By: Nathaniel Ascher and Harold Klapper
Last year the Boston Red Sox claimed their 4th World Series title since the year 2000 and have marked their place as the best team of the century to this point. Even though they had great success last year in the face of adversity, the bullpen, second base, and catcher remain to be soft spots going into the 2019 season. Second base, a position which was an issue for the Red Sox in their 2018 season, remains to be unsolved. Dustin Pedroia failed to stay in the lineup as he only had 11 at bats and 1 hit throughout the course of the 2018 season. In order to fill in the void that the former MVP second baseman left, the Red Sox turned to Eduardo Nuñez, Brock Holt, and Ian Kinsler to give enough production to scrape by at this position. The three hit for a combined batting average of .261 and didn’t play at a championship level. Their efforts negatively affected the team and they were essentially a non-factor for most of the regular season. This is usual for a club that is rebuilding or not in contention for the playoffs. But, for a team at the caliber of the Red Sox, having a flawed second base is a major problem.
At second base in 2018 the Red Sox were:
- Ranked 29th as their second basemen combined for a -2.3 WAA (Wins Above Average).
- 26th in OPS produced by second basemen
- 26th in SLG produced by second basemen
- 23rd in runs scored
- Last in HR with only 8
- 23rd in RBI
- 29th in War with -0.2
This offseason seemed like a logical time for the president of Red Sox operations Dave Dombrowski to make moves to potentially fill the void at second base. To this point, the only change in the position is that 2B Ian Kinsler signed with the Padres, leaving the Red Sox with fewer options. The current plan is to have Dustin Pedroia, Eduardo Nuñez, and Brock Holt play second base interchangeably. This plan is mediocre at best and seems like it is set up to fail knowing how injury prone and uncertain Pedroia will be in 2019. In order to avoid this seemingly fixable issue, the Red Sox should look for possible trades to get players such as Jonathan Villar and Dee Gordon who add top of the lineup speed and batting average. Even slight production at second base is better than the system they have in place now and if the Red Sox are serious about contending for a second straight World Series title, it’s vital that they acquire a different second baseman. Wake up, Dave, opening day is only one month away.
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