While you may not have been paying attention, the Red Sox have lost a lot of depth since the start of the season.
I think basic positional depth looked something like this to start the year:
C: Vazquez, Swihart, Hannigan, Leon, Butler.
1B: Ramirez, Shaw, Holt, Craig, Travis (and Ortiz for emergencies and occasional spot start)
2B: Pedroia, Holt, Rutledge, Hernandez
3B: Sandoval, Shaw, Holt, Rutledge, Hernandez
SS: Bogaerts, Holt, Marrero, Hernandez, Rutledge in a true pinch.
LF: Castillo, Holt, Young, Brentz, Craig
CF: JBJ, Young, Castillo, Betts
RF: Betts, JBJ, Holt, Brentz
What has happened since then?
- Sandoval is injured and out for the year. This moves Shaw to 3B starter.
- Castillo was terrible and lost his job. This moved Holt to LF starter vs RHP, Young to LF starter vs RHP.
- Craig injured his oblique, missed 30 games, played 2, and hasn't played since (last game 5/19)
- Swihart moved to LF
- Holt is on his second concussion DL trip of his career.
- Sam Travis tore his UCL and is out the year
- Deven Marrero has looked like absolute crap (really minor concern, I expect Xander will play 155+ games at SS this year, and if he gets injured it's not a depth issue it's a "one of your stars got injured" issue)
Current and ongoing concerns:
- Ramirez seems to have an issue with his foot, and his recent injury history suggests that we shouldn't count on him for more than about 130 games anyway.
- Pedroia has avoided the DL in only 2 of the last 7 years. He has missed more than 50 games in 2 of those 7 years, including last year
- David Ortiz is 40 years old and has had a couple of nagging leg things going on.
- Holt's head. Let's take no risks with concussion issues.
To me the corner depth is starting to look pretty shallow, and it's only June 1. Sure, if nothing else goes wrong they are ok and can survive Hanley missing a game here or there or even a couple weeks by using Holt and Hernandez with Shaw going to 1B. So maybe there is no call to do anything right now. But, it certainly seems like DD should at least be looking around to find a 1B/OF type before it becomes a need. As well, we all know I'd prefer Blake Swihart be catching in Pawtucket as opposed to playing LF in Boston so there are some tangible benefits even now. Are there targets out there at a low enough cost vs improvement over Chris Marrero? Presumably the Red Sox also know more about Allen Craig's health. And of course Brentz and Castillo are still around, if uninspiring.
I think basic positional depth looked something like this to start the year:
C: Vazquez, Swihart, Hannigan, Leon, Butler.
1B: Ramirez, Shaw, Holt, Craig, Travis (and Ortiz for emergencies and occasional spot start)
2B: Pedroia, Holt, Rutledge, Hernandez
3B: Sandoval, Shaw, Holt, Rutledge, Hernandez
SS: Bogaerts, Holt, Marrero, Hernandez, Rutledge in a true pinch.
LF: Castillo, Holt, Young, Brentz, Craig
CF: JBJ, Young, Castillo, Betts
RF: Betts, JBJ, Holt, Brentz
What has happened since then?
- Sandoval is injured and out for the year. This moves Shaw to 3B starter.
- Castillo was terrible and lost his job. This moved Holt to LF starter vs RHP, Young to LF starter vs RHP.
- Craig injured his oblique, missed 30 games, played 2, and hasn't played since (last game 5/19)
- Swihart moved to LF
- Holt is on his second concussion DL trip of his career.
- Sam Travis tore his UCL and is out the year
- Deven Marrero has looked like absolute crap (really minor concern, I expect Xander will play 155+ games at SS this year, and if he gets injured it's not a depth issue it's a "one of your stars got injured" issue)
Current and ongoing concerns:
- Ramirez seems to have an issue with his foot, and his recent injury history suggests that we shouldn't count on him for more than about 130 games anyway.
- Pedroia has avoided the DL in only 2 of the last 7 years. He has missed more than 50 games in 2 of those 7 years, including last year
- David Ortiz is 40 years old and has had a couple of nagging leg things going on.
- Holt's head. Let's take no risks with concussion issues.
To me the corner depth is starting to look pretty shallow, and it's only June 1. Sure, if nothing else goes wrong they are ok and can survive Hanley missing a game here or there or even a couple weeks by using Holt and Hernandez with Shaw going to 1B. So maybe there is no call to do anything right now. But, it certainly seems like DD should at least be looking around to find a 1B/OF type before it becomes a need. As well, we all know I'd prefer Blake Swihart be catching in Pawtucket as opposed to playing LF in Boston so there are some tangible benefits even now. Are there targets out there at a low enough cost vs improvement over Chris Marrero? Presumably the Red Sox also know more about Allen Craig's health. And of course Brentz and Castillo are still around, if uninspiring.
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