This morning’s surprise acquisition of Caleb Durbin in a six-player trade with the Brewers gave the Red Sox the additional infielder they’ve been coveting but also created questions about the infield alignment. Durbin can play both second base and third base. Both positions are generally unsettled for the Red Sox.
Manager Alex Cora touched on the matter in his first media session of spring, indicating that for the time being, the team isn’t going to commit to one defensive setup just yet (link via Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). Each of Durbin, touted prospect Marcelo Mayer and veteran utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa can play either second base or third base.
The situation is further muddied by the fact that infielder Romy Gonzalez is behind schedule due to a shoulder issue that bothered him throughout the offseason (links via MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and the Globe’s Tim Healey). Gonzalez suffered the injury in Boston’s 160th game of the season. He rested it and rehabbed it throughout the winter and believed the issue to be behind him but instead aggravated it when starting a hitting program last month. He’s since received a platelet-rich plasma injection and is aiming to be ready for Opening Day, but that’ll depend on how his shoulder progresses (or does not progress) during the Grapefruit League schedule.
Whether at second base or third base, Durbin figures to be in the lineup every day. He’s a fine defender at either position and had relatively neutral platoon splits in 2025. Neither he nor Mayer will work at shortstop, per Cora. Trevor Story was always going to get the majority of reps there, but it seems Kiner-Falefa is the primary backup at the moment. If both Story and Kiner-Falefa were to go down with an injury, perhaps the Sox would rethink utilizing Mayer and/or Durbin there, but that’s not in the cards for the time being.
Ideally, Gonzalez would be healthy enough to take regular at-bats against left-handed pitching. He decimated southpaws at a .331/.378/.600 clip in 2025 and owns a lifetime .302/.345/.527 slash against them. Against lefties, the Sox could theoretically go with Gonzalez at second base and Durbin at third base, then switch to a combination of Mayer and Durbin against right-handed opponents. Mayer hit .260/.333/.462 against righties in 2025 (majors and minors combined) but just .230/.260/.378 against left-handers.
Utilitymen Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler, both acquired alongside Durbin, could both factor into the mix as well. Monasterio swings from the right side of the plate and can play all four infield positions. Seigler is a lefty-swinging catcher/infielder who’s played far more second base than catcher in recent seasons. It’s a long shot that either would claim a starting role, but both will be in the mix for bench jobs.
There are still questions in the outfield as well. Much has been made of Boston’s outfield group, which consists of Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu and, to a lesser extent, Masataka Yoshida. There are more bodies than at-bats to go around. Cora plainly said today that the Red Sox view Abreu as an everyday player and plan to get him at-bats against both lefties and righties (via MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith). They want to keep Rafaela in the outfield as often as possible, too, due to his superlative center field defense.
That’s a departure from the manner in which Abreu has been deployed in the past. The 26-year-old has logged just 145 of his 849 major league plate appearances against lefties (17%) and turned in a bleak .205/.271/.318 slash in that time. A poor spring showing could always change that plan, but it’d be a notable role change for Abreu. If he can improve to even passable but below-average output against southpaws with more exposure, it’d be a boon for the Sox on the defensive side of things, given that Abreu grades out as one of the better right fielders in the game.
If both Rafaela and Abreu are in the outfield most days, that leaves Duran, Anthony and Yoshida in the mix for left field and DH work. Presumably, the bulk of that time will go to Duran and Anthony. Both are superior defenders to Yoshida, and both have performed better at the plate as well.
Yoshida remains a square peg for the Sox’ roster, but he’s owed $36MM over the next two seasons and no team is taking on that sum (or even a notable portion of it). The former NPB star hit .266 last year but with a paltry .307 on-base percentage and just a .388 slugging percentage. By measure of wRC+, he was 12% worse than average at the plate. The Sox could still try to find him some occasional at-bats against right-handed pitching. He’s a career .295/.345/.451 hitter in those spots but has hit lefties at only a .237/.310/.340 pace since coming to MLB. In 755 innings in left field, he’s been dinged for negative marks by both Defensive Runs Saved (-4) and Outs Above Average (-8).
