Red Sox right fielder Wilyer Abreu has yet to appear in a spring game or even begin full baseball activities due to a bout with a gastrointestinal virus. Exact details on the illness are a bit murky. MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith wrote on Feb. 28 that Abreu looked noticeably thinner in camp. Abreu acknowledged to Smith that the virus has indeed caused him to lose “a little bit of weight” but suggested he thinks that could actually prove beneficial, as he feels more “in form” than he was last year.
While Abreu has taken an optimistic tone about his chances of being ready for Opening Day, The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey cast some doubt on that possibility this morning, reporting that Abreu has only been tracking pitches thus far and yet to even swing a bat. Manager Alex Cora suggested that Abreu is a ways behind schedule. There’s no definitive declaration that Abreu won’t be in the lineup versus the Rangers on March 27, but that first game is only 20 days out.
Abreu, 25, came to the Red Sox in the 2022 deadline deal that sent catcher Christian Vazquez to Houston. He made his MLB debut in 2023 and broke out with a terrific rookie showing in 2024, his first full season in the majors. Last year saw Abreu produce a solid .253/.322/.459 batting line with 15 homers, 33 doubles, a pair of triples and an 8-for-11 performance in stolen bases over the life of 132 games/447 plate appearances. He floundered in 67 plate appearances versus lefties but thrived against right-handed pitching and, above all else, proved himself one of the best defensive players in baseball — regardless of position.
By measure of Statcast, Abreu was nine runs better than average in right field. Sports Info Solutions’ Defensive Runs Saved metric pegged him at a massive +17. Both outstanding marks came in less than a full season’s worth of innings at the position (921). No right fielder in MLB provided more total value, per Statcast or DRS. (Sal Frelick, Jackson Chourio and Jonny DeLuca were better on a rate basis but in smaller samples of innings.)
Unsurprisingly, Abreu won the first of what will likely be multiple Gold Glove Awards in his career. He also finished sixth in AL Rookie of the Year voting and firmly entrenched himself in Boston’s outfield moving forward. It’s a crowded mix with everyone healthy, though if Abreu’s not ready for the season opener, that could lend some short-term clarity to what’s right now something of a logjam.
With a normal spring for Abreu, the expectation would’ve been for him to slot into right field, with 2024 breakout MVP candidate Jarren Duran in left and fellow defensive standout Ceddanne Rafaela in center. The Red Sox, of course, have two of the most electric and also near-MLB-ready prospects in the sport: Kristian Campbell and Roman Anthony. Many outlets regard the latter as the top position-playing prospect in the game. Campbell has played more second base than outfield and is also in the mix at that position, though Boston’s signing of Alex Bregman could push Campbell into more of an outfield role — depending where he ultimately lines up on the diamond.
Even if Abreu isn’t ready for Opening Day, it’s not necessarily a lock that Campbell or Anthony would get the call in the outfield. For starters, neither is on the 40-man roster yet. Carrying either would require a corresponding 40-man move. More importantly, if Abreu is facing a short-term absence, the Sox may not want to bring up such a touted prospect for what amounts to a small handful of games. The 20-year-old Anthony only has 35 Triple-A games under his belt, after all, while the 22-year-old Campbell has just 19. Utilityman Rob Refsnyder and designated hitter Masataka Yoshida could certainly step into the outfield to help fill any short-term absences. Refsnyder would likely see plenty of outfield work as a platoon partner for Abreu anyhow.
Playing Yoshida in the OF while paying 40MM AAV to sign Bregman to improve the defense at 3B while paying Devers 30MM+ will make me seriously question what the Sox are doing with their roster.
If there is any real absence from Abreu than the most likely OF alignment would be Yoshida/Duran/Rafaela against righties and Duran/Rafaela/Refsnyder against Lefties. An Abreu absence opens an early roster spot too, while i don’t see Anthony breaking camp with the team it potentially allows the Sox to carry 3 of Campbell/Gonzalez/Grissom/Hamilton instead of 2 out of 4
Any chance Red Sox will call up Marcelo Meyer (Mayer?), this year? I’m curious about how good of a prospect he is since the White Sox didn’t pry him with the trade for Crochet.
