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The Rumor
In the wake of Xander Bogaerts’ departure and, more recently, Trevor Story’s elbow surgery, Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom indicated the club is looking to add multiple up-the-middle regulars:
Alex Speier @alexspeier
Bloom on whether Sox need to add two up-the-middle starters: “It doesn’t even need to be limited to two.”
Analysis
Boston presently has Enrique Hernández at shortstop, Christian Arroyo at second base and Jarren Duran in center field. Or: someone who belongs in center field, a utility player with durability issues and a light-hitting speedster whose defense was too often comically bad in 2022.
But as much as Bloom rightfully wants to rectify this situation, what can he really do about it?
On the free-agent market, there’s Elvis Andrus, José Iglesias, Josh Harrison and not much else. On the trade market, the Red Sox have been connected to Joey Wendle of the Miami Marlins as well as Adalberto Mondesi of the Kansas City Royals. Neither moves the needle, as the former is a utility type and the latter would be an upside play.
Other speculative possibilities include Trent Grisham and Ha-Seong Kim of the San Diego Padres, Jorge Mateo of the Baltimore Orioles, Brendan Rodgers of the Colorado Rockies and, best of all, Bryan Reynolds of the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, their price tags aren’t exactly conducive to the Red Sox’s acquiring more than one of them.
Prediction
The Red Sox already look like long-shot contenders for 2023, so it’s hard to imagine Bloom will make all-in plays on any of the players from that last group. The low-risk plays seem more likely, whether it’s Andrus, Wendle, Mondesi or whomever.
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