Third base (surprise!) is a problem for the Sox again. Pablo Sandoval is coming back, reportedly hitting off a tee as of yesterday. Marco Hernandez, his primary replacement, has been hitting a BABIP-inflated .276/.300/.328 and there's no indication that he has the hit tool to stick as a full-time third baseman in the majors. By fWAR, Hernandez and Sandoval are 37th and 42nd among listed third basemen in the majors right now. While their counting stats have been hindered by effectively splitting time due to Sandoval's injury, their cumulative fWAR is negative, so it's hard to argue with their replacement-level ranking. With Hernandez down, it looks like the Sox are giving those at-bats to Josh Rutledge and Deven Marrero. There's not a whole lot of reason to expect more from those guys than what Hernandez was already giving them, since they're all basically limited utility guys.
It seems like the Red Sox best option is to hope that Pablo can contribute when he returns. But let's assume that he can't. What are their other options? The first hope is Brock Holt returning to form, but the details around his vertigo are murky at best. Since he wasn't playing while he was "healthy", I'm not expecting anything from
him this season. So what's available outside the organization?
Kelly Johnson, who didn't last terribly long with the Red Sox a few years ago, is still a free agent. He had a decent partial season last year, although no one should expect him to repeat it. Projections have him as a replacement level player and he has no discernible split for his career, so it's hard to argue that he'd be an
improvement over what the Sox already have.
Todd Frazier has struggled out the gate but the power is still there and a return to a normalish (for him) BABIP of ~.240 would bring him up to average offensively, which is a bit better than replacement level. The White Sox are playing well right now, but they aren't projected to contend this year. A lot depends on how they play leading up to the break. I wouldn't expect Frazier to be traded before then.
Mike Moustakas also has one year remaining, is younger than Frazier, and has played pretty well so far this season. Moustakas lost most of last year with a torn ACL but has been fairly healthy otherwise. He's a Boras client and it seems very unlikely that the Royals will give him a long term contract. It seems likely that a healthy Moose gets an offer of >$50M this offseason so the Royals are weighing any trades against the return on a qualifying offer. He's a big-time pull hitter, which could be a problem in Fenway. He'd also cost a bit, but worth keeping an eye on anyways.
Ryan Schimpf is a three true outcomes guy who has been a minor league journeyman most of his career. He's losing playing time to Cory Spangenberg. I don't know if the Padres would entertain moving him, or if the Red Sox should even consider a trade with the Padres again, but he'd be an interesting (if enormously frustrating) option.
Other than that, it looks pretty rough out there. Maybe a post-injury play for Adrian Beltre? Seems unlikely. Josh Harrison might be a possibility if the Pirates fall out of it.
Boy, this was less encouraging than I hoped.
It seems like the Red Sox best option is to hope that Pablo can contribute when he returns. But let's assume that he can't. What are their other options? The first hope is Brock Holt returning to form, but the details around his vertigo are murky at best. Since he wasn't playing while he was "healthy", I'm not expecting anything from
him this season. So what's available outside the organization?
Kelly Johnson, who didn't last terribly long with the Red Sox a few years ago, is still a free agent. He had a decent partial season last year, although no one should expect him to repeat it. Projections have him as a replacement level player and he has no discernible split for his career, so it's hard to argue that he'd be an
improvement over what the Sox already have.
Todd Frazier has struggled out the gate but the power is still there and a return to a normalish (for him) BABIP of ~.240 would bring him up to average offensively, which is a bit better than replacement level. The White Sox are playing well right now, but they aren't projected to contend this year. A lot depends on how they play leading up to the break. I wouldn't expect Frazier to be traded before then.
Mike Moustakas also has one year remaining, is younger than Frazier, and has played pretty well so far this season. Moustakas lost most of last year with a torn ACL but has been fairly healthy otherwise. He's a Boras client and it seems very unlikely that the Royals will give him a long term contract. It seems likely that a healthy Moose gets an offer of >$50M this offseason so the Royals are weighing any trades against the return on a qualifying offer. He's a big-time pull hitter, which could be a problem in Fenway. He'd also cost a bit, but worth keeping an eye on anyways.
Ryan Schimpf is a three true outcomes guy who has been a minor league journeyman most of his career. He's losing playing time to Cory Spangenberg. I don't know if the Padres would entertain moving him, or if the Red Sox should even consider a trade with the Padres again, but he'd be an interesting (if enormously frustrating) option.
Other than that, it looks pretty rough out there. Maybe a post-injury play for Adrian Beltre? Seems unlikely. Josh Harrison might be a possibility if the Pirates fall out of it.
Boy, this was less encouraging than I hoped.
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