Jay Jaffe's "Replacement Level Killers" series has begun on FanGraphs. First base is the first position covered. Red Sox are top of the killer list. That's not where you want to be.
"After a tantalizing 23-game debut in 2020,
Bobby Dalbec was subpar last year, hitting the ball very hard but striking out 34.4% of the time (second among all players with at least 400 PA) and finishing with a 107 wRC+ and 0.5 WAR. Even that version of Dalbec would be an improvement upon the current one, however. The 27-year-old is hitting .205/.286/.344 (76 wRC+) with a 31.3% strikeout rate and a barrel rate that’s dropped by more than half relative to last year (from 20.2% to 9.5%). Lately, he’s been serving as the short half of a platoon with
Franchy Cordero, who himself has been pretty bad (.225/.299/.372, 87 wRC+) while striking out 32.4% of the time.
The Red Sox do have a first baseman of the future in 6-foot-5 lefty Tristan Casas, who topped
the team’s prospect list and was
16th on our Top 100 heading into the season (he’s currently ranked
15th overall). Armed with a more mature approach at the plate and better contact skills than Dalbec, he wasn’t exactly lighting up the International League (.248/.359/.457) before suffering a right ankle sprain on May 17. After making a four-game rehab stint in the Florida Complex League last week, he’s likely to rejoin Triple-A Worcester this weekend. It’s asking too much for him to step into the big club’s job so soon, and so the team, which has gone just 5-12 in July after a 20-6 June, will need additional help. The Nationals’
Josh Bell and the Marlins’
Jesús Aguilar are both pending free agents who could fit, as could the Marlins’
Garrett Cooper, who has an additional year of club control and could also help in right field, where the team is below replacement level as well."
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-2022-replacement-level-killers-introduction-first-base/