Alex Cora's criticism of role player reflects Red Sox's trade deadline problems

The Boston Red Sox dropped their fourth straight game and fell behind the Detroit Tigers in the wild card race on Sept. 3.

Boston's bullpen has helped it along the way to its wild card deficit by converting on just eight of 23 save opportunities since the All-Star break. But there's also been no life in the Red Sox's bats.

The Sox have scored just five runs in their last four games and they continue to strike out at an astronomical clip. They fanned 15 times against the Mets' pitching staff and collected just two hits and two runs on Sept. 3.

Boston's offensive issues spread throughout the entire lineup. Rob Refsnyder, Connor Wong, Rafael Devers and Triston Casas are a few of the many Sox hitters who've slumped in recent games. Alex Cora called out one player for his rough offensive showings — trade-deadline acquisition Danny Jansen.

"He’s mishitting balls, not finishing at-bats," Cora said, according to The Boston Globe. "It's part of the grind, man. Right now, we're grinding as an offense. Jarren [Duran] is the only one that's consistent along with [Wilyer] Abreu. But besides that, right now as an offense, we're not doing those things."

The Red Sox brought Jansen in from Toronto as a one-for-one improvement over Reese McGuire, and he hasn't delivered so far. Jansen is slashing .207/.281/.310 with a .591 OPS in his 20 games with Boston. But the Red Sox's reliance on Jansen for offense reveals greater issues with its trade deadline approach and the expectations of their players.

Alex Cora says Danny Jansen hasn't delivered offensively for Red Sox

Jansen has posted one good offensive season in his seven-year big league career. He's a catcher, so he's held to different offensive standards than most of the other players on Boston's roster, but his usual offensive metrics don't differ much from what he's posted this season. Jansen's best season was 2022, when he clocked a .260/.339/.516 slash line with 15 homers, 10 doubles and 44 RBI. He's career .222/.307/.421 hitter, and the Red Sox were wrong to believe he'd be their offensive salvation — or that he'd be much of an offensive boost at all — during a playoff push.

Boston has reverted back to the team it was before its pre-All-Star break hot streak — a .500 team that lacks power and strikes out at a high clip. The Red Sox front office thought it a good idea to avoid signing or trading for any major offensive talent this offseason in favor of gambling on young, inexperienced players to carry the squad. It did the same at the trade deadline, and instead of grabbing an impact bat for a postseason run, they banked on Jansen maintaining his already-low average against the toughest second-half schedule in the league, and it's cost them.

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