Early Grades for Boston Red Sox's Offseason Acquisitions

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Note the key word in the headline: early. Think of this as first quarter interim grades for Boston Red Sox players. There is plenty of time for these new additions to improve their final marks, so this is just an assessment of their performance to this point. 

22 games into the season, general manager Ben Cherington's offseason splashes have made him look like both a genius and an imbecile. His offensive vision to revamp a sluggish lineup from a year ago has been wildly successful. The Red Sox rank second in runs among MLB teams after finishing 18th in 2014. The concern is it appears the GM's approach to the starting rotation created a giant asteroid that's set to destroy any hopes of a deep October run. 

Hanley Ramirez: A

The organization ponied up the big money for Hanley Ramirez's bat, and offensively he's been everything they could have hoped for and more.

He's tied for the MLB-lead with 10 home runs, the most ever by a Red Sox player in the month of April. Ramirez's 22 RBI is also tops in baseball and Cherington deserves credit for a signing that many were critical of because of Ramirez's injury history. There's still time for Hanley to succumb to one of his many ailments, but as of now it's been all roses.

So why is Ramirez only getting an A and not an A+ when he's been such a terror at the plate? The reason should be obvious to anyone who has watched him play defense. Pundits weren't kidding when they said Ramirez was going to be an adventure in left field. The constant misplays are embarrassing, and he's been far more damaging than his one official error would lead you to believe. 

FanGraphs had Ramirez with a -4.7 defensive rating entering Wednesday, the fourth-worst mark in all of baseball. Though the defensive missteps have been costly, there's something poetic about the Red Sox left fielder being named Ramirez, sporting blonde-tinted braids, being best friends with Big Papi, not being able to play a lick of defense and consistently crushing the ball a country mile. 

Then there is the comedic factor Ramirez provides with his helmet falling off at least three times every at-bat. It's not quite on par with Bartolo Colon batting GIFs, but it's added entertainment value that's appreciated in America's improving yet still lethargic pastime. It doesn't help or hurt his grade, but endearing oneself to the fanbase is a plus. 

Rick Porcello: C-

Just last week I said it was too early to panic over Rick Porcello's early-season struggles. After another uninspiring start against the Baltimore Orioles (four earned runs in six innings), Porcello answered the bell Wednesday night by tossing 7 innings of one-run ball.

It was the second time in five starts Porcello went deep into a game when the bullpen needed it most. Boston relievers were forced to pitch 15 innings the previous three games before Porcello's best start with the Red Sox. The sparkling effort lowered his ERA from 6.48 to 5.34. 

Even more encouraging for Porcello was that the gem came against the Toronto Blue Jays and their MLB-best offense. The 26-year-old found success with his slider for the first time since his team debut. Opposing batters were hitting .400 with three home runs versus Porcello's slider in his first four outings, according to FanGraphs, but against Toronto the pitch had the best late bite we've seen in 2015. He tallied a pair of first-inning strikeouts with the offering sweeping away from right-handed batters, including a befuddling swing from red-hot Josh Donaldson.

Home runs have been an issue for Porcello in the early going, as he allowed at least one long ball in each of his first four starts and a total of six homers in 2015. He snapped that streak against the Blue Jays and it's worth noting that his home run to fly ball ratio of 20.7 percent entering Wednesday's start is a level of futility hard to maintain. That should stabilize on its own over the course of a season, and perhaps his most recent outing was the beginning of that regression to the mean.

The bigger concern in my mind is the propensity at which Porcello is allowing the ball to be hit in the air. The one-time ground ball aficionado isn't eliciting grounders at the same rate as his prior years with the Detroit Tigers. His FanGraphs' ground ball percentage of 46.3 would be a career low and is a far cry from the 55.3 percent of grounders he induced in 2013.

In the compact hitters' parks of the AL East and with three other high-end offenses in the division, Porcello has to get back to his bread and butter and keep the ball down.

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

Pablo Sandoval: A 

I was admittedly skeptical of the presumed offensive spike for Pablo Sandoval in transitioning to Fenway Park. I thought there may be incremental improvement, but I didn't expect to see Kung Fu Panda batting .312 with a .398 on-base percentage (OBP) in the opening month. His .379 batting average on balls in play (BABIP) isn't sustainable, so the average is likely to dip as Sandoval accrues more plate appearances. 

As of now, though, the three-time world champion has been better than advertised.

Sandoval's displayed his notorious ability to be a bad-ball hitter and he's continued to do his most damage against opposing fastballs. He does have three errors, but a couple of strong plays with the glove has settled his FanGraphs' defensive rating a tick above average (0.1). If you want to quibble anywhere it's been the limited power, with just six of Sandoval's 24 hits going for extra bases (.442 slugging percentage). 

Justin Masterson: C+

This may seem like a generous grade for a guy with a 5.16 ERA and worrisome 1.32 WHIP through four starts. However, Masterson has essentially had one bad inning in the 22.2 he's pitched this season. He allowed six of his 13 earned runs on the season in a disastrous fifth inning against the Washington Nationals before mercifully being pulled with two outs.

Masterson is coming off a couple of solid outings against the high-powered Orioles offense, including a season-high seven innings his last start. Take away the meltdown against the Nats and Masterson's been effectively wild in his other 22 innings of work. His 3.54 fielding independent pitching (FIP) shows he's pitched better over the course of this season than his ERA would indicate.

