Boston Partners

Boston's World Series title defense hasn't gone quite as anyone anticipated, as the Red Sox have been outscored by the opposition and sit with a losing record on the outskirts of the playoff picture in the American League.

When Brock Holt does a pushup, he isn't lifting himself up: He's pushing the earth down.

Brock Holt doesn't call the wrong number. You answer the wrong phone.

Brock Holt does not sleep. He waits.

Sure, all these "facts" may originally have been attributed to Chuck Norris. But after an absurd start to the 2014 season, Holt is becoming a legend in his own right, serving as one of the lone bright spots for the Boston Red Sox this year.

The Boston Red Sox should make plenty of noise on July 2, the first day of the 2014-2015 international signing period.

The international signing phase is always difficult for teams, as they have to evaluate whether a 16-year-old player is worth a multimillion-dollar bonus. These players aren't even old enough to graduate high school and have years of physical maturation ahead of them. Further, these players are much less seasoned than the pool of talent available in the domestic draft due to age and other factors.

If the Boston Red Sox intend to make a playoff push in the second half of the season, they'll likely need to go after some outside help.  Below is a shopping list that may come in handy for the Red Sox as the trade deadline approaches:

1. Offense
2. More offense

To say that Boston is "offensively challenged" would be an understatement.

Year one of the Xander Bogaerts era at shortstop is not going as planned.

The world champion Boston Red Sox stumbled out of the gate this year, posting a 13-16 record through May 1.  Since then the Red Sox have won six of their last eight games and all three series they've played.

Now 19-18, Boston owns a winning record for the first time in nearly six weeks, and is only 1.5 games back of the division lead.

They say numbers never lie, and this also rings true for the 2014 Boston Red Sox. A maddeningly inconsistent but nonetheless exciting start to the season has left the Red Sox with plenty of reasons for both optimism and doubt moving forward as the weather warms up and players fully enter their regular-season grooves.

The Boston Red Sox are scuffling as the calendar turns to May, and Felix Doubront is becoming a poster boy for their struggles. Soon, he could be a part of a wave of changes for the team, as the Red Sox should think long and hard about replacing Doubront in the rotation if his inconsistency persists into late May and early June.

The Boston Red Sox enter Tuesday with a 12-14 record and a -15 run differential, tied for second worst in the American League. It’s a far cry from where the defending World Series champions expected to be at the end of April.

What can the Red Sox do to get back in first place instead of battling to stay out of the cellar?

The Boston Red Sox have begun 2014 with Felix Doubront as the No. 3 starter in their rotation.  After holding down the No. 5 spot the past two seasons, the 26-year-old is now entering his third full year in the big leagues.  Is the talented lefty finally ready to make the most of his potential?