![]() ![]() Martinez, who is usually good for approximately 30 homers per season, only has nine and has seen his batting average dip from a high of. Outside of Rafael Devers (25) and occasionally Trevor Story (15), the Red Sox offense has been devoid of any consistent power threat. During the club's worst slumps the offense couldn't string together sustained offense, but at least you could count on someone to pop one out almost every night.īut now? The Red Sox haven't even been able to do that. There were points last season where it often felt like the only way the Red Sox could score runs was via solo home runs. The Bradley for Hunter Renfroe trade in particular proved costly, especially given that no follow-up move was ever made to shore up the club's outfield depth. in right field, and eventually the club had to add Eric Hosmer and Tommy Pham at the trade deadline to plug holes that were obvious throughout the winter. The Red Sox also went into the season without adequate alternatives to Bobby Dalbec at first base or Jackie Bradley Jr. John Schreiber wound up giving the club a major boost upon his promotion and Houck briefly emerged as a reliable closer, but on balance the bullpen has pathologically given up leads and ranks among the worst in the league. Then after the Red Sox moved Diekman at the trade deadline they failed to bring anyone else in, leaving the bullpen perilously short. The club did sign lefties Matt Strahm and Jake Diekman, but it also let Adam Ottavino walk and didn't make a move for any of the top options on the market. The Red Sox had known flaws heading into the offseason and in several cases either didn't do enough to address them, or didn't do anything at all.įor instance, it was widely understood the bullpen needed help, especially if the plan was for Garrett Whitlock to eventually move to the starting rotation. Rafael Devers (hamstring), Christian Arroyo (groin) and Eric Hosmer (back) have all been sidelined as well, and the result too often has been the club trying to patch together a roster with Triple-A band-aids and players who simply aren't up to par.Įven if the injuries have been a real problem, the club can't attribute all of its struggles to ill health and bad luck. Prime free agent addition Trevor Story missed a month and a half with a broken wrist suffered after getting hit on the hand by a pitch. Kiké Hernández missed two months with a combination of hip and core injuries. Meanwhile, the Red Sox also lost Tanner Houck to a back injury after he moved from the rotation into the closer role, lefty Matt Strahm to a deep bone bruise after getting hit in the wrist by a comebacker, and several other relievers as well. Nathan Eovaldi, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill all missed time due to injury, in some cases more than once, and Garrett Whitlock also wound up on the shelf after a month-long stint in the rotation. Losing Sale was a huge blow, but to then also lose virtually every other starting pitcher besides Nick Pivetta? No club could survive a run of injuries like that. Other than a strong stretch against the soft underbelly of their schedule in June, the Red Sox never got going and now risk finishing in last place for the second time in three years and for the fifth time since 2012.Īs if to add further insult to injury, Sale later broke his right wrist in a bike accident, wiping out any possibility of a September return. The Red Sox trail in the Wild Card by seven games with four teams to jump, and barring a miracle their postseason hopes look all but extinguished.Ĭoming off a thrilling 2021 in which the Red Sox reached the American League Championship Series and fell two wins short of the World Series, this summer's middling follow-up has been a massive disappointment. Instead they lost two of three to Baltimore, got swept by Toronto and now it almost makes no difference if the Red Sox can complete the sweep against Tampa Bay in Sunday's series finale. With series against the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays, all the Red Sox had to do was string together some wins and by week's end they might have looked up and found themselves right back in the hunt. 28-Even after all their struggles dating back months, the Red Sox still had a clear path back to contention heading into this past week. ![]()
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