Nothing To See Here. Or Is There?
"If you have a bad day in baseball and start thinking about it, you will have 10 more." -Sammy Sosa
It’s six games. I get it. The offense will get better. The pitching will get better. The defense will get….well let’s hold off on that one. Here’s the problem. The same disturbing trends of last year are rearing their ugly heads again.
The Lineup
The Platoon Dynasty is back. Days after naming Marcelo Mayer his starting second baseman, Alex Cora’s opening day 2B was….Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He doesn’t trust lefties against left-handed pitching. Never has. I don’t know how a young lefty will learn how to hit LHP without facing them. He lost his lefty killers in Rob Refsnyder and Romy Gonzalez, so he’s turned to the likes of Kiner-Falefa and Andruw Monestario.
There are only 3 hitters hitting over .700 OPS, which is considered replacement level, Wilyer Abreu (1.333), Connor Wong (1.300), and Carlos Narvaez (.889). Everyone else has been terrible. As a team, the Red Sox are 28th in runs per game, 22nd in OPS, 25th in strikeouts. Cora has resorted to sitting his starters, trotting out Kiner-Falefa and Yoshida, and sitting Narvaez, Duran, and Anthony. It’s been six games and he thinks these guys need rest.
Power
The Red Sox are in the top third of the league in doubles. They have always been a doubles team, and this has not changed. They are league average with 6 home runs, 3 by Wilyer Abreu. This was a concern all offseason. Critics said they needed more power. The team talking heads said don’t worry, the power will come. Just look at the World Baseball Classic! Jarren Duran doesn’t have an extra base hit. Neither does Willson Contreras, Caleb Durbin, Carlos Narvaez, or Masataka Yoshida. Roman Anthony and Ceddanne Rafaela have one. Don’t worry, the power will come.
Situational Hitting
In six games, the Red Sox are hitting a woeful .171 with runners in scoring position, ranked 28th in MLB. They were bad last year too but at least managed a .232 BA w/RISP. Last year they left 1,125 men on base, or 6.9 per game. This year they’ve left 45 on base in 6 games, or 7.5 per game.
Defense
Good news! The Red Sox are not 30th in MLB in errors! They’re 27th.
Middle Relief
The back end of the bullpen has been perfect. Aroldis Chapman, Garrett Whitlock, and Justin Slaten have yet to allow an earned run. The ERAs of the Red Sox middle relievers are as follows: Greg Weissert (10.13), Johan Oviedo (9.82), Danny Coulombe (5.40), and Ryan Watson (4.91). The Red Sox were not very good in middle relief last year either, but they had these guys named Brennan Bernardino, Justin Wilson, and Chris Murphy who had pretty damn good years. They are all gone, now pitching for other teams. The Red Sox “upgraded.”
I am definitely not saying they will play this bad all year. I am simply saying the problems of last year are still present, even though we were assured that the new additions to the team would correct those problems. So far, no bueno. Let’s see what some home games will do. Fenway Park is a hitter’s park, but of course that works both ways. I won’t press the Bob Lobel panic button on the starting pitching just yet, but that’s the next concern.