Article: A Deep-Dive Into The Red Sox's Offensive Struggles Reveals Obvious Solutions

[Daniel Fox]

The best way to describe the 2025 Boston Red Sox construction is that of a Jenga tower. The holes throughout the roster were both obvious and numerous, whether it be young players going through inevitable and drastic ups and downs or veterans struggling to retain their prior form after returning from injuries. Yet, due to the sheer talent of their superstars, the Red Sox were able to stay afloat for the first month and a half. 

Much like a Jenga tower, however, this situation was fragile, and when Alex Bregman’s quad gave out while rounding first base on May 23, so too did the team. If anyone had any doubt that Bregman, who was slashing .299/.385/.553 at the time of the injury while playing Gold Glove defense, was one of the most valuable players in the American League, one only has to look at the Red Sox’s performance during his absence. In the five games since Bregman was officially placed on the injured list, the Red Sox have gone 0-5, lost three more contests by a single run and another in extra innings, and have scored just 10 total runs. 

Just looking around the diamond, it’s hard to see how the Red Sox can pull themselves out of this rut. As pleasant a surprise as Carlos Narvaez has been, he should not be hitting third for a team with postseason aspirations. The fact that he is Bregman’s de facto replacement in the order speaks to the drastic underperformance of the other three right-handed hitters in the Red Sox order. If you want to know how a lineup with a red-hot Jarren Duran (.377/.433/.623 since May 16), a dominant Rafael Devers (AL-best 50 RBI, MLB-best 45 walks), and a vastly improved Wilyer Abreu can be so ineffective, you only have to look at the recent performance of Ceddanne Rafaela, Trevor Story and Kristian Campbell:

Campbell: .114/.167/.152 since April 30

Rafaela: 4-for-36 from May 14 to May 27

Story: .131/.191/.164 since April 21

Of these three players, Rafaela is the clear outlier in that his struggles have been the least drastic and the least costly. As one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball, Rafaela does not need to be an elite offense player to validate his spot in the starting lineup, and to his credit, he has actually taken steps forward offensively this year. While his chase rate is still a comically bad 42.2%, that is a four-point drop from 2024, and it has allowed him to double his walk rate 2.6% to 5.2%. He has also shaved six-and-a-half points from his strikeout rate and made similar improvements in his batted ball metrics: 

Barrel %: Raised from 7.5% (46th percentile) to 13.4% (79th percentile)

Hard Hit Percentage: Raised from 36.9% (31st percentile) to 47.2% (72nd percentile)

Average Exit Velocity: Raised from 86.6 (12th percentile) to 90.6% (62nd percentile)

If the rest of the Red Sox lineup was meeting expectations, we would be celebrating Rafaela’s improvement while still acknowledging that he needs to be more consistent. But, because of the struggles of the rest of the Red Sox lineup, it’s hard to accept giving everyday at-bats to a guy with a .639 OPS. This brings us to Campbell, an early frontrunner for Rookie of the Year who has since been mired in one of the most miserable slumps in recent memory. As someone who began the 2024 season in High-A, nobody should be surprised that Campbell is going through a prolonged adjustment period, but the sheer level of ineffectiveness, especially considering his red-hot start, has been jarring.

In this era of high strikeouts and low batting averages, pulling the ball in the air has become the meta, helping maximize the power output of players like Alex Bregman, Mookie Betts, and Isaac Paredes, none of whom have particularly spectacular exit velocities. Campbell, however, has the opposite problem: His bat speed and top-end exit velocity are well above average, but he just isn’t maximizing his contact. His 7.7% rate of hitting his launch angle sweet spot is 220th out of 256 hitters with at least 60 batted balls events, and his pull percentage (231st) and pulled air percentage (210th) are similarly dismal. On the other hand, only seven hitters hit opposite field ground balls more often, a list that consists mostly of speedsters like Chandler Simpson, Jacob Young, and Steven Kwan. 

All of these numbers are not to say that Campbell is a lost cause who can’t hit major league pitching. His minor-league pedigree speaks for itself, and his walk percentage (11.8%, 79th percentile) and chase rate (23.4%, 76th percentile) still speaks to a guy who is doing a lot of things right at the plate. What needs to happen is not a complete swing overhaul but rather a change of philosophy, but that is, unfortunately, something that is going to take time. 

