Red Sox need to fortify pitching and hitting for the stretch run

Tuesday marked the midpoint in the Red Sox regular season.

Will there be an October chapter written in 2022? As of now, the answer is yes. The club occupies an American League wild-card spot thanks to a nice recovery from a miserable start.

Boston dipped to 45-36 overall after a loss to the Rays. Most of that good work was done in June, as the Red Sox capitalized against some weak competition to close 20-6. Such a run was necessary after a 10-19 start that left Boston in last place in the A.L. East.

The division race could already be lost — the Yankees have been incandescent to date and look bound for something special. What happens in a short series is anybody’s guess, with five or seven games proving a bit more unpredictable than what could play out over 162. The Red Sox have to be considered contenders at this point thanks to their talent level and ability to add salary via trade.

How aggressive will Boston be prior to the Aug. 2 deadline? Will the Red Sox land someone similarly impactful to Kyle Schwarber? Will chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom act boldly to address the obvious holes on his roster? Let’s take a look at how and where Boston could strengthen into the late summer.

Power numbers glaringly weak

The Red Sox have a general power shortage in their batting order.

They closed the first half tied for 20th in home runs with the Rockies — there are only 30 teams in the big leagues. Boston signed J.D. Martinez partly to address its last poor finish in that area, as the Red Sox closed 27th overall in 2017.

Lack of performance at two traditionally offensive positions has done Boston no favors. Per FanGraphs, the Red Sox ranked 26th at first base and 18th in the outfield as a whole in wins above replacement. Christian Arroyo, Alex Verdugo, Bobby Dalbec, Kiké Hernandez and Jackie Bradley Jr. are worth a combined –29.9 offensive runs above average — each player individually is in the negatives.

Boston is obviously trying to keep a seat warm at first base for top prospect Triston Casas, but will it do so at the expense of a postseason chance in 2022? Bradley, Arroyo and Dalbec are also negative players in defensive runs above average — should they even be considered platoon players at first base or in right field? Those two positions in particular could use a boost from the outside.

A healthyWhitlock spells relief

The back end of the Red Sox bullpen has been unreliable at best.

Boston has blown exactly half of its 36 save chances — only Tampa Bay (19 of its 41) was worse through Tuesday. Matt Barnes was ineffective before hitting the injured list, Hansel Robles has been designated for assignment and Garrett Whitlock was forced into the starting rotation after Tanner Houck refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 — he's missed both series at Toronto to date.

Do the Red Sox have an internal solution? John Schreiber has been a nice surprise and Houck has performed reasonably well as the closer when available. Matt Strahm (three blown saves, 6.97 earned-run average, .945 OPS against) has faded as a high-leverage option over his last 12 outings.

Whitlock (hip) is likely to come off the injured list as a reliever and his bullpen performance in last year’s playoffs was generally excellent. He could be the extra arm Boston needs to mix and match its way through opposing lineups, but the Red Sox could still look elsewhere to improve.

Injuries plague the starting staff

Brayan Bello was scheduled to make his debut Wednesday night, a long-awaited hot pitching prospect coming through the Boston system and reaching the big leagues.

It’s been all too rare for the Red Sox in recent history, and they’ve leaned heavily on the system due to a rash of injuries in 2022. Chris Sale (rib), James Paxton (elbow) and Nathan Eovaldi (back) are all on the injured list while Michael Wacha (arm) was skipped in his latest turn through the rotation.

Can Boston rely on premium performance from any one or more of those pitchers down the stretch? Nick Pivetta and Wacha are the only two currently worth at least 1.0 WAR — the Yankees have seven. Improved health or a dive into the starting pitching market ahead of the deadline would provide a needed boost over the final 81 games.

bkoch@providencejournal.com    

On Twitter: @BillKoch25 

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Red Sox need to fortify pitching and hitting for the stretch run