Anthony has a team-high 16 walks, a testament both to his plate discipline and other teams not being too concerned about the hitters behind him. But he has hit only .225 with a .686 OPS.
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The Red Sox put Anthony in a tough spot when they let Alex Bregman walk as a free agent. He’s now the de facto face of the franchise at a time when he’s still trying to establish himself as an above-average everyday player.
But it’s not like MLB had better options to promote the series. Garrett Crochet isn’t pitching against the Yankees this week — and he has a 7.88 earned run average in five starts. Wilyer Abreu and Willson Contreras are playing well, but they aren’t players who move the needle nationally.
The closest thing the Sox have to a star player at the moment is well-rested closer Aroldis Chapman. He’s had one save chance in the last 15 days.
People with no-show state jobs work more often than Chapman.
The first two games of the series drew crowds of 34,391 and 34,049 to Fenway Park, both well short of a sellout. The raw weather was certainly a factor, but the rivalry has lost plenty of spark since the teams played in the American League Wild Card Series last fall.
Crochet won Game 1 in the Bronx before the Yankees won the next two to advance. But it still felt like a jumping-off point for the Sox, who improved from 81 wins to 89 in the regular season.
“We are a good team that needs to keep improving. Let’s see what the offseason brings,” manager Alex Cora said after the final game.
But the offseason brought only cautious, moderately priced improvement, not the big swing expected by Sox fans and rival organizations. That’s something ownership and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow will eventually have to acknowledge was a mistake.
The results have been predictable. The 9-15 Sox have the lowest OPS in the American League (.643) and the fewest home runs (13). Only three teams have fewer stolen bases.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone has said all the right things about the rivalry still having plenty of buzz and his respect for Cora and the Red Sox. But the Sox are not their competition for winning the division. The Blue Jays, Orioles, or Rays will be.
With Anthony out, Cora had free-swinging Ceddanne Rafaela bat leadoff for the first time since early in the 2024 season. He was 0 for 4 and struck out three times.
The designated hitter was Andruw Monasterio, a utility infielder with eight home runs in 561 career at-bats. He was 0 for 3 as lefty Max Fried carved the Sox up for eight innings.
It felt like desperation only 24 games into the season.
“Just trying everything to get going,” Cora said. “We haven’t hit. We haven’t hit. That’s the reality of it.”
Jarren Duran had three of his team’s five hits on Wednesday, two of them doubles. He also drove in the only run and acknowledged afterward that the Sox are pressing.
“We’re trying to do too much. We’re trying to dig ourselves out of a hole,” he said.
Duran went on to defend the team’s work ethic.
“You guys don’t get to see what we do behind these [clubhouse] walls every single day, but I know everybody’s working,” he said. “I know people are going to say, ‘Oh, we should work harder.’ Well, we are.”
A few feet away, Caleb Durbin was still sitting at his locker in full uniform 35 minutes after the game ended, his head in his hands. He is hitting .147 and it’s eating him up.
Durbin was a league-average hitter used in the bottom third of the order by the Brewers last season. The Sox traded for him just before the start of spring training to play third base in place of Bregman.
Breslow said at the time it was further evidence of the team’s plan to win with pitching and defense.
Two and a half months later, that strategy just isn’t working, and there’s no evidence it will.
Peter Abraham can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social.
