These Red Sox lineups are tough to watch, and other thoughts - The Boston Globe (2024)

That said, the Red Sox have to do better for their fans.

The lineup for Thursday’s game against the Guardians looked like something for a road game of a split-squad doubleheader in spring training.

Outside of Triston Casas and Jarren Duran, there weren’t many players the average fan could pick out of a lineup.

Connor Wong was the designated hitter for his first time in his professional career. David Hamilton, whose career OPS was .507, batted sixth. Enmanuel Valdez was the cleanup hitter. He came into the game 7 of 49 with 17 strikeouts.

Ceddanne Rafaela batted ninth. He agreed to a $50 million contract extension and was 3 for 29 in his next nine games with one RBI.

The Sox used Brennan Bernardino as an opener and followed him with Cooper Criswell and Joe Jacques. The Sox fell behind, 5-1, and lost, 5-4.

Sox ownership cut payroll, raised some ticket prices, and have since tried to sell the idea that there’s some plan in place.

It’s not their fault Trevor Story, Rafael Devers, Lucas Giolito, and others were injured. But it is their fault that the 40-man roster is loaded with marginal players. They’re selling a poor product as a result.

Meanwhile, the Sox are 7-21 in their last 28 games at Fenway Park and 42-49 over the last two seasons. The “Fenway experience” Tom Werner said the team could offer isn’t worth much these days.

A few other observations on the Red Sox:

▪ Josh Winckowski revealed in spring training he has been pitching with a bone chip in his right ankle since last season. The discovery came too late for Winckowski to have surgery and be ready for Opening Day, so he decided to play through it.

The righthander put 25 runners on base over 11⅔ innings in his first seven appearances. His velocity has dropped, too. Winckowski doesn’t believe his ankle is the cause, but something is clearly wrong.

▪ The Sox have had contract extension talks with Casas that so far have not resulted in a deal. If the team is smart, any extension would reflect the fact that the 24-year-old will probably become a designated hitter more sooner than later.

Casas plays first base like somebody who spent a lot of time working on his swing in the minors. He has poor instincts and reacts slowly as plays develop.

He also has a habit of drifting too far to his right on plays in the hole that would be better left for the second baseman. He’s still a liability in the field.

Whether it’s this season or next, a better defensive first baseman is needed. Casas also would give the team more power at DH than they get from Masataka Yoshida.

Of course, that raises the issue of what to do with Yoshida, who certainly hasn’t been close to what the Red Sox hoped and is signed for three more seasons at $55.8 million. He’s starting to profile like the next Rusney Castillo.

▪ Tanner Houck’s gem on Wednesday clocked in at 1:49. It was the shortest nine-inning game since June 2, 2010, when Detroit beat Cleveland in Armando Galarraga’s near-perfect game.

Houck had not thrown a nine-inning shutout since Feb. 27, 2016, against Hofstra when he was playing for Missouri. That game was at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Fla., the former spring training home of the Sox.

▪ The Sox released infielder Angel Pierre, who was the player to be named later from Kansas City in the still-curious trade for Adalberto Mondesi in 2023. Josh Taylor, who was sent to the Royals, is on the 60-day injured list with a biceps strain.

▪ Remember Bryce Brentz? He was a supplemental first-round pick of the Sox back in 2010. He made his debut in 2014 and ended up playing only 34 major league games.

But his second act in sports has been a big success.

Brentz went back to Middle Tennessee State to become the hitting and infield coach of the softball team. The Blue Raiders needed only 46 games to set a school record of 42 home runs. The old record was set in 2012.

Lexi Medlock hit the record homer. “I used to be a slapper and Coach Brentz made me into a hitter,” she told the school’s website.

Brentz and his wife, MTSU basketball Hall of Famer Anne-Marie Brentz, have two kids.

“Living the dream,” it says on his Instagram bio. Sounds like it.

Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him @PeteAbe.