I have been a Red Sox fan my entire life. Being born in 1989, that is admittedly not a long time in the scheme of the franchise. I always watched the Sox as a kid, but can’t say anything fully registered with me until I was 10, around 1999. That’s when I truly fell in love with baseball, and never looked back. I fell in love with Fenway park: the stadium, the atmosphere, the underdog mentality. I loved watching the homerun races, and began following the Giants as my second team. Baseball was great.


I say this as a preface to my fanpost, because the Sox have been around forever. Building my favorite Red Sox rosters feels disingenuous if I didn’t even watch the players live. So, I’ve chosen to focus my roster on favorite players from the last 20 years. I admittedly may not pick the best players in every spot, but rather my favorite players that brought a smile to my face when they were on the team. So with that said, let’s get it going!

C: Jason Varitek (2004)- .296/.390/.482, 18 HRs, wRC+ 125, 4.1 fWAR

1B: Kevin Youkilis (2008)- .312/.390/.569, 29 HRs, wRC+ 146, 6.2 fWAR

2B: Dustin Pedroia (2011)- .307/.387/.474, 21 HRs, wRC+ 133, 7.9 fWAR

3B: Adrian Beltre (2010)- .321/.365/.553, 28 HRs, wRC+ 140, 6.5 fWAR

SS: Nomar Garciaparra (2000)- .372/.434/.599, 21 HRs, 154 wRC+, 7.6 fWAR

LF: Manny Ramirez (2002)- .349/.450/.647, 33 HRs, 185 wRC+, 5.3 fWAR

CF: Jacoby Ellsbury (2011)- .321/.376/.552, 32 HRs, 150 wRC+, 9.5 fWAR

RF: Mookie Betts (2018)- .346/.438/.640, 32 HRs, 185 wRC+, 10.4 fWAR

DH: David Ortiz (2007)- .332/.445/.621, 35 HRs, 175 wRC+, 6.3 fWAR

SP1: Pedro Martinez (1999)- 2.07 ERA, 1.39 FIP, 13.20 k/9, 11.6 fWAR

SP2: Jon Lester (2009)- 3.41 ERA, 3.15 FIP, 9.96 k/9, 5.4 fWAR

SP3: Clay Buchholz (2015)- 3.26 ERA, 2.68 FIP, 8.50 k/9, 3.3 fWAR

SP4: Derek Lowe (2002)- 2.58 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 5.20 k/9, 4.6 fWAR

SP5: Chris Sale (2017)- 2.90 ERA, 2.45 FIP, 12.93 k/9, 7.5 fWAR

RP1: Koji Uehara (2013)- 1.09 ERA, 1.61 FIP, 12.23 k/9, 3.1 fWAR

RP2: Mike Timlin (2005)- 2.24 ERA, 2.70 FIP, 6.61 k/9, 1.8 fWAR

RP3: Craig Kimbrel (2017)- 1.43 ERA, 1.42 FIP, 16.43 k/9, 3.2 fWAR

RP4: Keith Foulke (2004)- 2.17 ERA, 3.16 FIP, 8.57 k/9, 1.6 fWAR

RP5: Jonathan Papelbon (2006)- 0.92 ERA, 2.14 FIP, 9.88 k/9, 3.1 fWAR

RP6: Tim Wakefield (2002)- 2.81 ERA, 3.62 FIP, 7.38 k/9, 2.7 fWAR

RP7: Manny Delcarmen (2008)- 3.27 ERA, 3.32 FIP, 8.72 k/9, 1.1 fWAR

Bench1: Shane Victorino (2013)- .294/.351/.451, 15 HRs, 119 wRC+, 4.7 fWAR

Bench2: Rafael Devers (2019)- .328/.377/.581, 25 HRs, 143 wRC+, 5.0 fWAR (as of 8/17)

Bench3: JD Martinez (2018)- .330/.402/.629, 43 HRs, 170 wRC+, 5.9 fWAR

Bench4: Coco Crisp (2007)- .268/.330/.382, 6 HRs, 85 wRC+, 4.4 fWAR

Honorable Mentions: Brock Holt, Junichi Tazawa, Brandon Workman, Pokey Reese, Rick Porcello, Mike Napoli, Xander Bogaerts

Seasons not represented: 2001, 2003, 2012, 2014, 2016

So there it is! My favorite Sox of the last 20 years! Hopefully, there are a lot more favorites to discuss over the NEXT 20 years!

*Please pardon any and all typos, as this entire post was written from my phone.*