Is there a chance? Absolutely but he definitely needs a little more time at Worcester first. It’s worth noting that the Red Sox infield cluster is made more difficult by the fact that Trevor Story says he feels the best he hascin years, which is a nice problem to have
If all stay healthy, by July, Mayer is the shortstop and Story moves to second. Campbell needs more time. Hamilton who I thought was going to be moved and Gonzalez are the back ups. While they would love to save face with the Sale trade (only a Sale injury can do that), Grissom remains in the minors or is the one to get dealt.
Mayers issue has been his health, but he’s killing it this spring. I think it’s more difficult to find a playing spot for him on the current roster and he’s hasn’t played a game in AAA yet. Not that that’s a huge deal with prospects now a days, but he’s the least likely out of Anthony, Campbell and Mayer in my opinion to make the opening day roster.
@Acoss – There were rumblings that the Sox wanted to include Mayer in the deal instead of Teel, but the White Sox already have a near ready SS prospect in Montgomery so they included Teel instead. Not sure if that is 100% true or not, but it would make some sense.
Dorothy – mlb.com/milb/prospects/whitesox
White Sox have both a SS and a C in their top prospects, with the C being similar (imo) to Teel in they’re more bat first guys.
Mayer would have had more versatility, but maybe having two great catchers and then DHing one or having them do some utility work provided then mrke upside.
Dorothy: there were no rumblings from any credible source that said that the Red sox wanted to include Mayer instead of Teel.
As Joemo mentioned, the roster spot is the issue. He won’t supplant Devers, Bregman, or Story no matter what the alignment is.
Good post. Sogard is also playing very well in spring training and may make the team.
What scares me is that this Abreu thing reminds me of what happened to Grissom last year. Besides being injured, Grissom got really sick and lost 15-20lbs. His game ended up being lost as well. I hope this illness does not affect Abreu like it did Grissom last season. The only good thing here is that the Sox do have plenty of OF depth (including the rookies) so it won’t be a total disaster like when they lost Story @ SS, but no one can replace Abreu’s glove and arm in RF.
I think if Abreu misses significant time there’s a decent chance the Roman Empire starts now. There would also be a decent chance that Abreu gets Wally Pip’d. If he’s just going to miss a couple of weeks then they will probably throw Yoshida in left against righties.
Bruin: Acknowledge Him!
Yoshida has yet to do any throwing other than soft toss at 45 feet. He won’t be playing OF.
Campbell can play LF with Yoshida at DH, Devers at 3B and Bregman at 2B against righties if need be. There are ways to make it work
Devers has yet to play at all. Devers will DH to start the season if healthy enough to play at all. Take a look at who is getting reps at 2B in A games.
And vs lefty SP’s Devers DH, Breg 3b Grissom/Romy 2b. Although I still think Thompson would better as a short term OF for Abreu. As for 40 man spots Murphy and Penrod will need at least 60 days. It also might be better to give Crawford 60 days rest so that he will last longer as an effective SP this year as it is likely he will be dealing with the same knee issue this yr.
Yoshida is still only playing soft toss. Hasn’t even progressed beyond the level of a backyard catch with your dad. There is no way he could get the ball to the cut off man let alone play LF.
Also, Kutter Crawford will likely start the season on the IL due to his knee.
Time to start looking at Cedanne in RF with Duran back in center, As for LF, I’m not buying Yoshida. Refsnyder and . . . hmmm. Romy? Can Sogard play the OF?–I wouldn’t be surprised. The problem with Trayce Thompson and Nate Eaton is they would require 40-man moves. I don’t see a RP they’d be okay with moving on from (yet) if DFA’d to make room for either of them.
Sogard has 50 MiLB league games as a corner OFer under his belt. Hamilton has played 8 games in CF in the minors and at one point it was thought that could be his future position.
Those guys should be able to handle things for a few days, but will they hit well enough to handle a prolonged absence?
If Yoshida can throw, the solution becomes simpler.
Horace – Campbell has been getting a lot of playing time in LF this spring. He’s had a rough ST thus far, but they really want him on the team because of his versatility.
I know that was the plan, but I would be very surprised at this point if the FO/Cora were thinking anything other than Worcester for Campbell to start the season.
As a Yankee fan, I’m tickled that Rob Refsnyder, who was mocked mercilessly (or was that Mercilessly mocked?) by Red Sox fans when he was in pinstripes had become such a useful player n Boston. Freed of expectations of being a future Hall of Famer, he can now contribute at his true level of talent.
