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Three quick Red Sox thoughts after a lost weekend in Cincinnati
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- Three quick Red Sox thoughts after a lost weekend in Cincinnati
CINCINNATI - Three games does not a season begin to make. Three games isn't even a significant sample size in a 162-game season.
With that in mind, here are three quick thoughts from an opening series in which the Red Sox lost two and won one.
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No overreactions. Promise.
1) Middle relief could be an issue with the team.
This isn't only a reaction to the last two games. It was a concern from spring training and revealed itself again on Saturday and Sunday.
It's not a good sign when Greg Weissert gives up two homers in his first two appearances . The one on Sunday resulted in all three runs the Cincinnati Reds managed in a 3-2 win over the Sox.
Maybe this had something to do with Weissert's workload in the WBC (with Italy) and missing most of camp. But despite being a workhorse for the Red Sox over the last two seasons, he's had a tendency to give up runs at the worst possible time.
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No one doubts the back end of the Boston bullpen. The combination of setup man Garrett Whitlock and closer Aroldis Chapman is the envy of most teams.
But teams need more than two dependable relievers. Justin Slaten could qualify as a third, but he'll have to first prove that he can hold up over the length of the season, something he's failed to do in his first two years with the club.
The rest of the bullpen is largely untested. Jovani Morán was impressive Sunday, giving the Sox two scoreless innings and navigating righties as well as lefties. But between journeyman Danny Coulombe , converted reliever Johan Oviedo and Rule 5 pick Ryan Watson, there's a lot of unknown.
And bullpen depth is going to be especially important in the early going, as starters continue to build up arm strength and typically don't go as deep into games as they might mid-season.
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2) The bench has come through early.
On Friday, Marcelo Mayer contributed a pinch-hit double and came around to score the first run of the game. Left in the game, he later added a single and scored another run.
Saturday, Masataka Yoshida chipped in with a pinch-hit walk. On Sunday, in his first start of the season in left field, he walked two more times in three plate appearances.
Behind the plate, Connor Wong , who endured a rough spring, got his first start and came through with a single and later, a sharp double. Those two hits were half as many as he collected throughout the whole Grapefruit League season.
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Finally, Andruw Monasterio , in his Red Sox debut Sunday, supplied a pinch-hit double off the bench when hitting for Mayer.
Again: it's the smallest of sample sizes. But it's a good sign that a number of the extras helped out in the first series. It's clear that manager Alex Cora will not be afraid to seek platoon advantages. It's also obvious that he's not quite ready to trust Mayer against lefties. That translates into a lot of at-bats for reserve players.
The more they can contribute, the better the Red Sox will be. They can ill-afford another year in which Wong is virtually an automatic out, as he was last season (.190/.262/.238, no homers in 168 at-bats).
As for Yoshida, three walks over two days isn't going to blow up his trade value anytime soon. But at the very least, the Sox need to feel comfortable getting him into the lineup once or twice a week, knowing that he can offer something.
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3) Situational hitting could still be an issue.
In their Opening Day win, the Sox made better contact (just seven strikeouts) and were 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Of course, it helped that the Reds didn't score at all.
But in the two losses over the weekend, the Sox showed signs of some of the problems they encountered last season. Combined, they struck out 22 times while going a hapless 2-for-21 with RISP.
Cora continues to mention that the club led baseball in number of at-bats with runners in scoring position, but too often, couldn't produce the hits when necessary. So far, that hasn't changed much.
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Again, it's early and it's dangerous to read too much into so little. But the lineup isn't hugely different from 2025 and it's likely going to take some time for a new approach to be fully integrated.
It hasn't helped that, of the two newcomers — Caleb Durbin and Willson Contreras — they've so far gotten a total of one (1) hit, a single by Contreras in Sunday's fourth inning, scoring ahead of Wilyer Abreu 's two-run homer. Contreras has at least gotten on base (four walks in three games) while Durbin is hitless in 12 at-bats. They're both better than they've shown.
But until the Red Sox start to string together stretches with multiple hits, their lack of home run power and struggle to score multiple runs with one swing of the bat is going to continue to stick out.
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