Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images

The Red Sox week in review dives into the injury bug, defensive struggles, and Kenley Jansen’s weird start to 2024.

Happy Marathon Monday, friends! Hopefully you’re off work and you’re able to properly enjoy one of the best days of the year in Boston. Feels like a perfect day to watch the Red Sox win an early baseball game.

Speaking of those Red Sox, they had a pretty topsy-turvy week. A pair of convincing wins on Saturday and Sunday were enough to salvage something after four straight losses in as many home games following their West Coast swing to start the year. So much for home cookin’, huh?

The injury bug’s ugly head continued to get all up in Boston’s business (more on that shortly) while mental lapses and miscues on the fundamentals plagued those first few games at Fenway Park (again, more on that in a bit). We’re already getting our fair share of infuriating developments just a few weeks after Opening Day. Despite of that, though, the team hasn’t dipped below the .500 mark and they enter the holiday with a 9-7 record. Gotta take any positives you can, I suppose.

And yet, we’re not talking about an 11-5 or a 12-4 team because of those self-inflicted wounds. Two of those three losses against Baltimore to open the home schedule this year could’ve gone down as wins if the simple stuff on the field was taken care of. Those mistakes can’t happen, especially against a division rival who has realistic pennant aspirations. It’s still early, of course, but those issues will have to be nipped in the bud if the Red Sox want any chance at playing baseball well into October. Well, they’ll need to do that and a few other things too—you catch my drift.

It’s Monday Morning Brushback time, y’all.

Everybody Hurts Sometimes

The worst case scenario regarding Trevor Story’s shoulder issue came to pass this week, as the shortstop will miss the rest of the 2024 season after undergoing surgery. I mentioned it in last week’s Brushback, but I just feel real sorry for the guy. It was a freak injury after he tried to make a play, hard to blame him for the outcome.

Meanwhile, starter Nick Pivetta is in the midst of stint on the injured list with elbow problems. He’s not expected to miss much more time beyond the 15-day window (retroactive to April 6)—and he could be right back in the mix at the end of that time frame—but any innings that he’s absent for are innings I’d like to have back, given how he’s started the year.

Third baseman Rafael Devers was given a few days off over the weekend as well to give his shoulder some rest. Following Sunday’s win to take the series against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the West Coast of the United States of North America of the Western Hemisphere of Earth of the Milky Way Galaxy, it was announced that reliever Chris Martin will be monitored on a day-to-day basis due to a sore left shoulder of his own.

So the face of the franchise, a defensive anchor in the infield, and two key parts of the pitching staff: all have missed time before Patriots Day due to ailments. It’s prompted the team to rely more on its organizational depth than what they probably bargained for this early into the new year.

The results on that front have been mixed. After being called upon to help with the hit to the rotation, Cooper Criswell had a fine enough of a start against the Halos on Saturday. He was only able to eat four innings, but a homer from Taylor Ward was Criswell’s only blemish—and besides, the offense was able to pick him up in the 7-2 victory. But the shortstop situation has been nasty over the past few days thanks to sloppy defense, the bullpen did a 180 over the past week following a hot start, and Bobby Dalbec has been a professional baseball player at third base recently (that’s about the only nice thing I can say on the matter).

Injuries are a pain (no pun intended) that every team has to deal with, of course. The Red Sox aren’t exempt from that reality. But to have to resort to these depth options after just a few weeks of play is certainly less than ideal. Hell, Romy Gonzalez—a guy who was seen as a potential short-term solution to the current infield riddle—was put on the IL this weekend due to trouble with his left wrist! So was reliever Isaiah Campbell with a shoulder problem! When does it end?!

For manager Alex Cora, it’s a tight rope to navigate in order maximize the returns from his clubhouse during the course of a long, 162-game road. For new President of Baseball Operations Craig Breslow, it’s a concrete reminder of the importance of building organizational depth that can keep the big club afloat when guys are banged up.

Don’t Get So Defensive

Heading into this season, I was convinced that we couldn’t possibly see defensive play as bad as what the 2023 Red Sox had to offer.

This week, the 2024 Red Sox said, “Hold our chicken and beer.”

The Orioles series was an impressively bad display of fundamentals. OTM’s own Maura McGurk went into more detail about the recent defensive woes for Boston, but just as a refresher, here’s just some of what I’m talking about:

-A series of costly mistakes in Tuesday’s home opener from Devers, Jarren Duran, and David Hamilton

-Catcher’s interference from Connor Wong and passed balls galore to cap off the O’s comeback win on Wednesday

-An error from third baseman Pablo Reyes and Hamilton missing the bag on a double play opportunity, setting Baltimore up to complete the series sweep on Thursday.

Then, of course, there’s whatever the flying fuck happened Friday night.

This is the worst defense I've ever seen over a 3 inning span in a big league game.

