3 Boston Red Sox to blame for awful AL East start
By Mark Powell
Red Sox to blame: Adam Duvall’s injury
Okay, look, even I have to cut Boston some slack. Adam Duvall was absolutely raking in the first week of the season, and now he’s gone.
Duvall looked to be one of the best under-the-radar signings of the offseason by Bloom and the Boston front office. In eight games, he slashed .455/.514/1.030, which was good for a 1.544 OPS. Those numbers are insane, and while they wouldn’t have translated through an entire season, Duvall’s hot start was in many ways sustaining the Red Sox offense. Now, they’re on life support.
Duvall fractured his left wrist and won’t be back for quite some time. It’s unlucky, but it also exposed Boston’s poor roster construction. An injury to just one player should not lead to an immediate fall from grace as it has for the Red Sox, as Call to the Pen’s James Scotti pointed out.
"“While it was a mistake for the Red Sox to sign Duvall to play center, that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have still signed him this offseason. The Red Sox could’ve signed Duvall to be their DH, as well as backup outfielder, as opposed to the 38-year-old Justin Turner who slugged .438 last season. They could’ve then signed Elvis Andrus to be their shortstop, or kicked the tires once again on Jose Iglesias who signed for a minor league deal with Miami in March if they wanted to save money, and kept Hernandez in center. However, they did not go that route and as a result Duvall got injured just nine games into the season.”"
Much of this falls back on Bloom, but it never would’ve come to light this quickly had it not been for a bad break in Duvall’s wrist.