One thing to continue to monitor during Masterson's starts is the radar gun. The lengthy right-hander has still yet to regain his velocity of years past, consistently sitting at 88 miles per hour with his fastball while the sinker has been regularly clocked at 86-87.

Masterson and John Farrell's comments to The Boston Herald make it clear that the decreased velocity isn't the result of any concerted effort to scale back and focus more on location and movement.

It'll be interesting to see if some of that velocity returns as the weather warms up. Masterson's approach is simple. "If it comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, you have to slice and dice with what you got. You really have to pitch."

Perhaps due to the fact that he's not popping the gun the way he once did, Masterson has turned to his slider more than ever (percentage-wise). According to FanGraphs' PITCHf/x, Masterson's slider has been his most-used pitch this season and it's had consistently great breaking action in all four outings. It was a highly effective pitch last year (.117 batting average against), but Masterson wasn't throwing enough strikes with his other offerings to feature it as much as he has this season. Another thing of note is that the 30-year-old's fourth offering, the changeup, appears to have been abandoned entirely. Masterson's yet to throw the pitch in 2015. 

Gretchen Ertl/Associated Press

Wade Miley: F

Wade Miley's 8.62 ERA and 1.79 WHIP are so ghastly that they should be accompanied by a parental advisory warning. Miley has been about as Jekyll and Hyde as possible this season—allowing two earned runs in 11 innings pitched in two of his starts, but then surrendering 13 earned runs in 4.2 innings combined in his other two outings. The left-hander himself labeled his performances against the Nationals and Orioles "embarrassing" when speaking to MassLive.com.

"I know I'm better than this and I'm not even giving us—both those games, I didn't give us a chance at all...I've got to do a better job."

Farrell cites command issues as his primary concern about Miley. The 28-year-old's 11 walks in 15.2 innings this season is evidence of that, but the pitches he's leaving over the middle of the plate aren't to be ignored. The latter was a common occurrence in his two nightmare outings of 2015 and those deep I-95 lineups made him pay. 

Aside from his wildness, the most head-scratching part of Miley's struggles is the ineffectiveness of his slider. It's been the lefty's best pitch since he implemented it in 2013, yet this season opponents are hitting .471 off his slider with five extra-base hits. Miley has allowed just one extra-base hit against his other four pitches combined this year.

Ryan Hanigan: B-

The .204 batting average is far from sterling, but Ryan Hanigan's high-quality .355 OBP is a better barometer of how he's contributed. In this high-powered offense the Red Sox aren't relying on Hanigan to produce anything. They simply want him to work pitchers and try to get on base. As long as the nine-year veteran can continue to draw walks at a good rate, he'll turn the lineup over and put the more talented hitters around him in better positions to drive in runs. 

The respected defensive catcher has also successfully provided stability behind the plate. Hanigan has yet to commit an error, and though he's only thrown out 25 percent of base stealers, that's never been his forte.

It may be hard to see the renowned pitch framer's impact with so many Boston starting pitchers getting lit up, but in the long haul that skill will help to limit the damage this shaky rotation can do. It would have been unrealistic to expect much more from a man thrust into primary backstop duties after a late Spring Training injury.

Alexi Ogando: A

Signing the 31-year-old Dominican was far from a lock. The Rangers had refused to pick up Alexi Ogando's modest option for $2.6 million because of concerns about his shoulder. The right-hander was also coming off an elbow injury that sidelined him for a large chunk of last season, adding to the uncertainty of whether he could ever be successful again.

However, Ogando has looked as sharp as ever to begin 2015. He's compiled a 2.89 ERA and a minuscule 0.86 WHIP in 9.1 innings pitched so far, with all runs he's allowed coming on a Chris Young three-run homer. After clocking in at 92 mph when the Red Sox took a flier on him in January, Ogando's regained his velocity as he's rebuilt arm strength. He's averaging 94 mph with his fastball and has touched 97, a good thing because he's relied almost primarily on the pitch this season. 

Anthony Varvaro: Cut

It was a rough week for Anthony Varvaro. If this were my article topic last week, he'd likely have gotten an A. At that time the right-hander's 1.17 ERA and five scoreless appearances made him look like an offseason steal.

Seven days later Varvaro was designated for assignment by the club, likely ending his tenure in Boston. In need of roster moves to bolster an overworked bullpen with fresh arms from the minors, Farrell opted to part with Varvaro rather than Edward Mujica. Varvaro had allowed four earned runs in his ensuing 3.1 innings before being DFA'd, but it's surprising to see him get the ax instead of Mujica. CSNNE's Sean McAdam reported over the weekend that Mujica was on thin ice and then the one-time closer proceeded to blow up in his next meaningful outing against the Blue Jays: three runs allowed on three hits, two walks and two balks in 1.1 innings pitched.

With better results in recent seasons, Varvaro would have seemed to be in a more favorable position. Perhaps Mujica's $4.75 million salary was the tiebreaker that made Boston decide to give him the extra chance over the December waiver-wire addition.

Note: Stats are courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com or FanGraphs unless otherwise noted. All prospect rankings courtesy of BaseballAmerica.com.