With less than a month until spring training, the Red Sox have addressed several of their offseason needs and continue to explore ways to improve the roster. But what, exactly, has been missing? What prevented the Red Sox from going the distance last season? And are there clear ways to get them to the postseason this year?

The Herald’s Red Sox beat writers, Gabrielle Starr and Mac Cerullo, discuss.

1. Clutch issues

Gabrielle Starr: With the roster beginning to take shape, it’s time to delve a little deeper into some of the collective issues lurking under the surface. For starters, they need to get on base more. The Red Sox and Astros were the only two teams without a grand slam last season, but Boston’s 109 grand slam chances were sixth-fewest in the Majors. In general, they need to create more scoring opportunities for themselves.

Mac Cerullo: The funny thing is they were usually good at getting on-base. They were tied for eighth in MLB with a .319 OBP, which is fine, but they also hit .247 with a .417 slugging percentage with runners in scoring position. With two outs and the bases loaded, they only slugged .278. That’s not going to cut it.

GS: In the words of the legendary Dennis Eckersley, “Yuck.” Getting on base more is Step 1, but a big issue last year was what the Sox did, or rather didn’t do, when they had men on.

2. Empty at bats

GS: Forget hitting salamis, they had difficulty just moving guys around the diamond; the Red Sox had the second-most productive-out opportunities in the majors, but were below league-average in productive-out rate. They left 1,116 men on base, which was fifth most.

MC: They also had the third most strikeouts (1,570) and third-worst strikeout rate (25.4%) in baseball, along with a below average walk rate. It also seems like they just always had bad timing, which is one of the reasons why Tyler O’Neill led the team with 31 home runs but only had 61 RBI. Twenty of his homers were solo shots, which is wild.

GS: Exactly. With runners in scoring position, O’Neill hit eight homers and struck out 37 times. In an ideal scenario, the Red Sox replace that bat power, and with added clutchness.

3. Flailing at Fenway

GS: We definitely saw a need for more clutch hitting at Fenway, where the Sox were 38-43 and outscored 397-366. Fenway used to be the ultimate home-field advantage, but that hasn’t been the case in recent years; the Sox have posted losing records at home two years in a row, and have only outscored visitors once in the last five seasons (2021).

MC: This is really where the lack of consistent right-handed hitting has hurt them the most. Ideally the Red Sox lineup would lean righty to better take advantage of the short left-field dimensions. That’s what the Houston Astros have always done, loading up with righties to pop fly balls into the Crawford Boxes at Minute Maid Park (I guess it’s called Daikin Park now?) The Red Sox have effectively done the opposite, relying on the left-handers to go the opposite way to take full advantage of the Green Monster. When they do, the offense gets going. But when they don’t, it goes in the tank, which we’ve seen for long stretches over the past few years.

GS: It really drives home the need for more righties in the lineup, pun intended. But between trading Mookie Betts, a bunch of last-place and postseason-less finishes, and the low payrolls, there haven’t been too many people coming to watch the Red Sox fail at Fenway.

4. Nobody’s home

GS: Fenway’s decade-long sellout streak ended in 2013, but it’s truly felt like another lifetime with how many empty seats there have been in recent years. 2022 was their lowest home-attendance since 2001, before current ownership bought the club. Attendance was about 40,000 higher in ‘23, then dropped again in ‘24. Boston ranked 10th in attendance last year. Chalk some of that up to the ballpark’s capacity (third-smallest in MLB), and the fact that it’s the most expensive ticket in the game, but that never used to stop people from coming, did it?

MC: The vibes around the Red Sox have just been bad for six years now. Ever since Mookie Betts was traded the fanbase has been so cynical, and with good reason. You see it just like I do, whenever we tweet something about the Red Sox we always get some kind of sarcastic response. Sure, that’s social media, but the fanbase isn’t bought in the way it once was, and that’s had an effect on the gameday atmosphere. Which is a shame because when the crowd is locked in at Fenway, it’s a totally different ballgame.

5. Finish strong

MC: Among the reasons people have checked out is because over the past three years the club hasn’t played well down the stretch. The games just haven’t mattered in September, and a big reason why is because every year the pitching staff burns out and the club kind of fades throughout August. The Red Sox have made a concerted effort to shore up the staff this offseason, but at this point it’s really going to be a “we’ll believe it when we see it” kind of thing, right?

GS: Absolutely. Going 8-19 in September doesn’t cut it, especially in Boston. ‘Field of Dreams’ really gave the sports world a timeless pearl of wisdom: if you build it, people will come. The Red Sox have been rebuilding and building for most of the last half-decade, but now it’s time for them to show up and give fans a reason to come home again.