How the Boston Red Sox can turn around the 2022 season

The Boston Red Sox have had a historically awful start to the 2022 season. Many considered them to be a playoff team coming into this season. Let’s break down this awful start, and see how they can potentially improve their playoff hopes.

Coming into opening day, it was clear the Red Sox had major depth issues in all facets of their roster. Garrett Whitlock seemed to be the only reliable and trustworthy arm in the bullpen. The starting lineup had Jackie Bradley Jr. and Bobby Dalbec as everyday players. After the losses of Chris Sale to injury, and Eduardo Rodriguez, Martin Perez, and Garrett Richards to free agency, the depth of the Red Sox rotation depth was cut to the brim.

Boston Red Sox problems of own doing

Many thought the Red Sox acquiring Trevor Story would put them back in the World Series conversation, but that clearly isn’t the case. It must be emphasized the reason Story was acquired was for a presentable roster, not for contention. If not for the acquisition of Story, the Sox would have opened the year with Christian Arroyo at second Base. Can you imagine the outrage of Red Sox nation? Signing Story was something that had to be done, and it would also shed Chaim Bloom’s reputation of being a GM who doesn’t spend money.

The lack of depth has hurt this team in numerous ways. Because of a lack of starting pitching depth, the bullpen lost Garrett Whitlock to the starting rotation. This left Hansel Robles, Matt Barnes, and Jake Diekman as the premier closing options, leading to nine blown saves. This is by far the most of any MLB ballclub.

Whitlock has remained in the starting rotation despite this mind-blowing stat. Lineup-wise, the team can’t afford to give Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, or JD Martinez a day off. Currently, all three of these studs are hitting above .290, but this won’t be sustainable if they don’t receive rest. The biggest issue is having Jackie Bradley Jr. as an everyday player. JBJ is hitting .111 against lefties this year, and 0.213 against righties. After hitting .163 in over 300 ABs last year, what makes the Red Sox think he would be an everyday player?

Unfortunately, there’s even more bad news. This awful start may get even worse. The Red Sox next 15 games are against the Braves, Rangers, Astros, Mariners, and White Sox. Aside from the Rangers, those are all playoff contending teams.

However, there is some good news. Chris Sale and James Paxton will be coming back sometime late this year (maybe). Surely this will provide a strong boost to the rotation and help Garrett Whitlock transition back to the closing, which the Sox so desperately need right now. I’m confident pitching prospect Connor Seabold will come up from Triple-A for a few starts as well. Triston Casas, the 16th overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline, is awaiting his call-up and should provide an immediate spark to the offense.

The bottom line is the Sox will be without this help for a while, which is why they need to do everything in their power to bring in guys that can help positively impact this team. Remember the 2019 World Series Champion Nationals? Well, they had a similar start to the Sox, going 19-33 in the first part of the season and having similar bullpen issues. Nationals GM Mike Rizzo tried everything possible to help fix team problems. He brought in veteran reliever Fernando Rodney to help close some games, OF Gerardo Parra to pinch hit against righties, and many others.

Though neither of these guys make a huge impact in the playoff run, they helped turn around team morale helped chip in for a few wins during the regular season, and also provided rest to the franchise players. When teams often start poorly, fans are outraged and demand immediate trades. Instead, Rizzo turned to the waiver wire and it clearly paid off.

Red Sox GM Chaim Bloom must replicate these actions, and we’ve seen him do it in the past. OF Danny Santana and UTIL Christian Arroyo, both of whom were waiver wire players, made valuable contributions to the team last year.  Especially Arroyo, who provided clutch hits in the postseason. The offensive needs a spark. Unless they want to trade away prospects, the Boston Red Sox must get creative and improve their depth through the waiver wire and Triple-A.

Chaim Bloom has proved he’s capable of doing this before.  He must act quickly before it’s too late. Another losing season with JD, Devers, and Bogaerts in the lineup would be demoralizing for this franchise and fanbase.