Red Sox: Five most disappointing players from 2020 season
The five most disappointing Red Sox players in the 2020 season.
A multitude of factors contributed to the downfall of the Boston Red Sox this year. Much of the damage was done long before Opening Day – the franchise player was traded, the manager stepped away under a shroud of scandal and ownership insistent on dipping under the luxury tax rather than spend money to plug the glaring holes on the roster.
We never should have expected this team to be a true contender under these circumstances but few expected the decline to be this steep. The Red Sox still have their fair share of talented players but the problem was that several of them didn’t live up to their lofty reputations. While there were a few bright spots providing a positive outlook for the future, these disappointing performers raise some concerns.
The most obvious weakness of this team was the pitching staff, a problem created primarily by the absence of their two top starters. Despite that the team’s disappointing placement at the bottom of the standings ties directly to them, you won’t find Chris Sale or Eduardo Rodriguez on this list. It’s not the former’s fault that he required Tommy John surgery, nor is the latter to blame for developing a heart condition following a bout with COVID-19.
The same goes for the much-maligned Andrew Benintendi. Yes, he was dreadful to open the season before landing on the injured list with a strained rib cage. He only played in 14 games though, a sample size too small to criticize harshly. Any player can slump for a couple of weeks. Considering his talent and track record, it’s unfair to assume Benny wouldn’t have figured it out if he stayed healthy.
The most disappointing players are those who were given a fair shot only to let us down. They could be newcomers we thought would fill an important role or star players who came nowhere near meeting their high expectations. There’s plenty of blame to pass around for the dismal results of this season but these players rightfully have fingers pointed in their direction.
Back of the Red Sox rotation
Boston used a staggering 16 different starting pitchers in a 60-game season. A handful of them were only used once in that role and many of them served as a one-inning opener.
The Red Sox cycled through a seemingly endless collection of underwhelming options, the baseball equivalent of throwing mud at a wall hoping some of it will stick. Predictably, very few of them did stick.
Ryan Weber was solid down the stretch out of the bullpen but his opportunity in the rotation to open the season was a disaster. Weber was 0-2 with a 7.11 ERA in five starts compared to a 2.25 ERA in 12 relief appearances.
Boston scooped up Zack Godley following his release from the Detroit Tigers hoping that he could at least eat some innings. His seven starts were the third-most on the team despite that he was arguably their most ineffective starter. Godley posted a putrid 8.16 ERA in eight appearances (one in relief) before ending his season on the injured list with an elbow flexor strain.
Kyle Hart showed some potential in the minors last year but his first taste of the big leagues went horribly wrong. He owned a 15.55 ERA in four appearances, including three starts.
Chris Mazza ended his season on a high note but the overall results weren’t promising. He went 1-2 with a 5.01 ERA in six starts.
The Red Sox finally received some strong production from the back end of their staff when Nick Pivetta and Tanner Houck joined the rotation late in the season. It was too late to save the season but at least they provided some optimism for next year.
There were too many failed experiments along the way to single out any individual starter. The real disappointment is management’s failure to assemble anything resembling a viable major league rotation.
Red Sox infielder Jose Peraza
The Red Sox believed they had a bargain on their hands when they scooped up Jose Peraza for a modest salary of $3 million but he ended up being vastly overpaid for the limited production he provided.
It was only a couple of years ago that Peraza broke out with the Cincinnati Reds, hitting .288 with a .742 OPS and 29 stolen bases. A down year in 2019 allowed the Red Sox to get him for cheap but instead of the bounce-back year they expected, Peraza continued trending in the wrong direction.
Peraza produced the worst full season of his career, hitting .225/.275/.342 in 120 plate appearances. His bat had very little pop with only one home run and 10 extra-base hits. Speed was once his calling card but he stole only one base on two attempts. In fairness, he was rarely on base to allow himself more opportunities to swipe a bag.
He’s capable of covering multiple infield positions and he can even play the outfield in a pinch but Pereza was below-average defensively regardless of where the Red Sox put him. Versatility isn’t a value if you can play every position poorly.
It was a solid gamble to bet on a 26-year-old with past production to bounce back but Peraza didn’t pan out. He’s under club control as an arbitration-eligible player for two more seasons but Peraza is a potential non-tender candidate this offseason.
