It's not at all surprising that the team misses Papi's production and the impact he has on opposing pitchers, thereby making it easier for the guys around him to perform. Many pitchers have talked about the affect that having to deal with a big booper has on them during the course of a game.
DD chose to stay under the lux tax and passed on the chance to add someone like Edwin E. With all respect to Mitch Moreland, and he has exceeded expectations thus far, I think that decision -- unless remedied -- will dog them all year.
They do miss Papi. But worse, they miss that the team chose not to adequately replace him.
Let's assume that the replacement was Moreland. I know you can't really do this because one guy impacts another, etc. But compare Ortiz' 2016 April with Moreland's 2017 April.
Ortiz: 91 pa, 12 r, 25 h, 11 2b, 0 3b, 5 hr, 19 rbi, .321/.418/.654/1.071
Moreland: 88 pa, 10 r, 23 h, 11 2b, 0 3b, 2 hr, 9 rbi, .295/.375/.513/.888
I don't know how many more runs Ortiz' April 2016 is worth compared to Moreland's April 2017 (which hasn't been completed yet, of course). A handful, I'm sure. The Sox are 26th in all of MLB in runs scored right now. Only KC has scored fewer runs in the AL. The Sox are 1st in the AL in batting average and 4th in the AL in obp, so it's not like they're really having a hard time getting on base. But they're 13th in slg, and dead last in homers (just 11). 12th in total bases.
So right now they're basically a singles-hitting team producing very little-to-no power. They have a bunch of players capable of hitting homers. Here are the career high in home runs for their main lineup:
Moreland: 23
Pedroia: 21 (15 last year)
Bogaerts: 21
Sandoval: 25 (but he's more like a 15 homer guy)
Betts: 31
Hanley: 33 (30 last year)
Bradley: 26
So that's 7 guys all very capable of hitting 15+ homers. The TEAM power is there. They just haven't produced any power yet. If you pro-rate these guys power numbers over just a single month, this group of seven project to hit about 27 home runs among them (figuring Pedey and Pablo are really 15 homer guys). They are a LONG way from 27.
So the avg and obp are fine. It's simply that the power isn't there yet, but it should be. Hopefully they'll start hitting them in bunches.