I am thinking today of the mess that is the Red Sox. The last-place Red Sox. The ’22 Red Sox who remind me of the ’62 Red Sox of my Little League days and those carefree summer nights when we listened to Curt Gowdy describe the misadventures of the young left fielder Carl Yastrzemski, the rail-thin outfielder Gary Geiger, the 6-foot-8-inch pitcher Gene Conley, who also wore No. 17 for the Boston Celtics before the Bouncing Buckeye from Ohio State, John Havlicek.
Ah, those good old days when the Red Sox were bad but still relevant because the nomad Patriots were only two years old and not a daily story, the championship Celtics were still two months or so from the start of another NBA title run, and Nuns Day was a highlight of the season at Fenway Park. That’s right, Nun’s Day.
Now, though, in mid-August, the heart of another baseball summer, the Red Sox are tumbling toward irrelevance, a place no team in any sport at any level wants to visit. They sit in last place in the AL East, 16.5 games behind the division-leading Yankees. They have lost six of their last eight games. They are three games under .500 (55-58) and two games under .500 (27-29) at friendly Fenway.
They lost a pair to the Atlanta Braves, 8-4, Wednesday night and 9-7 in 11 innings Tuesday night, before rolling out the Red Sox carpet Thursday night for the Baltimore Orioles, who used to occupy the AL East cellar digs. Boston held on for a 4-3 victory.
What’s ails these Red Sox? They reached Game Six of the 2021 ALCS, and now they are gasping while grasping for the last playoff spot. How to explain this diamond disaster?
Let’s start with injuries. Chris Sale, the supposed ace of the pitching staff, has been a bitter disappointment since signing a five-year, $145-million contract extension before the 2019 season. Let’s work backward. In April he suffered stress fracture of his right rib cage during a workout and went on the 60-day injured list. A “small personal medical issue” — Chaim Bloom’s words — delayed his return.
Sale finally pitched in a real game on July 12, when he threw five scoreless innings against Tampa Bay. His next start, July 17 against the Yankees, was his last. An Aaron Hicks line drive fractured his left little finger.
The Red Sox hoped Sale would return for a September playoff run, but last Saturday he fell off his bike while making a lunch run and broke his right wrist. Goodbye, Chris, for 2022. See you at spring training.
In 2021, rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, Sale did not pitch until Aug. 14. He missed time in September because of a Covid infection and was a non-factor in the playoffs. In 2020, he missed the lockout-shortened season because of elbow surgery. In 2019 he was in and out of the starting rotation because of elbow inflammation. In 2018 he finished 12-4 and helped the Red Sox beat the Dodgers in the World Series, but left shoulder inflammation bothered him at times.
Sale pitched 5 2/3 innings this season, 48 1/3 over the last three. He is 33 and has two years remaining on his contract. After this run of fractures — I wonder if the Red Sox have tested his bone density — I’d say his baseball future is shaky at best.
Sale has had plenty of company on the IL. The Sox have lost pitchers Nathan Eovaldi (back), Tyler Danish (right forearm strain), Matt Strahm (bruised left wrist), Brayan Bello (left groin strain), Tanner Houck (lower back inflammation), Michael Wacha (right shoulder inflammation), Josh Taylor (lower back strain), and James Paxton (Tommy John surgery); outfielders Kike’ Hernandez (strained right hip flexor) and Rob Refsnyder (sprained right knee), and infielders Trevor Story (hairline right wrist fracture) and Rafael Devers (right hamstring inflammation) for varying amounts of time.
As if the injuries weren’t bad enough Bloom, the man in charge of baseball ops, waited until the Aug, 2 trading deadline to address Boston’s shortcomings in right field, first base and the bullpen. Trading popular catcher Christian Vazquez won him no friends in the clubhouse. The future home of Devers and shortstop Xander Bogaerts remain uncertain.
Compounding injuries and roster moves, the Red Sox have played sloppy baseball way too often. Remember that 28-5 beating from Toronto last month? Or the sixth inning Thursday night, when starter Josh Winckowski allowed a two-out two-run triple to Terrin Vavra on an 0-2 pitch and then allowed the tying run to score when he couldn’t get the ball out of his glove quickly enough to throw out Austin Hays on a slow roller down the first-base line?
The Yankees are in town for a weekend series. They are 30 games over .500 (71-41) and 10 games ahead of second-place Toronto. But they are only 2-8 in their last 10 so there is reason for optimism in Red Sox Nation, right?
Nah. These ’22 Sox look too much like the ’62 Sox, who finished 76-84, eighth in the 10-team American League and 19 games behind the pennant-winning Yankees. But at least they had Nun’s Day.