Smiling Joe Hesketh said:43 games. They gave X 43 games at short. And all parties admitted he was getting better in the field, even Nick Cafardo. So you've got a young player working hard to get himself established at short, all while still contributing offensively, and you pull the plug at 43 games. It simply doesn't make any sense. And now the kid is crushed and his confidence shaken, all for a move that has zero long term benefit.
If WMB is the real issue here, then perhaps the Sox could have gone out and picked up a third baseman, instead of dicking around with their most promising young player. They set a course over the offseason with Xat short and then abandoned it before Memorial Day. That's reminiscent of the 2012 team and not that of last year's World Champions. Have some courage in your convictions, for crissakes.
If X is so fragile that he can't move back to SS in 2015, then we have bigger problems. This was, IMO, not about Xander *at all*. It works because he demonstrated that he could handle 3b, and they had a need at this point to improve on the left side of the IF.