Nomar Garciaparra is fourteenth in Boston Red Sox history in bWAR, baseball reference’s version of WAR, and is fifteenth in fWAR, fangraphs version of WAR. Among players with 1000 plate appearances, Nomar is thirteenth in wRC+ in Red Sox history. Garciaparra is eighth, among hitters, in Red Sox history in win probability added. From 1997, Nomar’s rookie of the year season, through 2003, he ranked second among shortstops in fWAR and wRC+. The only player better in that span was Alex Rodriguez.
Picture being a young general manager in charge of breaking a World Series drought of 86 years.