The Boston Red Sox may be fighting to stay out of last in the division, but there have been some bright spots. These are the risers and fallers after April.
Well, that certainly wasn’t what we expected. After the first month (plus a few days in March), the defending champion Boston Red Sox, who lit the league on fire from start to finish in 2018, sat at 13-17 and in 4th place in the AL East when the month of April came to a close.
On the bright side, the deluge of injuries facing the New York Yankees, plus the fact that the Tampa Bay Rays just aren’t as good as their record suggests, has kept Boston from slipping too far out too early. However, there is still quite a bit of ground to make up.
In particular, the pitching staff has been abysmal. Of the regular starters, not including Hector Velazquez, only David Price sports an ERA under 5.50. Though the last turn through the rotation produced promising results, nothing resembling consistent quality has emerged thus far.
Luckily, the offense has done enough, particularly in the last week or so, to keep the team from collapsing entirely. Certain players have stood out in the early going, and not all for good reasons. Let’s take a look at whose stock is up, and whose is dropping, in the early going.