The Red Sox middle infield became an even bigger question mark when Boston announced Trevor Story underwent elbow surgery that will leave him sidelined for an undetermined amount of time.
Even though Story told reporters at Winter Weekend that he believes he will play again in 2023, the Red Sox still need to shore up the shortstop and second base positions.
Members of the Red Sox front office met with fans and media Friday night before the weekend of festivities kicked off, and one of the questions was how the team will go about the infield when the season begins.
Kiké Hernández, who's been Boston's center fielder, will take over at short.
"We have a lot of confidence in (Hernández). We have this whole way," chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom told the audience in Sprinfield, Mass., per MassLive's Matt Vautour. "It's one of the great things about him. He's basically a plus defender wherever you put him on the field. There's not many guys in baseball you can say that about."
Hernández thrived in center field and made it look like he was playing there his entire career. He does have some experience at shortstop, and manager Alex Cora is excited to see what he can bring in 2023.
"He's excited about it. I do believe he can do it. His arm plays. His first step is amazing. His instincts are great," Cora told reporters. "He can hit for power. If we can get power from that position, power from second base and power from center field, we're in a better spot than we were a few weeks ago and probably last year."
As for second base, Christian Arroyo will handle those duties. He hasn't been a full-time player for the Red Sox and has dealt with injuries during his time in Boston. Cora knows of the "red flags" Arroyo has when it comes to being an every day player, but there still in confidence he can handle the role.
"As of now, Christian is gonna play a lot. He's a guy that I know there's a lot of red flags as far as the physical part of it, right? The injuries. But when he's on the field, he's a pretty good one," Cora told reporters. "The way he played second base in 2021 was solid. He's a very talented kid who can run the bases, who can play good defense, and when he's on, he's a good hitter. So as of now where we at, Christian's going to get a lot of repetitions at second base."
Bloom did not rule out the possibility of adding another player for either of those positions as well as depth, but time is running out if he wants to make a move before workouts begin next month.
It's unclear how competitive the Red Sox will be in 2023 given the loss of Xander Bogaerts and lack of true star power in the lineup save for Rafael Devers, on top of Story's injury. There are a lot of question marks, but fans should take some sort of solace in the fact that Cora always gets the most out of his players when they're on the field.
