The Red Sox have designated infielder Yu Chang for assignment, with manager Alex Cora confirming the move to reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive). His roster spot will go to Trevor Story, who has now been activated from the 60-day injured list.
Story underwent elbow surgery in January, an internal brace procedure that was clearly going to put him out of action for a long time. The club didn’t put a specific timeline on it then, saying that Story could return late in the 2023 campaign, though chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom said at the time it was “not something at this stage we want to bank on.”
The Sox have been spinning plates at the shortstop position even since that news, with Chang, Enrique Hernández, Pablo Reyes, David Hamilton, Christian Arroyo, Bobby Dalbec and Enmanuel Valdéz all having seen some time there, while Adalberto Mondesí was acquired in the offseason but has spent all year on the IL thus far. None of those players have proven to be a standout, with Hernández having since been traded to the Dodgers, Arroyo outrighted off the roster, while Hamilton, Dalbec and Valdéz are in the minors on optional assignment.
In the case of Chang, he got some fairly regular playing time early on but suffered a fractured hamate in late April and didn’t return until early July. In 39 games around that IL stint, he’s hit just .162/.200/.352 this year. He’s played all four infield positions and has been graded well at each of them but the offense is clearly lacking. He’s out of options and so the club had little choice but to remove him from the roster.
That’s generally been the narrative around Chang in his career, as he is capable of providing strong defense at various positions but hasn’t found a way to contribute much with the bat. His career batting line is now .204/.265/.359 through 650 plate appearances.
Despite that tepid offensive performance and his out-of-options status, he’s generally drawn interest from clubs around the league. Last year, he bounced from the Guardians to the Pirates, Rays and Red Sox but didn’t carve out a lasting role with any of the four. With the trade deadline now behind us, the Sox will have to put Chang on waivers, either the outright or the release variety. It’s possible that he garners interest yet again, perhaps on a club outside contention that can give him regular playing time to try to get into a groove. He can be retained via arbitration for two seasons beyond this one.
Story will now step back onto the roster, though Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reported yesterday that he will play every other day for now, as he continues ramping back up to regular action. With Chang now off the roster, Reyes will likely share some of the shortstop duties as Story continues to build up to a full-time role.
He had his moments, which, if he does get claimed he deserves some thanks for. Lasted longer than he ought to have based on all things concerned though.
I’d say odds are 60% he can make it through waivers and be assigned to the minors as depth
I say this respectfully, but who cares? He isn’t much depth and has little to no space with Story here.
Pablo Reyes has a better chance at succeeding. Chang was just a holdover until Story came back.
I’d like to keep him as depth. He had 6 HRs in 105 ABs, which is pretty good, and he owned a glove. If we needed another UIF, I’d prefer Chang to Valdez or Hamilton, at least in the short-term.
I’ve got to agree with Joe on this one.
Not every depth piece is a superstar. Given the fact we could cover a rock with some sticky stuff and get the same defense at 3b with it as Devers, or, perhaps better than Devers, this team needs a glove first SS there. And if you get some production it’s a bonus.
He’s a useful piece to have around for now, just because of the sorry state of the IF.
I think we have been so conditioned to bad back-ups that we are far too accepting of them. A good team wouldn’t want him. A mediocre team feels ambivalent about him and a bad teams likes him.
I hope a bad team picks him so he is appreciated. I don’t that should be Boston.
I suppose… as a back up he’s not terrible.
GASox – Sorry, it’s a hard pass from me.
Years ago I would say sure, he’s a solid defensive replacement.
But now, when there’s almost always only 3 non-catchers on the bench each game, it’s even more critical that those 3 guys can hit.
You have no idea how many games the Sox have lost because of tight scores where there were RISP and Cora didn’t have a decent hitter to send to the plate.
