Things are not going well lately for the Boston Red Sox.
On Friday night, the Red Sox lost in humiliating fashion at Fenway Park, 28-5 to the Toronto Blue Jays. It was both a franchise record in runs scored for the Blue Jays and a franchise record in runs allowed for the Red Sox.
Well, Boston has followed that up with losses in three of the last four games, and the latest loss now has the Red Sox dead-last in the AL East.
Boston lost 8-3 to the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
Nojo Jojo.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/jk6Vzq7RcS
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) July 27, 2022
FINAL: Guardians 8, #RedSox 3
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 27, 2022
With the loss, Boston falls to .500 on the season at 49-49. And that drops them to last place in the AL East, 17 games back of their hated-rival New York Yankees. The young-and-fun Baltimore Orioles move ahead of Boston into fourth place at 49-48.
https://twitter.com/MrMatthewCFB/status/1552121043673817090
The Red Sox are now last place in the AL East pic.twitter.com/l0MroJiWJP
— MLB Errors (@mlberrors) July 27, 2022
The Red Sox have lost 10 of their last 12 games and are 6-16 in July. They’ve allowed an absurd 156 runs over their 22 July games.
Red Sox are 6-16 in July and have allowed 156 runs, an average of 7.09 a game.
They're in last place in the division.
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) July 27, 2022
After Boston swept a three-game series at Cleveland that concluded on June 2, the Red Sox were 11 games over .500 at 42-31.
It’s been quite the fall for the Red Sox, and now they find themselves 3.5 games back for the third AL Wild Card slot, chasing four teams (including the Guardians and Orioles).
FanGraphs had Boston’s playoff odds at 80.7% on June 30. Those odds have plummeted to 27.3% now.
Before Tuesday’s game, Chaim Bloom — Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer — told NESN that the Red Sox have no plans to trade star infielders Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers.
Bloom, on NESN, agrees with what Sam Kennedy said that the Sox haven't discussed trading Bogaerts or Devers and adds that "we don't plan to."
— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) July 26, 2022
Keeping Devers — a free agent after the 2023 season — through the Aug. 2 trade deadline makes sense, but the Red Sox may have to seriously consider trading Bogaerts, who made it clear last October that he intends to opt-out of his contract and become a free agent this offseason.
Bogaerts — .317/.388/.452 slash line, 3.9 WAR per FanGraphs (12th among MLB position players) — could bring back a substantial return. Now, if the Red Sox start playing better baseball before Aug. 2, or if they intend to try to sign Bogaerts long-term, it makes sense to keep him in-house. But if things keep trending the wrong way, Boston would be stubborn not to at least listen to trade offers for the shortstop.
Here’s more from baseball fans on Twitter regarding the Red Sox’s worse and cellar placement:
Not including the 2020 covid season, the Red Sox have just become the first non-Orioles team to be in last place in the AL East in July or later since the Blue Jays in 2017.
— Jeremy Frank (@MLBRandomStats) July 27, 2022
Red Sox lose again.
They're now 6-16 in July with an MLB-worst 6.69 ERA and an MLB-worst 20 errors.
They fall to last place in the AL East, a half-game behind the Baltimore Orioles.
— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) July 27, 2022
The Red Sox are in last place. I am not available for comment at this time. Please respect my privacy.
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) July 27, 2022
Very disrespectful of the Red Sox to play like this on David Ortiz night.
— Big Sox Guy (@BigSoxGuy) July 27, 2022
Red Sox playing like it’s Bobby Valentine Night.
— Red (@SurvivingGrady) July 27, 2022
Red Sox lose. Orioles are alone in fourth place in the AL East.
And they are just three games back of the Rays for third. They can trim that number to 1 over the next couple days. https://t.co/qsnKljiDdv
— Zach Silver (@zachsilver) July 27, 2022
