The Boston Red Sox’s lineup Wednesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays was less than ideal.
Most notably, it included Bobby Dalbec starting at shortstop for just the second time in his Major League Baseball career, a decision that quickly proved costly when the 27-year-old committed a fielding error that preceded a three-run home run in the first inning of Tampa Bay’s eventual 9-7 win at Tropicana Field.
The idea of Dalbec, a corner infielder, playing shortstop is suboptimal in and of itself, but it’s especially jarring when it happens in the 12th game of the regular season following the offseason departure of Xander Bogaerts. And Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom thus was asked about Boston’s roster construction Thursday morning on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”
“Whether April or July, sometimes you end up in situations on a given night where you don’t have everybody available that you want,” Bloom said. “In that case, and I know (Red Sox manager) Alex (Cora) spoke to this (Wednesday) night, Rob (Refsnyder) had played a bunch of days in a row, which comes with having this stretch of lefties. That’s something we want to make sure he’s available for, and it made sense to give him a day (off). And that is ultimately going to benefit us more over the long haul, because you’ve got to make sure you’re using players right, you’ve got to make sure you’re taking care of players. Obviously, with everybody who was down (Wednesday) night, that wasn’t ideal for us. But there’s a reason we explored that possibility (of Dalbec playing shortstop) in spring training — just so we were ready for it if it did happen, knowing that we had this stretch coming up on our schedule.”
The Red Sox found themselves backed into a corner at shortstop after Trevor Story — Bogaerts’ presumed replacement at the position — underwent offseason elbow surgery that’ll likely sideline him for most of 2023. Boston acquired shortstop Adalberto Mondesi in a trade with the Kansas City Royals, but he’s still recovering from a torn ACL and began the season on the 60-day injured list. Kiké Hernández, who thrived defensively in center field the past two years, thus was forced back into the infield.
The plans changed again when Adam Duvall, who had been serving as Boston’s center fielder, fractured his wrist, leaving the Red Sox thin in the outfield, as well. And the situation only grew more precarious Wednesday when left fielder Masastaka Yoshida was scratched from the starting lineup with right hamstring tightness, an ailment the club doesn’t believe is serious but nevertheless tested Boston’s depth for its final two games against Tampa Bay.
“Is it perfect? Is it ideal? No, but that’s going to happen over the course of the season,” Bloom said. “Obviously, you don’t want it to happen every night, but you are going to go through stretches for a day, two, three where guys are going to have to step up. Every team goes through it. It’s happening around the league in a lot of different places. You can look at different teams and not always see them having their ideal lineup out there on a given night. That’s part of the game. And no excuses. Guys need to step up and we need to make sure we’ve got different options. But this is part of the game. It creates opportunity. And obviously, we need to see what guys do with that opportunity.”
The Red Sox’s roster underwent a massive overhaul this past offseason, casting even more unpredictability over whether they’ll be playoff contenders when the dust settles in 2023. There have been some positives so far, with the offense showing flashes of being solid, but the number of moving parts just two weeks into the season is notable.
