Is it time to panic with the Red Sox?

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This is the first time all season the Red Sox lost three consecutive series. It does not help when they have to play against the Yankees in the Bronx for a weekend series. Even though it is only early June, standings are starting to matter, and the Red Sox find themselves five games out of the third wild card. It is worth asking the question of whether or not they are done. 

For starters, the Sox have played some teams that are not known to be that good and struggled against them. They got swept by the Cardinals. They lost ⅔ to the Reds. They are coming off an ugly series against a bad Guardians team. The Red Sox kryptonite seems to be playing below average teams. 

Their starting pitching situation took a massive blow when Chris Sale hit the 15-day IL with “left shoulder inflammation.” Sale was arguably the Red Sox best starter up to that point. Now they have a hole in the starting rotation, which seems it will get worse before it gets better. If the Sox are going to return to their winning ways, someone else needs to step up and become an ace of the rotation. Honestly, that feels like a long shot. Brayan Bello and Tanner Houck are still developing. How long can James Paxton and Garrett Whitlock stay healthy? 

The offense is having its struggles. Alex Verdugo is slashing .233/.319/.333 in his last 15 games. Rafael Devers is slashing .193/.288/.246 in his last 15 games. Not good when the Red Sox came into this season depending on these players to step up and have a career year. For the rest of the Red Sox offense, in the month of June, they have slashed .225/.327/.351. For those doing the math at home, that is good for an OPS of .678. The offense needs to improve in June for the Sox to get back in the wild card race.

To say the defense has been a massive hole for this team would be an understatement. Kiké Hernandez leads the league in errors with 13. The Red Sox are the second worst team in errors per game at 0.68. Not to mention the terrible play in the series finale against the Rays. To say the least, it needs improvement.

Let’s look at some of the positives. The front end of the bullpen is very solid, with Kenley Jansen returning to form and Chris Martin continuing to be a great strike thrower. Josh Winckowski is also a great arm to rely on, as his success has continued. In the rotation, Brayan Bello has an ERA of 2.68 in his past seven starts with 38 strikeouts. On the offense, Masataka Yoshida is very hot, slashing .333/.394/.483 in his last 15 games. All these players have made a positive impact on the team this season.

Back to answering the original question, this seems like one of the lowest points of the season. It is around this time where a team’s identity is created, and decisions on whether to be buyers or sellers at the deadline start to be made and considered. While the season is not lost, the Red Sox seem to need a lot more reinforcements to be in contention. However, it would make more logical sense if the Sox traded some of the short-term players for pitching prospects since the minor leagues lack good depth. But, it will be interesting to see how the next few weeks pan out, but the Sox need to turn it around now if they want to get back in it.

Follow Jason on Twitter @jason_stellakis

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