The odds of making the playoffs were always low for the Boston Red Sox entering the 2023 MLB season. The team lost Xander Bogaerts in free agency, Trevor Story started on the 60-day injured list, and the starting pitching was always going to be a question mark. Plus, a stacked AL East further put Boston at a disadvantage.
After the 162-game campaign, these predictions proved to be accurate. Boston finished at 78-84 — last place in the division and a full 23 games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles. Starting pitching proved to be a real struggle. Boston starters finished with an ERA of 4.68 (22nd in MLB) and no Red Sox pitcher who made at least five starts this year had an ERA under 4.00.
After a third last-place finish in four seasons, these are the Red Sox players most to blame for a disappointing campaign.
Corey Kluber
After dealing with a slew of injuries, Corey Kluber stayed healthy for an entire season in 2022 for the first time since 2018. He had a respectable 4.34 ERA with the Rays last year and even led the Majors in walk rate. Kluber's performance earned him a one-year, $10 million contract with the Red Sox this year. But the two-time AL Cy Young winner's ERA ballooned to an ugly 7.04 this year as his walk rate nearly tripled.
His expected ERA of 6.20 shows that this decline was hardly a fluke. Kluber's fastball run value was a measly -16 runs, placing him in the third percentile among MLB pitchers, while his 2.8 home runs given up per nine innings would have been the worst in the league if he qualified.
The team mercifully yanked him from the starting rotation in June, but not before he lost six games for the Red Sox and did not record a quality start. He would miss the last three months of the season with shoulder inflammation.
Trevor Story
While it feels a bit harsh to blame an injured Trevor Story for Boston's shortcomings on the field, your highest-paid player for most of the season is a huge blow. Story signed a six-year, $140 million deal with the Sox before the 2022 season and has only played in 137 games in two years with the club. This year, off-season elbow surgery kept the former Colorado Rockie out until early August and the shortstop never really got going. Story finished with an OPS of .566 in 43 games — easily the lowest of his career — managing just 12 extra-base hits in 168 plate appearances and barely batting above the Mendoza Line (he hit .203).
The injuries were not his fault, but at least some of Boston's struggles this season can be attributed to the four months it played without its star shortstop.
Tanner Houck
Coming off a year in which he had a 3.15 ERA in 60 innings in a long relief role, Red Sox fans hoped Tanner Houck would be just as successful in the starting rotation. Instead, Houck finished the season with a 5.01 ERA as opponents batted above .300 on his sinker, splitter, and four-seam fastball. Boston will need more from Tanner Houck in 2024 in his second full season in the starting rotation.
Kike Hernandez
Like Corey Kluber, Kike Hernandez signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Red Sox in the off-season only to have a disappointing year. Hernandez had a .599 OPS in 86 games for Boston before the club traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he suddenly had an offensive awakening and saw his OPS jump to .733.
His -0.6 WAR was also second-worst on the team — only trailing Kluber — and was heavily influenced by his poor fielding. Hernandez was worth -6 Defensive Runs Saved Above Average at the shortstop position for the Sox, then suddenly played slightly above averaged defense for the Dodgers.
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