At the core of the 2025 Red Sox story is a team trying to make the transformation from underwhelming, mediocre ballclub where games in August and September don’t really matter, to legit pennant contender where fans hang on every pitch down the stretch — And for the most part, they’ve done this pretty well. They’ve got their young core established, they’ve acquired an ace, and the group seems to genuinely like and fight for one another.
Unfortunately, the last crucial step to achieving this goal has
proven particularly problematic for this front office, and that of course is telling nice guys who are good people and clubhouse favorites they’re being removed from the everyday roster because their performance on the field is unacceptable. When you don’t do that, you get games like tonight.
You get Walker Buehler hanging around in the rotation and walking four guys in four innings of work and once again taxing the bullpen. You get Abraham Toro going 0-5 with two strikeouts and hitting into a crippling double play in the tenth inning. You get Masataka Yoshida going 0-4 with three strike outs including one with the bases loaded in the eighth inning. And you get Nate Eaton, who despite his speed, was in the middle of another puzzling baserunning decision when he wasn’t sent from third base on a fly ball to centerfield off the bat of Roman Anthony in the bottom of the 11th that would have easily tied the game.
The failure to send Nate Eaton there is just so emblematic of the failure to take a shot by the front office last month it’s painful! Instead of a bold decision that was almost certainly the right one, it’s more of “let’s keep going with what we’ve got and see how it works out.” Tonight it worked out with Alex Bregman popping up to end the game, because even one of the best hitters in the sport in a big spot wasn’t as likely to drive in Eaton from third with a hit as he was to score on what would have been an Anthony sac fly.
I want to ask: If you’re not going to use Eaton’s speed there, why is he on the roster? But the saddest part of this game and the recent stretch of events is he’s not even close to being the least deserving occupier of a roster spot right now.
Winning ballclubs do not tolerate horrific play on the field and keep rolling it back out there time and time again hoping it somehow won’t cost them games like it has for the Sox on this homestand. The leash gets short and they find replacements who are quietly mediocre and plug the holes. If you want to win, there has to be consequences for consistently lousy play.
Fortunately, there’s still ways the Sox could do this despite flopping at the trade deadline. Toro’s days seem to be numbered with the addition of a Nathaniel Lowe (if tonight sealed that fate, it wasn’t a total loss), and Buehler’s starts are being lined up with Kyle Harrison’s starts down in Worcester. In addition to that, Justin Slaten made a rehab appearance in Worcester and struck out all three guys he faced tonight, so hopefully we’ll be saying goodbye to Isiah Campbell soon!
The bottom line is tonight was just one of those games that revealed the tax of carrying a bunch of sub replacement level players on the roster. Not only does the game of baseball find them and eventually ensure you need them in crucial spots, but it also taxes the top half of the roster because they also know they need to come through even more. They’ll press, make a mistake, or swing at a pitch they should have left alone. It’s how you end up with nothing like they did tonight after loading the bases for three straight innings in the eighth, ninth and tenth. It’s also a great way to go 0-13 with runners in scoring position and leave 13 men on base overall. Just a hideous display by the offense outside of one really big swing, which we’ll get to in a moment.
Studs
The Jimmy Fund: NESN raised over $5.5 million and counting on the telethon to help strike out cancer, and they did it at a moment when Washington is cutting costs in the cancer research department. As a cancer survivor, thank you to everybody who donated! It really makes a difference!
Nathaniel Lowe: Speaking of Washington making mistakes, pinching pennies, and cutting useful services, Nathaniel Lowe got his first start in a Red Sox uniform after being let go by Washington, and he hit this electric game-tying two run home run in the bottom of the ninth. This should have been the headline story tonight, but sadly the rest of the Red Sox offense couldn’t muster anything else useful at the plate.
Aroldis Chapman: Came into the game in the top of the tenth with the zombie runner on second base and didn’t allow a ball to go in play. He struck out three (with a walk mixed in) and gave the Red Sox another golden opportunity to win the game.
Duds
Walker Buehler: Four walks in four innings of work is not going to cut it! In his last 11 games, he how has 36 walks and just 31 strikeouts. Why is he still being allowed to take the mound every fifth day?
Abraham Toro: Completely useless again tonight with more outs made than he had plate appearances. In his last 50 games, he’s now batting .188 with a .508 OPS while playing below average defense. Why is he still here?
Masataka Yoshida: Hitless with three strikeouts. He’s at least only played 25 games this season so I sort of understand giving him a little more rope to figure things out, but if he’s not hitting, he’s completely useless on the field as he doesn’t have another tool that can contribute to winning.
It’s also worth noting it was a pretty terrible night for Alex Bregman, Jarren Duran and Trevor Story, who combined to go 1-13 from the 2-3-4 spots. They also combined for a -.714 WPA, which is atrocious!
Play of the game:
For a dumb game, it’s a dumb play. A 15-foot pathetic grounder by Orioles’ pinch hitter Samuel Basallo brings in the winning run the Red Sox couldn’t plate.
Onto New York, with hopefully a slightly different looking bottom of the roster.