It wasn’t that Refsnyder was being mocked; it was the Shane Spencer type hype he was getting. That’s a laugh at the fans who do that, not the player. You basically nailed in on the head with your last line – with that silliness out of the way, he got to worked, has shown he’s a pro’s pro, and has found his solid place in the league!
Long – I hope you’re right, but the prior time he had a good season was 2022 and he followed that up with a bad 2023 season.
I’d be happy even if he regresses down to around an .800 OPS, but if he sinks back down to a sub-.700 OPS then he’s likely toast. He’s certainly not known for his defense.
If he has that much of a down season at the plate, I think that might mean retirement for him—wasn’t he quoted this offseason that he had been considering retirement before 2025? And that’s coming off a very good year.
We didn’t mock the player. We mocked the never-ending trade proposals involving some combination of Ref, Voit, Frazier, Andujar, etc., for various superstars.
And I thought the mockery ultimately extended to the whole Yankee farm system, which was obviously in bad shape if a shaky prospect like Refsnyder–which he was at the time–was the cream of the crop.
As I remember, NY could have had Cole if they included Andujar rather than Frazier in their offer. Pitt needed a 3b which made them take Hou’s offer.
Still a HOFer! You take that back!
Don’t forget we got Trayce Thompson in camp on a minor league deal.
Thompson makes more sense than Campbell or Anthony as a short term move. All of the big 3 need time at AAA; with the bonus of delaying FA rights an extra yr. Plus, DFAing Thompson when Abreu comes back is no big deal whereas yoyoing a top prospect can F with his development.
Sogard or Hamilton make more sense short term. Who do you drop off the 40 man if he comes up short term? Only if Wilyer goes on the 60 day would it make sense
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I was only saying that Thompson makes more sense than Campbell or Anthony as all would require a spot on the 40 man roster.
Murphy, Penrod and even Crawford could use 60 days rest.
That’s a bad virus to take you out for months. Hope he gets better quick.
This guy turned into such a stud in my MLB The Show franchise that I now root for him IRL
And yet there are still idiots out there saying that they should trade Abreu
Abreu is strictly a platoon player. He can’t hit LHP and never has been able to even in the minors. Trading him would have been smart if he was part of the package for a TOR starting pitcher.
I don’t think wanting to trade Wilyer Abreu makes you an idiot it just means they believe in Roman Anthony. Wilyer Abreu is a solid player but Roman Anthony has a decent chance to be special a true game changer.
This could actually wind up allowing a “feel good” story as Trayce Thompson has been one of the hottest hitters of spring. Yes it’s just spring training but if the Sox opt not to go with one of the rookies because it’s a short absence Thompson could break camp! Of course this comes with the 40 man issue and they are already going to have to make decisions on some RPs like Ottavino and others so it may work against him as they don’t want to lose anyone for nothing and/or want to be able to keep him in AAA without the risk of having to expose him to waivers once Abreu is healthy.
Abreu out. Devers yet to play in spring training. Yoshida yet to throw beyond 45 feet.
Will that open some opportunities for the Red Sox big 3 prospects. From looking at who is playing in A games in spring training it doesn’t appear so. Refsnyder is playing instead of seeing what Anthony can do. Hamilton and Grissom are getting PA instead of Campbell.
Anthony is sick he has the bug that has been going around Mayer is as well.
Abreu is a good defensive RF that is strictly a platoon player. He hits RHP very well so he could start 60-70% of games, but he is still a platoon player. Anthony is only an average defensive player but he is protected to be a much better hitter and doesnt have extreme platoon splits. Play him until Abreu is back. Stop farting around with Refsnyder.
I think it’s early to call Abreu a strictly platoon player. Cora notoriously has protected young lefties he will probably get more looks against lefties this season. Sure he was worse against lefties in the minors but he wasn’t unplayable against them more like .250 hitter with a .750 ops and if you watch him it’s not like bails out against lefties he takes a decent swing against them. The point is I think it’s too early to call him strictly a platoon player.
I don’t think you watched Anthony much last year he may not be a centerfielder but he’s at least average defensively in center he should easily be a plus defender on the corners.
Through parts of 5 seasons in the minors and 2 in the majors Abreu has never been able to hit LHP. 50 point difference in the minors. More pronounced in the majors. He is a platoon player.
Send Yoshida to the Marlins they have to find salary before they get penalized anyway.