It goes without saying that very little has gone as planned for the Red Sox this season.
The starting pitching, while vastly improved of late, was atrocious for the first two weeks, putting the Red Sox in a hole out of which the team is still attempting to climb.
The offense, which has also hinted at a resurgence of late, still hasn't fully coalesced. Entering play Friday, the team ranked a paltry 23rd in slugging. Only six teams had hit fewer home runs.
Meanwhile, add another disappointing aspect of the first 32 games: an underperforming defense.
Like the team's highly-paid starting rotation and proven lineup, defense was perceived as a team strength. Both Alex Cora and Dave Dombrowski have routinely labeled the outfield, in particular, as one of the best in either league.
But as the schedule approaches the one-quarter mark, that hasn't borne out either.
When it comes to defensive efficiency -- that is, the percentage of balls put in play converted into outs -- the Red Sox rank in the bottom third of the 30 teams, 23rd overall at .675, well below the MLB average of .694 and miles behind the likes of Houston (1st at .737), Tampa Bay (3rd at .718) and the injury-ravaged Yankees (9th at .702).
They're also one of a dozen teams "underwater'' in the category of Defensive Runs saved above average with minus-8.
It should be emphasized that defensive metrics are famously open to interpretation, with teams own data often at odds with the publicly available numbers provided by sites such as baseball-reference.com and Fangraphs. It's widely accepted, for instance, that Jackie Bradley Jr.'s defensive metrics do not always adequately reflect his frequently brilliant play in center field.
But other numbers are less subjective and, thus, less open to interpretation. Chief among these is the matter of unearned runs.
Through the first 32 games, the Red Sox have committed 23 errors, leading to 16 unearned runs. Only the Baltimore Orioles (17) have allowed more among American League teams.
Last year, for comparison's sake, the Sox didn't allow their 16th unearned run until their 109th game (hat tip to @bostonsportsinf). For the entire 2018 season, the Sox allowed 39 unearned runs, or approximately one every four games; this season, it's been one every two games.
A year ago, the Sox were the very embodiment of a team that didn't beat themselves. That's not the case this year. Think their 7-9 record in games determined by a run or two runs wouldn't be substantially better had the team played tighter defensively in the first six weeks of the season?
It would be easy to blame much of the issue on third baseman Rafael Devers, who's been highly erratic and has committed nine errors. But the fact remains that even without Devers' miscues, the Red Sox would still only be in the middle of the pack among teams when it comes to error totals.
Further, error totals can be misleading. It's often about when errors are made, as was made painfully clear Thursday night in Chicago when Devers' muff of a routine topper set the stage for the White Sox' ninth-inning comeback. Had that error come in, say, the fourth inning instead of the ninth, it likely could have been overcome.
It would hardly be a surprise if, in time, the Red Sox' defense tightens up.
"I still think they'll be OK (defensively),'' noted one major league evaluator this week. "They've got plus defenders in a few spots, and even the guys that don't have great range, like (Xander) Bogaerts, are pretty dependable.''
Devers, the biggest liability to date, has certainly demonstrated that he has the potential and ability to be far better with the glove and to his credit, his throws have already been far more accurate this season than last.
For now, however, mistakes in the field have proven costly, one more thing to go wrong in a season in which not nearly enough has gone right.
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