McAdam: Fault for Red Sox' mediocre stretch lies in the stars

For much of the weekend, the Red Sox and Yankee stood in stark contrast to one another.

While the Yankees came in a roll, the Red Sox came staggering in, having lost three of their four previous series.

As the rain-shortened three-game series progressed, the difference between the clubs seem to get magnified. In the first two games, the Yankees parlayed clean defensive play, timely hitting and stout bullpen work into two rather easy wins.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, offered sub-standard starting pitching and a seeming inability to produce a big hit when it could have benefitted them most.

On Sunday in the series finale, the Red Sox snapped to life and worked an 8-5 win to avoid being swept while salvaging something as they prepared for Monday's off-day.

But the win -- and the strong effort turned in by David Price -- couldn't obscure an even larger distinction between the teams. While the Yankees have survived -- thrived, even -- in the wake of an unremitting list of injuries to key players, the Red Sox have collectively and individually underachieved.



While the Yankees utilize a collection of shrewd off-season additions and get surprise contributions from previously unheralded players, the Sox have seen their first 59 games marked by disappointment.

Much was made of the Red Sox' decision to return almost the entire 2018 postseason roster -- save for Ian Kinsler, Joe Kelly and Craig Kimbrel. But if the unstated logic behind that move included expecting all or most of their returning players to match or exceed last year's performance, that hope has been severely misplaced.

Indeed, of the returning regulars, only Rafael Devers, Christian Vazquez and Xander Bogaerts have surpassed their level of play from a year ago. Mitch Moreland has offered an uptick in power, though he's getting 0n-base at a diminished rate.

The rest? Outfielders Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi have regressed, as has DH J.D. Martinez. Jackie Bradley Jr, as was the case a year ago this time, is only now showing signs of an offensive awakening.

The rest? Role players Steve Pearce and Eduardo Nunez have provided next to nothing, and Sandy Leon, with the exception of a few at-bats, has been as inept as a year ago at the plate.

(Michael Chavis qualifies as a truly welcome surprise, but as a rookie, can't be compared to his performance from a year ago).

But ironically, it's been the starting rotation, the supposed strength of the Sox, which has let the team down the most.

Cast aside the won-loss records of the starters and find that only one (Price) has an ERA below 3.00. The other four regulars range from Chris Sale's 4.35 to Rick Porcello's 4.76 to Eduardo Rodriguez's 5.04 to Nathan Eovaldi's 6.00. Eovaldi has missed the last five weeks and Price had an earlier IL stint.

And even though the bullpen has not been the disaster some feared -- the ERA is 4.46 compared to the A.L. average of 4.45 - it remains a work in progress. What's more, Ryan Brasier, a stalwart in the second half a year ago and a revelation in the postseason, has taken a significant step backward. Add in the failure to find another proven high-leverage reliever to take Kimbrel's innings if not job title and the Red Sox bullpen remains very much under construction with obvious upgrades necessary.

The wonder, then, is why some have chosen to affix much of the blame for the mediocre start to manager Alex Cora.

Cora (and pitching coach Dana LeVangie) may have erred in their plan to ease the starters into the season, therefore contributing to the 2-8 start out of the game.

But the rotation has been much improved since mid-April, and yet the Sox sit a game over .500 with just over one-third of the schedule complete.

Surely, Cora has not been perfect, but the underperformance of so many regulars is surely a much bigger factor.

The Red Sox gambled that they could, in returning better than 80 percent of the roster, come close to duplicating their record-setting 2018 season.

So far, that's been a gross miscalculation. But if the decision-makers like Dave Dombrowski are going to be faulted for such thinking, then surely many of the team's established players deserve their share of criticism.

Not only have most failed to replicate their level of play from last year, but most have not come close.