Red Sox All-Time Win Shares

SPORTING GOODS

Time to put the current Red Sox in perspective with their all-time "teammates," using Sox career Win Shares as a measure of relative contribution. I looked at the Yankees here.

Big difference between the Sox and Yankees, is that the Sox only have two players (Teddy Ballgame and Yaz) with more Win Shares than the Yankees fifth highest (Berra). But the other difference is that one can look at the top 25 Win Shares producers in Boston and find no current Sox.

So, if you're interested, you can see the top 25 here, since there is no update needed after 2005. Last year, I noted that Nomar (15th) and Pedro's (25th) counts would be stalling, and that Boggs should enter the HOF in a Sox cap.

But with those issues done and gone, there isn't much new to say, so here's a look at where active players stand in terms of Win Shares in a Sox uniform.

25. Mike Greenwell / Pedro Martinez (tie) - 146

Player - Win Shares (years until catching Pedro and Gator)
Manny Ramirez - 144 (1) One more year from Manny, if it happens at all, and he could jump all the way to 15, passing Nomar.
Tim Wakefield - 126 (2) Tim only averages 11 per year. Slow and steady.
Trot Nixon - 100 (3) He has been very consistent, but his only poor year happened to coincide with a certain World Series title.
Jason Varitek - 98 (3) The Captain has increased his Win Share total six straight years.
Johnny Damon - 90 (3) Smell ya later.
David Ortiz - 71 (3) He has improved each year.

So besides Manny, there are several guys 2-3 years away from even cracking the Red Sox all time top 25. In any case, these guys will be remembered more for 2004 than for how their Sox career compared to Bob Stanley, Mike Greenwell, and Mo Vaughn.