From the best trade to the biggest disappointments, here are our Red Sox superlatives at the All-Star break

The Red Sox have won 14 of their last 16 games, and are coming off their first 9-0 road trip since Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, and Butch Hobson were walloping their way around the American League in the summer of 1977.

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It’s a lousy time for the All-Star break, with the Red Sox in the midst of a surge many, if not most of us did not expect to see this season. But it’s a super time for some superlatives.

Will recency bias — and their now-over-50-percent chance to make the playoffs, per baseball-reference.com — lead us to being more positive than we should be about a team with a 46-48 record.

Let’s find out!

Most pleasant surprise by a pitcher Yankees fans swore would fail here: Red Sox fans might want to sent a note, e-mail, or a fruit basket of thanks to Chaim Bloom, who as the Cardinals’ president of baseball operations has done a better job aiding the Red Sox major league roster than he did in his last couple of years here as Craig Breslow’s predecessor.

In separate trades in November and December, the Red Sox acquired Sonny Gray and Willson Contreras for a total return of pitchers Richard Fitts, Hunter Dobbins, Brandon Clarke, Blake Aida, Yhoiker Fajardo, and Patrick Galle. Contreras and Gray have been the Sox best hitter and pitcher so far this season.

Gray — who arrived with the reputation as someone who struggles in big markets after going 15-16 with a 4.51 ERA for the Yankees in 2017-18 — has been sensational, winning 11 of his 12 decisions with a 2.54 ERA. It’s ridiculous that he did not make the American League All-Star team given that he had a case to be the starter. Meanwhile, Contreras is mimicking what Manny Ramirez gave the Red Sox in his last years here, with 20 homers, a .921 OPS, and at least one goofy/bizarre/amusing incident every week or so.

Best trade that once looked like the worst trade: On May 24, after going 0 for 2 in a 6-5 loss to the Twins, Caleb Durbin’s batting average dropped to .163. His OPS was a lowly .479, which put him in the vicinity of The Bat Is Just A Prop types like Marc Sullivan (.494), Julio Valdez (.495), and Stan Papi (.503) in Red Sox history. On that same date, Brewers lefthander Kyle Harrison — sent to Milwaukee in the multiplayer deal that brought Durbin to Boston — was four days removed a 7-inning, 2-hit, 11-strikeout gem against the Cubs that improved him to 5-1 with a 1.77 ERA on the season. It looked like a terrible trade, one made out of desperation by Breslow to fill the vacancy left by Alex Bregman at third base.

But before we could finish putting the deal into miserable-trade context with Sparky Lyle-for-Danny Cater, Jeff Bagwell-for-Larry Andersen, and yes, at a slightly lesser magnitude, Bill Lee-for-Papi, something unexpected and kind of admirable happened: Durbin, who had played excellent defense through his troubles, started to hit and hasn’t stopped. In 39 games and 153 plate-appearances since May 28, he’s hit .297 with 8 home runs and a .907 OPS, while the Sox have gone 23-16. It’s a remarkable turnaround — and hopefully a sustainable one — for a player many of us (hi there) thought belonged in Triple-A Worcester.

Biggest disappointment, fourth runner-up: Carlos Narváez. It’s been proven beyond a doubt that he’s not a starting catcher. Over his final 62 games last season, he hit .202 with a .632 OPS. In 53 games this season, he’s hitting .188 with a .524 OPS. Connor Wong, who has the second-highest adjusted OPS among Red Sox hitters (121, trailing only Contreras’s 159), should not have 40 fewer plate appearances than Narváez.

Biggest disappointment, third runner-up: Trevor Story. The Red Sox expected too much, in terms of production and health, from the veteran shortstop after he hit 25 home runs and tied a career-high with 157 games played last season. That’s not his fault. But he did not produce whatsoever in 41 games before landing on the injured list, hitting a mere .206 with three homers and a .547 OPS. It’s ridiculous that Story, who has an 8/57 BB/K ratio, was asked to hit second in the lineup for a brief stretch. He’s the antithesis of a No. 2 hitter.

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Biggest disappointment, second runner-up: Brayan Bello. The top three could be shuffled around in any order. There’s a case for Bello to be at the top of the list. A year ago, he went 11-9 with a 3.35 ERA and 120 adjusted ERA, meaning he was 20 percent better than league average. In eight starts this season, he was a wretched 1-6 with a 10.35 ERA, and his overall ERA+ in 13 total appearances is 67.

Biggest disappointment, first runner-up: Roman Anthony, or at least Roman Anthony based on the unreasonable expectations the Red Sox put upon him. The outfielder was exceptional as a rookie before suffering a season-ending oblique injury, looked like one of the best players in the world at the World Baseball Classic, had three hits on Opening Day … and then fell into a puzzling rut that included just one homer in 30 games before he was sidelined with a still-worrisome finger/hand injury.

Biggest disappointment: Marcelo Mayer. I don’t know if the infielder needs humbling or a wakeup call or what, but there is a casualness to his play that doesn’t look right when he’s struggling. The jolt Anthony Seigler has given this team in Mayer’s injury absence had best be noticed.

Most likely to play a young Nick Offerman in a future film project: Payton Tolle, of course. And the lefthander has the personality to pull it off.

Best photo from a tarmac: Well, there’s just one, right? When Alex Cora and the brunt of his coaching staff did not look all that devastated to be fleeing the scene after being fired on April 26. Runner-up: Any photos taken during the Red Sox’ lengthy delay in Chicago over the weekend.

Most deserving of more job security: Gotta say … the managerial change has actually worked. I’m ready to endorse Chad Tracy if you are.

Biggest questions in the second half: One, will they get anything from Garrett Crochet? Two, will Breslow trade for a high-end bat, if not two, to give this excellent starting rotation the offensive support it deserves?

Couldn’t hurt to ring up ol’ Chaim and see if he has anyone he’s looking to move.

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