How the Red Sox can fix an early-season crisis and make the playoffs in 7 moves

Despite new Boston Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy going 2-0 to start his tenure replacing Alex Cora in the clubhouse, it unsurprisingly wasn't the cure-all as they fell in Toronto on Tuesday. The Red Sox still have plenty of work left ahead for them to turn this around, even if there have been some early positive signs from a group that's now being dubbed the "ChadSox" with Tracy at the helm.

We've seen some lineup adjustments and different bullpen usage from Tracy with the Red Sox already. But there needs to be meaningful changes made to how this team is being run if they want to seriously turn it around. The results have been awful, no question, but Boston was picked by most analysts to make the postseason this year for a reason, and the roster can't play this poorly for 162 games. They do need to turn it around before it's too late, though, and that could be jumpstarted by making these changes — in addition to, of course, getting the likes of Garrett Crochet, Sonny Gray and Romy Gonzalez healthy.

Keep moving Trevor Story down in the lineup

It appears that veteran shortstop Trevor Story may have been a point of contention between Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow and the now-departed Cora. Specifically, Story was consistently hitting in the 2-hole throughout the season, despite being one of the worst hitters thus far this season.

Since Tracy has taken over, though, we have seen this already change with Story hitting in the No. 5 spot in the lineup. But if we're being realistic about the player that Trevor Story has been this year, the new manager should keep pushing him down in the order. This is a guy hitting .193 with a .514 OPS while being in the top 10 in baseball in strikeouts this season. There's no justification at this point for having him in the heart of the lineup.

I'm not going to lose my mind like last season and pine away that the Red Sox should designate Story for assignment. At the same time, I don't think he should remotely be considered a no-question everyday player, and should certainly still be moving further down the lineup if he can't post a higher OPS than the mightily struggling Caleb Durbin.

Trade one of the outfielders

The fact that Craig Breslow didn't trade one of the outfielders this offseason continues to look something close to criminal. Cora and he clearly butted heads over this, as it does create a difficult job to manage the lineup and roster. And maybe that means Breslow and the front office are unwilling to clear out the Red Sox infamous logjam. It absolutely needs to happen for this team to move forward.

Frankly, the easiest answer right now is the easiest answer from the offseason, but now with more complications. There were reports that the Red Sox were overvaluing Duran on the trade market despite being a still-valuable trade asset. Now, his value has diminished well below that as he's slashing only .172/.234/.253/.486 on the season and has looked largely lost at the plate. He's hit the ball hard, but not as consistently so as his outfield cohorts.

But it's a terribly tough conundrum because of that. The Red Sox and Breslow aren't going to get the value that they would've had they been realistic in the offseason. It's also the bed he made, so now it's time to lie in it. The outfield rotation simply isn't sustainable right now and something's got to change for this team to get on the right track.

Let Payton Tolle stay in the rotation over Brayan Bello

Perhaps putting my fan hat on a bit too tightly this offseason, I was pining for Boston to trade Brayan Bello this offseason and give the young guys a shot. Through the first month of the season, we've seen why. I fully believe that Bello has the stuff to succeed in MLB, but it's also become abundantly clear that it's just not going to happen with the Red Sox at this point.

Through five starts entering Wednesday, Bello has posted a 9.00 ERA with a 2.273 WHIP. He's been downright awful and wholly unreliable, which has been an unfortunate trend for him in big moments throughout his career. But Sonny Gray's injury, which brought Payton Tolle up from Triple-A, has made that more glaring as Tolle has a 3.38 ERA and 1.031 WHIP over his two starts, looking like the clearly better pitcher in comparison to Bello.

Whether it's a trade, a phantom IL stint, or optioning hip to Worcester to try and get things right, Bello can't be relied upon this season based on what he's done to this point. This team was largely built to rely on pitching and defense, and having an albatross in the rotation makes that impossible to work through.

Stay aggressive on the base paths

One thing that the Red Sox weren't doing nearly enough under Alex Cora was utilizing the overall speed and athleticism of this team. It was actually a point of frustration for many fans to see how little they were trying to get an extra bag and be aggressive on the basepaths. Early in Chad Tracy's tenure at the helm of this club, however, there have been some positive changes.

In the first game against the Orioles, the Red Sox attempted five steals and were successful in four of their attempts. While they haven't had any attempts in the two games since, that's been a bit more about opportunities and reasonable chances than aggression. But this is something that Tracy and the ChadSox need to contiinue at in a massive way.

This offense doesn't have the pop throughout that many possible contenders do, but I still maintain that it's a better offensive team than they've shown this season. That being said, they need to take advantage of opportunities to create scoring chances and runs, which being aggressive on the basepaths will certainly help with.

Bury Isiah Kiner-Falefa and don't worry about him

We could go back to the offseason and the fact that anyone thought it was a good idea to give Isiah Kiner-Falefa $6 million for some unknown reason. That's the decision that was made, though, and so IKF has been a piece that's seen consistent playing time on this roster. That needs to change, because he's simply not been a winning player.

In 13 appearances and 35 plate appearances this season, Kiner-Falefa is slashing just .212/.257/.212/.469 on the season with no extra-base hits and middling defense. Furthermore, there's not even been a platoon split, which is how he's largely been used, with a .250 OPS this year in 16 plate appearances against left-handed pitching. So what exactly is he offering this team in any meaningful capacity?

Someone like Nate Eaton or Nick Sogard is a better platoon and overall option than IKF. Even if his veteran presence is valued, it's not worth the payoff for the little production he's providing. Personally, I'd push for just eating the rest of the $6 million and going on about business. But in any case, we need to see the times that we have IKF in the lineup trend downward.

Give Marcelo Mayer more opportunities

One of the best things that Chad Tracy has said in his short time as the Red Sox manager is that he wants to give Marcelo Mayer more chances, specifically more chances to face left-handed pitching. That's something that Cora was always staunchly against for young players, but for a Boston offense that's in dire need of any offensive spark they can get on a game-to-game basis, that has to happen with Mayer in the lineup.

While Mayer hasn't necessarily lit the world on fire thus far this season — he has a .687 OPS with a .247 average on the season across 26 games — he has one of the highest offensive upsides of any potential everyday player. He has to be on the field and in the lineup to showcase that, however. And while it's a tightrope to walk to manage his development with giving him chances, the favor should be shown toward the latter.

Mayer is part of the future of this franchise, beyond a shadow of a doubt. And with this iteration of the Red Sox struggling so mightily right now, they could use the young infielder's energy and talent in the lineup as often as possible — especially when one of the platoon options is IKF.

Be smarter with Greg Weissert and the bullpen

Of the many frustrating things that Cora did managerially, the one that seemed the most avoidable was consistently putting Greg Weissert into high-leverage spots. Time and again it'd happen and the results would be detrimental to the Red Sox. Now, the Justin Slaten injury is a factor in that, it should be said, but there are other relievers in the building who should be getting looks before Weissert in high-leverage spots.

That isn't to say that I want Zack Kelly in those spots, but why not give him a chance? Jack Anderson has looked impressive in bursts since being called up, so why not take a shot on him? And that's just the right-handers, as I trust the likes of Tyler Samaniego and Eduardo Rivera in those spots based on small sample sizes far more than I do Weissert.

Especially until Slaten returns, Tracy needs to do a better job of managing the Red Sox bullpen, especially situationally. There have been some signs of that early on, but we need to see it more consistently if this team where the margins appear so thin is going to scrape by once the starters come out of the game.

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