Red Sox Mid-Season Review

A Blog By Dean

Overall Takeaway

Although the All-Star Break is not the “midway point” in games, everyone views it as the middle of the season. The past few years, I have forgone the last series review before the break and opted to do a mid-season review. With that said, the Red Sox swept the Rays and finished the first half with a 10-game win streak.

What I Loved

• Roman Anthony/Marcelo Mayer/Kristian Campbell

  • I am keeping Campbell in here. At the beginning of the season, he was all this team had. He will be back.

  • Mayer and Anthony saved the season. Not really a hot take. Boston is 21-10 since Anthony joined the squad. Meanwhile, Mayer has sured up the defense in the infield.

• Ceddanne Rafaela

  • Outside of Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ceddanne Rafaela is the best fielder in baseball right now. That would be enough to justify his extension last year. But he decided to be one of the best hitters of the summer as well. Currently, he is batting .390 with a 1.400 OPS in July.

  

• Brayan Bello Breakout

  • Bello has been superb since May. Eight straight games now where he has given up three runs or less. In his last three starts, he only walked three batters. For Bello, that is huge.

  • If you are into FIP and xERA, then it is a little concerning that those are at 4.20 and 4.25, respectively. However, I don’t care about expected stats, unless it is my own (xBBI).

  

  Credit: MLB

• Lucas Giolito and Garrett Crochet

  • Crochet has made me look like a complete fool. When the trade took place, I was upset to lose Kyle Teel. I had dreams of the big three coming up together and taking over the league. By that, I mean I had a bunch of his autographs I wanted to sell. Crochet, Fried, and Skubal are far and away the best pitchers in baseball right now. Cy Young is going to come down to who can maintain that for two more months. I don’t think anyone else gets close.

  • Giolito, on the other hand, is doing what the team hoped he would do last year.

  • Over the last month, Garrett Crochet, Brayan Bello, and Lucas Giolito are a combined 13-2 with a 1.58 ERA (119.1 IP, 21 ER).

• Carlos Narvaez

  • If you expected Narvaez to become the leader of this team, hats off to you.

• Bullpen

  • Boston has the #1 bullpen at the moment, according to Inside The Pen

  • They finished the last seven games of the first half with a 0.00 ERA. They have been great all year, but the terrible starting pitching was wearing them thin. Now that the starters are doing their job, the bullpen’s greatness is evident to everyone.

What I Was ‘Mid’ About

• Alex Cora Tinkering

  • I am putting this in the “mid” section as a tip of the hat to what he has done with Romy Gonzalez, Abraham Toro, and Rob Refsnyder. There is no arguing with the numbers they have put up.

• Inconsistent Starting Pitching

  • While I love the way the starters are pitching right now, outside of Crochet, they have been inconsistent all year. Breslow needs to get another arm without giving up too much prospect capital.

• Handling Of Kristian Campbell

  • I don’t think Campbell was handled well by Cora early in the season. Do I think he should have been sent down? Yes. Do I believe they early on they were shifting him around too much in the lineup and the field? 100%. I don’t think that should be overlooked. He is struggling in the minors as well, so this was probably inevitable.

What I Didn’t Love

• Rafael Devers Situation

  • Rafael Devers has fallen off a cliff since joining the Giants. I am not happy about that, but if it continues and his body continues to break down (his back is a mess right now), Craig Breslow deserves an award.

  • Either way, the way the Devers situation was handled for the last six months was a mess. I don’t know if we will ever really know who was more at fault. Both camps are pointing the finger at the other. To me, they should have been more up front with him about what they wanted out of him earlier in the year. I never saw Triston Casas as a long-term solution at first base; the media severely overhyped him. Devers should have always been the plan at first base.

  • We move on.

• David Hamilton

  • I need someone to explain why he was on the major league roster for so long.