The Red Sox are lucky they started to get their act together the last couple of weeks. If they had not, this midseason report card would be filled with a lot more F’s, D’s and C’s than it already is. The Red Sox do not get a pass because they have started to play like they should have all along. The culprits are many, and while it’s not entirely clear how so many players could have performed so poorly for such long stretches, they and the team’s architects are responsible for a team that has a lousy 42-47 record and sits in last place in the AL East. Red Sox fans deserve much better than what they have seen.

POSITIONAL PLAYERS

Mookie Betts: A

He’s the MVP and best player on the team, and there’s really not much competition. First in total bases (159), steals (13, next closest has five), doubles (22), triples (six), second in slugging percentage (.464), runs (48) and hits (95), Betts is also making big strides on his routes and in center field. He started off slowly at the plate, but over his last 26 games he has been on fire: .370 batting average, .405 on-base percentage, .676 slugging. He’s already proven to be a quick learner. Given that, his second half could be mind-blowing.

Xander Bogaerts: A

His first All-Star appearance will have to wait but Bogaerts’ first half represented nothing less than the arrival of an All-Star caliber talent for years to come. He has refined his swing to eliminate his strikeout tendencies from a year ago, and while his power is not there yet, it is coming. Defensively, he’s also so much smoother that a year ago, as he’s learned how to use his athleticism and footwork to make both routine and far more difficult plays.

Rusney Castillo: F

He’s where he belongs, in Pawtucket, but Castillo looked nothing like the five-tool player the Red Sox thought they had invested in during his 25-game major league stint. His 15 strikeouts and .260 slugging percentage — he had two extra base-hits — exposed him as not ready for prime time. What was also concerning was his shaky play in right field. It was a new position for him, but there were too many bad routes, inexcusable drops and unnecessary diving catches to leave a positive impression.

Alejandro De Aza: B-plus

The Red Sox need to ride the De Aza train for as long as they can, because he is thriving here far better than he was in Baltimore. Much like Brock Holt, De Aza has earned the faith and trust of John Farrell, who is trying to play him as much as possible. He mans right and especially left field very well, and has been surprisingly productive at the plate. With three home runs and 19 RBI in only 31 games, De Aza has also hit .323 with a .359 on-base percentage and .573 slugging percentage. It’s a small but impressive sample size.

Ryan Hanigan: B-minus

If not for the broken hand that forced him to miss May and June, there’s no telling how differently the Red Sox pitching staff, but there is plenty to suggest that the team might not be in its current plight. Hanigan was and is a patient hitter, whose ability to get on base — he has six walks in seven games since he came back, and a .376 on-base percentage overall — creates real value. But he’s a good receiver and seems to have a knack with Rick Porcello. Undervalued, he can be a critical component in the second half.

Brock Holt: A

There’s nothing not to like about the super-utility All-Star, who’s become indispensable to the team even if he has no permanent position. When he plays, he makes an impact with his bat (.292 batting average, .379 on-base percentage) and his glove in both the outfield and the infield. Exactly what happens to his playing time upon the return of Dustin Pedroia to second base tomorrow is unknown, but he has played his way into an everyday role, wherever that takes him.

Sandy Leon: C-plus

He is a capable backup catcher, which is nothing to overlook. Every team needs one, and Leon holds his own nicely. He leads the majors in caught stealing (56.3 percent), nabbing 9-of-16 base stealers. He has done fine with the pitching staff, especially as Clay Buchholz’ personal catcher, and has seen starters allow two or fewer runs in seven of his last nine starts. With a bat in his hand, Leon cannot do much (.180 average, .247 on-base percentage), but that’s gravy.

Mike Napoli: F

About the only thing positive to say about Napoli is that at least he’s trimmed back that beard of his. And while it’s also good to know that his sleep apnea has been resolved surgically, time is quickly running out on him snapping out of his deep funk. His last home run came on June 17, and in his 20 games since then, he has managed just nine hits, three of them for doubles, with 18 strikeouts and only eight walks. The numbers are all bad, and Napoli, whose defense at first has also slipped, has never looked this lost.

Daniel Nava: F

With Alejandro De Aza and Brock Holt on the scene, there really is no apparent role Nava can fill when he is ready to return from his left thumb strain that sidelined him in late May. He certainly did not leave a positive impression with that .159 batting average and .250 on-base percentage in his 25 games. He is simply depth at this point and will need many at-bats in Pawtucket before the team finds a reason to bring him back up.

David Ortiz: C-minus

He has not been himself all season but lately, in July at least, he has started to show more consistent flashes of his Big Papi power stroke. In nine games this month, he is hitting .258 with a .425 on-base and .548 slugging percentage. That helps out but does not overshadow his overall .231 batting average and measly .761 OPS this season. He’s not hitting left-handers (.128 with one of his 15 homers), which will have to change. A strong start to his second half is essential.