Red Sox infielder Michael Chavis
Fans love the Ice Horse. He’s a great kid with talent that he’s shown in flashes but opposing pitchers have caught up with him and he struggled to adjust this year.
Plate discipline remains the greatest concern for Michael Chavis. He’s still learning to lay off the high fastball that he hasn’t consistently shown he can catch up with and he’s chasing too many bad pitches. His 31.6 K% was the 11th-highest in the American League and his 5.1 BB% was 10th-lowest.
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The result was a .212/.259/.377 slash line. Players who strike out that much better be able to draw walks. If you can’t do either, hopefully the free-swinging nature leads to home runs. We know Chavis has the power to hit the ball out of the park but he only tallied five homers and 12 extra-base hits in 158 plate appearances.
Chavis lost playing time at first base with the emergence of Bobby Dalbec. He filled in at second base on occasion but he’s not an ideal fit at that spot. The Red Sox tested him in left field but there won’t be an everyday spot available to him when Benintendi returns next year.
It’s getting hard to see where Chavis fits on this team as anything more than a utility player off the bench. The best prospects in the Red Sox farm system are infielders, as are the two best position players on the current major league roster. The 25-year-old deserves more time to figure it out at the plate but the Red Sox might not have the luxury of giving him that time with so many other options available
Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers
This season wasn’t all bad for Rafael Devers. He tied for the team lead with 11 home runs while leading the club with 28 extra-base hits and 43 RBI. Being the best run-producer on a bad team doesn’t necessarily mean he played well though.
Devers hit .311 in his breakout 2019 campaign only for that batting average to tumble all the way to .263 this season. Batting average can be a bit fluky in smaller samples but there were reasons to be concerned about this drastic decline. Devers posted a career-high strikeout rate of 27.0% and his lowest walk rate at 5.2%.
He was far worse in the field. Devers made strides to improve defensively at the hot corner last year but he once again was a butcher with the glove this season. He committed the most errors at his position with 14 and tied for fourth-worst among major league third basemen with -5 defensive runs saved.
We too often saw Devers appear undisciplined and unfocused at the plate and in the field. He looked great coming into spring training but the COVID-19 hiatus that delayed the season did him no favors. Devers showed up to summer camp out of shape and sluggish.
Devers has always had a strong work ethic so we should feel confident that he’ll come back stronger next year but this season was a clear step back from the production that had him on the verge of the elite third basemen.
Red Sox DH J.D. Martinez
No player in baseball was effected more by the unprecedented changes in 2020 than J.D. Martinez. The veteran designated hitter is a creature of habit and the COVID-19 shutdown threw a giant wrench into his routine that he was never able to recover from. With new temporary rules to enforce social distancing placing restrictions on viewing video of his at-bats during games, Martinez looked completely lost at the plate.
Martinez was an All-Star and MVP candidate in each of his first two seasons with the Red Sox but he was arguably the least valuable player in baseball this year. FanGraphs valued him at a major league-low -1.0 WAR. He hasn’t been in the negatives since his early days in Houston before he changed his swing to embrace the launch angle movement.
His lack of defensive value always hinders his rating by this metric but Martinez averaged over 4.5 WAR in the previous two seasons based on his ability to hit at an elite level.
Martinez didn’t hit much at all this year. He posted a career-low .213 average and a .680 OPS that was his lowest since 2013 with the Astros.
He led the Red Sox in home runs over the last two years but tied for fifth on the team with only seven homers this season. That’s one fewer than Bobby Dalbec, who didn’t make his major league debut until the end of August, and Mitch Moreland, who was traded after 22 games.
Martinez has an opt-out clause in his contract that he’s unlikely to exercise in the wake of his awful season. The Red Sox must hope that the drastic change in routine led to his struggles at the plate rather than a sign that the 33-year-old has reached his decline phase. The former is correctable under the normal conditions we expect to return to next year. The latter means his eroding skills are only going to get worse.
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There’s no shortage of disappointing players on the last-place Red Sox. The team will cut bait with many of them while some are young enough that we can expect them to bounce back. When factoring in his lofty expectations, age, and salary, Martinez’s poor production is the biggest disappointment that has us most concerned moving forward.