There's no such thing as a meaningless game at the major league level. Even for teams hopelessly out of contention -- a designation that the Red Sox are in the process of affixing to themselves -- there are chances to evaluate, to find out what you have, and as important, what you need.
It's a chance to self-scout, to determine the strengths and weaknesses of your current players.
And as their wild card chances shrink with each passing day, the Red Sox can learn some things about what they have on hand. As such, it should be obvious to them by now that Jarren Duran is not the answer in center field.
The operative phrase there, however, is should be. Because despite all the evidence in front of their own eyes, they refuse to publicly acknowledge the obvious.
Duran was already ranked as one of the worst center fielders in the game as measured by Defensive Runs Saved by Sports Info Solutions, with -6 before Sunday in only 301.2 innings. And that was before the display he put on Sunday in Kauffman Stadium.
In the span of three innings, Duran misplayed a total of four balls:
- He failed to run down a ball in the right-center gap, enabling Nate Eaton to reach on a double with one out in the fifth.
- He lost a routine ball in the sun to open the seventh, resulting in a gift triple to Eaton to open the seventh. Easton would come around to score.
- On the very next hitter, he leaped -- then dropped -- a ball off the bat of Kyle Isbel that he tracked down in front of the fence in right, resulting in another triple, this one scoring Eaton.
- Finally, on a ball that was hit about 20 feet to his left, Duran had to somehow make a leaping grab of a sinking liner from MJ Melendez that should have been routine. It resulted in a sacrifice fly and another run scoring.
As if that weren't enough, Duran twice was seen getting into it with a group of fans in center field. (Duran later told reporters that they had thrown bottle caps at him). He was upset enough that, during a pitching change, teammate Alex Verdugo came over to settle him down. Later, after the inning, he was shown being consoled by manager Alex Cora in the Red Sox dugout, with Cora putting his arm around the outfielder.
Later, Cora, in post-game remarks with the media, absolved Duran of any blame on the ball lost in the sun, saying more than once. "There's nothing you can do there.''
It was the same comment Cora made when Duran lost a ball in the twilight at Fenway last month.
True, these things happen, and otherwise accomplished major league outfielder occasionally lose balls in the lights or the dusk. But curiously, these things only seem to happen to Red Sox outfielders. Both teams were playing under the same conditions yesterday, and yet, of the six outfielders in the game, Duran was the only one to lose a ball in the sun.
It was the same during the infamous "twilight'' flub.
There is, indeed, something you can do there. You can learn how to take a different approach. You can learn how to put your bare hand up earlier to shade the sun. Baseball has been played in the sunlight for more than a century, and outfielders have somehow managed to largely conquer the problem.
Instead, the Red Sox continue to protect Duran. They habitually remind anyone who will listen that Duran is "young,'' when, in fact, he's not. Not in baseball terms, anyway. Duran will turn 26 in early September. Here's a list of players on the Red Sox roster who are younger than Duran: Rafael Devers, Josh Winckowski, and Darwinzon Hernandez.
Is Verdugo young? Because he's all of four months older than Duran
It's true that Duran was drafted as infielder, and not an outfielder. But he's been playing the outfield for four years now.
It's time for the Sox stop coddling Duran and excusing his poor play. That's different from being publicly critical of him, a tact that no one in the game takes anymore, for fear that a player's confidence will be shattered by the mildest rebuke. But it's both dishonest and unproductive to say Duran is playing his position poorly because he's young.
While we're at it, perhaps the Red Sox can't stop insisting that, according to their own internal defensive metrics, Duran is getting much better jumps of late. No one who watched him Sunday -- or in recent days -- would come away believing that.
Suggesting that Duran is only struggling because of his age, or noting that he's making big strides is not helping the player. For that matter, such coddling isn't helping Duran.
If his mistakes in the outfield weren't frustrating enough, there's always his attitude.
Duran failed to run after the ball he lost in the twilight last month, and later absurdly maintained that he did so to avoid a collision with Verdugo, who sprinted from left field to do what Duran refused to do. He then capped off the night by publicly contradicting his manager, who noted that a few teammates had spoken to him about his poor response on the field; Duran insisted no one had talked to him.
On Monday night, Duran decided to appoint himself team spokesman. In an interview with ESPN, Duran said: "If you doubt us, that's all we need to know, is that you guys were doubting us, everybody's doubting us and then when it happens, don't be cheering for us when you've been doubting us the whole time.''
This, from a player with all of 70 games of big league experience. If Xander Bogaerts, a 10-year veteran and owners of two World Series rings, wants to say that, fine. Or J.D. Martinez. But it's not the place of a rookie to beat his chest and tell the world, "Nobody thought we could do it!'' while his team languishes in the basement of the division.
Perhaps because he lacks an obvious alternative, Cora has vowed to stick with Duran.
"He's our center fielder right now,'' said Cora to reporters. "We trust him. This is a kid that's part of what we're trying to accomplish and we're going to keep rolling with him.''
Jackie Bradley Jr. has been released. Kiké Hernández is still on the IL. So, out of desperation, Duran will keep getting reps in center.
But it's doubtful anything will change. In what is increasingly looking like a lost season for the Red Sox, they seem to be kdding themselves when it comes to Jarren Duran being their center fielder of the future.