The 5 most disappointing Boston Red Sox in the first half of the season
My entire feelings around the Red Sox currently can be summed up in the Logan Roy quote, "I love you, but you are not serious people."
I think we all knew that this season wouldn't be an easy one for the Red Sox. Playing in a stacked division, losing key members from the 2018 team in Xander Bogaerts, Nathan Eovaldi, and J.D. Martinez, and with key signing from last year Trevor Story spending at least the first half of the season rehabbing from offseason surgery, I would have called you crazy for thinking the Red Sox would be challenging for a title, or even the division title.
Even with these tempered expectations, however, you can't help but feel frustration and disappointment with this team. They've shown us through different points in the year that there's ... something there with this team: the eight-game win streak from April into May, sweeping the Yankees at Fenway to get the season series off to a great start, and the possible birth of our future ace in Brayan Bello. Beyond that, there's been stupid losses, poor performances at the worst possible times (we couldn't get Bello anything on offense while he NO-HIT the Marlins through 7???), and just a general feeling of "what is this team doing?". Let's take a look at the main reasons behind those frustrations with this team (note: this article is in no particular order, just the 5 Red Sox that have disappointed fans the most).
Most disappointing Red Sox in the first half -- No. 1: Kiké Hernandez
I swear, I don't mean to only write about how bad Kiké Hernandez has been this year when I write about him, but it's been so hard to avoid this year. I had hoped that Hernandez could figure out how to play shortstop a little better at some point this year, but it doesn't seem like that is going to happen anytime soon. Pretty much anytime Hernandez is listed as the starting shortstop for the Red Sox, I pencil in a "1" into the error box on the box score before a pitch has even been thrown. If there was ever a prop bet offered for players to have a fielding error in a game, I would heavily advise everyone to bet Kiké Hernandez on any given night.
The most disappointing part of Hernandez this year has been his complete lack of offensive output. When looking at batters that have played at least 50 games for the Red Sox this year, Hernandez comes in dead last with an OPS+ of 69. His current WAR of -0.5 places him as a sub-replacement level player this year, and as I mentioned in my previous article, the Red Sox really need Trevor Story to come back, shore up their middle infield, and have Hernandez ride the pine for a little bit so he can figure out what is going on with himself.
Most disappointing Red Sox in the first half -- No. 2: Corey Kluber
Look, the Corey Kluber signing was never going to give the Red Sox another ace. We were never going to get the Cy Young-winning version of Kluber that terrified the AL Central for years, that version of Corey Kluber got left behind in Cleveland. I think the Red Sox had hoped for a 2022 Michael Wacha-type season: a veteran coming into a rotation to be a solid middle-to-end of the rotation option that can surprise some teams with his effectiveness (man, I never thought I'd say I miss Michael Wacha, but boy do I miss him). And then, Kluber was announced as the Opening Day starter.
Based on his performance this year, and the development of the young arms coming into the rotation, I feel like it can be pretty confidently said that Kluber's 2024 team option will not be picked up by the Red Sox in the coming offseason. No matter whether Kluber has been in the starting rotation or used as a bullpen piece, nothing has worked for him this year. He currently stands with an ERA of 7.04 and a career-low ERA+ of 65 (counting full seasons in his career), and I genuinely don't see any team after this year's performance giving Kluber a look after this season.
Most disappointing Red Sox in the first half -- No. 3: Kaleb Ort
Let me preface this by saying Ort has actually improved from his 2022 season, with significant drops in opponent's hard hit percentage, opponent's batting average, and an improvement in ERA, ERA+, and his strikeout-walk ratio. I didn't expect to have anything positive to say about Kaleb Ort this season, but I'll give him that there are signs of some sort of improvement.
Yet Ort has still been an awful piece out of the bullpen for the Red Sox. He holds the worst ERA+ of Red Sox relievers who are consistently on the gameday roster, he never strikes confidence in anyone when he enters a game for the Red Sox, and he's reached the territory for me that Ryan Brasier reached before he was DFA'd, where no matter what he did during an appearance, I cursed Alex Cora for even bringing him into the game.
While the bullpen hasn't been apocalyptically bad like it was last season, it certainly hasn't been helped by Ort, which is disappointing to see, to say the absolute least.
Most disappointing Red Sox in the first half -- No. 4: Garrett Whitlock
I should probably give Garrett Whitlock a little bit of slack in this part of the article. I know he's been dealing with injuries coming into this season, and it still feels like there's some discomfort in his starting role. He's also shown that his talent that he first started to show in the 2021 bullpen is still there, and can put up solid starts that the Red Sox offense need to take advantage of more often. While I feel that Whitlock should've been kept in the bullpen as a lockdown guy at the back end of the bullpen, he has shown that he can be an effective starter.
He's been getting hit more this year than any other year in his career, and this has led to his ERA exploding. His home run rate has increased, his strikeout rate has decreased, and opponents are hitting .299 off of Whitlock this year, placing him squarely in the nowhere zone of too good to be replaced, but not quite good enough to be considered anything special right now.
We know what Whitlock is capable of, we know that he can be a dominant pitcher when his stuff is working, we just haven't seen it from him consistently enough this year, which has made him such a frustrating case in the Red Sox rotation. The core of Whitlock, Tanner Houck, and Brayan Bello is something that sounds great moving forward, but in the now, it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Most disappointing Red Sox in the first half -- No. 5: Rafael Devers
Look, no matter what, the Red Sox have made the right move in locking down Rafael Devers long-term. Having Devers locked up through his prime and beyond, making him the de facto leader in the clubhouse is a move that I think will pay off well for the Red Sox. Had the Red Sox gone through the offseason that they did, losing the players that they had, not locking up Devers long-term would have further alienated the fanbase that seemed to be at their ultimate breaking point in the Chaim Bloom experience. However, I think we all expected more from Devers this year.
One of the biggest things is that Devers is striking out a lot this year, and his on-base percentage has dipped a decent amount from last year. His batting average is way down from last year as well, and while his power numbers are still there, I haven't felt that same sort of confidence with Devers at the plate as I have in years past. Devers is still a really good player, and he's always going to be the heart and soul of the Red Sox as long as he wears our uniform.
The main source of Devers being a disappointment is that I think we all expected Devers to assert himself as a top-tier guy in the league, and to continue his hold on the AL's starting third base spot in the All-Star Game, but he just hasn't quite been that guy this year. In a first half of showing flashes of potential for a big year but ultimately falling short, Devers' season so far serves a perfect microcosm of what the Red Sox have put us through in the first half. Let us hope for an improvement in the second half of the season.
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