The Red Sox, for all of their flaws (of which there are plenty), have a really solid core for their lineup. In Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, Alex Verdugo, and Christian Vázquez, they have more than half of their lineup written in with pen with expectations that they should be safely better than average at the plate relative to their positions. That’s also four spots — we’ll take Verdugo out of the conversation at this point — where they have a player penned in at a specific position on nearly a daily basis. There will be days off and minor tweaks, of course, but generally speaking Bogaerts and Devers will man the left side of the infield, Vázquez will be behind the plate, and Martinez will be the team’s DH.
Alex Cora has almost limitless possibilities with lineup configurations