There are much better options though, notably Pablo Reyes who can actually hit
Too many pitchers makes it imperative to have two way back ups that can play multiple positions. Too bad because it was fun knowing a ball hit to Chang would actually be caught…
Fever, see above what I just wrote. The problem with the Red Sox this season isn’t just the bench hitters. This team has been an embarrassment in the field and in the bade paths.
dewey – You are 100% correct.
Two more bench players who can field and actually hit would bring a lot more value to the table than the 12th & 13th pitchers who are nothing more than a waste of roster space.
dewey – You are 100% correct. Tonight the Sox have given up SIX stolen bases, and have made the usual errors in the field.
The hitters have given up, you can tell by how quickly the side is retired most innings. No taking pitches, no grinding out at bats, just swinging away and then heading back to the dugout.
I would like to hear Bloom come up to the microphone to give us a status update on Mondesi. Has he started his rehab assignment yet? If not, has he even had an MRI yet ? Has he even been properly diagnosed yet? Is he lounging at home waiting for some accidental slipping to occur so he can have a new injury to rehab from ?? C’mon Bloom you owe us answers. Just give it to us straight, we can handle it.
Fever Pitch Guy
You are 100% correct. Tonight the Sox have given up SIX stolen bases,
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FWIW, the RS have a better-than-average CS% and 20th in SBs allowed. One bad night doesn’t affect their overall status irt to SBs.
It also doesn’t seem like SBs allowed has much correlation with winning %.
I wouldn’t spend too much time stressing over Mondesi. I think he’s gone.
Ahhh yes….
Chaim bloom found that he needed a catcher,
So he went out and got himself a letcher,
A man to pair with young wong,
Who loved pulling his sch1ong,
As good at raising the caught stealing,
As giving his car a sticky ceiling.
Joe – 20th is not very good, right on the border with bottom third of MLB.
As for correlation, it depends what you mean. Do you mean stolen bases don’t increase the chances of winning? Or do you mean teams with the most stolen bases don’t have the best records?
If it’s the latter, I have the reason. It’s because bad teams with a weak offense, like the Royals, will try to compensate for a lack of good hitters by stealing bases. And if they get caught a few times, who cares? They are not contenders anyways.
20th as in least amount of SBs allowed. Meaning only 10 teams have allowed fewer SBs.
The reason for lack of correlation is that you need to be at about 75% in order for it to be value added. The Reds lead the league with 129 SBs, and have allowed 34 CS. Projecting from the 34 CS, to 75%, that means the break even is 102/34. Which means they have added an extra 27 bases in 118 games. That’s like having 27 singles turned into doubles.
Using the same calculation, the RS have picked up an extra 18 bases.
Everything counts, but it is not that big a deal.
The Boston Red Sox and the revolving door of infielders. Hopefully Story is here to stay, however.
A guy who hit 239 last yr and stats have been in decline for the last 3 seasons should have kept bogarts
For 11 years? Maybe the only thing Bloom did right.
I love how everyone points to the 11 yrs as an excuse to let Bogey walk. When you do that you gloss over how utterly INEPT bloom was at locking Bogey up to begin with.
When fans say ‘should’ve kept bogey’ it means had bloom NOT handled the extension in such an atrocious, inexcusable manner.
Bogey never expected that much money or years. He could’ve been locked in for 20-25m over 5 or 6 additional years back when the Sox were only bidding against themselves.
Bogey never expected that much money or years.
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You don’t know what Bogaerts was looking for.
Past that, I’m not sure there was a price that made sense. Let’s say he’d have taken halfway between the Story contract and the Padre contract. That’s roughly $210M/8.
That would’ve been anvil in another 2-3 years.
Except he made a point to say that he would not play any other position except shortstop and we have a kid that is within two years of coming up. That’s just two reasons. Maybe if he wasn’t so adamant about only playing shortstop, they would’ve been open to try and do something knowing that they could shift Devers to DH at some point. And don’t tell me, you could’ve gotten him to change his mind he wouldn’t said that to begin with, if he didn’t mean it. Especially when you’re looking to extend your financial portfolio.
More excuses. Just call him Saint Bloom. Hilarious.
