David Price And The Red Sox Got Torched By The Last Place Texas Rangers
Not to alarm you, but the Red Sox are 5-7 since being no-hit by Sean Manaea in Oakland two weeks ago. That’s not a complete nosedive, but we’re no longer talking about historical starts anymore, nor are we talking about comfortable division leads. There’s no such thing as a comfortable lead when you look at the Yankees’ roster, but New York was 7.5 games back entering the game that Boston was no-hit. Entering play today? They’re a game back. Yeah.
Recency bias will have you pointing to the Red Sox pitching because David Price stunk against the Rangers, and we’ll get to him in a second, but over this 13-game sample, the once feared Red Sox offense has a .680 OPS. That ranks 23rd out of 30 major league teams. And if it weren’t for Mookie Betts being the best offensive player in baseball to start the year, it would be much, much worse. Take out Mookie, and the Red Sox have a .654 OPS over that span. Only the Cubs, Brewers and Mets have been worse.
Now let’s talk about Price. Also dating back to that Oakland series, he has been absolutely brutal. Price’s ERA had dropped to 1.95 before allowing that three-run bomb that won the game for the A’s, and it has been a dumpster fire from there. Since that eighth inning in Oakland, Price has allowed 15 earned runs in his last 10 innings of work, including seven earned runs against the Rangers on Thursday night. That’s a 13.50 ERA since the Khris Davis home run on April 22. Hard to call it a redemption tour when you’ve got an ERA over five.
There’s no such thing as a silver lining when you get smoked, but we have to talk about Mookie. He went 2-for-4 with ANOTHER home run, putting him ahead of Mike Trout for the major league lead with 12 homers. He also boosted his batting average to .370, which leads the majors, and his OPS to 1.299, which also leads the majors. He drove in four of Boston’s five runs, and scored his MLB-leading 33rd run of the season.
In his MVP runner-up season of 2016, Mookie didn’t hit his 12th home run of the season until May 31, which was — wait for it — a three home run game. He’s currently on pace to hit 63 home runs, so one might assume that Mookie was incorrect about his assessment that 2016 was the best season he’ll ever have.
At just 24 years old, Mookie Betts seems to think his best season could already be behind him.
“Last year could be arguably the best year I have in my career,” the Red Sox right fielder told WEEI in a podcast interview Wednesday.
“I’m a realist and I know it ain’t getting much better than that,” Betts said. “When am I going to hit 30 home runs again? I don’t know if I ever will. When am I ever going to hit .320 again? I don’t know if I ever will.”
But that was really the only bright spot in the series opener in Texas. Jackie Bradley Jr. continues to look lost at the plate. He went 0-for-4 with a couple strikeouts and stranded five men on base. He’s hitting .180 on the year with a .545 OPS. Out of the 175 players who qualify, Bradley’s OPS ranks 171st. Over his last 33 plate appearances, he’s hitting .069 with a .220 OPS. If we’re not there already, Bradley is dangerously close to approaching automatic out status.
The Red Sox already carry dead weight with their catchers, Sandy Leon and Christian Vazquez, hitting a combined .176 with a .432 OPS, which is absolutely pitiful, so if the offense continues to sputter, then it might be time to go with JD Martinez in left, Mitch Moreland at first and Hanley Ramirez at DH, which would move Andrew Benintendi over to center, who hasn’t really hit much either.
Benintendi, who had the night off last night, is hitting .248 with a .737 OPS. This would obviously be sacrificing a great deal of outfield defense with Martinez replacing Benintendi and Benintendi replacing Bradley. But left field aside, most outfielders in the league would represent a drop off in defense at the centerfielder position when stepping in for Bradley, which is why this would be such a difficult decision to make. I’m not sure Alex Cora is quite there yet in regards to bumping Bradley out of his role as an everyday player, but it can’t be too far off with how bad he’s been at the plate and what has happened to Boston’s division lead in such a short period of time.
On Friday night, it is a showdown of STUD ACES. For the Red Sox, it’s Rick Porcello, who has a 2.23 ERA through his first six starts with 38 strikeouts in 40.1 innings. For the the Rangers, it’s the man, the myth, the legend, Bartolo Colon. You laugh now, but the right-hander, who turns 45 years old in less than three weeks, has a 2.87 ERA this season through his first six appearances, four of which are starts. Pitcher wins and losses doesn’t mean a whole lot, but he’s unbeaten on a last place team so that’s saying something.
Final score: Rangers 11, Red Sox 5