24-year old lefty swinging RF Josh Reddick was ripping the baseball for the Red Sox until August. Reddick has played in 26 games for the Red Sox so far in August and he is 15 for 73 (.205 avg, .585 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 2 homers and 5 RBIs. He has now played in 65 games for the Red Sox this year and he is 54 for 191 (.283 avg, .803 OPS) with 33 runs scored, 6 homers, 26 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The pitchers have made adjustments to Reddick, so he better make some changes or he will likely start losing P.T. J.D. Drew has recently started a rehab assignment, so Reddick better get hot.

32-year old righty swinging outfielder appeared to break through in the majors last year for the Red Sox. McDonald played in 117 games for the Red Sox last year and he was 86 for 319 (.270 avg, .766 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 9 homers, 34 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. McDonald earned himself a slot on the 2011 Red Sox based on his play in 2010. But, he has regressed big time in what likely could be his last year in Boston. McDonald has played in 54 games for the Red Sox so far this year and he is 17 for 100 (.170 avg, .609 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 4 homers, 16 RBIs and 2 stolen bases.

The Red Sox signed 29-year old lefty swinging LF Carl Crawford to a 7-year, $142 million dollar deal over the winter. It seemed like a nice deal for both Crawford and the Red Sox. Crawford came into this season with a career batting average of .296 with a .781 OPS. He also averaged 92.8 runs scored, 12.8 homers, 70.3 RBIs and 50 stolen bases over his previous 8 years. Crawford has looked nothing like the player he was in Tampa so far this year for the Red Sox. Crawford has played in 66 games for the Red Sox so far this year and he is 63 for 262 (.240 avg, .654 OPS) with 33 runs scored, 6 homers, 31 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. While his batting average this season is hard to fathom, his 8 stolen bases is totally baffling. He just doesn’t look comfortable in Boston and as long as he continues pressing, he just isn’t going to help the Red Sox one bit.

26-year old switch-hitting Jarrod Saltalamacchia and 39-year old switch-hitting Jason Varitek have been awful both offensively and defensively for the Red Sox so far this year. Saltalamacchia has played in 12 games for the Red Sox so far this year and he is 7 for 36 (.194 avg, .479 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 5 RBIs. He has already whiffed 13 times this year while only walking only 2 times as he is showing almost no plate discipline. Jason Varitek has been even worse. Varitek has played in 9 games for the Red Sox so far this year and he is 1 for 23 (.043 avg, .229 OPS) without any runs scored or RBIs. He has also whiffed 9 times already this year as he has looked helpless with a bat in his hands. The Red Sox will likely be scouring the trade market for a catcher pretty soon unless one of these guys starts hitting.

Starting LF Carl Crawford was supposed to give the Red Sox a nice jolt at the top of the lineup with his speed. But, that hasn’t been the case so far as he’s finding out that it’s impossible to steal 1B. Crawford has played in 11 games for the Red Sox so far this year and he is 7 for 46 (.152 avg, .378 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 0 homers, 1 RBI and 2 stolen bases. He’s going to wish he never signed with the Red Sox if he doesn’t start hitting soon, as the Fenway Faithful are not good with dealing with guys who aren’t producing. I think Crawford will be fine as he’s too good of a hitter to keep this up much longer.