The Bloom cult lives in a fantasy world where Blooms spit in your face offer to Bogey never happened. They are delusional.
At the end of the day, all that will matter is whether or not Bloom made the right decision. If you knew then what you know now, would you have extended him?
I’d have offered him $175M/7. There is a pretty decent chance I’d have been wrong.
oh pound sand will you. Bogaerts would have signed for far less had he not received a low ball offer. Of course we shouldn’t have matched what SD gave him but we could have had him for far less if Henry had of just opened his wallet.
I doubt Bogaerts would have signed another team-friendly deal. He didn’t even finish the first one. Him and Scott Boras opted out.
Randy Red Sox
Bogaerts would have signed for far less had he not received a low ball offer.
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I agree that the offer Bloom made was embarrassing. Bloom would have been better off agreeing with Boras not to sign him, and making a few decent, but fake offers.
But back to the original, and more important question: how much would you have offered Bogaerts? If it was me, I’d have offered $175M/7. In hindsight, I believe that would’ve been too much.
Knowing that he has a 104 OPS+, and a .691 OPS since the first week of the season, what do you think he is worth?
Problem with your argument is Bogey is not even worth 20-25 million for 5 or 6 additional years…. The Sox did the right thing in not going there. What he is doing this season is exactly what he will be for the next 5 years and the remaining 6 years after that will be much worse.
“Teflon” Bloom is more like it lol
But back to the original, and more important question: how much would you have offered Bogaerts?
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And with that, Randy has left the building.
“Should have kept Bogarts”…Losing Bogey obviously hurts in the short term, but in about year 3 maybe 4 of his 11 year 280 million dollar deal, he will be in MASSIVE DECLINE and the Rsox will be glad they moved on. No 30+ year old player should ever be signed to an 11 year deal, it’s baseball malpractice.
Xander? Love him, but OPS+ of 104 and 16 double plays? Not so much.
Sox are toast this year anyway, hopefully some kids getting called in September to get us thinking about next year.
I already see “decline” in Bogey. Outside of the first few weeks of the season, he’s been a rather average, ordinary Major League player.
Bogaerts has been sorely missed in Boston in 2023. What he would have done for Boston this year is only speculation and his SD numbers are irrelevant. It’s a completely different situation. First year players usually don’t do as well as they will in their future in the new location. Bogey might have helped Devers have a better year since they were close. Most importantly, it wouldn’t have taken 11 years to sign Bogey. He just wanted fair market value, a very common theme for players leaving with Bloom as the GM.
People can blame the players for getting older but there is no set timetable for a big drop off. Bogey may have 5 to 10 good years in his future where he hits at the top of the SD order. Or he could fail miserably. Or something in between.
He did so much for Boston I don’t know how fans can have such negative thoughts about him. I thank him for all he did and wish him well. He went to a more talented team that now needs to learn how to win with all their talent. Its almost the opposite of the 2024 Red Sox where talent is limited but performance is better than one would expect from the talent.
Let’s hope Story can recapture his hitting skills and defensive skills to improve the current situation.
@ mlb Fan. 11 years on Bogey was ridiculous . They could have handled that situation better earlier on and retained him for a shorter period. What’s your thoughts on Story’s contract? IMO it’s a bust . I hope the best for Story
At least he plays VS the disappearing Story.
We’ll be thinking about next year Constantly with Bloom. His off-seasons are very uneventful and he picks up throwawy players or cheaper contract high upside players that he thinks are on the upside. All you see is constantly signing triple AAA players or low level major league players then releasing another disappointing low level major league player or minor league player. There is nothing exciting about this team. He really screwed the pouch with only picking up Urias and his .145 batting average at the trade deadline. Not signing Boggaerts was a mistake during the year last year. Story is a mess and was a major mistake because Bloom thought he could get him cheaper because he was damaged goods with with an arm injury in Colorado. He has missed major clumps of playing time with this arm injury of his. Letting Eovaldi go, JD Martinez, and the Betts disastrous trade. This is going to be another last place finish in the division with high market Boston. The fans are and media are now going after him. I think after this disaster at the trade deadline and the current play of the team it will cost him his job. He hangs onto these minor league players like they are gold too. A good GM always tries to improve the team and is not afraid to trade prospects for established players.
