In 2012 Boston had 21 different players make at least 100 plate appearances – and a 22nd player, Darnell McDonald, made 99. 2012 was also the first year since 2001 (when Joe Kerrigan finished the year as manager) that the Sawx didn’t score at least 800 runs, breaking their league-leading streak of 10 years in a row. (The Yankees now have the longest streak at 4 seasons.) During that ten-year stretch, the Red Sox averaged 15 players with a minimum of 100 plate appearances, with a high of just 17 players. You simply cannot have an above-average, let alone elite offense when Darnell McDonald, Ryan Kalish, Marlon Byrd, Mauro Gomez, and Ryan Lavarnway are all playing substantial amounts of time.