Ridiculously Early Observations
After one series, what are the emerging trends?
We are three games into a 162-game season. It’s the blink of an eye, but there are some early observations to be made.
Alex Cora needs to develop an ABS strategy and have his team stick to it. Challenging balls and strikes in the second inning with nobody on base doesn’t seem to make much sense. You only get two challenges, but if you get them right you don’t lose either of them. So, I think the strategy should be twofold. First, don’t challenge unless it’s a critical situation in the game, such as men on base, two outs, runners in scoring position, etc. Second, hold your challenges until the later innings unless, of course, there is a critical situation early with a chance to put up a crooked number.
Garrett Crochet is Garrett Crochet. That is all. Sonny Gray was less than impressive in his first start. Connelly Early continued his strong spring with a nice start in game 3. His place in the rotation should be secure for now.
Greg Weissert. I just can’t.
Wilyer Abreu has power. We know this. If he stays healthy, he could finally take his place as the best overall hitter on the team. He had a very hot start to the 2025 season as well and is a streaky hitter. The goal this year is consistent performance.
Other than Abreu, nobody has really shown much at the plate, but of course, it’s early.
Alex Cora needs to put his best team on the field every game. Sitting your gold glove CF Ceddanne Rafaela is not doing that. Cora talks about subbing in Yoshida to rest the outfielders. Do we really need to rest players after two games? I think Cora is under orders from the front office to play Yoshida no matter what. From their standpoint, they are not paying him $18M per year to sit on the bench. They may want to use this to showcase him for other teams. I’m not sure how that helps you win games.
Trevor Story should not be the starting shortstop. He was third in errors for all of MLB last year and made a terrible throwing error on a very routine play in game 2 leading to an unearned run. He no longer has a big-league shortstop arm. There is no reason not to play Mayer at SS except for any promises Breslow has made to Story. I discussed this earlier this offseason:
Story has also had a rough first 3 games at the plate. Cora has him in the 2-hole, which is curious given his high strikeout profile. He did hit one home run in game 2 but is hitting .125 with 7 strikeouts on the year. He needs to hit lower in the lineup.
The Red Sox have struck out 29 times in three games. This trend is a continuation of last year even though Craig Breslow assured us they would be better in this area. They are also 5 for 29 (.172) with runners in scoring position and have left 30 runners on base. Again, similar to last year.
Infield defense on the right side is much improved. Both Willson Contreras and Marcelo Mayer have looked terrific so far. Mayer has made some very smooth tag plays and Contreras has made good decisions, especially on the bunt in game 2 to prevent the runner from advancing.
The Reds are a relatively easy way to start the season. The road gets harder with the Astros, Padres, and Brewers. The starting pitching should stay strong. We need to see more from the team at the plate.