Acell11
Bogaerts has been sorely missed in Boston in 2023. What he would have done for Boston this year is only speculation and his SD numbers are irrelevant. It’s a completely different situation. First year players usually don’t do as well as they will in their future in the new location.
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Tell this of J.Turner, Yoshi, Duvall.
Answer itself on one question.
If Bogey did so strongly want to remain in Boston why it admits he in the contract a point about a refuse?
Good luck with that Bogaerts contract. Kinda heard his average isn’t too great this year either.
Bogaerts is only a 2.2 WAR player this year. Not worth the money. I’m not a Bloom suck up, believe me, but if we signed this guy you’d complain about his lack of production this year. People just want to find places where they can complain.
Story’s issue is staying healthy. If he does that, I think he’s the better player personally. Staying healthy is a big if though but there was literally no sense to dish out two huge shortstop contracts. Like it or not, Story was the one we kept.
I was always bogey fan . He helped them in 13 post season when Middlebrooks fizzled out . IMO he was the unspoken leader of the team the past few years . Story should have never been here and that $ could have gone to Bogey.
Til his next injury. Bad signing by Bloom. Really bad.
There once was a man named chaim bloom,
Johm Henry bade him to enter the room,
Fenway’s true faithful saw doom,
Now all that remains is the gloom.
Story doesn’t have the arm for SS anymore.
All I said was Bloom made the decision to keep Story, which makes Bogey expendable.
I personally don’t mind Story, though I’d prefer him at second base. I think we could’ve found an alternative to Bogey at SS though, as he costs way too much and will decline. He’s not even that great this season.
Blame Bloom all you want for signing Story and not signing Bogey. Truth of the matter is, it didn’t matter which one got signed, people complain, Bloom takes the blame.
I can tell you one thing. We may have overpaid for Story but it’s not as bad as other failed contracts out there with even more money paid (Rodon, NYM, Lindor). Bloom may have made some terrible deals but they don’t hurt us too much long term, which is one thing he has not been given fair credit for.
I’m not praising him completely, I just feel he has been treated somewhat unfair, even for as lackluster moves he has made.
Time to cut bait on Mondesi
He’s probably gone, but since he is on the 60-day IL, there is no harm in keeping him.
“No harm keeping him”..There’s people in Witness Protection with a higher profile and that spend more time on a ball field than Mondesi.
If chang could just hit around 230 he could have been a good player can field well at every infield stop and has good power. Just can’t hit the off speed stuff.
Ham – Asking a guy to hit .230 to be a good player seems like very low expectations. For me .230 hitters belong in the minors unless they can field their position like JBJ did, then they belong on the bench.
I guess story should stay in the minors then because he hit 237 avg last year
The league average is .248. Being 18 points below average, with a good glove at a skill position, is a decent to good player.
But is a below average, good glove, decent to good player worth an average salary of $23.333m/year on the front end when he is supposed to be at his peak?
Everybody looking at Chang and completely overlooking Pablo Reyes. I haven’t seen him him play SS, but as a hitter he is hitting .321 or close to it and was pretty good in the Minors too.
He literally misses 100 games every year do to injuries
Due to injuries.
With that logic, we should ditch Chris Sale too
If you’re a Red Sox and Alex Cora goes on the radio talking you up, how important you are shoring up the defence, know you’re about to be DFA’d. !
The dreaded Vote Of Confidence.
Cora isn’t the GM. Obviously miscommunication, but that’s Bloom’s deal.
If we are truly in a last ditch effort to make a run then why are we not trying Ceddanne Rafaela at 2B? He’s perfectly capable of playing the position. He’d just slide to the outfield next year anyway. Th e jump in production and improved defense would be a shot in the arm our offense needs.