Headed into this season, we knew that Rafaela was going to be hot and cold at the plate and that Campbell might take time to turn his raw offensive skills into statistical production. The old saying is that progress isn’t linear, and the adjustment between Triple-A and Major Leagues has never been harder. This is why it would be unfair to expect Marcelo Mayer, the consensus top-10 prospect who was called up upon Bregman’s placement on the injured list, to be a lineup savior right away, especially considering he has still had his struggles against same-sided pitching and breaking stuff. 

The pressure on these players to be prime contributors is far higher than it should be, and it really boils down to two reasons. One is the injuries to Triston Casas and Bregman, the Opening Day three and four-hole hitter. Secondly, of course, is the complete ineffectiveness of Trevor Story. As difficult and frustrating as it may be to admit, years of injuries and missed time have not only sapped Story of his elite defense but have turned him into one of the worst everyday hitters in baseball. And while there are positives to point to with Campbell and Rafaela, it’s hard to find a way out for Story, whose Baseball Savant page points to a player who is completely overwhelmed at the plate:

Chase Rate: 36.5% (9th percentile)

Strikeout Rate: 29.8% (7th percentile)

Walk Rate: 4.4% (11th percentile)

Story was never particularly adept at hitting breaking pitches, but he was always able to damage on fastballs. That skill has completely eroded in 2025, as he has just .179 with a single extra-base hit against heaters this season. Couple that with a 35% whiff rate against breaking pitches and a 41% whiff rate against off-speed pitches, and it just feels like there are unlimited ways for opposing pitchers to fearlessly attack him. 

The scariest part of Story’s struggles, however, is that he may not even be the worst hitter on the Red Sox right now. Utility infielder David Hamilton is hitting a measly .184 with a .505 OPS, striking out 22 times against just two walks. Backup catcher Connor Wong is still looking for his first extra-base hit and RBI of the season, going just 8-for-51 and rightfully losing his starting job to Carlos Narvaez. And while Nick Sogard’s .245 batting average isn’t exactly terrible, he has produced just seven extra-base hits (all doubles) in his first 139 big-league plate appearances, good for a .608 OPS.

The fact of the matter is that there are simply not enough big-league caliber hitters on the team right now, especially on the days Narvaez is on the bench. With a 27-31 record, there needs to be a severe sense of urgency around this team, which, in my mind, leads to the following three decisions:

1. Call Up Roman Anthony:

Compared to the rest of the Red Sox fanbase, I was not as demanding for Anthony’s call-up for the first month and a half of the season. With Rafaela showing such notable underlying improvements, Duran and Abreu playing at borderline All-Star levels, and Devers occupying the DH role, there was no clear pathway to everyday playing time. The Red Sox were also among the American League leaders in run scored, and it felt like a bigger priority to keep Rafaela and his glove in center field every day to aid a struggling pitching staff than adjust the defense to squeeze Anthony in. 

Those days have now passed. With Bregman going down and the offense scuffling, you simply cannot justify keeping a bat like Anthony in the minor leagues anymore. As I said earlier, it’s unreasonable to expect any rookie to be a savior of an offense, but Anthony is as good a bet as any minor leaguer in recent memory to handle big-league pitching from day one. The 21-year-old is currently slashing .309/.441/.514 with 44 walks against just 45 strikeouts and posting exit velocities that rival some of the best in the major leagues this season. 

Regardless of whether there is a perfect fit on the big-league team for Anthony right now, it is malpractice to have a prospect so clearly ready for the big leagues wasting time in Triple-A while your big-league team is struggling so mightily to score runs. As much as we can acknowledge Rafaela’s improvement, his bat is not at the point where he needs to be in the lineup every single day. His versatility and experience in the middle infield should be viewed as an asset, something that allows him to still develop as a big-leaguer even if he is not playing center field every day. Though Campbell has been the one who has been moving around the diamond the most this season, Rafaela’s athleticism makes him better equipped to handle different positions. And it’s not like he doesn’t have experience at the big-league level — he spent time at both second and short last season when Story went down in April, and I believe this situation calls for similar amounts of urgency. 

The corresponding move to calling up Anthony will be to send down Hamilton. Hamilton exceeded expectations as a rookie last season, but it’s clear that his lack of playing time has prevented him from getting into any sort or rhythm at the plate. He has been a fine second defensive second baseman, but once Gonzalez gets activated (more on him in a second), the Red Sox will have at least five players on their roster who can capably play second base. 

Hamilton’s only really unique skill to the Red Sox is his top-end speed and ability as a base-stealer, but having a de facto designated pinch runner is a luxury that teams in the Red Sox’s position can afford. 

