The 1991 Red Sox were coming off a string of 3 division titles in 5 years including winning the American League pennant in 1986. The 1990 Red Sox weren't quite as formidble as the powerhouse Oakland A's, but they still had a damn good team. The team had respected manager Joe Morgan who brought the team from implosion during the 1988 season and went on to win that season's AL East title as well as 1990's. The unquestioned ace of the staff was "Rocket" Roger Clemens who had won 21 games in 1990. They had one of the best contact hitters in the game in third basemen Wade Boggs. Centerfielder Ellis Burks was coming into his prime while left fielder Mike Greenwell finished second in the 1988 AL MVP race, losing to Jose Canseco. Catcher Tony Pena had a great clubhouse presence as well as behind the plate, plus had a reliable bat. The 1990 Sox were held together with solid but not spectacular players such as Jody Reed, Luis Rivera, Tom Brunansky, Carlos Quintana and the fading Dwight Evans. On the mound, second starter Mike Boddicker had been a solid pickup at the 1988 trade deadline as Greg Harris, Tom Bolton and Dana Kiecker had the season of their lives in the rotation. Closer Jeff Reardon was closing in on the all-time saves lead and set up man Jeff Gray was arguably the best pitcher out of the bullpen. Add in multi-purpose pitcher Dennis Lamp and the clown Larry Andersen, the team was just a few pieces away from challenging the A's for American League supremacy.
The team was at a cross-roads though, they could either try their luck with the draft or hit on the 1990 free agent class. It should be noted that the Sox had single A prospect Jeff Bagwell and Double A prospect Mo Vaughn in the system in 1990 until a late trade sent Bagwell to the Houston Astros for Andersen. The Sox elected to go with free agency, but made some serious miscalculations. Apparently Mike Boddicker and Andersen weren't important enough so they were not offered contracts. Dwight Evans would also not be able to retire in Boston, being released and picked up by the Baltimore Orioles.
The Sox struck in free agency by signing aging pitchers Matt Young, Danny Darwin and slugger Jack Clark. Darwin had just come off back to back 11-4 seasons with the Houston Astros, leading the National League in ERA at 2.21 shuffling between starting and relieving. Clark had been a prodigious power hitter and Matt Young was a durable innings eater. The team was banking on Young replacing Boddicker to compliment Clemens, Bolton, Kiecker and Harris with Darwin in the bullpen. The team figured Tom Brunansky could play right field with Jack Clark as the team's DH. With all these pieces in place, it seemed that the team was ready to try to repeat as division champions. On opening day, Clemens pitched well and a Jack Clark grand slam led the team to victory. General manager Lou Gorman and part owner John Harrington patted themselves on the back for a job well done. They peaked 161 games too soon unfortunately.
Darwin never got out of the box, suffering one injury after another and pitching a grand total of 68 innings, going a dysmal 3-6 with a 5.16 ERA in just 12 starts.
The biggest disaster was Matt Young. Sure the Sox needed his durability but he had a career record of TWENTY-SIX games under .500. He ended up 3-7 with a 5.18 ERA in just 88 innings. Combined, Young and Darwin went 6-13 with 156 innings pitched. Mike Boddicker by himself in 1991 went 12-12 for the Royals with a 4.04 ERA in 180 innings. He pitched more innings and won twice as many games. Clark was as good as advertised, hitting 28 home runs and driving in 87 runs....only problem Jeff Bagwell ended up being National League Rookie of the Year for the Houston Astros. Hitting just 15 home runs, Bagwell still drove in 82 runs, only 5 less than Jack Clark who was 13 years older. Would you rather have an end of the line Clark or a budding star like Bagwell?
The Sox rotation apart from Clemens crumbled. Dana Kiecker was released, Darwin and Young didn't last. Mike Gardiner, Kevin Morton and Tom Bolton had poor ERA's and the only ones who pitched in were Harris and spot-starter Joe Hesketh. The bullpen took a massive hit when Jeff Gray suffered a career ending stroke after being one of the top set-up men for a year and a half. Tony Fossas was a great lefty specialist but Gray could get right handers out, Fossas couldn't.