How about romero, pages, nootbar and liberatore, for yoshida, campbell and casas. With other pieces to make it work
that’s the equivalent of taking a dump on the Cardinal’s GM’s desk and asking what he thinks
Why would St Louis take on all of that salary when they are in rebuild mode?
“Other pieces” is doing quite a bit of heavy lifting in this thought experiment, that’s for sure.
There’s already a lot of pieces! 7-player trade! Wowee Zowee
“romero, pages, nootbar and liberatore, for yoshida, campbell and casas” plus others.
Sounds more like a troll suggestion, than a deal anyone would think works for both teams.
Surprised they haven’t moved Duran, but perhaps they’re trying to tie Yoshida’s contract (or part of it) to him? Not even sure what position they’d move him for now with Durbin added and the rotation reinforced and plenty of depth. Is there a high end RP they could move him for that makes sense (like an Abner Uribe type, and then maybe a spect to round it out)?
When they keep adding to their depth, it causes them to lose some extra leverage on guys like Duran
Toasty why surprised?
@NES
Just figured with the weak OF depth in the market this off-season and Boston’s overabundance of OFers, Duran would have been an appealing option for a lot of clubs. I don’t follow Boston as closely anymore though so maybe they haven’t seriously shopped him. I figured at least one OF would be moved before ST started
It was serious due to the salary surpluses but probably a gap between valuation. The ’24 vs ’25 was probably a major reason. Not ideal time to sell off production for Sox. So the easy way didn’t work and they went through the thicket to address their interests.
It wouldn’t make sense to tie Yoshida’s contract to Duran. If they did that, then they would need an outfielder/DH.
Seems like Duran is off-the-market and Yoshida will hopefully have a strong spring and be traded if everyone is healthy. This article really underrates his bat, which is quite good – he had a major shoulder injury which he played through in 2024 and the subsequent surgery caused him to miss much of 2025 and not be 100% until September. He looked fantastic in September/October.
I imagine we’ll hear about Duran trade scenarios all next off-season when the has 2 years of control remaining. That seems to be the sweet spot for trading a player.
@WC
personally I’m a Yoshida fan too but since they have more players than positions, felt like they’d eat as much money as they could and just move on this off-season. Yoshida isn’t a traditional power DH type, although the Red Sox also don’t really have that unless the hope is Casas rebounds and fills a spot in the lineup or bench by mid season
If Casas and/or Campbell look good, then moving both starts making some sense. But for right now, it would put them a man short. Who would DH?
Regardless of Casas, if Yoshida looks good and another team has either an injury or disappointing spring from an outfielder, the Sox’ price on Duran might suddenly be met and they could I use him to restock the farm. They also still can try to get that true slugger with Duran and others.
With every improvement we make, I become less inclined to move Duran. IMHO, this is a very good team.
Sox should trade Yoshida to Angels for Soler. Sox can use the righty bat and can play Soler at DH. Angels need a lefty bat and while Yoshida’s OF defense isn’t good, it’s better than Soler’s who would have to play OF to get ABs for Angels because of Trout. Need some cash to make it work (Soler is due $16 million over 1 yr, Yoshida $37,2 miiion over two years), but while neither team probably wants either of these guys at these salaries, there’s probably no place else to trade them and each team would be better of than they are now.
@Bronxlou
This makes sense from an Angels perspective, but does nothing for the Red Sox. If anything Yoshida is probably more useful because he can pinch-hit for Narvaez or Rafaela. Soler would provide nothing aside from using up a roster spot. So for the Red Sox, it only makes sense if the Angels take-on enough money and they find a 3rd team to take Soler.
Currently Duran/Abreu/Anthony are set to split DH at-bats. No way they sit one of them for Soler against RHPs. (and they have options vs LHPs already)
“Yoshida remains a square peg for the Sox’ roster”
Well then he goes in the square hole!
I think he really could be a productive hitter with everyday reps but really hard to see how he fits in barring a late trade of Duran.
