How about an All Star break first half assessment.

The bullpen worries me more than anything, including 3B and Hanley. There just aren't any guys other than Kimbrel that I'm comfortable will continue to be good and even he is likely to regress a little. Kelly and Abad's xFIP are significantly higher than their ERAs. I was counting on Thornburg and Carson Smith coming back, but Thornburg is out and now Smith is having shoulder issues. We have no reliable LHP out there.

And as we all have noticed, bullpens win and lose playoff games.

B+ is about right - none of us knew the impact of Ortiz retirement - it turned out to be pretty significant, not only in offense, but leadership. Hanley just can't fit his shoes at all, in any way. 

Hell of a season so far. I did not expect them to be this good at all! Maybe my expectations were too low.

The pen in particular has really surpassed my expectations. Kimbrel is pitching better than ever. Kelly, Barnes and Hembree have all moved up a peg on the leverage totem pole. Robby Scott is death to lefties. Boyer has even been useful.

.111/.256/.229 against, with a delivery that seems naturally tough on LHH. I'll take it.

I generally agree, with the caveat that I honk having Sale as a #1 makes them that much more likely to win even a short series. Going up 1-0, or pitching game 5, has its advantages. If 2016 Porcello and the real David Price show up, they're that much tougher. I wanna see another lights-out relief arm (I still contend that Callahan and Buttrey should be tried out before making a move), but their SP, excellent defense, and good team baserunning gives them a shot.

Edit: while I do "honk" it, I think it as well

The Red Sox have turned out better than expected although I sometimes can't tell if the Red Sox are a really good team or simply the best of a bad lot as in Houston has been great and everybody else relatively mediocre and the Sox are the best of that lot.

I hope it's the latter.

The pitching has been relatively good as they are leading the league in ERA thanks to Sale and Kimbrel. They've both earned an A+.

The pitching beyond them has been decent although the hope is there that they can finally have their pitching intact. If David Price continues to pitch as he has and Porcello pitches like he has recently that would make the Sox rotation stacked, especially when you consider that E-Rod was their #2 starter before he tweaked his knee and that Pomeranz, after a start in which he was killing the pen, has now emerged as the 2nd best pitcher in the rotation while E-Rod was away.

So if E-Rod gets back to what he was, Pomeranz continues as he has been while incorporating the cutter, Price and Porcello pitch more like 2016 and Sale is Sale, that's the best rotation in the league hands down and better yet, between Fister, Johnson, and Velazquez they should have enough quality depth in case injuries do strike.

I'd give the rotation a solid B with a chance that it can become an A rotation.

The bullpen has surprised me thus far. Kimbrel has pitched like it's 2012 or 2013. He's been virtually unhittable and his control has been impeccable.

Sunday aside, Joe Kelly has pitched very well for the Sox and is their 2nd best pen guy. Barnes has had his ups and downs, but all in all he's reasonably effective although I think he's better for 2 inning stints rather than the 8th inning setup role that Farrell has tried to force feed him into. Barnes has been too wild to be a consistent #2 guy out of the pen.

Hembree has had his ups and downs too, but like Barnes, he's been decent. He's been the middle guy for long stints who has had issues with the HR ball. The rest of the crew has been surprisingly decent. Blayne Boyer has been pretty useful and has given them some good middle relief work while Scott and Abad have been reasonably good this year, although Scott has struggled with his control lately and might find himself back down in Pawtucket at some point. I'd guess that would happen when E-Rod returns and Fister moves to the pen.

I'd say the pen has been a solid B+ overall, but I do worry that if things stay status quo, the pen will have issues in the 2nd half. If the starters can pitch as they are capable that could mitigate some of the issues so that they're not overextended, but frankly in a post-season I'd be very concerned about the bridge leading to Kimbrel.

I think the Sox need a fireman type who could double as the 8th inning guy ideally. The Red Sox have a lot of "could be useful" types in AAA and already on the roster. It would be nice if they could consolidate some of them into some sort of deal to get a guy who is having a great year, somebody like a Pat Neshek. I would think in the post-season Pomeranz could provide help as the main lefty out of the pen.

The offense, in my opinion, is a C. The Sox play at Fenway Park where they should be leading the league in doubles and be toward the top of the runs scored area, but after being a juggernaut offense last year, they clearly miss Big Papi, but have been getting killed at 3b and are experiencing a huge down year from Ramirez and need Pedroia to provide a little more pop.

Moreland and Vazquez have hit better than expected, but I don't expect them to hit as well going forward. Bradley might have some slippage as the year rolls on, but they need Xander to hit with more pop, and they need monster second halves, like last year, from Betts and Hanley. I'm sure they'll get it from Betts, but if Hanley isn't healthy, it's more unlikely that he breaks out, and they need him, too. Hopefully Benintendi can really break out, but that might be more likely to happen next year. The middle of the order isn't that fearsome, and the lack of power prevents the Sox from having a well balanced offense.

Way too many times they'll hit for a day or two or three, and then they'll alternate leaving guys on/hit into DPs with not hitting at all.

I like how Lin has played thus far, but I can't shake the feeling that he might go in a deal for a 3b. Frazier, I think, fits what the Red Sox need, a bopper in the lineup. It's an element they lack.

I'd give Farrell a B-. His game strategy is mind boggling to be kind. For the most part he handles his pitchers ok, and he's gotten as much as he can from that pen. I don't see a team that's really together in that 2004/2013 comradery sense, but given that the Sox are in first place, you have to give him some credit for that.

Dombrowski, for 2017, looks good with the exception of the Shaw plus/Thornburg deal. If Shaw had resembled the consistent masher that he's been with the Brewers, he wouldn't have been dealt, and if Thornburg had been healthy, and pitched like he did with the Brewers, the Sox wouldn't still be looking for the 8th inning guy, and not having Smith around makes that tougher.

The Sale trade looks fantastic, although despite the warts in Moncada and Kopech's game, I do believe the White Sox will get some excellent value out of those two. He paid the going rate for Sale and it seems like a wise decision, at least for 2017.

Right now the Pomeranz deal looks good as it looks like a good starter for a kid whose career is in question now that he has elbow issues. The results of this deal might work out alright, but I certainly didn't like the concept behind the deal. Maybe he gets away with this one just fine. At least in 2017 it appears that way. If Espinoza gets healthy and develops on the path that he was following, then the view of the trade could revert back in a hurry.

The Kimbrel deal is looking great right now. Margot has potential but he's been ordinary, and nobody else has come up yet, although Logan Allen has the potential to swing that deal widely into the Pads' favor, but like the Sale deal it might be one of those deals where everybody benefits and gets what they wanted, which isn't a bad thing, as long as Allen doesn't become Lester version 2.

With a lot more home games than road games, things bode well for the Sox, although I do worry they could stumble hard against the Yankees coming out of the gate in the 2nd half, as for some reason (HR advantage?) the Yankees have been knocking the Sox around. I think the Red Sox have what it takes to win the division, although it wouldn't shock me if they lost it in a close race.

I think they can get farther than last year, but after getting swept by Cleveland, that's not saying much. There's a shot they have a rematch against Cleveland. Maybe this time, with less expectation of winning, they could surprise, and if they do, it wouldn't shock me to see Houston let down in the post-season. I think things are pretty wide open this year.

I wonder if it is worth kicking the tires on Brentz again - having quite a year in Pawtucket (esp recently)