Dustin Pedroia: B

He’s been out since June 24 (hamstring), yet the team has done well without him. That holds promise for his return since his 2.0 WAR makes him the fourth-most valuable position player after Betts, Bogaerts and Holt. Pedroia has been only OK defensively this season, not coming up with as many “oh my” plays as usual. Yet at the plate, his hands are strong and quick again and his power is back, with nine home runs, 14 doubles and 33 RBI, plus a robust .367 on-base percentage.

Hanley Ramirez: C-minus

A tale of two players here. At the plate, Ramirez started and ended strong, with a power outage in the middle that coincided with a jammed shoulder from running into a wall. He leads the team with 19 home runs and 46 RBI. On defense, Ramirez has been an embarrassment. He cannot play left field, and while there has been slight improvement, that’s mainly because he has not had to track down too many balls. Sheer luck. He’s a DH in waiting, and may not have to wait much longer.

Pablo Sandoval: D

What went wrong with the Kung Fu Panda acquisition? He was supposed to pepper the Green Monster with that inside-out, left-handed swing of his, and play the hot corner with his deceptively lithe body and quick feet and hands. Instead, Sandoval has been mostly a dud, seldom coming up big when it counts (.237 with runners in scoring position) and doing a poor job of getting on base (.307 OBP). His Instagram snafu was a reliable indicator of just how far away Sandoval has strayed from being as advertised.

Blake Swihart: C-plus

He really was not ready to be called up from Triple A when he was, but Ryan Hanigan’s injury necessitated it. Thrust into action, Swihart equipped himself pretty well, even though the team feels he has room to grow when it comes to game-calling and some of the other finer points of catching. Still, he is a strong overall athlete and showed a few flashes at the plate of the power stroke the team is so fond of. He needs more plate discipline and simply some more time in the minors before he is ready.

Shane Victorino: D

Every little thing is not looking all right for the 34-year-old Flyin’ Hawaiian. He’s played in only 27 games this season, and after two DL stints, it’s getting hard to see any signs of progress, much less hope. He no longer switch-hits and he also seldom hits right-handers (.184 vs. .346 against lefties). His slash line is in the .200s across the board since coming back this month. His defense remains solid and valuable in right field, but he has his work cut out for him if he thinks he can regain an everyday role.

Incompletes: Jeff Bianchi, Jackie Bradley Jr., Luis Jimenez, Deven Marrero, Carlos Peguero, Travis Shaw

PITCHERS

Matt Barnes: D

A bullpen sob story here. Barnes was the great righty hope coming out of spring training. At first he lived up to it, allowing runs in just two of his first dozen outings. But the bottom has fallen out of late, plus he has done himself no favors at Fenway, where his 13.50 ERA pales to his 2.30 road mark. He has allowed runs in seven of his last nine appearances (11.88 ERA) and it looks as if he will be headed back to Pawtucket to regain his stuff and confidence.

Craig Breslow: D-minus

Breslow is in a free-fall. He cannot be trusted in high-leverage situations — opponents hit him at a .313 clip — and he is not exactly efficient at keeping base-runners from scoring. Nine of 18 inherited runners have gone on to score. Essentially, he has become a mop-up man, but even then he has been used sparingly. He has appeared in only nine of the last 35 games.

Clay Buchholz: B

The ultimate tease has fooled us again. After starting off with a 5.73 ERA and a .301 batting-average-against in his first seven starts, the “I’m the Ace” T-shirt talk blew up in his face. Then he clicked. His 2.02 ERA and .238 batting average-against over his next 11 starts coincided with the team’s overall improved play. All was groovy, until Buchholz’ body failed him again — a strained flexor in his forearm that will keep him out at least until the end of the month, maybe longer. Equally unhittable and brittle — that’s the Buchholz we know.

Joe Kelly: F

No matter how much he was joking, Kelly’s preseason Cy Young prediction did him no favors in retrospect. Instead, it brings to mind just what a flop last season’s trade of John Lackey was. Everyone was understandably amped up by Kelly’s mid-to-high-90s fastball but he failed to deliver. His first two starts, in which he allowed just three runs in 122⁄3 innings were only a tease. The crooked numbers and short, bullpen-sapping starts began popping up with more and more regularity. The team gave him ample time to correct himself. And now he’s in Pawtucket.

Tommy Layne: C-plus

Layne is usually a go-to guy when it comes to snuffing out opposing left-handed bats — they are batting .185 and slugging just .204 against him — but lately, he has developed the same allergy to success that has felled his colleagues. Over his last six appearances, batters are hitting .391 against him and his ERA has bloomed to 5.79 in those games. He needs to regain his early-season form, because he’s actually a quality left-handed arm.