The best option would have been to move Anthony to First Base. The reality in Boston is a round hole for Yoshida, the square hole is a different organization that can give him regular AB’s
Rsox, he has never played an inning at 1B at any level..
Besides, 1B are a dime a dozen and make much less money. Why injure the relationship by flaming his future earning power?
DB, Anthony is signed for many years and his bat as well as his ability to run and play the outfield will dictate his next deal with the Dodgers.
The point of my post is that moving someone to First Base clears a path for Yoshida to get regular AB’s at DH. Nothing to do with anyone’s ability to play anywhere
Anthony is a plus defender in the outfield he would be wasted at 1b..better to left him play of ..and alternate through dh
Would have been convenient if he played 1B with the current roster construction. But you absolutely do not move a natural OF to the infield when you are talking about an elite prospect.
We need to build a time machine and convince Jarren Duran to become a viable 2B
R. Anthony was an elite prospect solely for his bat. A 21-year old outfielder who has played the game his whole life could learn to play 1B in three weeks.
Incorrect. He’s a plus defender. Waste at 1B
I’m not a Red Sox fan, and I realize he’s young and has yet to play a full season (2025 cut short by injury), but the suggestion that Roman Anthony not play regularly is wild to me. I get the occasional day off, but when it comes to ABs, it seems like a no-brainer in choosing between him, Duran and Yoshida.
Article doesn’t say that—just implies he might DH some as part of a three person rotation. Anthony will play every day as long as he remains healthy.
To add: part of the issue is that all 3 are very good defenders, and Rafaela is the best in MLB, so somebody has to DH.
Anthony barring an injury plays every day except when rested.
Your’re right…I went back and re-read the post (comprehension is important). How close are Duran and Anthony in terms of defense?
That’s a bit of a tough call. OAA and FRV think Duran is plus in CF but neutral in LF while DRS thinks that he’s plus at both (the defensive metrics tend to struggle with Fenway’s LF).
Meanwhile Anthony appears to be a plus defender in the corners but he’s only had 442.1 innings in the field.
They’re probably pretty close, but we haven’t seen much of Anthony in the field so far. My hunch is that Cora will choose to DH Anthony the most in deference to Duran.
Meanwhile Yoshida’s last two years have been married by a major shoulder injury which he elected to play through in 2024 but the surgery and recovery sidelined him for close to 9 months. He’s a much better hitter than given credit for and his defense isn’t that bad (clearly a downgrade from the other guys though) – he’s gotten a bad rap due to the injury and the Red Sox decision to hide the injury.
Good problems to have, I suppose, but it will be interesting to see how the Red Sox manage the OF/DH going forward. I’d certainly take Duran any day of the week.
It seems like Anthony will probably see his speed drop a little as he continues to get physically stronger, but it’s clear his bat is his superpower.
Possibly, but Roman only has average speed. He’s just super smooth and athletic at everything he does. I actually think his bat is being a bit overrated atm. It’s going to be great eventually, but he hits a TON of groundballs. It hasn’t hurt him yet, but he’ll have trouble going much past 20 HRs/season until he learns to elevate the baseball more frequently.
The ‘too many good outfielders’ coupled with ‘not enough good infielders’ problems are why the Red Sox fans have seemed so frustrated this offseason.
I’d like to see IKF at shortstop a fair amount of the time. Durbin at third, Story at second. Bring Mayer along as part of the rotation but do what makes sense per game. Same as in the outfield and DH. A lot of talent and moving pieces. Just like the pitching.
“
I’d like to see IKF at shortstop a fair amount of the time.”
NO
Roadtrip- He’s a defensive upgrade from Story and and I don’t see Story being that much better of a bat then IKF this year
Ridiculous
lol what?
52 points in OPS is petty significant.
Cora must be absolutely ecstatic that he gets to play all these platoon splits and rest days!!!!
Yoshida to the Rockies for a bag of balls & a haircut. Just get him out of town and keep all those outfielders.