Are they truly concerned at the top about making a run?
Bobby – Their refusal to acquire talent at the trade deadline is proof they didn’t care about making a run.
FPG, yeah, I was being a wise a$$
Ham- Rafaela needs more development, he’s swinging at 42% of the pitches he sees out of the zone. He’s also never played 2B before. I like seeing what urias can provide, if he gets back to how he was even last year he’s a very adequate player at 2B we probably haven’t had since pedroia or the Brock holt/Eduardo Nunez
Triple A stats are as worthless as spring training stats
Wooster is fighting it for 1st place. Probably won’t s3e any of the top prospects until after MiLB season
That’s Worcester
I guess after last night, you couldn’t very well send Reyes down.
Guys a Shohei clone , pitched a scoreless ninth , then hits a Granny
Hilarious Edp !!!
Ed – You got that from the NESN guys last night, didn’t you? LOL!
No I didn’t , watched him pitch that ninth, here Jays on Sportsnet , I don’t get NESN jus sayin lol
Ed – I was just teasing, all good. BTW – I’m a regular visitor at Rogers Centre, have relatives in the Woodbridge area.
Oh oh. Better watch my kneecaps lol
Ed – Haha!
A starter onlyplaying every other day is going to screw the Red Sox royally. Or at least with Chang you could pinch-hit.
Really surprised to see him go, Bloom has been making logical decisions to let the dead weight go. About damn time.
bud – As the high priced regulars return from the IL, Bloom has no choice but to let go of the crap pitchers.
When/if Sale, Houck and Whitlock return we will see three of the newly acquired crap pitchers go bye-bye. I’m guessing Llovera, Lamet and Robertson will be in the minors or released. Glad Garza and Jacques are already back in the minors.
This is true, but he hasn’t historically been willing to part with ineffective players, or at least not for a long time, Jackie Bradley, Ryan Brasier and Franchy Cordero would be my examples.
I think you’re right about those three (I hope you are). Robertson has options and ate one tonight, he may be packing his bags as we speak. Llovera has been terrible and Lamet is a throwaway arm. The latter two have no options, so they’ll clear up 40 man spots as well.
What about releasing kluber or shifting Rodriguez to a 60 day IL stint and freeing his 40 man slot up?
It’s hard to believe I’m saying it, but, I’d rather see what lamet can do than have joely pitch again this year.
GASox – Kluber is irrelevant while on the 60-day.
Shifting Joely doesn’t open up a spot on the 26-man.
Let’s see what happens with Houck and Whitlock.
Diecent glove, no bat…. It catches up to you!
Wait – maybe he can pitch !
That grand slam did him in
Mark DeRosa announced to the world today that Boston was going to make a run and finish in the playoffs. I often wonder who knows less about baseball De Rosa or Harold Reynolds!!
Boston needs to go 7-3 during their 10 game stretch with bad teams so the following 13 game stretch with great teams doesn’t bury them. They are 1-1 so far and not looking impressive.
Story may take some time to get back in the groove. Same might happen to Sale. Too bad the weak teams didn’t show up about a week later!!
With Bloom’s planning horizon so far into the future I heard he just figured out who he is picking up at the trade deadline in 2025!!!
Acel – Red Sox should be 0-2 so far if not for that horrific check swing call by the umpire Monday night!
The last 38 games of the season will be brutal, 28 against many of the best teams in MLB. So yeah they need to go 6-2 over their next 8 or they’re cooked!
Great debut by Story, hitless with 3 K’s … he’s picked up right where he left off last year!
Wong allowed 6 stolen bases, can’t blame it all on one pitcher as they were against 4 different ones!
@FPG. Concerning Story.
I posted in another topic that I belive Story wanted to remain with the WooSox because he still isn’t feeling right. He was getting pressure from the organization to rush back. And his comment last night, “I guess I feel pretty well overall” was not the enthusiastic “i feel great, really glad to be back” comment i was hoping for.