Justin Masterson: F

The Red Sox’ buy-low bet on the affable right-handed starter has not paid off. He has been sent to the bullpen and the team does not seem in any hurry to begin using him. Their mistrust is warranted. Masterson still has been unable to demonstrate an ability to handle left-handed hitters. They get on base at a .398 clip against him and they slug .505 against him. That’s unacceptable at the major-league level, and even against right-handers, that .257 batting-average-against is hardly dominant.

Wade Miley: C-minus

What a disappointment the left-hander has been. Touted as a fast-working, innings-eating, middle-of-the-rotation type, instead Miley has simply proven haste makes waste. His 4.80 ERA is 10th worst in the league, and his 3.39 walks per nine innings rate as the sixth worst. His blow-up with manager John Farrell in the dugout in Baltimore reflected poorly on his emotional maturity. He’s been better pitching at Fenway than on the road, and can set down good left-handed hitters, but he has many rough edges to smooth over.

Alexi Ogando: B-minus

He left a bad impression with his last two appearances — five earned runs over four innings — but overall he has mostly been an asset. He’s been reliable in high-leverage situations (.080 batting average-against), and with runners in scoring position, batters are hitting only .214. In addition, he is just as effective against left-handed hitters as he is against righties. That 142⁄3-inning streak that just ended shows he’s still part of the solution, not the problem, in this bullpen.

Rick Porcello: F

Porcello can only wish for a fairy-tale ending to his debut season with the Red Sox, because his beginning has been nothing less than a nightmare. His 5.90 ERA tops all other starters in the league and speaks to how shockingly poor he has pitched. The excuses about switching divisions being one cause is poppycock. He can’t be that fragile, and frankly, the belief here is he’s just stuck in a cavernous rut. Catcher Ryan Hanigan may be his life-line, because his last start was encouraging. The others plain stunk.

Eduardo Rodriguez: B-plus

His grade would be higher if he had not missed the first two months of the season — not his fault — and had not been shelled in two of his nine starts. There’s something to the tipping-his-pitches theory to those outlier outings. His numbers in his other seven starts are jaw-dropping: 4-0, 1.22 ERA. His last start was his first-ever against the Yankees, and he allowed just two runs over 61⁄3 innings. He has pitched better than his 5-2, 3.59 ERA says. He’s the best starter on the team by far.

Robbie Ross Jr.: C-plus

Ross is effective at shutting down left-handed hitters (since the middle of June he has held them to an .077 batting average), and he is starting to get more swings and misses (16 strikeouts over his last 201⁄3 innings). In his latest stint, he has posted a 1.80 ERA over his last 15 innings and eight appearances. On this team, that’s nasty.

Junichi Tazawa: B-plus

As long as he is put in mothballs for each of the remaining six games against the Blue Jays (they have hit him at a .412 clip this season with five home runs over 31⁄3 innings), Tazawa has been the go-to man in the Red Sox bullpen. He has allowed just one run over nine innings and seven games since June 17 and ranks among the league leaders in holds (14), games (39) and innings (381⁄3). If the Red Sox become sellers, his results will place him at the top of buyers’ wish lists. If the Red Sox hold on, they have to give him help.

Koji Uehara: A-minus

He has shaken off the fatigue and ineffectiveness from 2014 and pitched much closer to his 2013 self. He is perfect in his last dozen save opportunities, as well as in all 11 at Fenway. He is not walking batters (none in his last 17 games) and he is not allowing runs (none over his last 10 appearances) or many hits (just two in his last 10 innings). With 22 saves and just two blown saves on the season, Uehara is a force.

Incompletes: Jonathan Aro, Heath Hembree, Dalier Hinojosa. Anthony Varvaro, Steven Wright

MANAGEMENT

John Farrell: C

After sticking by veteran players — especially some new ones — too long in the rough early going, the manager has shown an admirable flexibility of late. He’s going with the hot hand, and if that means finding a way to get productive no-names such as Brock Holt and Alejandro De Aza in the lineup, he is jumping at that opportunity. It’s not Farrell’s fault veterans like Pablo Sandoval, Hanley Ramirez, David Ortiz and Rick Porcello have underperformed. It’s up to him to keep shaking up the team while keeping a steady hand at the helm. Good luck to him with that.

Ben Cherington: D

The team’s record reflects the team the general manager assembled, so he has to bear the brunt of the blame for the first-half performance. The early results on Pablo Sandoval, Rusney Castillo and Rick Porcello overall, and Hanley Ramirez as an outfielder, look particularly concerning from a talent evaluation perspective. The fact that the team began to turn itself around lately is important, but it will prove meaningless if it’s not sustainable in the second half. If that’s the case, Cherington and company will face an uncomfortable self-evaluation process this offseason.