I’m trying to understand a historically bad Red Sox lineup

An attempt to understand a historically bad Red Sox lineup originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

So about Thursday’s Red Sox lineup…

Listen, it’s one thing to lose one of your best hitters to a collision (Tyler O’Neill) and another (Rafael Devers) to knee pain that could be due to the same fender bender in short left field. The Red Sox had hoped these would be short absences, but on Thursday they placed O’Neill on the injured list and activated outfielder Rob Refsnyder.

It’s also understandable that the offense is suffering after a season-ending injury to your center (Trevor Story) and a season-ending injury to the promising youngster expected to play second base (Vaughn Grissom) , although you I’ve known that last bit since spring training.

However, it’s another thing entirely to build your roster with such blatant disregard for the possibility of injury that you leave yourself with this lineup for a matinee against the Guardians:

1. Jarren Duran, LF

2. Triston Casas, 1B

3. Wilyer Abreu, RF

4. Enmanuel Valdez, 2B

5. Connor Wong, DH

6. David Hamilton, SS

7. Pablo Reyes, 3B

8. Reese McGuire, C

9. Ceddanne Rafaela, CF

Brennan Bernardino, P

The Polar Park jokes write themselves, but it’s worth noting exactly how the Red Sox ended up with such a disappointing batting order just two weeks into the season.

The @redsoxstats X account explains it perfectly.

Minimum wages as far as the eye can see. In the case of Duran and Casas, it’s because they are young players with upside. Every functional selection would love to have one or two of these. The problems lie elsewhere everywhere.

Abreu and Valdez came from the Astros in the same deal for catcher Christian Vazquez, and so far neither looks particularly dynamic. Valdez has some power but can’t play reliable defense, and Abreu found plenty of holes last year that boosted his batting average. The Red Sox should have tried to upgrade both of them this winter.

Wong and McGuire have actually produced one of the best catcher platoons in baseball, but that says nothing about offensive depth if both have to play at the same time.

Hamilton simply isn’t a major-league champion aside from his speed, and Rafaela has thus far confirmed our worst fears about his inability to sack just about anything, with his average dropping to .155 through 58 at-bats. That leaves Reyes, a perfectly acceptable 26th man who somehow starts every other day.

Making matters worse is the one guy not playing even though the Red Sox are facing a right-handed pitcher. That would be $90 million DH Masataka Yoshida, a 4-3 groundout machine who has already played himself out of left field and might also render the DH spot impotent. The fact that Yoshida can’t crack this particular lineup only adds to the fear that he is Rusney Castillo 2.0. Manager Alex Cora gave him another day off as he is struggling with a slump.

It didn’t have to be this way. The Red Sox left a lot of talent on the table in free agency, and solely for financial reasons.

Of all the players most consistently associated with Boston, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow deserves credit for identifying the right players. In addition to acquiring O’Neill, who runs baseball at OPS, he also reportedly targeted outfielders Lourdes Gurriel and Michael Taylor. Keeping Justin Turner would also have been a good move.

Gurriel already has five home runs and 20 RBIs with the Diamondbacks, Taylor is hitting almost .300 for the Pirates and Turner is off to a .333 start with the Blue Jays, including a .933 OPS. Feel free to also use Teoscar Hernandez, who leads the Dodgers with 18 RBIs.

Any of them would have balanced out an overly left-handed lineup, while also giving manager Alex Cora more experienced options to play on days like these.

Instead, the Red Sox are rolling out a Triple-A lineup for a Major League game, the latest insult to the paying customers who come to Fenway Park in jerseys commemorating deceased stars from a bygone era named Betts, Bogaerts and Martinez .