Dustin Pedroia. People were calling for his head the first month. And then what happened? Laser Show.
I still wanna know how JD Drew started bad? He was at least solid his first year and hit that grand slam in the ALCS
Jon Lester got cancer his first season. I’d go with him.
Rick Porcello
Jd martinez had a fantastic stint with the redsox. Started great and ended great, can’t expect every dude to hit 35 bombs every year.
David Price
David Ortiz. His beginning of 2003 was rough.
Jarren Duran? Not that it’s over, but he had a rocky start with being bad and missing games for refusing to get vaccinated. He’s since become a fan favorite and one of our best players
Lackey is the only answer
Jackie Bradley. His first season was ooof and he looked BAD. Now, he’s beloved and was a key contributor to that ‘18 squad. Love me some JBJ
Lackey
A lot of the disagreement in this thread comes down to the time frame of what “starts” means. Is the first few months of a player’s Red Sox career the start, or is it the first full year? That makes a huge difference.
John Lackey is a great call for those using the first year as a frame of reference.
If the frame of reference is shorter, then sure Pedroia is an OK example although I’d argue that Pedroia did not end well at all. Dude was incredible until Manny Fucking Machado ruined his career. Limping along trying to get healthy for several years and never really contributing wasn’t Pedroia’s fault, but it was hardly a good end to his career. If good/bad/ugly were options it would definitely be ugly.
I may get excoriated for suggesting this, but I think Big Papi is a better example for the short frame of reference. His first chunk of time with the Red Sox was OK, but he was losing playing time to the likes of (ugh) Jeremy Giambi. Ortiz was getting frustrated and confronted Theo asking to be played as a regular, traded or released. While his on-field play was passable at this point, that level of tension with the coaching staff and front office makes the overall picture a bad one at that point. Of course he started getting a lot more playing time and was building the foundation of his legend by that fall.
Ortiz. Was average with the Twins and came in at the bottom but now is a legend.
day 2 of the JD Drew makes no sense.
Julio Lugo
Pedroia. Media wanted him run out of town after the start of his career. Then you wanna know what happened?
LASER SHOW.
Nate Eovaldi
JBJ
Tough question because I expect minor league careers to start bad, so I’m going to leave them out.
From a FA acquisition side, I’d go with Saltalamacchia and Andrew Miller.
Salty was horrific on both sides to start his Sox career and at least turned it around nicely on offense.
Andrew miller was signed as a starter, sucked, got moved to the pen and started rebuilding his career as an eventually dominant reliever with the Sox.
Lackey was the first name that popped in my head and I see multiple people have mentioned him, so that’s probably a good guess. I think he threaded the okay/bad needle pretty well during his first season, but was awful during his second season (which was also friend chicken and beergate), so that sullies the memory somewhat.
A case could also be made for Lester who got knocked around a bit during his first two seasons (when he like, had cancer), but was pretty much dominant from the no-hitter on.
I wouldn’t say papi because he barely got any playing time at first, but once he was playing consistently he was always doing damage.
Pedroia – again depends on your timetable for “start”. He was bad for a month, but ultimately won ROY that season, which would be the best bad start I’ve ever seen.
26 comments
John Fucking Lackey
John Lackey
Dustin Pedroia
Nick Punto
Dustin Pedroia. People were calling for his head the first month. And then what happened? Laser Show.
I still wanna know how JD Drew started bad? He was at least solid his first year and hit that grand slam in the ALCS
Jon Lester got cancer his first season. I’d go with him.
Rick Porcello
Jd martinez had a fantastic stint with the redsox. Started great and ended great, can’t expect every dude to hit 35 bombs every year.
David Price
David Ortiz. His beginning of 2003 was rough.
Jarren Duran? Not that it’s over, but he had a rocky start with being bad and missing games for refusing to get vaccinated. He’s since become a fan favorite and one of our best players
Lackey is the only answer
Jackie Bradley. His first season was ooof and he looked BAD. Now, he’s beloved and was a key contributor to that ‘18 squad. Love me some JBJ
Lackey
A lot of the disagreement in this thread comes down to the time frame of what “starts” means. Is the first few months of a player’s Red Sox career the start, or is it the first full year? That makes a huge difference.
John Lackey is a great call for those using the first year as a frame of reference.
If the frame of reference is shorter, then sure Pedroia is an OK example although I’d argue that Pedroia did not end well at all. Dude was incredible until Manny Fucking Machado ruined his career. Limping along trying to get healthy for several years and never really contributing wasn’t Pedroia’s fault, but it was hardly a good end to his career. If good/bad/ugly were options it would definitely be ugly.
I may get excoriated for suggesting this, but I think Big Papi is a better example for the short frame of reference. His first chunk of time with the Red Sox was OK, but he was losing playing time to the likes of (ugh) Jeremy Giambi. Ortiz was getting frustrated and confronted Theo asking to be played as a regular, traded or released. While his on-field play was passable at this point, that level of tension with the coaching staff and front office makes the overall picture a bad one at that point. Of course he started getting a lot more playing time and was building the foundation of his legend by that fall.
Ortiz. Was average with the Twins and came in at the bottom but now is a legend.
day 2 of the JD Drew makes no sense.
Julio Lugo
Pedroia. Media wanted him run out of town after the start of his career. Then you wanna know what happened?
LASER SHOW.
Nate Eovaldi
JBJ
Tough question because I expect minor league careers to start bad, so I’m going to leave them out.
From a FA acquisition side, I’d go with Saltalamacchia and Andrew Miller.
Salty was horrific on both sides to start his Sox career and at least turned it around nicely on offense.
Andrew miller was signed as a starter, sucked, got moved to the pen and started rebuilding his career as an eventually dominant reliever with the Sox.
Lackey was the first name that popped in my head and I see multiple people have mentioned him, so that’s probably a good guess. I think he threaded the okay/bad needle pretty well during his first season, but was awful during his second season (which was also friend chicken and beergate), so that sullies the memory somewhat.
A case could also be made for Lester who got knocked around a bit during his first two seasons (when he like, had cancer), but was pretty much dominant from the no-hitter on.
I wouldn’t say papi because he barely got any playing time at first, but once he was playing consistently he was always doing damage.
Pedroia – again depends on your timetable for “start”. He was bad for a month, but ultimately won ROY that season, which would be the best bad start I’ve ever seen.
Nomah??
There’s a consistent theme with these players…