Holliday, Rafaela and two franchises in very different places originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
The juxtaposition only remained at the simplest level. On the same day, the Red Sox announced they had reached an eight-year, $50 million contract extension with center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela, the Orioles called up baseball’s top prospect, Jackson Holliday, for his big league debut.
Two young people highlighted in the news on the same day, two organizations trying to imitate the Dodgers and the Braves assembling a local nucleus to compete for the championship. There’s your basic plot.
But that’s where the similarities end, because if the two recent Red Sox extensions – young right-hander Brayan Bello being the other – tell us anything, that’s how far the club is from deserving a place in that conversation.
The Braves are loaded. The Orioles are loaded. The Red Sox? So far, they’ve committed about $100 million to a promising right-hander who still doesn’t strike out anyone, and a promising outfielder who still might never hit.
Good for them for signaling a new approach and avoiding the mistakes that led to Mookie Betts’ departure and what is increasingly looking like Rafael Devers’ overpayment. Change has to start somewhere, and at the very least, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is stabilizing the future makeup of the roster.
But we need to make it clear how far the Red Sox really are from becoming the Braves or Orioles, because the talent discrepancy is huge.
The Braves are loaded with young superstars on long-term deals, from MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. (8 years, $100 million), to All-Star second baseman Ozzie Albies (7 years, $35 million), to slugging third baseman Austin Riley (10 years, $212 million), All-Star catcher Sean Murphy (6 years, $73 million), 20-game winner Spencer Strider (6 years, $75 million ), to former Rookie of the Year Michael Harris (8 years, $72 million). million).
Even with Strider looking ahead to Tommy John surgery, there’s still an incredible array of young talent, and that doesn’t include 30-year-old first baseman Matt Olson, who signed for eight years and $168 million. Bello and Rafaela do not evaluate any of them.
The Orioles, meanwhile, have yet to reveal how they will approach the long-term future of their core, especially with an ownership change imminent, but in the here and now, they are scary.
Holliday is the third No. 1 prospect in baseball to make the team in the last three years, joining catcher Adley Rutschman and shortstop Gunnar Henderson. Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez was also in the top five. The heroes of Wednesday night’s 7-5 comeback win over the Red Sox, infielder Jordan Westburg and outfielder Colton Cowser, were first-round picks in 2020 and 2021, respectively. And there’s more talent on the way, in the form of corner infielder Coby Mayo and outfielder Heston Kjerstad. It’s impressive.
The Red Sox can’t remotely compete with that. Rutschman, Henderson and Holliday are can’t-miss prospects. We can’t be so sure about the Red Sox’ vaunted trio of Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony and Kyle Teel.
“I think we have to be careful about trying to imitate what other organizations are doing for a number of reasons,” Breslow said when asked if the Orioles inspire what the Red Sox hope to accomplish. “Boston is unique. It’s a unique organization, it’s a unique city. It has a unique fan base.
“I think it’s very important that we run our own race. But to the extent that we can identify trends that work and are successful in the industry, we should look to replicate them. But I’m not sure that it’s an incredibly new idea to acquire.” great young players, develop them, get them to the big leagues. And I think you have to tip your hat to the organizations that have done so well here.
The Red Sox hope to be one of those organizations, but they’re not close yet. In other words, no one is talking about any Red Sox prospects the same way manager Alex Cora described Holliday’s arrival.
“For baseball, this is great,” he said. “For the American League East, it sucks.”
