You look at this Red Sox team and honestly, there’s a talented crop of dudes this year. There’s no denying that. Health is always key though and because of that, the Red Sox might just run into some problems.
This is a good roster, but it ain’t perfect. If we’re trying to attack this roster, let’s do it real quick: there’s no third baseman on it and there ain’t no legit No. 5 starting pitcher. Other than that, it’s real good.
Seriously, what’s the answer gonna be at third base? You’ve got Pablo Sandoval, Brock Holt and Marco Hernandez all on the DL right now. The starter, Josh Rutledge, was gonna be on the Colorado Rockies AAA team if the Sox didn’t pick him up in the Rule 5 draft in December. Oh, and none of them have been sound defensively.
Red Sox 3B
Hernandez 9 starts, 5 errors.
Sandoval 16 starts, 4 errors.
Holt 1 start, 1 error.
Rutledge 3 games (2 starts), 2 errors.— Christopher Smith (@SmittyOnMLB) May 4, 2017
In real life–on a competitive team– Marco Hernandez, Josh Rutledge and Brock Holt aren’t third basemen. They don’t pass the eye test. They’re fine choices as backup middle infielders (and Holt’s even a decent left-fielder), but not capable defensively at the position. Oh, and none of ’em got pop. And Sandoval didn’t really prove he was starter-quality either when healthy (range still limited, bat not great), so yeah, there’s that.
Plus with Steven Wright out for the year, as Jared Carrabis of Barstool Sports reported first, there’s the No. 5 starter problem. But honestly, it was a problem with Wright healthy too; it’s just no one was gonna say anything/do anything about it until June. Now, Kyle Kendrick has to go fill that void. He’s pretty much in that depth role Sean O’Sullivan filled last year and his career numbers and scenario lines up pretty similar to Aaron Cook, who the Sox had in 2012. How’d it go with those guys, you ask? ERA’s in the 5’s and 6’s. Not pretty. Plus, Kendrick didn’t look so good in Pawtucket this year, so he’ll prob get shelled tonight, to be nice about it. Guess we’ll see how long he sticks.
Kendrick does deserve props for contributing at the big league level after such a long MLB career though–even if he is a mere body at this point.
So yeah, these are really just two things the Red Sox gotta suffer through at this point. A David Price return in late May cures the starter thing, and then third base, yeah, that’ll still be a black hole. Sorry.