2024 was intended to be a development year for the Red Sox. Nobody believed the team the Sox put together — fully healthy — would finish above .500.
There’s still a good possibility they won’t finish above .500.
Boston has yet to play one game with the team the front office intended. This year, they’ll never play a game with the team the Sox intended to have.
Seemingly, everyone on this team has been injured at one point or another.
However, given everything that’s happened so far, you’d think the Sox would have fallen out of relevance by now.
As a result of those injuries, the infield defense has been abysmal (again). And the lineup has been inconsistent at best and subpar at worst all season. (Boy, did they show up when it mattered most last week.)
On top of it all, the rotation, which was dominant in April, has regressed.
Things could be and probably should be worse. But, the 2024 Red Sox have something that Sox teams of the previous few years didn’t. And it has helped them tread water despite the injuries, the bad defense, and the lack of offense.
Another Season of Terrible Infield Defense Hasn’t Sunk the 2024 Red Sox
Embed from Getty ImagesA healthy Trevor Story was supposed to stabilize the defense and prop up the lineup.
Neither of those things happened. Story got hurt again.
Injuries have only snowballed since.
Not only did the Red Sox lose their starting shortstop, but they’ve been without their starting second baseman for most of 2024 and without their franchise first baseman for a couple of months.
Rafael Devers has dealt with shoulder and knee issues, too. It’s the same for Tyler O’Neill, but it’s been a concussion and a knee issue for him.
And the Sox lost their potential Rookie of the Year right fielder earlier this month.
Some of the replacement players have been hurt as well.
The 2024 Red Sox have used seven first basemen (0 Outs Above Average/-3 Defensive Runs Saved), nine second basemen (-1 DRS/-6 OAA), seven third basemen (-3 OAA/-7 DRS), and five shortstops (-9 DRS/-10 OAA).
No wonder Boston’s suffered defensively.
The 2024 Red Sox have committed 54 errors, the most in MLB, resulting in 45 unearned runs, among the most, if not the most in MLB.
Thirty-three of those errors come from a decimated infield, seven from the catchers (five from Reese McGuire), and 12 from the outfield, one of the best outfields in MLB.
Many of the errors occurred immediately after Story’s injury. The defense settled down for a few weeks beginning mid-late April, but the infield is acting up again, which will happen occasionally, unfortunately.
All of that chaos, and the Sox survived it.
Neither Has a Lackluster Lineup
Embed from Getty ImagesThis Red Sox lineup has been inconsistent at best and lackluster at worst all season.
Through the end of April, Boston’s offense was fourth in home runs (36); seventh in slugging percentage (.415 with 91 extra-base hits); 8th in average (.250), on-base percentage (.324) and OPS (.739); and ninth in stolen bases (27).
They also ranked 11th in runs scored (143) and 12th in wRC+ (104) and had an 11-6 record when hitting a home run. However, they were 16th in walk rate (8.7 percent) and had the fifth highest strikeout rate (25.5%).
All that fell off a cliff in May as injuries piled up.
The Sox walk rate was down to seven percent. Their slug dropped 29 points, their average 16 points, their OBP 27 points, their OPS 56 points, and their wRC+ 16 points.
They stole seven fewer bases, scored 35 fewer runs, and hit 12 fewer home runs.
As those of us who’ve watched already know, the Sox did not hit as well with runners in scoring position in May as they did in April.
Despite all that, Boston was only 3.5 games out of a playoff spot at the end of May, sitting right at .500.
But, the 2024 Red Sox offense changed in late May, and they’ve done well in June.
The Sox have stolen 29 bases (18 since 6/11), have 59 extra-base hits (33 since June 11th), and their wRC+ jumped 27 points.
Their June RISP numbers are probably the best they’ve been all year.
These Red Sox have played some of their best baseball in the last two weeks. Now, they’re only one game back of a playoff spot and got themselves out of .500 hell.
That can happen when you have more than a couple of competent hitters.
O’Neill is right again. Enmanuel Valdez has raked since being recalled. Jamie Westbrook contributed some in his brief time. Ceddanne Rafaela has gone off. Masataka Yoshida recently returned. And Wilyer Abreu will be back very soon.
Even Inevitable Rotation Regression Hasn’t Sunk the Red Sox in 2024
Embed from Getty ImagesSeeing how bad the defense and lineup have been, you’d think the 2024 Red Sox would start sinking once the rotation began regressing.
The Red Sox had the best rotation ERA in MLB through May 7th. From then through May 29th, their rotation ERA jumped to 5.21, ranking them 28th in MLB.
But even that didn’t hurt them. Thankfully, the rotation has leveled off the last few weeks (4.07 ERA since 5/30, 13th in MLB).
A lot of that 5.21 May ERA and 4.07 June ERA is Nick Pivetta and Brayan Bello, both of whom haven’t been quite right since returning from the injured list.
Pivetta has a 4.68 ERA/4.66 FIP, allowing a .768 opponent OPS since May 8th.
Bello has a 5.95 ERA/4.92 FIP, allowing a .835 opponent OPS since May 12th.
Cooper Criswell has dipped some, too, though he’s only had a few bad starts all season. Since May 16th, Criswell has a 6.15 ERA/3.45 FIP, allowing a .771 opponent OPS.
Kutter Crawford also fell off a bit from mid-may to early June (6.43 ERA/4.39 FIP, .787 opponent OPS) but seems to have figured something out his last two starts (3.75 ERA/5.14 FIP, .723 opponent OPS).
And, of course, Tanner Houck has been the Red Sox’s only starter who’s been good all season.
These 2024 Red Sox survived an abysmal offense and rotation in May. Now, the rotation has leveled off, and the offense is hot.
The defense is what it is, unfortunately.
Hate on ownership all you want — it’s valid. But, the 2024 Red Sox have earned more attention from this fan base from now on.
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Featured Image Credit: Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
