Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora talks to reporters prior to a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Friday, July 19, 2019, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

I recently called the Boston Red Sox an embarrassment to their fans in this column. They may also be one of the most underachieving teams in the history of baseball.

The 2019 version of the Sox, virtually the same team that won 108 games and the World Series in 2018, is on their way to a third-place finish and an 87-win season, if they continue at the rate they have through Wednesday of this week.

Carl Johnson

If this happens, they will be the first team of this century to win more than 100 games and the World Series in one year and fail to win their division the following year. The 2017 World Series winners, the Astros, the 2016 Cubs and the 2009 Yankees, all won their own divisions the year after winning 100 plus and the World Series.

In the last 50 years, since 1969, the only team that won a World Series with more than 100 wins in the regular season, and had less than the 87 the Red Sox are on pace to win, was the 1984 Tigers, who fell to second place in their division with 84 wins.

On July 13, with the team in third place, trailing the AL East leading Yankees by nine games, the second place Rays by 3.5 games out of the wild card race, Dave Dombrowski came up with another of what I like to call “The Solution Du Jour” because every day there seems to be a different imagined solution to the Red Sox problems.

He traded two minor league prospects to the Baltimore Orioles for Andrew Cashner. Cashner, a 32-year-old, right-handed starter, had won nine and lost three with the hapless Orioles this year with a 3.82 ERA. He had won 55 and lost 83 in his career with five different teams. From 2015-18, with four different teams, he had won just 26 and lost 53 with an ERA of 4.51.

In his first outing as a member of the Sox, he gave up five earned runs on eight hits in just five innings to get the loss against the fourth place Blue Jays. He may turn out to be a winner in the long term and Sox fans hope he does but don’t bet the ranch on it yet.

For a long time, the imagined Solution Du Jour was to bring back Craig Kimbrel until the Cubs signed him. After Cashner’s first appearance with the Sox, an embarrassing 10-4 loss to the lowly Blue Jays on Tuesday, it appeared that the only similarity in the two solutions was the red beard both he and Kimbrel proudly wear.

Then there was the imagined solution of acquiring a starter from those available. That never materialized mainly because the Sox can’t really afford the additional cost and the penalty in the luxury tax. A lot of that problem is also created by the pitching staff.

Between Porcello, Price and Sale, the Sox are shelling out $67 million this year and Sale, and his 3-9 record, gets a raise from $15 million to $30 million next year which increases the problem. If Porcello, whose contract will be up, is resigned at the same rate, the three pitchers will cost the Sox a minimum of $82 million and Eduardo Rodriguez, making a paltry $4.3 million this year, is eligible for arbitration next year, which will add to the cost.

Meanwhile, the revolving door that has been the Red Sox bullpen keeps rotating, with the latest moves being sending Ryan Brazier to Pawtucket and bringing up young Darwinzon Hernandez who looked good on Tuesday in relief but had been 2-6 with a 5.02 ERA with Pawtucket and Portland before being brought up for the third time this year.

Sometimes the proximity of the Sox minor league teams to Boston, which makes moving players up and down so easy, can be a mixed blessing. Imagine the effect on a 22-year-old, like Hernandez, of being shuffled between the three teams six to eight times in a season.
What’s the solution, if there is one, to this team’s problems?

Obviously, the main problem is pitching. The “Big Four” of Sale, Price, Porcello and Rodriguez won 53 and lost just 23 last year, a .697 winning percentage, with an ERA of 3.52. This year, they were 27-22, a .551 winning percentage and had an ERA of 4.51.
The bullpen, which, by the way had allowed an average of 5.14 runs per game and blown 18 of 37 save attempts through Tuesday, is also a big part of the problem.

Pitching coach Dana LaVangie, who was the bullpen coach prior to his cuurent gig, does not appear to be helping his staff too much at this point and wouldn’t Red Sox fans and infielders love to have Maine’s own Brian Butterfield back as infield and third base coach? He may be the best infield coach in baseball and might have made a big difference in Devers’ fielding if he were still there. Butterfield also seemed to be a better decision maker at third than the present occupant, Carlos Febles.

Meanwhile, there is an infielder capable of playing third or second, Michael Chavis, playing first base, a, second baseman, Mookie Betts, playing right field, and one of the best hitters and worst fielding third basemen, Rafael Devers at third.

I offer the following suggestions, partly with tongue in cheek and partly because doing anything is better than doing nothing which is what the Sox have been doing.

What would be wrong with an infield of Brock Holt at first, Mookie at second, Bogaerts at short and Chavis at third and Devers as DH? Until Pearce and/or Moreland return to first base, Vazquez could play there against left-handed pitching.

Without the pressure to improve his fielding, there is no telling what Devers might accomplish at the plate, he was already hitting .326, second best in the league. Mookie spent most of his Minor League career at second and he and Bogaerts would make a fine combination up the middle.

If J.D. played left field and Benintendi moved to right, putting the right-handed thrower in left and the left-handed thrower in right, both their effectiveness might be improved, and J. D. might be happier if he were more involved in the game.

I am sure that Alex Cora will not call to thank me for my suggestions or to tell me he’s implementing them but at least I’m thinking about ways to improve the Sox performance which nobody on staff seems to be worrying too much about.

Carl Johnson is a noted baseball lecturer and author. His books include the popular series “THE BASEBALL BUFF’S BATHROOM BOOKS” and “THE BEST TEAM EVER?” which chronicles the Red Sox 2018 World Series win.