Hank Scorpio said:
With Deven Marrero's performance at AA and now AAA (.935 OPS, SSS), he needs to be in the mix as well. If he continues to hit AAA pitching well, he might be up here late in the season to get his feet wet. That, and I suspect the Sox would like to get a look at him against MLB pitching in order to gauge what they have before ST 2015 rolls around.
Battles are good and all, but I don't think they want to go into spring training with "So Xander, WMB is competing for the 3B job and Marrero is competing for the SS job... but they're kind of competing with each other. If Will has a great spring and Deven struggles, you're our shortstop. If Will struggles, and Marrero impresses us, you're our third baseman. If both have a great spring, well, we'll trade one and let you know where you fit in. In the meantime, we're just going to bounce you around a bit." as their plan.
By the end of this season, Xander should unequivocally know if he's our SS or 3B for 2015.
I don't think they should look to get Marrero up before the end of 2014 myself. He was a mid-season promotion and if they move Drew I'd rather let Xander just spend the rest of the year back at SS without him thinking as to just how long he's got until Marrero is up and they move him back to 3B.
My timeline would be something like this:
Now and to the end of 2014: Move Drew soon, get Xander back to SS, Holt and when he's healthy WMB share 3B. They both pick up innings in the OF, spell Pedroia at 2B, and Napoli at 1B as well.
Spring Training 2015: Marrero, Cecchini, WMB, Coyle, Holt, and Xander all come in. Xander and Marrero play SS, the rest all compete at 3B. Short of some unforeseen revelation the opening day roster will be WMB/Holt (whomever ends 2014 strongest) at 3B, Xander at SS, and Cecchini, Marrero, and Coyle in AAA at 3B, SS, and 2B respectively. Cecchini would take work at both 1B and in the OF while Coyle will take time at 3B.
Mid-season 2015: Evaluate how everyone is doing. If Marrero is still hitting and Xander is still struggling assess the viability of moving Xander over. If WMB is hitting but playing mediocre D assess the viability of him becoming a full time OF who spot starts at 3B and 1B. If WMB isn't hitting and Cecchini or Coyle is then make the corresponding move, etc. etc..
I think mid-next season is when all of this could fall into place, but before getting to that point chronologically the club needs to finish it's evaluation of Xander Bogaerts the SS. Maybe they have and are unwilling to say, but I'd doubt it as that borders on antagonizing Bogaerts to tell him he's the SS of the future, sign Drew and reiterate that fact, but then never give him a real shot at the SS job.
Similar mindset at catcher honestly. Get AJP out and Vazquez up to work with the staff and start adapting to ML pitching. Start 2015 with Vazquez and Butler/Lavarnway (or get an old vet to serve as mentor if the club sees no future in either Butler or Lavarnway) as the catching tandem and Swihart in AAA. By mid-season Swihart will quite possibly be knocking on the door so the weakest half of the catching platoon gets traded/moved to make room.