With all the ineffectiveness, injuries and other woes, the Sox were STILL in contention in September. Unbelievably, Morgan had kept the club competitive and just within ear-shot of the division lead. The Sox had a 3 game series with the Yankees beginning on September 20th. The Sox were 2 1/2 games behind Toronto with 16 to play. Clemens won his 17th game of the year as the Sox took the opener 2-0 behind a home run from Jody Reed (who doubled in the second run as well). Toronto also lost so the Sox were only 1 1/2 games out. The following day the Sox smacked the Yankees 12-1 as Hesketh won his 11th game of the season behind two home runs from rookie Phil Plantier, another by Bob Zupzic and a two run bomb by Jack Clark. Toronto also lost so the Sox stood just 1/2 game out of first place with 14 to play. At 81-67, experts predicted if they could go 9-5 the rest of the way, 90 wins may win the division. The finale saw Kevin Morton get the start and he was handed a 1-0 lead going into the top of the 5th, which he promptly pissed away and left trailing 2-1. The light-hitting Luis Rivera clocked a 2 run home run to give the Sox a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 5th. The Yankees re-took a 4-3 lead off Dennis Lamp and Tony Fossas. The Sox re-took the lead in the bottom of the 8th and Jeff Reardon came on for the save in the top of the 9th. Steve Sax flied out and Jim Leyritz (98 Sox) lined out to short. One out away.....andddd its gone. Roberto Kelly homered to tie the game. Here's where the 91 Sox failed, Matt Young, their big inning eater, gave up 2 runs in the top of the 10th. With two outs and Mo Vaughn at second, Jack Clark struck out to end the game. It was a heart and backbreaking loss that sent the Sox into a tailspin. They won just 3 of their remaining games to finish 84-78, 7 games behind Toronto. 90 wins wouldn't have won them the division after all. Pretty much all the money they spent in the off-season was wasted.
A few days after the season, Sox brass fired Joe Morgan. The Sox had took a rag tag bunch to the division title the year earlier and was a few games away from repeating, and the Sox got rid of him. With sour grapes, Morgan was quoted to saying "This team isn't as good as it thinks it is." Why were the Sox so eager to dump arguably the best manager they had since Dick Williams twenty years earlier? Sox brass was convinced Butch Hobson was the manager of the future. Jumping at the chance, Gorman replaced Morgan with Hobson despite having zero major league experience. He was a fan favorite in Boston, hitting 30 home runs for the Sox in 1977. Turns out the team respected Hobson a hell of a lot less than they did Morgan and he was in over his head. Managing a team that hadn't won a world series in 73 years had enormous pressure and he couldn't take it. Trouble began in spring training when he was filmed on national television trying to have a conversation with Roger Clemens and Roger was completely ignoring him. After two lackluster seasons, Hobson was fired.
So what happened to Darwin following the 91 disaster? 1992 was better and was his old self in 1993 when he won 15 games for a bad offensive team. He started his decline at age 39 in 1994 and was released following the season. As for Matt Young, he was 0-4 in 1992 including throwing a losing no-hitter and was released. He ended his career in 1993 going 1-3 for the Indians with a final record of 55-95.
Jack Clark's career evaporated in 1992, filing for bankruptcy to boot. Only Danny Darwin lasted beyond 1992 which now looks like a collosal waste of money. They could have had Jeff Bagwell at first base, Wade Boogs at third and Mo Vaughn at DH by 1992. Like I said earlier, Bagwell drove in only 5 fewer runs than Clark did in 91 and could have been a franchise cornerstone for years to come. The career debilitating injury to Carlos Quintana opened the door for Mo Vaughn to be their slugging superstar for most of the 90's.
See the comparison to this year's team? They're banking on free agents Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez and the starter by committee approach rather than let their kids develop and sign a bonafide ace. Ramirez has hit his opening day grand slam like Jack Clark 24 years ago. Still, unlike 1991, the farm system is in much better shape now than it was then. Where they go from here remains to be seen, but here's hoping for a better fate than the 1991...and pretty much entire early 90's Red Sox.
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