Closer Koji Uehara could also fall under this category. An integral piece of the 2013 title team, Boston surely wants to remain in the Koji business.

John Lackey and Jake Peavy are other trade chips from the Red Sox (very respectable for a last place club) pitching staff. Lackey’s unique contract structure sees him earn a paltry $500000 next season, thanks to missing all of 2012 due to injury.

This impossibly low pay packet makes Lackey insanely valuable on the trade market, though Boston could still seek to extend Lackey to bolster next year’s club as well as “do right” by a valued contributor on their championship team.

Peavy is a different case. He appears resigned to the realities of his fate, that a move from Boston is a professional risk for a veteran pitcher facing free agency. Though his trade return is likely less than some of his teammates, which isn’t to suggest they’ll let him walk for a song.

Bullpen arms Burke Badenhop and Andrew Miller could also attract interest, limited as the middle reliever market might be. David Ross, Jonny Gomes, and Stephen Drew are either bit players or so far out of form as to represent valueless trade commodities.

The Red Sox will traverse the trade market carefully. This is not a rebuild, it is simply a reset. The Sox deep pockets give them the flexibility to get creative in season while remaining nimble in the offseason, when they could move quickly and definitively to plug the holes the end of this cycle creates.

As disappointing as the 2014 season appears, it could well allow the Red Sox to be in an even stronger position starting in 2015. Their chemistry experiments and rookie trials-by-fire better positioned to make decisions (like how much and how long for Lester as well as taking stock of their stable of young players) and reload for another sustained period of success.