Fansided

3 former Red Sox who the club wishes were still in Boston

By Cody Williams

May 20, 2023; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2) hugs former teammate Boston Red Sox right fielder Alex Verdugo (99) before the game against the Boston Red Sox at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-USA TODAY Sports
May 20, 2023; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts (2) hugs former teammate Boston Red Sox right fielder Alex Verdugo (99) before the game against the Boston Red Sox at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-USA TODAY Sports /
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Boston Red Sox, Matt Strahm, Philadelphia Phillies
Matt Strahm, Philadelphia Phillies. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

The Red Sox are middling a bit in the 2023 season and it’s hard not to imagine how much these former players would help if they were still in Boston. 

Things haven’t been completely bleak for the Boston Red Sox, even sitting at the bottom of the AL East standings. Frankly, that has more to do with the strength of the toughest division in baseball, which is what the Red Sox’s 31-30 record entering Wednesday speaks to. That record would be good enough to tie atop the AL Central and have them within 5.5 games of the division lead in every division except the AL East and West.

But alas, that’s the position that Boston is in. They are a good team stuck in a brutal division wishing they had a way to make a leap. The MLB Trade Deadline at the start of August could provide that for this club, so all hope is not lost.

However, as Red Sox fans look around the rest of MLB, it’s hard not to see the former players that once suited up in Fenway Park who are thriving and miss them, especially in the context of how valuable they’d be on the current roster. These three former Red Sox in particular are the ones that left Boston but fans wish could come back.

Red Sox: 3 former players fans are missing in Boston

3. Matt Strahm, P, Philadelphia Phillies

To be frank, whenever the Red Sox let southpaw Matt Strahm walk this offseason, there wasn’t too much sleep lost over it. He eventually landed with the Philadelphia Phillies but that was possibly the last time that many fans believed they’d think about the 31-year-old.

After all, in Boston, Strahm never totally put it together in his one season with the club. He made 50 appearances for the Sox a season ago, all out of the bullpen, and posted a pedestrian 3.83 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. Again, it’s not a shock that Chaim Bloom, for all his faults, didn’t make him a priority.

With the Phillies, however, Strahm has turned it up a notch. Used as both a reliever and starter in his 16 appearances (eight starts), Strahm has posted a 3.05 ERA and 0.99 WHIP on the season, already accruing 1.2 WAR on the year, just 0.2 shy of what would be his career high for an entire season.

Given the struggles that the Red Sox have endured with the entirety of their pitching staff this season, having a veteran like Strahm would be valuable even if he just was pitching the way he did a season ago. But if he was having the 2023 season he’s having with the Phillies for Boston instead, that would’ve been huge to give the Sox a needed boost.

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