Toronto Blue Jays President and CEO Mark Shapiro believes the Boston Red Sox could be the team to beat.
The Red Sox made the playoffs last season and have been active this offseason, adding the likes of Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo to round out their pitching staff.
Yet, Boston is still led by a young core that features the likes of Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Cedanne Rafaela, while Garrett Crochet is the team’s ace. With that, Shapiro believes no team is better set up for the next five years than the Red Sox.
“Boston is probably positioned as well as any team in all of Major League Baseball,” Shapiro said on MLB Network Radio on Sunday. “I don’t know if there is a team that is positioned for the next five years better than the Boston Red Sox with young talent and flexibility.”
It’s a bold take from the Blue Jays CEO, as the Red Sox are a division rival of Toronto, but Shapiro clearly likes what he sees from Boston.
With Shapiro expecting the Red Sox to be better, he knows the AL East will be a tough division to win this year.
“We already knew Baltimore was going to be better than they were last year,” Shapiro added. “All you have to do is look at them in the second half. They clearly have gotten better with Taylor Ward, with Shane Baz, and others.
“They’ve had a good offseason, and I don’t think they are done. The Yankees are clearly, you know, they are not done. Tampa is going to be better; they are never bad, they are going to be better.”
Although Shapiro believes everyone in the AL East will be better, his comments about the Red Sox stand out.
