Red Sox Panic Meter: How Much to Worry About Ranger Suárez, Others

The Boston Red Sox have a bunch of players underperforming through four games, but the newcomers seem to be going through it the worst.

Monday night's 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Houston Astros dropped the Red Sox to 1-3. The offense has been lifeless, and Ranger Suárez's rough debut on the mound showed that building a roster on starting pitching doesn't guarantee excellence from the rotation every night.

The reality is that the season is barely 2% over, so it's certainly not time to freak out. But Red Sox fans aren't thrilled by what they've seen from most of the important additions this offseason, so how much real concern is there cause for?

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Ranger Suárez panic meter: 4/10

The only reason we're not putting this number lower is that Suárez got roughed up in spring training and the World Baseball Classic before he set foot on the Daikin Park mound on Monday. He's been continually victimized by the home run ball, something he was outstanding at preventing in Philadelphia.

You trust a veteran with Suárez's track record to figure things out, but it doesn't help matters that the other two newcomers, Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo, also looked flat in their first outings for this new-look pitching staff.

Caleb Durbin panic meter: 3/10

Durbin is 0-for-14 as a Red Sox and has made a bunch of killer outs, not to mention his error on defense in the season opener. He was also removed for pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida in the seventh inning on Monday night with the game's tying run on deck.

If Durbin went four games in a row without a hit in June, though, no one would bat an eyelash. It's a classic case of overreacting to a small sample size, and the only real concern would come into play if Durbin can't seem to shake the pressure of joining a big-market team for the first time.

“Definitely not lost up there by any means,” Durbin said Monday, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. “It’s just have to make the adjustment and figure it out.”

Willson Contreras panic meter: 1/10

Contreras has been such a consistent hitter in his 11-year career that it should be illegal to worry at this stage. He's 1-for-13 so far, but has taken four walks and hit some balls right on the button directly at shortstops.

The Red Sox need Contreras to supply some power, but at various points throughout the next 158 games, they should remain confident that will happen.