2. Re-insert Romy Gonzalez as the everyday first baseman

Somewhat overshadowed by the more significant Casas injury, Romy Gonzalez’s quad strain, suffered in a freak collision at first base, halted what was looking like a career-best campaign. Through his first 17 games, Gonzalez was hitting a robust .308 with six doubles and cut his strikeout rate by over 6%. His average exit velocity, hard hit percentage, and bat speed were all among the best in baseball, a stark contrast to his replacements, Abraham Toro and Nick Sogard.

While Gonzalez shouldn’t be expected to hit over .300, his ability to hit left-handed pitching would be an immediate and major boost to the lefty-heavy Red Sox. Though he was actually better against right-handers this year, he justified his spot on the roster last season by slashing .302/.362/.517 with all six of his home runs against southpaws. Replacing Bregman is an impossible task, but having Gonzalez and Rob Refsynder (1.079 OPS vs lefties) in the middle of the order will at least give the Red Sox a fighting chance. 

The decision between whether to send Toro or Sogard down is a difficult one, but I think it has to be Sogard. Toro has been hot the last week and currently has a .850 OPS vs righties, and unlike Sogard, he is currently out of minor-league options.

3. Begin to phase out Trevor Story

As much as some fans are rooting for it, Story is (probably) not getting DFA’d anytime soon, at least not until Bregman comes back. The Red Sox are not going to just eat the remaining two-and-a-half years on his $140 million contract, especially considering how short they are on healthy infielders. What they can do, however, is begin to decrease his playing time. With Mayer now in the fold, Gonzalez on the way back, and Rafaela theoretically moving to a utility role, the Red Sox can run out infield combinations that don’t involve Story:

1B Gonzalez

2B Rafaela

3B Toro

SS Mayer

----

1B Gonzalez 

2B Campbell 

3B Toro 

SS Mayer

----

1B Campbell

2B Rafaela

3B Gonzalez

SS Mayer

----

1B Gonzalez

2B Campbell

3B Mayer

SS Rafaela 

Through two months of watching Story, it has become clear how overmatched he is against hard-throwing right-handers with decent breaking balls. Limiting his at-bats to left-handers and soft-tossing righties could help him at least begin to find his swing and prevent the Red Sox from having what feels like an automatic out in the middle of the order. 

Though these three ideas could help the Red Sox begin to dig themselves out of the offensive hole created by the Bregman injury, there are real questions that need to be asked about the offensive coaching staff and coaching philosophy. At a time when the Red Sox are integrating so many young hitters to the big-league level, it is vital that they have a coaching staff capable of helping them integrate them into the big-league level. While players like Rafaela, Abreu and Narvaez have taken varying levels of steps forward this year, the prolonged struggles of Triston Casas before his injury and Campbell this past month raise some concerns about whether the Red Sox are effectively preparing these players for their big-league careers and have the ability to help them make adjustments when the inevitable struggles occur. 

Given that the Red Sox are still somehow sixth in MLB in runs scored, there is no justification for firing hitting coach Pete Fatse right now, but if Campbell and company continue to struggle well into the summer, there may be some difficult discussions that need to be made.

View full article

[Larry Cook]

The single biggest problem this team is starting pitching!! 
instead of bringing up a talented rookie and rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic, maybe we use some of our roster depth and super deep farm system to acquire a starting and a reliever or two????  Bearadino could throw in 100 games this year at the rate Cora is using him 

[Bellhorn04]

We couldn't even stay on topic for one post! 🙃

[notin]

17 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

The single biggest problem this team is starting pitching!! 
instead of bringing up a talented rookie and rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic, maybe we use some of our roster depth and super deep farm system to acquire a starting and a reliever or two????  Bearadino could throw in 100 games this year at the rate Cora is using him 

If you’re equating changing up the Sox offense to “re-arranging deck chairs ON THE TITANIC”, can you at least acknowledge it’s a problem?  
 

Even if it isn’t the biggest problem, that doesn’t mean it should get ignored, especially for proposed internal solutions that can happen long before any team cares to trade with Boston.  I mean, I wasn’t there, but I would bet anything that, while the ship was sinking, not a single crew member said “Hey!! Who’s been f***ing with the chairs?!??” …

[Larry Cook]

1 minute ago, notin said:

If you’re equating changing up the Sox offense to “re-arranging deck chairs ON THE TITANIC”, can you at least acknowledge it’s a problem?  I mean, I wasn’t there, but I would bet anything that, while the ship was sinking, not a single crew member said “Hey!! Who’s been f***ing with the chairs?!??”

