Half Way Into the Season With Half Way to Go

And here we are at the true half-way mark with the Sox 40-41 and 4 game out of the last Wild Card.

What do all y'all think? I'll go first since I'm starting this thread.

Despite my criticism of Bloom and the Front Office in the last couple years, I still think this team has a chance to gel and make a run. I hope they put one together and are buyers at the deadline. But to get there, they have to fix a couple holes now - SS defense and a couple non-hitters in the line-up - now:

1) Infield defense, especially SS and Second. Specifically:

Based on outs above average, the Sox have had the fifth-worst defense at shortstop and are second worst at second base.

In terms of traditional statistics, the Sox have committed 27 errors at those two positions, the most in the league. The Pirates have 22.

My solution is to send Hamilton down and bring up Rafaela immediately. His charge will be to lock down the position until Chang is fully healthy or Story is ready. Tell him this is all about defense. If you hit, great, but your job is to settle down the infield. Then put Arroyo or Kiké at Second and make a decision with the guy left out - my preference is to either trade or DFA him. Duran is your CF, Yoshida is your LF. An ideal alignment would be Kiké in CF, Duran (and maybe Duvall vs. LHP) in LF and Yoshida as your DH, but there's Turner, who has been productive. So one of Arroyo or Kiké should either be a bench player or moved.

2. They need a starter. Duh. The bullpen games are... well, bullpen games, and virtually a guaranteed loss in any of two ways: It's a W in the books, but they've burned out the bullpen, and someone has to go down and sub-standard arm or two has to come up; or, all of that and it's an L in the books. Not sure what Houck's timeline is, but if they don't see him wanting to pitch with a faceplate soon after the All Star break, then go get an arm. This is a trade deadline move if Houck can't go, and Sale looks like he's not til Sept or later.

3. The Duvall black hole. Amazing first 8 games. Since then, he's been sub-replacement level and shows no signs of returning to career averages. His numbers since returning are brutal, and he's had more PAs than he had all the spring to get his timing back. If he's in the order, he should probably be batting 8th or 9th. My preference would be to either mandate to Cora that he only plays vs. lefties and only in LF or move him off the roster, either by a trade - if anyone wants him - or DFA.

4. And these are minor:

A) Get a defensive first baseman for late innings in games where the Sox are close or ahead. Casas has shown us Kevin Millar-level first base skills (if that) in too many instances. It's cost them games, especially late. Find a AAA wizard with the glove and stick him on the bench for just that.

B) Winckowski in June is not the Winckowski we saw in April-May. He's the Winckowski we saw last year. They either need to fix that or find another 7th-8th inning guy. This could be internal, as Rodriguez could be ready soon.

c) Can they do a PowerPoint or a puppet show or interpretive dance for Devers on what the strike zone is vs. what it isn't? OK, I'm being glib here, but the guy's been in the league 6+ years. He's had long streaks where he actually seems to get it, but this year he looks like he did in 2020. I wish there were a solution, especially because he does know better. Pedroia has become renowned as sort of a batting/approach guru, and Devers respects him. Maybe fly him in for a couple days to work with Rafi. I'm grasping at straws, but he's the only player on the team (except maybe a healthy Sale) who projects as a 60-level player. As he goes, the offense seems to go. He needs to own that.