Former Brewer Caleb Durbin is somehow becoming a representation of Red Sox’ misguided quest for more power

While the Milwaukee Brewers are turning their attention to a NLCS rematch against the Los Angeles Dodgers, it's impossible not to look at the landscape around the league and notice that the rest of baseball is kind of in a rut.

In the American League, one of the 84-win Chicago White Sox or 85-win Cleveland Guardians will take a spot in the ALCS against the Rays. The rest of the playoff bracket (Yankees, Red Sox, and Astros) hardly put up a fight.

Now, it's impossible to generalize why so many teams looked lifeless this October, but a big part of it is surely poor roster construction. The Brewers are perhaps the single-best team in the league at building cohesive groups of players that complement each other's strengths and cover weaknesses. Other organizations often have some type of fatal flaw that forces them to overextend the talents of the players they have.

Take, for example, what the Red Sox are trying to do with Caleb Durbin right now:

Brewers' roster-building genius on full display as Red Sox try to overhaul Caleb Durbin's game

As Brewers fans know well, Durbin is at his best when he is trying to play small-ball. He has tremendous plate discipline and an uncanny ability to put his bat on the ball when it's anywhere near the zone, leading to elevated contact rates and solid on-base percentages. Combined with his elite defense at the hot corner and intelligent brand of baserunning, he becomes a valuable player thanks to his all-around contributions.

What Durbin is not, however, is a power hitter. Even with the benefit of the Green Monster this year, he still only managed to hit 13 home runs. His bat speed is minimal, his exit velocities are low, and he rarely barrels the ball up. Asking him to start adding that to his game to cover up for a team-wide weakness is simply inviting further trouble down the line.

Alas, the Red Sox are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Their myriad of top prospects and trade efforts in recent years haven't yielded a ton of star power in the lineup, leaving them without the thump to make sustained runs in the playoffs. On a better team, Durbin's contributions would be a welcomed change of pace that adds to the overall flow of a lineup; in Boston, he doesn't fit the archetype of player they desperately need right now.

The Brewers, meanwhile, didn't even have to use Kyle Harrison or Shane Drohan once in their NLDS victory, instead reaching into their ample pitching depth to target specific matchups against the Padres. Some rosters are just built different than others, it seems.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow