70's Red Sox

I look at the roster of that team from 75-80 and I ask myself two questions.

How in the hell did that team win only 1 pennant?

And what were they thinking in letting Fisk, Lynn and Burrelson go?

Easy

Bad Managers
Bad Owners
Bad Pitching

Other teams that are talented but got no respect

i think the braves winning 14 straight divisions and only 1 title is just as bad.

or maybe the Indians actually losing the WS to that braves may be worse

The braves and Indian losses in the playoffs were tragic to say the least.

As to those Red Sox teams- No real lead off hitter.

They had some good pitching. Tiant and Lee were pretty good; they had fair pitching in 78-79.

Lynn, Rice, Evans, Fisk, Yaz, not to mention Scott, Hobson, Remy, Miller, Carbo, Burrelson- those line-ups were scary.

I look at the roster of that team from 75-80 and I ask myself two questions.

How in the hell did that team win only 1 pennant?

And what were they thinking in letting Fisk, Lynn and Burrelson go?

Because they played in the same division as the YANKEES, who finished first in 76,77,78,80!!!

The Yankees had better pitching and much deeper bench. People forget the underrated Ed Figueroa due to his injury shortened career. His 1978 second half was key in catching Boston

Sox had some good win totals - 95 in 1975 then 83, 97, 99, 91, 83. The '77 & '78 years should have been enough to at least get to the playoffs but 3 games back in '77 (97 wins tied for 2nd as Yanks had 100 and Orioles also had 97) and the '78 playoff game ruined those years. 91 wins in '79 put them in 3rd place, 12 games back of Baltimore but they were 3 games better than West winning California that year. Some really good win totals but the East was top heavy with Yankees, Orioles & BoSox beating up the other 4 teams.

The Sox should have won in 78, but the fact is they choked. There should have never been a playoff game, but there was and if you let Bucky Dent beat you, well, I think that speaks for itself

How in the hell did that team win only 1 pennant?How in the hell did that team win only 1 pennant?

As a Boston resident and big fan during that time period:
75=Pennant
76=Lynn & Rice slumped from RY/Fisk had off year/D Evans didn't really get good until the 80's/Denny Doyle came back to reality/Rico Petrocelli over the hill & Hobson RY/Mediocre bullpen performance/Bill Lee hurt in fight w/Yankees-kind of a post title melt down(without the title) like this year, where the things that all went right are now going wrong.
77-Year of the juiced ball/2nd in Offense/5th in Pitching = 97 wins, tied for 2nd with Baltimore behind Yankees who win 100 games and WS #1 with Reggie. Side note-bad trade of Cecil Cooper bringing George Scott back to Boston.
78-We all know this story-Up by 141/2 in July/Boston Massacre=collapse/Win last eight(99 total) to force playoff with Yankees and Bucky takes Torrez deep over the Green Monster.
79Sox win 91 but finish third behind Baltimore's 102 wins and Milwaukee's 95. East division is tough-Cleveland finishes 6th @ 81-80 with only expansion Blue Jays under .500.
80-Party is coming to and end. Sox finish @ 83-77, good for 5th in the AL East. Fisk, Burleson & Lynn will all be gone by next year. The handwriting is on the wall.
The Sox had a good run, but being in the AL East was tough back then-97,99 & 91 wins three years in a row with nothing to show for it. Unfortunately the wild card was not close to being reality. Dwight Evans wasn't close to the player back in the 70's he became in the 80's or else they might won a series or two. Also should have kept Cooper. He may have won a couple of batting titles if he stayed in Fenway.
As to why they let those guys go, free agency was different back then. The Messersmith decision was fairly recent and many teams did not handle it well. Their were a lot of old time owners/gm's who had just recently been working under the old system with no free agency. Many teams seemed to take free agency personal and negotiations got out of hand, which is what happened with Lynn, Burleson & Fisk. Supposedly, the Red Sox front office forgot to send Fisk some sort of contract extension by the deadline and the commissioner declared him a free agent. Talk about stupidity. The Big Red Machine did the same thing in letting free agency break them apart. Many old school owners and gm's were not equipped for the new world of player movement and they screwed up.