Here's a question. Looking around the league, I see us as at best the fourth candidate to win the WS. We have tremendous starting pitching, 1-5, and a good pen headlined by an elite closer. We have great team defense, especially in the OF and from catcher, and no real disaster areas now that we've shored up 3B. But the offense is merely okay.
This puts us well behind, in my eyes, teams like LAD, Houston (assuming they acquire another SP), and Washington (now with a deep pen, courtesy of Billy Beane), and in the higher end of the next tier of good teams like Chicago, Cleveland, Colorado, Arizona, TB and NY: teams that I could see in the post-season, but maybe don't expect to make the World Series. Houston, in particular, is impressive. We have a +66 run differential; Houston has a +167. I think they would be a tough matchup in a postseason series, especially if they add a Gray or a Verlander, as I expect they will.
But next year looks more promising. We'll have opportunities to improve our corner infield spots from among Devers, Travis, and likely a slugger from FA or trade — Logan Morrison, Jose Abreu, etc.? — without losing much from the big league roster. And the young guys will be more emphatically in their prime.
How much should this factor into Dombrowski's deadline thinking? Obviously, anything can happen in the postseason — the 2006 World Championship Cardinals say hi! — and you have to compete: that's the whole point of sports. But I wouldn't want to do anything that would appreciably detract from the 2018 Sox, which could be a really special team.
On the other hand: our pitchers are healthy now, and there are no guarantees that will continue. The case for the 2017 World Championship Red Sox starts with Sale and Price shouldering a ton of IP in the playoffs, with Rodriguez and Porcello in the 3-4 slots, and Pomeranz as a relief ace bridging to Carson Smith (dare to dream!) and Kimbrel. If the Bs can be reasonably hot at the same time, we can win enough close games to go deep in the playoffs. But we need a better 3B situation to lengthen the lineup.
(I think I may be arguing myself into handing the 3B job to Devers sooner than later.)
How do you guys see this?