 Even if it isn’t the biggest problem, that doesn’t mean it gets ignored, especially for proposed internal solutions that can happen long before any team cares to trade with Boston…

Last time I looked, our team was top ten in runs scored. Maybe story, Campbell, rafeala, Wong and most other right handed bats are struggling to hit with runners in scoring position, but that does not mean the offense is dead!!!! 
tackle the biggest problems first and let’s climb our way out of the hole!!!!

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

8 minutes ago, notin said:

If you’re equating changing up the Sox offense to “re-arranging deck chairs ON THE TITANIC”, can you at least acknowledge it’s a problem?  
 

Even if it isn’t the biggest problem, that doesn’t mean it should get ignored, especially for proposed internal solutions that can happen long before any team cares to trade with Boston.  I mean, I wasn’t there, but I would bet anything that, while the ship was sinking, not a single crew member said “Hey!! Who’s been f***ing with the chairs?!??” …

And the band played on.

(deep voice from "Ball of Confusion" by the Temptations)

[notin]

Just now, Larry Cook said:

Last time I looked, our team was top ten in runs scored. Maybe story, Campbell, rafeala, Wong and most other right handed bats are struggling to hit with runners in scoring position, but that does not mean the offense is dead!!!! 
tackle the biggest problems first and let’s climb our way out of the hole!!!!

So you think the Sox should ignore cheap, easy, FREE proposals that could be done today until after the trade deadline?  If the Sox had some Roman Anthony-equivalent pitching prospect (or even a Jhostnyxon Garcia-equivalent) I could see prioritizing their promotion.  But the Sox don’t.  All pitching upgrades are likely to come from other teams, many of whom are not ready to make deals yet. So what’s the advantage of waiting on promoting Anthony here?

 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

3 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Last time I looked, our team was top ten in runs scored. Maybe story, Campbell, rafeala, Wong and most other right handed bats are struggling to hit with runners in scoring position, but that does not mean the offense is dead!!!! 
tackle the biggest problems first and let’s climb our way out of the hole!!!!

It's highly improbablistic to consummate transactions for viable big league pitching in June, Breslow will reiterate to the media throughout the next month.

Meanwhile, the Sox will have to focus on out-bashing opponents to compensate. If only they had a top-hitting prospect to call up with a higher on base percentage than anyone on the parent club.

[Bellhorn04]

5 minutes ago, notin said:

So you think the Sox should ignore cheap, easy, FREE proposals that could be done today until after the trade deadline?  If the Sox had some Roman Anthony-equivalent pitching prospect (or even a Jhostnyxon Garcia-equivalent) I could see prioritizing their promotion.  But the Sox don’t.  All pitching upgrades are likely to come from other teams, many of whom are not ready to make deals yet. So what’s the advantage of waiting on promoting Anthony here?

 

They just can't figure out where to play Roman!

They've been asking MLB about using 2 DH's or a rover, but are getting nowhere so far.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Just now, Bellhorn04 said:

They just can't figure out where to play Roman!

Boston! How hard was that?

(I don't even have a double major in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale -- but once, I drove past it).

[Bellhorn04]

3 minutes ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Boston! How hard was that?

Hey, you stole notin's answer.

And my snappy comeback is "you don't want him to play in the road games?"

[notin]

My question if the Sox want to improve the offense - maybe buy some torpedo bats?

Especially for players like Wong, Gonzalez, Toro (who has a .976 OPS since his May 9!! WTF!?), and Hamilton.  You know, players with something at stake here….

[notin]

6 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Hey, you stole notin's answer.

And my snappy comeback is "you don't want him to play in the road games?"

Whats weird is when you answered about two DHs and a rover, I read that and immediately attributed it to 5Gold…

[Bellhorn04]

Hit Strikes Hard!  (The Dillon Lawson mantra)

Seems pretty simple to me! 😆

[Bellhorn04]

Just now, notin said:

Whats weird is when you answered about two DHs and a rover, I read that and immediately attributed it to 5Gold…

We're all just deck chairs on the Titanic here.

[moonslav59]

54 minutes ago, Larry Cook said:

Last time I looked, our team was top ten in runs scored. Maybe story, Campbell, rafeala, Wong and most other right handed bats are struggling to hit with runners in scoring position, but that does not mean the offense is dead!!!! 
tackle the biggest problems first and let’s climb our way out of the hole!!!!

1. We have played more games than every other team in MLB, including 4 more than 2 teams, 3 more than 7 teams and 2 more than 13 teams. That alone, may jump us in front of several teams in the league, if we were an average scoring team.

