NEW YORK - If you're wondering how the last-place Red Sox really feel about their woeful 6-11 start, you got your answer around 1 p.m.
That's when news broke (courtesy of WEEI's Evan Drellich) that the team had finally ended Blake Swihart's misery and designated the perpetually available catcher/left fielder/scapegoat for assignment, replacing him with stout backup Sandy Leon.
And just like that, the team's "we'll be fine" rhetoric was revealed as the wishful thinking we could all see it to be, especially after the lifeless 8-1 loss to the Orioles on Monday, which completed a missed opportunity of a 3-3 homestand against the bottom-dwelling O's and Blue Jays.
After Monday's matinee, president of baseball operations Dombrowski huddled with manager Alex Cora and the coaching staff for 90 minutes, taking advantage of a window that opened when rain delayed the team's departure for the airport. They emerged from the meeting recognizing that changes needed to be made, and they started at catcher, ditching the defensively deficient Swihart in favor of Leon, an impeccable game-caller who just happens to be an offensive zero.
That's a tradeoff the Red Sox are willing to make, because their pitching staff is a disaster, beginning with the Tuesday starter, ace Chris Sale. He'll throw to Leon in Yankee Stadium in the hopes of rediscovering last year's chemistry, which saw Sale post a 2.04 ERA with Leon, compared to 9.00 without him in 2019.
If the issues plaguing one of baseball's worst rotations were as simple as an exchange of backup catchers, however, the Red Sox would've made the move a week ago. Their problems run so much deeper than who's behind the plate, it's almost a joke that this is their first step. It's like addressing a leaky roof by upgrading to a fancier bucket.
"Really, when you start looking at our club, you say, well what facet of your club is playing really well, and we're really not playing very well anywhere," Dombrowski said. "Our starting pitching hasn't been very good, our defense hasn't been overly good, our hitting hasn't been like it's been capable of being. So, we've just had a tough start really, is what it comes down to."
While there's something unseemly about the optics of ditching Swihart -- Dombrowski insisted no one was blaming him for the bad start -- opening the season with him on the roster never made a ton of sense. Leon is the best defensive catcher in the organization, and Monday's swap felt inevitable from Opening Day. Dombrowski acknowledged that the decision to keep
Swihart was not unanimously supported, and added that he has unsuccessfully tried to trade Swihart since the start of last spring training.
Boston Red Sox
Find the latest Boston Red Sox news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Boston.
Clearly, the youngster had no future in Boston, but the Red Sox stubbornly stashed him in baseball purgatory, admitting that he needed consistent playing time to develop, but refusing to give it to him.
And so Leon returns, and if anyone expects him to fix the rotation, they're imbuing him with powers he lacks. It's also worth noting that he was hitting just .120 (3-for-25) in Pawtucket.
"Obviously, I told Sandy, 'Don't feel like you have to come here and be the savior,' " said Cora. "It doesn't work that way. But there's a comfort level, we know what he's done the past few years. Nothing against Blake obviously, you know how we feel about him, too. It's one of those baseball decisions."
It's hard to single out one trouble spot, though clearly, the starting rotation is a primary concern, which is why Leon has returned. That said, six legitimate contributors to last year's title are hitting below .200, including ALCS MVP Jackie Bradley Jr. and World Series MVP Steve Pearce. The overall staff ERA of 5.93 ranks 13th in the American League. The defense's 15 errors rank 12th.
"We're healthy and not playing good baseball, every aspect of the game – pitching, offense, defense, baserunning," Cora said. "It's on us to play better. If we do that, we're one of the best teams in the big leagues, if not the best. But at the same time, right now, we're not.
"It's pretty simple: Get better at everything."
That doesn't sound particularly simple to me. If it were, a swap of backup catchers might actually be enough to fix it.
Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.