Red Sox right on track entering Opening Day at Fenway, but now the fun begins; Rafaela gets his extension

Through the first 10 games of the season at least, the Boston Red Sox are right now track.

Two series wins and a 7-3 record after the first road trip of the season? You couldn’t have realistically asked for much more from a team that mostly opted to stay the course and trust in its internal options instead of flashy signings over the offseason. 

Now, the rubber hits the road and things should start to get interesting…

Boston will face its first real competition of the season as it welcomes AL East rival Baltimore to Fenway Park for a three-game series. Tuesday afternoon’s home opener will feature a matchup of team aces, with young Sox right-hander Brayan Bello (1-0, 5.40 ERA) opposing Orioles righty and price offseason acquisition Corbin Burnes. 

Bello will be looking to bounce back after a rough, but not disastrous, outing in Oakland. He struck out a season-high six, but definitely put the team behind the eight ball by allowing four runs on five hits — including a pair of homers — in Boston’s eventual 5-4 extra-innings win.

If Bello can recapture his form from Opening Day in Seattle — and he might benefit from being able to recreate the experience as he makes his first start in a season opener at Fenway — while limiting the home run ball (he’s allowed three this season), it would go along way toward assuaging fears of a slow start (or worse, a regression) from a young pitcher the team has placed much of its hopes on. 

Burnes, meanwhile, has been as advertised so far this season, pitching to a 2.31 ERA and striking out 14 — including 11 in his O’s debut against the Angels on March 28th —in 11 2/3 innings across two starts (1-0). 

After that, the Sox will get a bit of relief as resurgent No. 2 starter Nick Pivetta (1-1, 0.82 ERA) opposes Cole Irvin, who is off to a rocky start after being knocked around for four runs on seven hits in his 2024 debut in a 4-1 loss to Kansas City on April 2. Advantage Pivetta there, without question…

Game 3 will feature another interesting matchup of two pitchers off to hot starts as Kutter Crawford (0-0, 0.84 ERA) gets the nod opposite former 2018 first-round draft pick Grayson Rodriguez (2-0, 2.19 ERA). Both Crawford and Rodriguez have had the strikeout pitch working through two outings, totaling 12 and 16 respectively. 

Baltimore is coming in at 5-4 after a two-game skid while dropping two in a three-game set with the surging Pirates. But the Orioles started the season strong by winning five of their first seven, including hanging 11 and 13 runs respectively in their first two games.

It’s a little too early to call this a “big” series, but you’d better believe both teams will be motivated to assert their divisional dominance in the early stages of the season. Boston should have more of a chip on its shoulder, though, having lost the season series (albeit it only 6-7) to the defending AL East champs one year ago.

I’m looking to this series to help determine if this Red Sox’s start is a commentary of their organizational progress and development than it is the fact they just faced the Angels and A’s six times (going 5-1)…

Sox lock up Rafaela. Casas next?

Jacoby Ellsbury. Jackie Bradley Jr. Ceddanne Rafaela? 

After rewarding one exciting young prospect with an offseason extension, Craig Breslow has done it again with another of the team’s projected cornerstones of the future: center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela.

The No. 4 prospect in the Red Sox’s farm system has reportedly agreed to an eight-year deal worth $50 million. At an average annual value of $6.25 million, it seems like the Red Sox are getting another good deal. 

Once again, kudos Craig…

Rafaela, 23, is hitting just .233 (7 for 30) with five RBIs in 10 games this season, but two of those hits have been triples. Defensively, he’s flashed the leather on more than one occasion and certainly seems capable of being a plus defender.

If the Red Sox weren’t going to spend big this offseason, then the next best thing they could do is  lock up the stars of tomorrow they believe in. Now that they’ve done it twice with Bello and Rafaela in the early stages of the Breslow regime, one can’t help but wonder how they really feel about Triston Casas.

Last we touched base with Casas, there had been no progress on initial contract talks. The 24-year-old is also off to a cold state, slashing .237/.326/.342 with a home run and three RBIs through 10 games. 

To his credit, Casas has continually insisted he wants to remain with the Red Sox. And who knows who’s really holding up the contract talks behind closed doors? Perhaps Casas is betting on himself and presented the team a higher price tag and they’re hoping to feel him out.

But if I’m Casas, the fact that the team extended Bello and Rafaela before me would stick in my mind if and when they return to the negotiation table…