2. We play in a hitter's park, which inflates our runs scored and makes our runs allowed seem higher than it would be, elsewhere. (Our ERA- is always better than our ERA.)

3. When you look at ERA, many of our earned runs allowed were a result of poor defense that was not counted as an error. Our ERA is 4.12 (21st,) but out SIERA is 3.96 (15th- exactly in the middle.) Our ERA- is 98, when the average is set at 100. Our xFIP is 3.79 and ranked 8th.

I'm not downplaying the fact that our rotation has let us down. They have taxed the pen and been wildly inconsistent, but our offense, defense and baserunning have let us down, too.

[TedYazPapiMookie]

This article may generate a lot of chatter but it's really the suggestions for a panicked team without direction, so it doesn't apply.  The future is simple, play the guys who will be with the team for years to come and forget about the playoffs, they had no chance to make them once Bregman went down.  It's simple look to the starting line-up in 2026 and play them now.

C - Narvaez

1B - Anthony (He'll be in Right Field in 2026 this is a temp fix to get him hitting experience)

2B - Campbell

SS - Mayer

3B - Story (Until Bregman returns)

LF - Duran

CF - Rafaela

RF - Abreu/Refsnyder (platoon)

DH - Devers

The other guys are meaningless back-ups so stop playing them more than once every couple of weeks. because the starters need reps not rest.

Starting pitching isn't that good once you get past Crochet and Buehler.  Eovaldi is gone, Pivetta is gone.  They would have complimented our two big guns better than the rest of the mediocre pitchers.  Fitts and gang are all SP5s being forced into pitching as SP3s and SP4s so the team must hit to win if our top two are not pitching.  The bull pen isn't all that great either.  In time, Hendriks will come back to form and Chapman has always been a streaky dominance that resembles Mitch Williams from years gone bye.  The rest are league average cheap relievers.

The core roster above will grow into a contender if time is dedicated to their growth rather than the Cora circus that moves people around too much and uses too many below league average players that are expendable bench guys.  Hamilton doesn't belong in the majors any more than Jeter Downs.  The same can be said for most of the bench.  They are like the non-top two relievers.

Breslow needs to figure out how to fill the holes that will exist in 2026 with players like Yoshida and Story and Abreu.  Abreu has some value right now but as a platoon guy, it's not much value.  Story must start hitting at 3B so he can be moved when Bregman comes back.  Yoshida needs to get in shape to gain some value to be moved at 1/2 price.  Pick up $9Million of the $18Million owed on the rest of his contract.  Do the deals while looking to 2026 and beyond.

This year needs just one thing at this point since we are out of contention.  A new manager with experience not a bad bench coach.  Let Breslow put his head in the noose by bringing his own manager and coaches rather than the crap he inherited from Bloom.  Accountability for Breslow should improve results.  As of now, he's provided a big upgrade in talent and the team hasn't performed any better.  That points to Cora not Breslow.  Bringing in his own man, changes the pointer to Breslow.

[dgalehouse]

7 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

It's highly improbablistic to consummate transactions for viable big league pitching in June, Breslow will reiterate to the media throughout the next month.

Meanwhile, the Sox will have to focus on out-bashing opponents to compensate. If only they had a top-hitting prospect to call up with a higher on base percentage than anyone on the parent club.

I would bet that Roman Anthony will be called up when the Sox return home on Monday. I agree that it should have been sooner, but I am pretty sure that the move is imminent.

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, TedYazPapiMookie said:

This article may generate a lot of chatter but it's really the suggestions for a panicked team without direction, so it doesn't apply.  The future is simple, play the guys who will be with the team for years to come and forget about the playoffs, they had no chance to make them once Bregman went down.  It's simple look to the starting line-up in 2026 and play them now.

C - Narvaez

1B - Anthony (He'll be in Right Field in 2026 this is a temp fix to get him hitting experience)

2B - Campbell

SS - Mayer

3B - Story (Until Bregman returns)

LF - Duran

CF - Rafaela

RF - Abreu/Refsnyder (platoon)

DH - Devers

The other guys are meaningless back-ups so stop playing them more than once every couple of weeks. because the starters need reps not rest.

Starting pitching isn't that good once you get past Crochet and Buehler.  Eovaldi is gone, Pivetta is gone.  They would have complimented our two big guns better than the rest of the mediocre pitchers.  Fitts and gang are all SP5s being forced into pitching as SP3s and SP4s so the team must hit to win if our top two are not pitching.  The bull pen isn't all that great either.  In time, Hendriks will come back to form and Chapman has always been a streaky dominance that resembles Mitch Williams from years gone bye.  The rest are league average cheap relievers.

