There have been plenty of ups and downs over the past 10 years in Boston, with a good amount of forgotten names moving through the clubhouse doors of Fenway Park.
The 2026 season is off to an undesirable start for the Boston Red Sox and their fans, who entered the year with high hopes after registering their first playoff appearance in four years in 2025.
The ebbs and flows of the Red Sox have been a consistent theme of the past decade, dating back to a 2017 division title and 2018 World Series championship that has been followed by years of mediocrity.
While the 2018 Red Sox were arguably the best team since the turn of the century, a 2021 trip to the ALCS stands out as an outlier when looking at the past 10 years in Boston, who have struggled to find their footing in a constantly changing AL East that has seen all of their division rivals emerge as contenders in recent years.
The inconsistency and search for stability has shown itself on recent Red Sox rosters, with an interesting mix of forgotten names and cast-offs beneath a steady but evolving core of players.
Although the Red Sox were a stalwart of stability throughout much of the 21st century leading up to their 2018 championship, the franchise has struggled to find its footing in recent years, attempting to assemble a new core following the departures of Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers.
As the 2020’s have mostly been a time of transition and soul-searching for the Red Sox, here’s a look at five players that have suited up for Boston in recent years that you may have forgotten about:
1. Andrew Cashner, P (2019, 25 games, 6 games started)
Often remembered by many as the Cubs farmhand that netted the team franchise icon Anthony Rizzo in a trade, Cashner built up a solid MLB career of his own, posting a 10-year career throughout each season of the 2010’s decade.
After previously experiencing notable big league success with the San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers, Cashner’s output took a nosedive in 2018 with the Baltimore Orioles, when the righty posted a 4-15 record and 5.29 ERA for the abysmal 47-win team.
Still, the righty bounced back in his age-32 campaign, pitching to a 3.83 ERA and 9-3 record across 17 starts and 96.1 innings with Baltimore. This made Cashner an intriguing trade deadline candidate, leading to the defending champion Red Sox acquiring him alongside cash in exchange for Elio Prado and Noelberth Ramero, two minor-league prospects that never made it to The Show.
Cashner’s tenure in Boston was unfortunately not a continuation of his success in Baltimore earlier in the season. Used as both a starter and reliever, Cashner made six starts across 25 appearances while amassing a ghastly 6.20 ERA with 29 walks and 42 strikeouts in 53.2 innings of work.
As Boston limped to a third-place finish and an 84-78 record, Cashner’s cup of coffee in Boston proved to be the end of his career, with the right-hander not playing professional baseball again after 2019.
In addition to the aforementioned clubs, Cashner also had a brief tenure with the Miami Marlins. He retired with 10.1 WAR and a 57-87 record with a 4.10 ERA in 1,196 innings pitched.
2. Eric Hosmer, 1B (2022, 14 games)
Previously a franchise cornerstone for a Kansas City Royals team that won two AL pennants and a World Series title, Hosmer was shipped off to the Red Sox in 2022 on the heels of a largely disappointing tenure with the San Diego Padres after signing an eight-year, $144 million deal with the club ahead of the 2018 season.
After previously exercising his no-trade clause to block a trade that would have sent Hosmer to the Washington Nationals in 2022 in exchange for Juan Soto, Hosmer was dealt to the Red Sox alongside cash and minor leaguers Max Ferguson and Corey Rosier in exchange for minor league prospect Jay Groome.
Hosmer’s tenure with the Red Sox was the textbook definition of unremarkable and forgettable, getting into just 14 games for the team throughout the rest of the season.
The performance was far from anything to write home about, with Hosmer going 11-for-45 with three doubles and four RBI, slashing just .244/.320/.311/.631 for an OPS+ of just 77.
Hosmer’s tenure with the club ended after the 2022 season, and his career would come to a conclusion not long after that. Following an unimpressive 31-game stint with the Chicago Cubs in 2023, Hosmer retired from professional baseball.
The former playoff hero retired with 19.1 career WAR as a four-time Gold Glove winner with one All-Star appearance and one Silver Slugger in addition to his World Series ring.
3. Eduard Bazardo, RP (2021-22, 14 games)
The first player on any of these lists to have appeared for the team at discussion in more than one season, Bazardo had brief stints with the Red Sox in both 2021 and 2022, ahead of his days as a high-leverage reliever for the Seattle Mariners.
Bazardo began his career in Boston, debuting in April 2021 before only going on to pitch in one more MLB game for the rest of the season, turning in three innings of scoreless ball with two walks and three strikeouts across the pair of appearances.
There was slightly more work available in 2022, with Bazardo making his way into 12 games throughout the year for the 78-84 Red Sox. The righty compiled a 2.76 ERA in 16.1 innings across his dozen appearances, with four walks and 11 strikeouts.
However, Bazardo’s numbers implied that he was quite lucky, with the glossy 2.76 ERA paired with a much gloomier 6.05 FIP – which could perhaps be attributed to him allowing four home runs, a stat that was hidden thanks to Bazardo only yielding five earned runs overall.
After being granted free agency in the 2022-23 offseason, Bazardo caught on with the Baltimore Orioles before serving as a deadline acquisition for the Mariners that same year.
4. Raimel Tapia, OF (2023, 39 games)
A longtime Colorado Rockies outfielder, Tapia is likely most remembered by Red Sox fans for hitting an embarrassing inside-the-park grand slam at Fenway Park in 2022 as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.
While that may be the lasting image in Red Sox fans’ minds, Tapia went on to suit up for Boston the following season after signing a minor league contract with the club during the offseason.
Tapia was impressive enough during spring training to break camp with the club, and went on to appear in 39 games with the BoSox in 2023, posting largely unremarkable numbers.
The 29-year-old outfielder was 23-for-87 with six extra-base hits and six stolen bases alongside a .701 OPS and 90 OPS+. While far from atrocious, a logjam in Boston’s outfield and underwhelming defensive metrics left Tapia on the outside looking in by June, at which time he was released by the team.
Tapia played out the rest of 2023, catching on with the Milwaukee Brewers just a few days later and playing 20 games with the club before being granted free agency in late July. The veteran signed as a free agent with the Tampa Bay Rays in early August, appearing in just five games for the club in what has wrapped up his MLB career for the time being.
Now 32, Tapia currently plays for Sultanes de Monterrey in the Mexican Baseball League on a roster that features several other former big-leaguers, including Omar Narvaez and Socrates Brito.
5. Chase Anderson, P (2024, 27 games, 1 start)
Known as a staple of the Milwaukee Brewers’ rotation throughout the mid-to-late 2010’s, Chase Anderson spent the twilight of his career as a mop-up reliever, spending most of 2024 with the Red Sox.
Signing with the team shortly after being released towards the end of spring training by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Anderson was a back of the bullpen reliver for much of the season for the Red Sox, eating bulk innings in blowout games while also making a spot start across his 27 appearances.
Anderson’s stats were decidedly below-average, managing a 4.85 ERA across 52 innings of work, with the veteran righty totaling 19 walks and 35 strikeouts while allowing 10 home runs, continuing what was a career-long weakness for him.
His FIP of 5.59 suggested that it wasn’t luck bringing Anderson down, with his 86 ERA+ putting his performance as 14 points worse than the average big-league pitcher. Anderson went on to be released by the Red Sox in early August before signing with the Texas Rangers, with whom he made two apperances with before ending his MLB career.
In addition to the Brewers, Red Sox and Rangers, Anderson also suited up for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, Tampa Bay Rays and Colorado Rockies over the course of his 11-year MLB career.
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