Red Sox now lead MLB in errors. Nothing short of embarrassing. pic.twitter.com/pncyrGMTL4
— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) April 12, 2024

Entering Sunday’s action, the Red Sox’s .971 fielding percentage was the worst in Major League Baseball. Their 16 errors were tied with Oakland—a team that, if you recall, made what felt like 16 errors just during their series with the Red Sox recently—for the most in da league as well. Traditional defensive stats don’t always tell the full story of that part of baseball; context is important. However, those numbers are further proof that the Red Sox have not been doing themselves any favors with the leather.

Even during Sunday’s close win against the Angels, we saw a head scratching defensive play. On Anthony Rendon’s sacrifice fly with the bases drunk, all runners were able to advance. That included Zach Neto from first, since no Red Sox players were covering second on the throw from the outfield. Letting the go-ahead run advance to scoring position on a dumb brain fart like that could’ve been a disaster, and I’m sure we would’ve been talking more about that miscue had Mike Trout gotten a hit off of Kenley Jansen with two down in the ninth. I guess we’ll never know.

Point is: this team isn’t good enough to let teams off the hook with sloppy defense. Hell, I don’t know if any team is good enough to do so. I don’t know if it’s a matter of not emphasizing fundamentals enough, or a lack of focus on the field, or a hex that’s been placed on the gloves of Red Sox players, or whatever. But the defense has to be straightened out, especially with Story being absent for the rest of the year.

These aren’t absurd plays we’re talking about here; it’s simple, textbook stuff that’s sabotaging the team. It’s Devers’ inability to stab a ball in LA a week ago and change, leading to a pair of runs to score in a 2-1 loss. It’s Hamilton missing second base on a double play opportunity. It’s stupid stuff like that.

That can be fixed! That can be cleaned up! We’ve seen Devers miss the easier plays while making the tough plays—his charge-and-throw to first in Oakland comes to mind. Hamilton made a few nice plays in the two wins on Saturday and Sunday.

“…..David Hamilton can field?” pic.twitter.com/7pK0DJQy3V
— Fitzy Mo Peña (@FitzyMoPena) April 14, 2024

A better future is possible, but it starts with improvements on defense. I don’t have enough energy to talk about outs on the bases, though; saving that for another Brushback.

Kenley Jans-enigma

Closer Kenley Jansen is having a strange start to 2024, isn’t he?

He’s thrown 5.2 innings across six appearances, with his first run surrendered coming on Sunday. He’s struck nine batters out, and his 1.59 WHIP has inflated thanks to the eight free passes he’s handed out. He’s shown baffling command on some pitches—including one where he almost took poor Logan O’Hoppe’s head off—and has absolutely dotted other pitches. His walk rate is in the 1st percentile while his strikeout rate is in elite company. His expected ERA stands at nearly 4.00 on the button, but his expected batting average surrendered is just .117. He’s getting a ton of guys to whiff, but he’s not getting enough guys to chase. He’s getting hit hard when batters do connect, but the one hit he’s coughed up was a dinky, soft bloop to the outfield. He’s almost exclusively throwing his trademark cutter—about 90% of the time for those counting at home—with the velocity on the primary offering bouncing around all over the place.

All of that is to say: he’s, somehow, converted all four of his save opportunities.

It’s just been a bizarre run for Jansen. Just watching him has been a roller coaster, while his Savant page features enough red and blue to make a true American let out a tear of pride.

He’s certainly made me nervous following a few hairy situations, but he’s been able to escape without any dire consequences so far. Credit where it’s due: he locked in to punch Mike Trout out for the final out on Sunday after allowing one run and running the risk of blowing the save. It’s clear that Cora trusts him in these high leverage spots, regardless of how we may feel.

"I bet there were half a million people there would've walked Mike Trout but, this guy he's fifth on the list of saves. He's one of the best players in the world but, we trust him."

Alex Cora on Kenley Jansen striking out Mike Trout to end the game | #RedSox pic.twitter.com/uZ8WnHcpJa
— NESN (@NESN) April 14, 2024

I don’t really have a ton to add to this, I just wanted to point out how weird Jansen has been thus far. My Pod On Lansdowne co-hosts Liam and Jake (please listen to our show, my family is dying) have pointed out the enigma that is Kenley in the big 2024.

Kenley Jansen dares to ask the question—What if we watched 2018 postseason Kimbrel for a full season? pic.twitter.com/VvMxLmcgn9
— Liam Fennessy (@LiamFennessy_) April 12, 2024

2024 Kenley Jansen dares to ask the question: What if a closer was really fucking bad but never blew a save?
— Jake (@JakeWallinger) April 6, 2024

At this rate, I’m just curious to see what happens next. Will the concerning trends come back to bite him and balloon that ERA? Will he settle in more with stable velocity on his go-to cutter and consistent command?

Well, to quote the man himself...

Song of the Week: “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” by Donny Osmond

I’ll be down at Walt Disney World later this week—have to pay tribute to our glorious capitalist mouse overlord—so you won’t be hearing from me on OTM for a few weeks (please, try to contain your joy). In the meantime, enjoy the best Disney song ever made. If you disagree, debate a wall.

Go Sox.