Danny Jansen can help the Red Sox behind the plate, but that wasn't the main reason why Boston acquired the veteran backstop.
Craig Breslow and company landed Jansen from the Toronto Blue Jays before the MLB trade deadline to address the club's need for a right-handed bat. The 29-year-old was projected to be a great fit for Fenway Park, where hard-hitting pull hitters typically thrive.
But the offensive production hasn't been there for Jansen, who logged a .204 average with five RBIs and only two extra-base hits through 19 games with Boston. The struggles prompted a pretty straightforward criticism from manager Alex Cora on Monday.
"He’s mishitting balls, not finishing at-bats," Cora told reporters before his team's road loss to the New York Mets, per The Boston Globe. "It's part of the grind, man. Right now, we're grinding as an offense. Jarren (Duran) is the only one that's consistent along with (Wilyer) Abreu. But besides that, right now as an offense, we're not doing those things."
It certainly was a rough Labor Day weekend offensively for the Red Sox, who only scored one run in each of their last three games. The trio of losses weren't too back-breaking, though, as Boston entered Tuesday 4 1/2 games back of the final American League wild-card spot.
Cora's club will try to get the bats going in the middle game of its series in Queens. NESN's full coverage of Tuesday's game begins at 6 p.m. ET.
