One of these things is not like the other ones (hint: he's not in the starting lineup anymore. And he's fat). Photo: Adam Hunger/USA Today Sports
The Starters
Catcher
Blake Swihart
2015: 84 games, .274/.319/.392, 5 HRs, 4 SBs (2 CS)
Became the only Sox catcher of consequence last year after Ryan Hanigan broke his hand in early May and Christian Vazquez went under the knife for Tommy John surgery. Sandy León was the backup, but was essentially an automatic out with an on-base percentage of .238 and a slugging percentage that was somehow lower.
While Swihart’s production was certainly a lot better than León’s and it’s enough to hold the starting catcher position for now with Hanigan as his only competition, it could be a different story when Vazquez returns from his current rehab stint in a few weeks. Swihart’s offensive skills are tantalizing for a catcher, but he’ll have to rake a lot harder and with more consistency if he wants to continue getting everyday reps.
1st Base
Hanley Ramírez
2015: 105 games (92 at LF, 11 at DH, 1 at 3B), .249/.291/.426, 19 HRs, 6 SBs (3 CS)
You all know the story, but in case you’ve forgotten, Hanley’s 2015 went something like this: oh man, hot start, Hanley’s so good. Oh wait, he kind of stinks at playing left field, but ha ha who cares, he’s hitting so well. Oh, just kidding, now he ran into a wall and he stinks at everything.
The question with Hanley for 2016 is whether he can produce enough at the plate to make it worth playing him at 1st base, a position with more than its fair share of great hitters. So far, the answer is yes, but I probably thought Hanley was a lock for the All-Star team at this point last year.
2nd Base
Dustin Pedroia
2015: 93 games (92 at 2B, 1 at DH), .291/.356/.441, 12 HRs, 2 SBs (2 CS)
Last year was another disappointment for Pedroia when it came to staying healthy. When he played, he was mostly great, but his hamstring kept him out of the lineup even after he tried to return from an early summer stint on the DL. We may never get the 2007-2011 version of Pedey again, but the Sox can’t go wrong with 150+ games of Gold Glove defense and high offensive production from a second baseman. There’s no one I’d rather have at second base (provided, of course, that he’s playing).
3rd Base
Travis Shaw
2015: 65 games (55 at 1B, 8 at 3B, 1 at LF), .270/.327/.487, 13 HRs, 0 SBs (1 CS)
Shaw started getting regular playing time in August, mashed, and was eventually declared Mayor of Ding Dong City. As for being an everyday 3rd baseman, well, we’ll see, but he can’t be worse than Pablo Sandoval. And when I say he can’t be worse, I’m really not stretching the truth that far. Not only was he terrible, but he was terrible for a long time. We just kept trotting him out there, and he kept being terrible and fat. It was awful.
But this is about Travis Shaw, who seems like a pretty cool guy, and hopefully he keeps hitting, because otherwise we’ll be in for another 5 months of 3rd base being played by a man whose idea of losing weight is gaining 20 pounds and who has the plate discipline of a drunk Vladimir Guerrero.
Shortstop
Xander Bogaerts
2015: 156 games, .320/.355/.421, 7 HRs, 10 SBs (2 CS), Silver Slugger
Xandah Bogahts!
When I say Xander Bogaerts is there something funny about that? from Kathryn on Vimeo.
Finally, a member of the Red Sox infield who played something resembling an entire 2015 season. Separating himself from the rest of his woebegotten squad with a breakout season, Bogaerts came into his own and established himself as one of the premier shortstops in baseball. While people started paying him notice for his offensive production, his defense also took a big step up: he went from committing the 2nd most errors among AL shortstops in 2014 to possessing the 2nd best AL shortstop fielding percentage in 2015.
And that’s a good thing, because there’s reason to curb our enthusiasm for Bogaerts’ offense. A statistician might tell you he got lucky last year – his batting average on balls in play (BABIP) was about 30 points higher than his career average. But principles of regression aside, Xander’s approach has its own inherent issues. He drew only 32 walks in 654 plate appearances last year, and he struck out over 100 times. He hasn’t really shown the ability to hit for consistent power either, even though 35 doubles is a pretty decent number. I’m saying our shortstop is bound to fall back to Earth a bit this year, but hopefully not before we get a few more clutch hits out of his system.
Oh, and he only just turned 23.
The Bench
Catcher
Ryan Hanigan
2015: 54 games, .247/.347/.328, 2 HRs, 0 SBs (0 CS)
When he isn’t driving Righty crazy by leaving his throwing hand in harm’s way, Andover’s own Ryan Hanigan is about as safe a 2-way catcher as you’ll see in MLB. He’s reliable behind the dish, always seems to be putting a lot of thought into his pitch selection, and his caught stealing percentage of 33% was marginally better than Swihart’s 28%.
On the offensive side, he’s no great shakes, but he’s a sight better than Sandy León. What he does do with admirable regularity is draw walks – throughout his career, walks have made up an eerily consistent 10% of his plate appearances. He’ll be around, and hopefully he’ll be able to keep coaching Joe Kelly through some starts.
Utility
Josh Rutledge
2015: 39 games (30 at 2B, 5 at 3B, 4 at DH), .284/.333/.338, 1 HR, 0 SBs (0 CS)
The product of the Shane Victorino trade, Rutledge had a cup of coffee with Boston after the All-Star Break in 2015. He was fine, and he didn’t embarrass himself. And now he’s up in the bigs again due to a certain recent disabled list assignation.
Josh seems nice enough, and he’s streaky and still young, but the truth is that you don’t want to see him in too many games. If he does start showing up in the starting lineup, it probably means that the roster has suddenly become riddled with injuries. It could also mean that someone went down in the infield and John Farrell decided that he’d rather put Rutledge in directly and keep Brock Holt in left field than slide Holt to the infield and replace him with Rusney Castillo. Anyway, yeah. It’s just something to think about.
P.S. Literally as I was writing this, I saw that Rusney Castillo had been optioned to Pawtucket. And there you have it.
Disabled List
Catcher
Christian Vázquez
2015: Out (Tommy John surgery)
It’s been so long since I’ve seen him play that I can’t say with absolute certainty whether or not he’s still a defensive force. But if I were a betting man, I’d say he still is. HARD-HITTING JOURNALISM, FOLKS.
And now that Castillo has been sent down to Pawtucket, maybe now’s the time for Vázquez to be called up? If not the catcher, then who? Henry Owens? Roenis Elias? It’s a mystery.
3rd Base
Pablo Sandoval
2015: 126 games, .245/.292/.366, 10 HRs, 0 SBs (0 CS)
This fat fuck. He STINKS. Okay, maybe he was a little unlucky last year, as his BABIP was all the way down to .270 from a career .307 average. But that can only explain so much of his futility. The guy was literally the worst deal in baseball last year. In every game that he played, he was such a negative influence that his Wins Above Replacement rating just kept sinking lower and lower until he had the lowest WAR in baseball. It was really quite an incredible achievement.
In any case, he showed up fat, and he still seemed to suck at baseball, so he lost his starting 3rd base job to Travis Shaw. And now he’s on the DL with a “strained right shoulder,” i.e., being a fat load. Anyway, there’s been so much written about this guy that I can’t bring myself to waste more energy on him. Until he actually shows some consistent and positive performance, the guy might as well be dead to me.
