It feels like the Red Sox are reaching something of a breaking point as they slip further and further in the standings, now 14 games out in the division and five games out in the wild card after losing five of their last six games, dropping them a game under .500 in the process.
Manager Alex Cora tried to light a fire under his team on Thursday, benching arguably his best player, Alex Verdugo, after Verdugo failed to run hard on a play at second base the night before.
The move didn’t exactly inspire the Red Sox to a bounce-back performance, as they got clobbered 10-3 in a second straight loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
Lou Merloni still likes what Cora was trying to do, though. Making his weekly appearance on Gresh & Fauria on Friday (listen to the full interview below), the WEEI and NESN Red Sox color commentator explained why it was a good time to send a message to both Verdugo and the team.
“Verdugo I think is the perfect choice,” Merloni said. “Number one, he [Cora] challenged him in the offseason to come in here and play the game differently and get in shape and everything else. I think this was just a little kick in the ass halfway through. He’s had a very good two months. You do it to Emmanuel Valdez, nobody cares.
“You do it to Alex Verdugo, it sends a message that I don’t care who you are, leadoff hitter, one of our best players, you don’t play the game the right way, you’re gonna sit. I do think that busting down to first base on every single routine ground ball is a lot different than being on first base and loafing to second base where, to me, if you ran hard with your head down and slid, you would’ve been safe. You get exposed on the basepaths.”
The Red Sox’ effort has come under a good amount of criticism recently, with Verdugo’s lackadaisical trot among the lowlights. There have been plenty of other mental mistakes, though, both on the basepaths and in the field, including the “little league home run” they surrendered on a ground ball from Tampa Bay’s Yandy Diaz on Sunday.
Merloni said he’s not sure if benching Verdugo or holding a team meeting earlier this week will solve their issues, though, because in his mind the bigger problem is that the Red Sox simply don’t have good enough defenders.
“I don’t know if it’s gonna work, because it just comes down to talent at some point,” he said. “The whole thing about like effort and defense, it’s there, and you want to make sure it continues to be there, which is why when I don’t see effort, you sit a guy like Alex Verdugo. But you can have all the effort you want on defense, I can have the best infield instructor in the world work on me at second and short and he can help me be more consistent, but I’m still gonna suck because I was never a good defender in the first place.
“That’s kind of what you’re dealing with. This roster is full of offensive-minded players. If you look around the diamond, how many guys are actually there because of their defense? When you don’t hit and you’re an offensive-minded player and you’re a subpar defensive player, you’re a liability. You don’t help me win. So these guys, they have to start swinging the bat again.”
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