I would not be surprised at all if Yoshi was just released by opening day. So will not be out much more money, anyway, as they’ll need to eat 90% in any trade.
I do agree with you though. Just trade him for ANYTHING and keep the 4 outfield studs!
DB, injuries in spring training often end up making the best trade being the one not made. The same applies with DFAing a player who might be needed in April with Casas and now possibly Romy unable to play.
Good point, as always, Dewey. Thanks!
I’ve been thinking that $36 million worth of Yoshida is too much to kick to the curb, so he stays in 2026 because of the contract. However, once it’s down to one year (2027), I think the Sox might then find a willingness to eat $18 million (or something like $14 million if they can scare up a last-ditch trade) for the sake of freeing the roster slot.
If he gets released he’ will end up hitting 300 with an 800 OPS somewhere. It’s an odd spot the Boston front office is in with him. He really is a decent hitter, just wildly overpaid
He can only hit right handed pitching and has very little power. He’s basically a platoon DH with no power, which isn’t all that exciting.
Mayer has mostly hit for a better average vs LHP during most of his ascension to the Majors. I think he’ll become an everyday player. He’s likely to get rested in favor of IKF just to keep him strong.
Agreed. Everyone is way over playing the splits. The dude has been in the majors for 43 seconds. At leave give him a minute.
DB, let Mayer earn his opportunity. He’s been injured and first needs to stay on the field.
Breslow has made trades in every month during the offseason. Trading more players than probably every other team in the league.
Can we put to rest the “Breslow is Difficult to Deal With” myth.
Why are so many Red Sox fans pushing for Duran to be traded? Honest question. He had just under 5 WAR last year and was over 8 WAR in 2024.He is an above average defender, especially if he isn’t in CF. He’ll steal 20-30 bases a year and has 20 HR a year pop. What am I not seeing?
Not so much Duran to be traded per se, but more dealing from an abundance of OFs at the moment.
I reluctantly wished for a Duran for Marte deal earlier in the off season, but I’m happy that never materialized. I love watching the kid play. Glad he’s still on the team.
Abreu should be the one traded if any are traded.
And as have stated so many times, unless he drastically changes his approach, he will continue to be an automatic out versus any LHP that has life on his fastball. Fastball up in the Zone, Curve/slider away, Fastball up in the Zone…. and back to the dugout he goes. His swing is too long and launch angle is too profound.
He needs to throw the top hand over and use Left Field. This means cutting down his swing versus lefties. Would rather him hit .270 versus lefties with less pop, than what he is doing now which is .200 with little pop.
I’ve said it over and over again. RF in Fenway is the hardest outfield spot in baseball. When you have a young guy making minimum who can get you 20+ homers and who already has two gold gloves, you do not trade him.
What does not get enough attention is the pressure Duran puts on opposing teams fielders and pitchers as a baserunner and there really is no stats that show a true value to the havoc he causes.
Anthony can play RF at Fenway and Abreu for all the reasons you mention (young guy making minimum dollars with pop is just as appealing to teams for trade Value…actually maybe more small market teams would be in on him because of cost.
Duran took a long time to mature. The defense took a big step back in ’25 relative to ’24 when his breakout miracle of hard work payed off. A lot of fans thought that was a sell high moment. It addressed the handedness issue with Yoshida to free up DH. They sited his splits and general regression, and they seemed to be partly vindicated by ’25.
The calls now remain prevalent because his contract has plenty of control and Roman Anthony’s emergence is pushing him out.
I agree, his defense was not as good in ’25 as ’24, but was still above average by all defense metrics except runs saved (-4). I still am struggling with the trade talk though. If regression is going from 8+ WAR to 4.7, that is still a very valuable player…13th rated OF by WAR in the bigs last year. Especially having three more years of control for the amount of production, it makes Duran, Anthony and Rafaela one of the top OFs in baseball for the next three years (maybe more). It looks to me like Abreu is the logical trade high scenario…or they can (and probably should) eat 90% of Yoshida’s contract for a lotto ticket, or just release him.
