HOUSTON -- At the optometrist's office, it's not uncommon for the doctor to show you to alternating images and ask which seems clearer with your vision.
"Better......'' he'll ask, while showing you one image before presenting another for comparison, "or worse? ... Better......or worse?''
That's what Red Sox fans are wondering, now that the trade deadline has passed.
Are the Red Sox better than they were, say, Sunday, before the roster shuffling began? Are they worse? Or are they the same?
Granted, that might be only a partial assessment, since chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has said repeatedly that his goal is to both keep the current team in contention for a playoff spot this fall while simultaneously improving them for seasons still to come. For now, it's impossible to know what sort of return the Sox might get from the four prospects they acquired -- two in exchange for Christian Vazquez and two more obtained with Eric Hosmer.
For now, let's limit our focus to the 2022 Red Sox. Are the Sox better today than they were 48 hours ago?
Certainly, that's the case at first base. After using Bobby Dalbec and Franchy Cordero -- among others -- at first base for the first four months of the season, the Sox entered play Tuesday ranked 26th in OPS in the big leagues. And as bad as the offensive output has been there, the defense has been worse. Dalbec was -5 in defensive runs saved at the position while Cordero was -3.
It's no stretch to suggest that, either through defensive metrics or more conventionally, a pure eye test, the Sox had the worst defense at first base in the sport.
That changes with the arrival of Hosmer, who is expected to meet the Sox Thursday in Kansas City. A four-time Gold Glove recipient, Hosmer isn't as formidable with the glove as he once was, but without question, he represents a significant upgrade. Offensively, Hosmer is capable of solid at-bats, unafraid to take walks, and while he's never been a pure power hitter -- he's never hit more than 25 homers in a season -- he can drive the ball, and, at Fenway in particular, pepper The Wall with doubles.
Conversely, the Sox have regressed significantly behind the plate. Having moved Vazquez, the team now much finish the season with two catchers -- holdover Kevin Plawecki and newcomer Reese McGuire -- who've served as career backups.
Xander Bogaerts, who came up through the minor league system with Vazquez and was close to the catcher, didn't equivocate when asked if the team had improved this week.
"I wouldn't say we got better because we lost (Vazquez),'' he said flatly, though he stopped short of saying the Sox had waved any sort of competitive "white flag,''
Vazquez may have been streaky with the bat and maddening with his baserunning, but he was a quality receiver whose arm strength was enough to deter would-be basestealers. And his knowledge of and familiarity with the pitching staff shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. There's a reason very few No. 1 catchers get moved at the deadline: teams worry that it's too much to ask a catcher to learn a pitching staff on the fly, in the middle of a playoff race.
Plawecki, of course, won't have that problem. This is his third season in Boston and pitchers have praised him for his ability to work well with the staff. But as a hitter, Plawecki is having an atrocious season, slashing .175/.270/.247. In 97 at-bats, he has just four extra-base hits. Essentially, from an offensive standpoint, Plawecki is now providing pitcher-like production at the plate.
Meanwhile, when Plawecki gunned down Houston's Jeremy Pena attempting to steal second in the second inning Tuesday night, it represented just the second time in 23 attempts this season that he had thrown out a base stealer. Granted, stolen base attempts are down across the game, but it's quite likely Red Sox opponents will up their attempts the rest of the way.
McGuire represents a better defensive option, but his offense is minimal. And there will be a steep learning curve as he grows accustomed to a staff he doesn't yet know.
Beyond catcher and first base, the only other addition to the Red Sox roster is Tommy Pham, who seems ticketed for left field most days, with Alex Verdugo moving to right. Pham brings some energy to the batting lineup. It wouldn't be shocking to see him tried at the leadoff spot, given his ability to get on base.
If the improvement at first is offset by the regression of catcher, that leaves Pham as the lone upgrade the Sox have made since all the roster machinations began earlier in the week.
Most glaringly, Bloom failed to upgrade the bullpen, a season-long trouble spot. Of late, the return of Garrett Whitlock and the continuing emergence of John Schreiber coupled with the increasing comfort Tanner Houck feels in the closer's role has yielded better late inning results. But Schreiber remains the lone conventional high-leverage option in the seventh and eighth inning and he can't be used in every game in which the Sox lead.
Within the clubhouse, when Tuesday's deadline bell struck, there was a mixture of relief that more parts weren't auctioned off and under the surface, frustration that the team didn't make more obvious improvement.
"For how down we were (Monday after the Vazquez deal), there's a lot of people excited in the clubhouse,'' reported Alex Cora minutes after the deadline passed. "To turn the page to get this over with and go out there and perform, I think we're going to be OK.''
Only a day or so earlier, it seemed possible -- likely, even -- that the Sox could deal J.D. Martinez and Nathan Eovaldi, and perhaps Michael Wacha or Rich Hill, too. Instead, Bloom made the Hosmer deal on the final day, without having to sacrifice anything from the major league roster.
That could be interpreted in one of two ways -- either he didn't get his asking price, and believed that, with Martinez and Eovaldi anyway, that he'd be better off getting compensation picks through a qualifying offer or, Bloom isn't convinced that this team was worth further investment.
Publicly, Bloom has maintained otherwise, insisting that despite trailing by three games for the third wild card spot entering Tuesday's action, the Sox can still qualify for the postseason.
"Simply put,'' Bloom said, "we do think we have a chance to make a run. When we have a shot like this, even if it's not the shot we hoped to have in April, we should set a high bar before we throw away that shot.
"I think you could very well say, and I say this with no disrespect to Christian, that even though the group looks different, we have every bit as good a chance to make the postseason.''
A cynic might agree with that assessment, while adding that, even before this week, their chances weren't favorable to begin with.