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.

There have been rumblings that the Twins, Rangers and Angels are holding talks with the Red Sox concerning 36-year old 3B/1B Mike Lowell. Lowell has played in 30 games for the Red Sox this year and he is 17 of 79 (.215 avg, .666 OPS) with 5 runs scored, 2 homers and 12 RBIs. Don’t let his struggles fool you as he has had a very productive career for the Red Sox. Lowell has now played in 569 games in his five years with the Red Sox and he is 615 of 2,105 (.292 avg, .823 OPS) with 275 runs scored, 77 homers, 360 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Personally I think that Lowell still has something left but he’s blocked in Boston for playing time and he’s not happy about it. I see Lowell getting traded soon but I don’t think the Red Sox will get much back in return for him.

With the way that David Ortiz is struggling at the plate it’s time to start only playing him against righty starting pitchers. He has played in 20 games this season for the Red Sox and he is 12 of 70 (.171 avg, .680 OPS) with 8 runs scored, 4 homers and 7 RBIs. Big Papi has looked helpless at times this season as he has already whiffed 25 times this year. The Red Sox should start Mike Lowell at DH against all lefty pitchers right now and maybe even more than that down the road if Ortiz continues to hit poorly. Lowell has played in 14 games for the Red Sox this season and he is 13 of 41 (.317 avg, .903 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homers and 9 RBIs. Lowell is hitting too well to be sitting on the bench for the Red Sox who are having problems scoring runs so far this year.

Starting RF J.D. Drew is off to a slow start for the Boston Red Sox this season. He has played in 7 games for the Red Sox this season and he is 4 for 22 (.182 avg, .536 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 2 RBIs. Drew needs to get the bat going because the Red Sox can’t afford both he and David Ortiz to be slumping at the same time. Jeremy Hermida is around this season for the Red Sox and he could start stealing at bats away from either Ortiz or Drew if they continue to struggle.