The Red Sox lost again Wednesday night.
The 9-5 defeat at the hands of the Rays secured the Sox' seventh series loss at Fenway Park in their last eight tries. (For a complete box score of the loss, click here.)
Ron Roenicke's team is 6-12, which is the same record the Red Sox held through 18 games last season, and also in a 1976 season they finished four games over .500. But this is different. This time the Sox are two games shy of being one-third of the way through the season with fewer answers at their disposal than ever before.
The former Sox boss is now running the Pirates, who stand at 3-13, the only winning percentage lower than Chaim Bloom's club. Why does that matter? Well, if things keep going like they have been going, and there are no miraculous turnarounds, the Red Sox are lining themselves up for a bonus they have never, ever experienced: The very first pick in the MLB Draft.
Such an honor is still a long way off, with the Aug. 31 trade deadline representing the first order of business when it comes to planning for the future. But when a team is mired in such a spot so deep into a season, the notion of somehow securing a future superstar is worth the conversation.
Now, landing with the chance to pick first is a bit complicated this time around with commissioner Rob Manfred possessing the right to alter the draft order if there are fewer than 81 games (which there will be). But any adjustment along those lines would seem to be as a result of teams playing fewer than games than others, leaving Manfred to potentially relying on winning percentage. That would currently still put the Red Sox' in the Draft's second spot.
So, why should be at least taking a passing glance at this dynamic? Because organizations are oftentimes propelled forward with such picks. In this case, there are two Vanderbilt pitchers who should actually be considered worth the attention: Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter.
Hence the #TankforKumar hashtag started by Red Sox and Pirates fans.