Uh-oh, we could have a problem on our hands.
The Positives
Defense matters, man. It matters a lot. If there was anyone questioning that concept coming into the season, then the doomed Kiké Hernandez experiment put an end to that pretty quickly. The 2023 Red Sox were the worst defensive team I’ve ever seen, and while there were issues all over the diamond, it was the hole at shortstop that caused the biggest problems, putting further pressure on Rafael Devers and Triston Casas, and starting a cascade of defensive ineptitude that seemed to affect just about everyone other than Connor Wong and Alex Verdugo.