5 Biggest surprises on and off the Red Sox ALDS roster

The Red Sox ALDS roster has some notable names missing

The Boston Red Sox released their ALDS roster ahead of the first game on Thursday, and there were a few surprises on and left off the list.

Thankfully, the Red Sox have a break from do-or-die games, but that doesn’t make the postseason any less stressful. They’ve already seriously outperformed expectations and projections for this year and shown everyone what they can do. Can they keep it going?

Here are five surprises from the ALDS roster…

Matt Barnes is not on the Red Sox ALDS roster

This one is somehow shocking, not at all shocking, and extremely troubling all at the same time.

Barnes was Boston’s ace closer for a significant portion of the season, even taking home AL Reliever of the Month honors early in the season. In the first half of the season, he held opposing lineups to a .174/.238/.280 line and .518 OPS in 38 games. By midseason, the Sox announced that they had signed the first-time All-Star to a lucrative extension.

However, Barnes struggled to a 13.50 ERA over 11 August appearances and only made six appearances in September, due in part to a stint on the COVID IL during the team outbreak. Over those six appearances, he threw a total of five innings, struck out six, and allowed two earned runs. The Red Sox still won the games in which Barnes allowed runs, but it certainly didn’t help his case.

By season’s end, Barnes’ numbers were nearly identical to the three full seasons before the pandemic. Between 2017-2019, he had an ERA between 3.65-3.88, pitching between 62-70 appearances in each of those seasons. This year, he had a 3.79 ERA over 60 appearances, though he finished a career-high 44 games and earned an impressive 24 saves.

What’s notable about Barnes’ absence from the postseason roster is his numbers against the Rays batters this year and his playoff experience. Over four appearances, he allowed four earned runs on three hits, but Tampa Bay bats only managed to hit .188/.350/.250 with a .600 OPS against him.

Barnes has made 11 career postseason appearances between 2017-2018. All but one of said appearances were shutout. In 2018, he only allowed three total hits in ten games, and never more than one hit in an appearance.

With these numbers, it feels like there’s more to Barnes being left off the roster than just a slump.

Jarren Duran is not on the ALDS Roster, but Danny Santana is

Jarren Duran is one of, if not the fastest guys on the Red Sox. However, his transition from the minors to the majors has been a struggle, offensively. He’s hitting .215/.241/.336 with a .578 OPS over 33 big-league games, with only seven extra-base hits over 112 plate appearances. His plate discipline leaves a lot to be desired; 44 strikeouts and only four walks.

In eight games against the Rays, Duran couldn’t make heads or tails of their pitching. He slashed .185/.185/.185 with a .370 OPS against them with no extra-base hits. His speed doesn’t compensate enough for those numbers to make him worthy of a high-stakes postseason roster spot.

Santana, meanwhile, made his big-league debut in 2014, and the Red Sox gave him a shot on a minor-league deal this season. The upside of Santana is that he can play the infield and outfield, but his bat isn’t what it used to be, like when he hit 28 home runs and stole 21 bases for the Rangers in 2019.

Over 38 big-league games his season, Santana is hitting .181/.252/.345 with a .597 OPS, five home runs, and two doubles. He’s had multiple stints on both the IL and COVID-related IL, making it hard to assess his actual ability to contribute to this team. He does have a home run off the Rays this season, which is something.

If the Red Sox can only have room for one, Santana over Duran makes sense for his defensive versatility, but that’s about it.

Garrett Richards is on the Red Sox ALDS roster

If you told Red Sox fans in the first few months of the season that Garrett Richards would be on the ALDS roster but Matt Barnes would not, no one would have believed you, in part because few expected the 2021 Red Sox to be in the ALDS at all.

But while Barnes fell apart in the second half of the season, Richards became dependable one moving from the rotation to the bullpen. Despite being overworked towards the end of the season, he was a key part of keeping games in Boston’s favor in the home stretch.

In 22 games as a starter, Richards had a 5.22 ERA over 110 1/3 innings, and opposing teams hit .300/.371/.497 with a .868 OPS against him. In 18 relief appearances, he had a 3.42 ERA and held opposing batters to a .240/.319/.340 line and .659 OPS.

Against the Rays this year, Richards has a 6.14 ERA over four games, including one start and one finished. They’ve hit .258/.395/.484 with a .879 OPS and two home runs off him. Most of that can be attributed to one bad start on June 23, in which he allowed four earned runs on three hits, including the two home runs, and was pulled after just 1 2/3 innings. When Richards came out of the bullpen to face the Rays in three September games, he only allowed one earned run over the three appearances and earned one of his three saves of the year.