The Red Sox are .500 after 20 games. The Red Sox are just 3 1/2 games out of first-place, but also in last-place. The Red Sox are plus-four in run differential, 13 runs better than both the Blue Jays and Rays, but 36 worse than the Kansas City Royals.
The Red Sox are also maybe the most confusing team in all of Major League Baseball
The sky-high as the vibes upon heading home following their 7-3, season-opening road trip have been washed away thanks to a 3-7, injury-riddled, defensively-inept home stand.
Over the course of the 10 games at Fenway Park, only one team gave up as many runs as the Red Sox (57) with no club coming close to their number of unearned runs (17) or errors (12).
The lineup Alex Cora put out for the series finale had little sense of certainty or star power, as was somewhat portrayed by its earning power.
$760K, $760K, $749K, $745K, $760K, $740K, $770K, $1.5M, $1.0M, $756K https://t.co/i9sAEoLMl4
— Red Sox Stats (@redsoxstats) April 18, 2024
But, once again, this is a team that heads to Pittsburgh sitting with a respectable record. It's also the exact same mark they had after 20 games last season.
So, how can the Red Sox find themselves taking the right path in this early-season fork in the road. Here are some possible solutions:
- First and foremost, they have to find the version of Rafael Devers that we saw throughout spring training. Right now Devers is dealing with a bone bruise in his knee, having seemingly just put his shoulder ailment in the rearview mirror. One look comparing Devers' Baseball Savant pages from last season to this year tells somewhat of the tale ...
Baseball Savant
And even before the knee issue, Devers' defense seemed to have taken a turn for the worse without the security blanket of Trevor Story alongside him. In short, they need to get the star of this team being a star once again.
- Tyler O'Neill has been the best position player on this club, and how he is on the seven-day injured list with a mild concussion. The hope is that he will be ready to go when the Red Sox play in Cleveland Tuesday. While Devers' absence is an obvious blow, not having the player who led all of baseball in home runs and OPS at the time of his injury Monday was a painful dose of reality - both offensively and defensively - over the course of the week.
- The Red Sox have to define what they have in Masa Yoshida. At this point, not prioritizing the presence of Justin Turner (.943 OPS with the Blue Jays) for the designated hitter spot seems like a big miss. But the reality is that the Sox dug in on their strategy of Yoshida being an almost-full-time DH early in the offseason, basically telling him to worry about his bat and not his glove. But guess who has the worst OPS right now fro that DH spot? Yup, the Red Sox, who sit with a miserable mark of .505 with a total of just two extra-base hits. Not good. Not sustainable.
- The Red Sox need Wilyer Abreu to be good, which he has shown signs of being over the past week. This another case of the Sox putting their a lot of eggs in a certain basket, particularly if there is any inclination to move Ceddanne Rafaela to shortstop. An outfield of O'Neill, Abreu and Jarren Duran is certainly palatable, while seemingly offering a defensive upgrade at the most important position - short.
- Perhaps the best plan in terms of trying to fix what ails this team is this: Once O'Neill is back, move Rafaela to shortstop. Assuming his rehab sting goes as planned, plant Vaughn Grissom at second base. And then ride it out. The scenario has the most upside, which is something Cora's team is starved for right now. There is also the matter of getting Rafaela to hit major league pitching, which leads us to another uncomfortable Baseball Savant page ...
Baseball Savant
It would seem for a second straight year we are being forced to the example of being patient with Dustin Pedroia in April, 2007. Last year, it was Triston Casas. This time around, it's Rafaela.
- It's hard to argue with anything the starting pitchers are doing. They are the straw that is stirring this drink. In fact, one of the few miscues might have been made Thursday in not simply letting Cooper Criswell execute the usual routine of a starter instead of bringing him in after Brennan Bernarndino. Don't mess with what is working, and when it comes to rolling out the likes of Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Garrett Whitlock, Nick Pivetta and even Criswell, it sure seems to be working just fine. One example of what we're talking about: The Red Sox starters own the second-most wins in all of baseball (7) to go along with their MLB-best 1.82 ERA.
- As for the bullpen? This is another work in progress, but one that would seem to have more optimism surrounding it than its position-playing counterpart. Kenley Jansen is sifting through life without a spring training, as is Chris Martin. Justin Slaten has been a revelation, and Bernardino is the pitcher we thought he was, even after the Red Sox chose to send him to Triple-A to begin the season. And how we have some more intrigue: Cam Booser. The lefty who retired from baseball for a bit and has now resurfaced throwing in the high-90's, has followed up a dominant spring training with more excellence with Worcester. And how he is a major leaguer.
- If you're looking for an early-season theme for this Red Sox team, try this one on for size from the Jerry Reed song, 'East Bound and Down': "We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there."
