Well, we're halfway (+1 game) through the season and like the last two years it's been another great start with the team on pace to win 115 games and looking like the best team in baseball at the moment.
We're #1 or near #1 in most hitting and pitching categories, except HRs as this is a team of good hitters, not necessarily sluggers and isn't reliant on the longball to score runs. With Devers and Bohm in the lineup in place of Toro and Choi/Gallo, we've traded walks for hits as evidenced by the fairly low team walk totals but it's just a different way of scoring runs as the team OBP of .356 is still the AL's best. The starting rotation has been the best in the AL this year and the 3rd place in bullpen ERA does show up the one weakness - after the big 3 of Alvarado, Anderson and Will Smith, the secondary pieces in the pen have been very inconsistent (Barlow, Ashby, McClanahan, Franklin, Jimenez). If a deal for this year is going to be made before the deadline (sorry, no big rentals coming in this deadline unlike the last 2 seasons as we don't need them and there isn't anyone on the level of Baez, Gallo or Josh Bell as a pending FA) it's going to be to upgrade the pen. The team defense remains much better as the aforementioned Devers and Bohm are upgrades with the glove over last year's guys. The division is pretty much locked up barring a complete collapse so it's a matter of keeping everyone healthy and fine-tuning a few things. Here are the grades by position:
C: Keibert Ruiz (A), Ronaldo Hernandez (A-). Ruiz continued to hit for average but the power was missing most of the year until he went on a recent HR tear. Ronaldo continues to be super productive playing every 4th-5th day and probably deserves an everyday job but it's not happening on this team.
1B: Alec Bohm (B+). Bohm's .272-18-56 is pretty good for a half season. He's never going to make the trade for Nate Lowe a winner for us after how Lowe turned out in Philly but at least he's no longer miscast as a 3B and has been very productive, albeit streaky.
2B: Vidal Brujan (A). 312/394/435 is a great slash line for your leadoff man and he has 19 steals to go with it. He's been super dependable and his penchant for infield hits keeps him from slumps. Xavier Edwards, called up about a month into the season by KC, has been 316/425/415 so far in his rookie season so these guys really were two peas in a pod. Bannon and Barlow haven't been the contributors I hoped from that trade but the big piece remains Spencer Torkelson, who has 21 HR at Durham right now and that's after only hitting 1 in his last 20 games or so.
SS: Wander Franco (A+) Wander is on pace for 7.6 WAR so that kind of speaks for itself and he's rediscovered his power stroke over the last month. Gotta get him extended this winter.
3B: Rafael Devers (B+). Devers is .307-12-59, doing maybe a little bit less than his normal thing but he's still Rafael Devers. The problem in his case, of course, is that Abraham Toro has taken it to the next level in Boston and has outplayed Devers so that trade is looking dicey at the moment. Obviously had I known Toro would take the kind of leap he has the deal wouldn't have been made.
LF: Austin Meadows (B+). A B+ for a 307/378/602 line might seem a bit stingy, but this is Austin Meadows we're talking about it and I'm expecting a bigger second half as long as his health isn't an issue.
CF: Brandon Marsh (A). Marsh is on pace for 5.6 WAR and is a star in the making. His triple slash is 292/376/496 and although I feared a platoon issue with him, he's hit lefties just about as consistently and has solidified an everyday spot.
RF: Max Kepler (C+). Max has been the weak link in the lineup against righties (he's been terrible against lefties so he sits) as 232/343/389 with 7 HR isn't really getting it done and if he doesn't pick it up soon Yusniel Diaz might get some starts against righties in his place as may Alex Kirilloff when he's back later in July as well. I gave him the C+ instead of the C because for what it's worth it seems when he does get a HR or a hit it's often a big one. Max will be traded or non-tendered in the offseason as I really have no desire to pick up the $10-11M or so team option.
DH: Seth Beer (B): Beer's 245/360/480 with 12 HR in 200 AB so he's getting it done, just not spectacularly. He gets on base, which is helpful in this offense but I would like to see a few more HRs and a few more hits to maybe get that BA closer to 260 and OBP to 375. With the hitters in the pipeline (and Kirilloff) his job isn't 100% secure but he's mostly been who we thought he'd be.
Bench (B-). Not counting Ronaldo, the primary bench has been Yusniel Diaz, Rylan Bannon and Triston Casas. The first two were off to largely dreadful starts but have hit well lately, while Casas has been productive the times he's been given a chance but Beer and Bohm haven't shown the need for replacement much so ABs have been tough to come by. I just hope I'm not stunting his growth.
Rotation: (A-) As you see from the stats above, I really have no complaints about the rotation. Syndergaard hasn't been as ace-like as I'd hoped but still is getting the job done, Glasnow has been the best pitcher on the staff after missing a few weeks early, Paddack is consistent and Fried hasn't been consistent but has had enough brilliant games to overcome the stinkers that it evens out for him too. Daniel Lynch is probably an upgrade on the injured Joe Ryan but the jury is out on that one as he's about 2 1/2 for 4 in his starts so far. If Lynch falters, the newly-acquired Dustin May could be up in his place, but we are talking about a guy who's ERA for the season is still 2.13 so I'm not going to freak out over one mediocre start and one bad one.
Bullpen (B-). This is an average of the A- the big 3 of Alvarado/Anderson/Smith get and the C- the rest of the batch get. Anyone reading along knows what an adventure Barlow, Ashby and Jimenez have been, and McClanahan seems to only pitch well in the middle innings and not in the later ones. Not going to bag on Austin Franklin as he's done well about as hoped as the 13th man. Barlow in particular has been my biggest bete noire although Ashby hasn't given me the extra shutdown lefty I thought I might be getting.