It makes me think I am correct. Story isn’t fully recovered, and the Sox are going to blow this guys arm out again rushing back to play short.
Sox are not making the playoffs. They should have kept in WooSox land for the rest of the season and then played him at 2nd next year.
This whole thing has Pedroia written all over it. He may end up getting paid to sit at home or the rest of his contract before the end of next year when this is all said and done.
In bloom they trust,
Claim prized Story just,
Played poorly from rust,
That he was no bust,
The team’s playoff thrust,
Now left in the dust.
DBH – Excellent comments. My understanding is the procedure he had truly fixed his elbow issue, so I think moving him back to SS next ST is the right thing to do. Probably for less than a year with the arrival of Mayer. As for this year, I agree seems like Sox are mishandling him. What a fiasco.
@Fever
I don’t know that we see Mayer next year unless there is an injury. He is struggling at AA and hurt. He may fade from favor.
I think Ceddanne Rafaela has forced himself into a Spring Training invite with a legit shot at making the team. He plays a great CF and really good SS. Catch a highlight of this guy in center if you can. And short!
He has the D of JBJ, speed of Damon, and the arm of Manny.
Really looking forward to seeing him!
Hilarious…. for someone that thinks he has such great knowledge of the game….. Wong had little to no shot at throwing any of them out based on the jumps. Heck he didn’t even attempt throws on a couple of them. But keep complaining… you do that very well.
7-3 ain’t gonna do it.
They’re running out of games and are SIX behind TOR in the win column.
49 games to play (47 for TOR) and, if you’re gonna pass them, you need to win 7 more than they do. And there are only 3 more head-to-head by my counts remaining.
If you do the math, that’s a tough road.
I don’t know with Story. My mindset is expect nothing and take whatever he gives us as a plus. We can not count on one, two, or even four guys to come back and magically save the season. We did last year with Sale and got one start and two freak injuries. It requires all 26, and the Red Sox do not have a good enough combination of 26 guys to win more than 80.
For those planning on Story to be the great offensive machine that we have missed all year at short, good luck with that. He had one good stretch of 3 weeks last year, and was mediocre the rest of the year. Why do we expect more this year. We had a shortstop in Boeggarts that had proven himself, and 8 years and $210,000,000 sounds like a bargain. And those who hate his defense, Boeggarts was top 3 in the choice for gold glove last year.
ray win
We had a shortstop in Boeggarts that had proven himself, and 8 years and $210,000,000 sounds like a bargain. And those who hate his defense, Boeggarts was top 3 in the choice for gold glove last year.
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Let us compare the protective indexes of Story and Bogey on SS for a career:
T.Story 734g, 6313.2 Inn, .979 Fld%, +69Rdrs, +10.6 dWAR, UZR +15.4, +18 OAA
X.Bogaerts 1295g, 11300.2 Inn, .980 Fld%, -51Rdrs, +2.6 dWAR, UZR +7.3, -29 OAA
At Story remained by contract 4Y’s with Red Sox.
At Bogaerts remained by contract 10Y’s with Padres.
I’m a not supporter to contract with players after 30Y’s on 8 -10+Y’s – Pujols, Stanton, Ellsbury, Cabrera.
I’d make a modest wager that Story’s bWAR/PA will be higher than Bogaerts next year,. He is more injury prone, and that is certainly a valid concern, but I think he is probably a slightly better player at this point.
I hope Trevor story gets hurt again. Honestly dude knew he was in decline, knew he had to get surgery and played all of you for fools. You still are all up here hope he has a “good year” 2 months barley left…he hit .239 last year he’s a bum he can’t even make the throw to 1st base from SS but you’re all so delusional you think this guy who couldn’t hit in COLORADO is going to miraculously stay healthy and turn his career around after having been hurt for like the 5th time in his only what 7 year career lol what a JOKE sox nation is becoming. Take Blooms meat out of ALL your mouths.