The offense is 100% underperforming. Some of that is due to injury absence (no Story, no Casas, no Yoshida, no O'Neill) but unquestionably they're getting less out of the bats than they should. Even with the guys who are performing well, the team can't seem to string hits together enough or in the right spots to plate runs consistently. 4.28 runs per game is middle of the pack in baseball and not what you want out of a team that plays in one of the most hitter friendly parks in the league.
Who has underperformed on offense? Grissom? Rafaella? Cooper? Smith? Maybe. But maybe those guys just suck and/or aren't ready, and we are getting from them more or less what we should expect.
Team BABIP is above average, but team performance with RISP was miserable most of the season. Gap between bases empty and RISP is now .007, which is better than it was, but till .030 less than league average.
Only four positions are sporting an OPS+ over 100 right now (C, 3B, LF, RF). A lot of that is the guys that are hurt, but their replacements haven't really come close to league average or even replacement level. Hard to get consistent offense when half the lineup can't be at least replacement level.
I still think they should have tried Kavadas. I know all the 40-man roster stuff but I can't see him performing any worse... and if he does, he seems like a guy the Sox aren't really that interested in protecting or even likely to get claimed. If he does, it's more likely a Dalbec-ian late '21 illusion and he could become trade bait (like Dalbec should have been).
This is a little silly, dude. O'Neill has missed substantial time, as has Refsnyder, and Casas won't be back for at least another three weeks. How can you possibly say Casas has delivered when he has all of 80 at bats?
I’d say ownership and the front office underperformed more than anything. We came into the season with some holes and little depth. Then everyone got hurt. This isn’t on Alex Cora.
Regardless of what we might have expected, I think there's a strong argument to be made for them having had bad luck.
So from the previous quote posted above, they're underperforming because there's too much talent and competitiveness in the locker room to be .500. On the other hand getting injured is a sign of a lack of competitiveness. I'm sure Trevor Story whose shoulder exploded making diving at a ball loves to hear that his injury was his fault and also shows a lack of competitiveness.
Let me try to clarify. No doubt, the pitching has been fantastic. But that's largely been a level-up in skill and things coming together for their guys rather than luck, I would argue. This is the distinction i'm trying to make: the luck with regard to injuries has been brutal, even as things have gone right for the team. If they'd had better luck with injuries, they'd be more competitive. We're not saying the Orioles are lucky because Gunnar Henderson is posting an OPS+ of 171 after being at just 125 last year, are we? No, the guy has been on a titanic tear. Nor are we saying that they're lucky that Jordan Westburg is giving them an OPS+ of 150. He was that kind of guy in the minors, and things have come together for him.
Yoshida wasn't playing even when healthy and O'Neill is well-known for his injury issues, so assuming either of those guys would "save the offense" was a mistake. Additionally, Story was a well-below-average offensive player so far this season, so I think it's up for debate whether his loss was addition by subtraction. There's a non-zero chance we would've been clamoring for David Hamilton or Rafaela to get more starts at SS if Story had stayed healthy.
Why does anyone give a shit what Kennedy says? Does Cora talk to him more than once a month? His quotes are about on par with any coach these days talking about injuries, contracts, etc. -- in that they will never ever give you any real information, which makes anything they say a complete waste of time. I know he seems to push people's buttons, but he's not that hard to tune out.
That's not true. He was out for one game on 4/21, then his spot was co-opted by O'Neill and Devers returning from injury for 4 games (and he pinch hit in two of them) 4/23-26, then he was back at regular DH until getting pulled due to injury 4/28.
I think it's understood that if significant starters go down, the team won't play at that level until they return. But also, it's incumbent on (someone) to make sure the replacements are, well, not the poorest performers in the league.
I was going to post something similar. Kennedy’s quote is not only stupid but it’s all over the place (as Cora himself said)
Some other 'hypothetically potential acquisitions' are also doing well-Gray, Imanaga, Stroman. I guess Yamamoto and Nola weren't even hypothetically potential.
Hey, I hear the rallying cry in the clubhouse before last night's game was "Let's win this for Sammy!"
Lugo, Imanaga I think we’re the only two real possibilities. Gray was determined to play for St. Louis and Stroman was anti-Red Sox.
Lugo signed really early and it seems like Imanaga had his heart set on playing in Chicago. But both of those guys would obviously look great on the Sox right now. Other than Montgomery, the other name that I had hoped the Sox would sign in Michael Lorenzen. He's started 8 games for the Rangers thus far, with a 3.35 ERA and 1.18 WHIP (xERA is higher at 4.35). Signed a $4.5 million dollar deal with some modest incentives.
Chicago offered 4 guaranteed years, the Red Sox offered 2 guaranteed. I think his heart went with 4 over 2.
Not according to this article. https://sportsnaut.com/boston-red-sox-news-shota-imanaga-concern/
Imanaga has pitched on extra rest almost every start so far and he got hammered in his most recent one. I’d give it at least another month or so before saying ‘definitely’.
OK on the definitely part but getting hammered in one start brought his ERA up to 1.86 and he's being paid 13.5 mill a year and already earned that this season.
Yeah, I'm not tracking Yamamoto or Nola. Were the Sox ever in on Imanaga? Hard to know what to believe there. He had a rough one vs the Brewers this week. Maybe we shouldn't feel terrible about that series.