The core roster above will grow into a contender if time is dedicated to their growth rather than the Cora circus that moves people around too much and uses too many below league average players that are expendable bench guys.  Hamilton doesn't belong in the majors any more than Jeter Downs.  The same can be said for most of the bench.  They are like the non-top two relievers.

Breslow needs to figure out how to fill the holes that will exist in 2026 with players like Yoshida and Story and Abreu.  Abreu has some value right now but as a platoon guy, it's not much value.  Story must start hitting at 3B so he can be moved when Bregman comes back.  Yoshida needs to get in shape to gain some value to be moved at 1/2 price.  Pick up $9Million of the $18Million owed on the rest of his contract.  Do the deals while looking to 2026 and beyond.

This year needs just one thing at this point since we are out of contention.  A new manager with experience not a bad bench coach.  Let Breslow put his head in the noose by bringing his own manager and coaches rather than the crap he inherited from Bloom.  Accountability for Breslow should improve results.  As of now, he's provided a big upgrade in talent and the team hasn't performed any better.  That points to Cora not Breslow.  Bringing in his own man, changes the pointer to Breslow.

Imagine, if we still had Nate and Nick...

fWAR Leaders:

5th: Crochet & Nate at 2.2

13th: Pivetta at 1.7

Many of us wanted #11 Fried at 1.8, instead of Buehler at 0.3.

Others mentioned, a lot, over this past winter:

1.7 Woo (some wanted Miller)

1.5 Severino, Joe Ryan and Mitch Keller

1.3 Cease, Ober and Wacha

1.1 Sonny Gray (for Yoshida? LOL)

1.0 Holmes

(Sale is at 1.6)

Matthew Boyd is at 1.2!

Some we might not want to admit we liked:

-0.2 Alcantara

-0.1 Z Eflin (2023)

[oldtimer]

11 hours ago, Larry Cook said:

Last time I looked, our team was top ten in runs scored. Maybe story, Campbell, rafeala, Wong and most other right handed bats are struggling to hit with runners in scoring position, but that does not mean the offense is dead!!!! 
tackle the biggest problems first and let’s climb our way out of the hole!!!!

Last time I looked, even excellent starting pitching  won't result in wins if a team is chronically scoring poorly. Sox management is playing with the fan base but not taking the obvious step or steps to improve the offense. My view is take the easy steps when they are obvious. 

[moonslav59]

Brez talked to the media, today. He seems as bummed as we are.

[Maxbialystock]

On 5/31/2025 at 10:10 PM, oldtimer said:

Last time I looked, even excellent starting pitching  won't result in wins if a team is chronically scoring poorly. Sox management is playing with the fan base but not taking the obvious step or steps to improve the offense. My view is take the easy steps when they are obvious. 

Agree, which is the point of the OP.   No quick fixes for the pitching. 

So of course we bring Anthony up.  I would prefer him at 1b, but if that's not possible I would keep Rafaela in CF, put Anthony in LF, and use Duran when situations permit.  Duran's WAR is .8 compared to Rafaela's 1.9 and Abreu's 1.9.   Both Abreu and Rafaela lead MLB in DWAR for their positions (RF and CF).  

 I think the OP stole some of my stuff.  I was the first one to point out the hitting stopped the day after Bregman took himself out of the game.  I also recommended Gonzalez be first choice at 1b.  I was also the first to remind everyone that Devers led MLB in rbi's and has the highest OPS of his career.  Breslow trying to move Devers to 1b was just stupid.  

I vehemently disagree with the OP's assertion that we miss Casas as much as Bregman because there was no Casas to miss, at least not this season.  Toro's OPS, .845, is over 250 points higher than Casas' was.  

I also disagree with moonslav's assertion that the defense is a big problem because he bases that on the number of errors.   So one more time.  The Sox team fielding percentage is 98 freaking percent and the best team fielding percentage is 1 per cent higher, 99%. 

Fielding percentages are meaningless.  Better are the individual players' DWAR's, and right now Narvaez, Rafaela, and Abreu all have the highest DWAR's at their positions.   Before he went down, Bregman's was a solid +0.8.  Since pitchers normally don't have DWAR's, that means that half of this team's defenders were/are well above average.   Story has lost some range, but he has been steady at SS with a DWAR of -0.1.   I think Toro is an improvement (over Casas) at 1b.  2b is clearly a problem with Campbell, but Mayer already has a +0.1 DWAR at 3b.