Teaching An Analytical Dog Old Tricks: Why Red Sox Must Take Old-School Approach to DH Position Going Forward

Image courtesy of Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images

Red Sox Video

While the Boston Red Sox were thoroughly boat raced in the Wild Card Round by the New York Yankees for a second season in a row, it further highlighted a roster construction issue that has been plaguing the team since 2021: The Sox lack a legitimate power threat in the lineup. Sure, Willson Contreras had a career season while Wilyer Abreu took a step forward to set career highs in both home runs and RBIs, but the team was wanting for a power bat when the schedule mattered the most and they had nowhere to turn.

Remember, the organization has built World-Series-winning teams around massive offensive firepower for the entirety of their championship runs. In 2004 and 2007, the team had David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez; Papi then led the charge in 2013, JD Martinez was the primary slugger in 2018, and in 2021 the team traded for Kyle Schwarber at the deadline to give their offense a boost. Now, though? There’s a missing piece in the middle of the lineup that keeps opposing pitchers honest.

Since Craig Breslow became the President of Baseball Operations in Boston, the designated hitter position has been treated as a way to cycle a number of outfielders through the spot to keep them all in the lineup, as well as giving guys a rest day without putting them totally on the bench. Since Breslow took over as POBO in October of 2023, the Red Sox have featured 33 players at designated hitter. Let that sink in for a second—the team that relied on one hitter in the middle of their lineup for 14 seasons has had 33 different players cycle through the spot in three years. I won’t list them all here, but there are some wholly uninspiring names on this list. Obviously, Masataka Yoshida leads all hitters in appearances, followed by Rafael Devers second and Roman Anthony third in terms of pitches seen. Fourth on that list? Rob Refsnyder. Fifth? Mickey Gasper. Other names from that list who make you go ‘hmm’ would be Garrett Cooper, Enmanuel Valdez, Danny Jansen, Bobby Dalbec, and Tyler Heineman. Talk about whatever the opposite of a Murderer's Row is.

I understand Breslow’s thinking, to a point. When you have an outfield mix of guys like Anthony, Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela, Jarren Duran, and Masataka Yoshida, then you need to get creative to be able to get most of their bats in the lineup on a nightly basis. What that does, though, is hamstring the depth chart at a position that helped propel them to such a long run of success. By shucking the DH position and using it as a revolving door for outfielders who are struggling at the plate for an entire season, Breslow is effectively saying that the DH position isn’t that important in his organization. What’s still going on in the playoffs proves him wrong.

In both League Championship Series this year, each team has a legitimate power threat in at least two spots in the lineup. The Brewers have the hybrid 1B/DH the Red Sox ideally want in Jake Bauers with Jackson Chourio leading off. The Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani (who was obviously playing through an injury), plus Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, and Kyle Tucker who are all threats to go deep. The Rays have Yandy Diaz and Junior Caminero. The Guardians have Jose Ramirez as their main threat, but Jo Adell and Chase DeLauter both have pop off the bat. Realistically, who do the Red Sox have that could provide that kind of spark in the postseason? Contreras and Abreu? Anthony? Curtis Mead? Adley Rutschman? Even Triston Casas?

If we’re counting on back-to-back career years from Contreras, we’re already in a situation no one is going to be happy with. Abreu took a positive step forward against left-handed pitchers while taking a step back against right-handed ones. Anthony has yet to put together a healthy season in professional baseball. Mead has had one at-bat with the Red Sox. Rutschman has big seasons from his past, but there are concerns about his conditioning and he has a lengthy injury history. Casas has been an offensive powerhouse when healthy, but he’s had back-to-back debilitating injuries that have kept him off the field for over two years. While Justin Gonzalez looks incredibly promising in Portland, he’s still only a teenager and is at least a year off from being big league ready. Franklin Arias isn’t that type of player, either; he’s toolsy, but he’s not a middle-of-the-order threat.

What the Red Sox need to do to fix the power issue at designated hitter is to go big-game hunting this offseason. There are clear pitfalls with that plan, though. First, this free agent class is incredibly weak. While both Randy Arozarena and Seiya Suzuki make sense for the Red Sox for different reasons, both players will be entering their age-32 seasons in 2027. After that, there’s a pretty significant decline in the quality of bats on the open market. The team could turn to the trade market, but after the Rutschman, Mead, and Erik Miller deals at the deadline, most experts rank the Red Sox’s farm system in the lower third of the league. They’d have to deal from the major-league roster and that just opens a new hole while trying to patch this one.

The Red Sox are on the cusp of being a legitimate threat to the AL East thanks to their pitching and defense, but their lack of offensive firepower will continue to hold them back until they add a legitimate power threat to the lineup. There are paths in the offseason that will allow Craig Breslow to do just that, but he’s going to have to get incredibly creative to pull it off without hurting the future of the franchise at the same time.