Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Boston Red Sox need immediate offensive adjustments to avoid a second straight losing season under their new manager.
- Current strategies around the roster have produced some of the worst run outputs in MLB, with key decisions backfiring on the team's limited talent.
- Specific changes in player roles and batting order construction could unlock marginal gains that make the difference between relevance and another late-season sell-off.
The Boston Red Sox hoped that firing Alex Cora and replacing him with Chad Tracy would solve all their problems, but that hasn't exactly happened. The team has played a bit better since the change, but they were seven games under .500 when Cora was fired and are still seven games under .500 entering Tuesday's action.
For Tracy to guarantee himself the managerial job past this season, he's going to have to find a way to lead the team to victories. While there's only so much a manager can do when he's handed a fundamentally flawed roster, as he has been in Boston, Tracy making these changes would give the Red Sox a better chance to win games.
Take Jarren Duran out of the lead-off spot
Jarren Duran is having a season to forget. He's slashing .181/.247/.301 with four home runs and 19 RBI in 42 games. That's good for a 50 wRC+, sixth-worst out of 173 qualified hitters. Tracy has elected to hit that guy, who has been one of the league's worst, in the lead-off spot in every single game Duran has started while Tracy has been the manager. The results have been hard to find, as Duran had a .549 OPS under Alex Cora and has a .548 OPS under Tracy. He's been mired in the exact same slump.
With that in mind, it's time for a change. No, the Red Sox do not have an easy alternative, especially with Roman Anthony hurt, but how can you justify keeping one of the worst hitters in the sport in such a prominent spot in the order when he's done absolutely nothing positive? I get that Duran was an MVP candidate in 2024 — but it's 2026 now. It's time for the Red Sox to act like it. They can, and should, continue playing Duran, hoping he'll eventually figure it out, but hitting him lead-off while he continues to struggle is malpractice. Try literally anyone else (well, maybe not Caleb Durbin).
Stop platooning Marcelo Mayer with Isiah Kiner-Falefa
Craig Breslow has made several head-scratching decisions, one of which was to give Isiah Kiner-Falefa $6 million to platoon with Marcelo Mayer at second base. Kiner-Falefa is a fine backup infielder, but what was the point of this? What has IKF shown offensively to warrant consistent playing time against lefties?
The results have been about as expected. Kiner-Falefa has a .505 OPS overall and he's gone 3-for-21 against southpaws. He has not been good, especially in the role he was signed to play. Judging by his .636 OPS against lefties in his career, I don't know why the Red Sox thought he'd ever be the right fit as a platoon player.
I'm not here to say Mayer has been good. In fact, I'd say he's been disappointing in his first full season. What I will say, though, is that Mayer has as many hits as Kiner-Falefa does against southpaws this season in 12 fewer at-bats. The player the Red Sox are so afraid to expose against lefties has hit them much better than the guy they signed specifically to hit lefties, albeit in a small sample.
Perhaps Mayer will struggle mightily against left-handers if he's given regular at-bats against them, but what are the odds he'll be worse than IKF has been? Plus, why not even attempt to play a guy who was recently considered one of the very best prospects in baseball every day? This feels like a no-brainer.
Give Masataka Yoshida more at-bats
Offense has held the Red Sox back, as Boston ranks in the bottom three in baseball in runs scored, home runs and OPS. The offense has been so bad that Masataka Yoshida, despite his underwhelming .698 OPS, has been one of their best hitters. Yet, despite that fact, he does not play very much.
Yoshida has started just twice in the last six days. Granted, two of those games featured left-handed starters, and he has just three hits in his last 23 at-bats, but he's still one of the best hitters they have against righties right now. With Roman Anthony out, the Red Sox don't have an outfield logjam, so they can find at-bats for him at least for now.
If they're eager to have Mickey Gasper's bat in the lineup, they can use him at catcher or even second base. The fact of the matter is that the Red Sox need to find a way to score runs, and while Yoshida is not worth what he's getting paid and doesn't add any value outside of his bat, he's solid against righties — and the same can't be said about much of this Boston lineup. It'd behoove Tracy to find consistent at-bats for him, at least while Anthony is out.
Deploy Brayan Bello behind an opener
After a brutal start to his season, Brayan Bello showed signs of life when the Red Sox opted to use him as a bulk reliever behind an opener. After posting an ugly 9.12 ERA in his first six starts, Bello combined to allow just two runs on eight hits in 13.1 innings in that role against the Tigers and Phillies, respectively. Yet, despite his success, Tracy opted to use Bello as a starter his last time out. The results couldn't have been much worse.
The right-hander allowed a three-run homer in the bottom of the first and wound up allowing seven runs in five innings of work. Sure, the Red Sox offense didn't do much in that game, but Bello never gave them much of a chance to win anyway. He now has a 9.68 ERA as a starter and a 1.35 ERA as a bulk reliever.
Tracy can't get rid of Bello himself, but he can change how Bello is being used. I don't think Bello is a 1.35 ERA guy moving forward, but I do think limiting the exposure he has against the best players on the opposing teams is bound to help him. Doing anything but the one thing that has not worked at all, using him as a traditional starter, is a must for Tracy to get the most out of Bello, as long as he's on the active roster.
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