It’s a little complicated which should be sent between Abreu and Duran. However, most lean Duran because there is more value to get back since, as you pointed out, there is a higher ceiling to sell.
There is also concerns that Duran’s offensive pluses were attached to high BABIPs that were unrealistic. And even now remain so going into ’26. Pessimism related to his platoon splits lend to him appearing overrated with his base-path speed doing too much lifting in the profile. As what is the use of lead off guy who can’t lead off. This combined with dipped defense despite from Fenway’s LF, leaves momentum among fans to back up. There is also issues with his outburst with fans which negatively detract.
These compared to Abreu’s two Gold Gloves, the trust of team to field RF, his youth, cheaper and longer control, and optimism in his bat only seem to point the finger at Duran.
In the end it really is about surpluses and how to manage them. Duran gets the edge but that doesn’t mean they are eager to trade. As we’ve seen this winter, the Sox still attach a big price tag and aren’t willing to back off. They asked for Ragans. Quite bold, really.
As for the Yoshida aspect, that has become less relevant since they went with Devers for the salary dump and open playing time for Yoshida and Anthony. Now, until Casas proves he can stick around, Yoshida is probably cozy at DH if brings enough. And there is still growing room to trade him now that the commitments are shorter term. They end in ’27 and with lockdowns expected, it won’t be an issue for the Sox.
I appreciate all of the insight! This last response definitely opened my eyes a bit to what the appeal of trading Duran looks like. Thanks for taking the time and have a great evening.
d-rock2322
I appreciate all of the insight!
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IMO, Cleveland always gives a solid++ response.
We had a glaring hole in the infield and an over abundance of OF. I don’t speak for all Red Sox fans but the only trade I wanted Duran involved in was for Marte or for both Paredes and Cam Smith.
If we got Cam Smith and Jacob Melton (before the trade to Rays) that would’ve been an absolute grand slam.
Duran is interestingly a better defender in CF than he is in LF. I think he is going to DH the majority of the time and Roman will be in LF.
Sounds like Romy is going to miss time maybe a lot of time so this addition makes a lot more sense. They are going to miss Romy mashing against lefties though at least in the beginning of the season. I don’t like to hear he had all off-season to rehab the shoulder and now they are trying platelet rich injection. Sounds like he might get surgery and out possibly for the season. Makes this move much more reasonable.
Although Romy’s production will definitely be hurt by this, it was probably realistic not to expect him to repeat with another ’25. Aside from some standard regression vsLHP, where he’d remain successful regardless, Romy’s success vsRHP presumably will crater. However, now the slow start and delays to his shoulder’s recover. Yes, the moves make a lot of sense, and it’s probably not likely he will be able to be the same player for a majority of the season. And it won’t be til at least ’27, barring other circumstances, Romy puts together a complete season to repeat ’25.
Gonzalez is eventually going to have shoulder surgery and be out for the year.
Getting Durbin from Milwaukee is getting enough praise. The kid is the real deal. Excellent 3B with a cannon for an arm and he has the potential to hit 25Hrs per year. He was a rookie last season and never really looked lost at the plate. He might even have more upside than Mayer does! Once Story’s contract expires after the 2027 season, it will be great to see the left side of the infield consisting of Durbin & Mayer. I think he’ll become an instant fan favorite too because he plays the game really hard; like the infield version of Trot Nixon from an effort perspective.
Dorothy_Mantooth — It’s quite positively exciting, an acquisition which properly manages to pinpoint precisely the infield weaknesses, after teasing around with incomplete but tempting figures. Durbin’s character of baseball, I concur, could nicely match well with fan’s adoration and appreciation. But I’d like to push back on your expectancy of Durbin’s power, however, as much I would like that to be the case, twenty-five seems far-fetched given our understanding of his bat speeds being below average and his exit velocities. Certainly a possibility given how favorable the Green Monster could be, but yearly is hyperbolic. A notion of fifteen regularly seems more apt speculation, which is already generous, as his 2025 totals of eleven, seven were pulled and one to center field, the only one longer than 400ft, and one wall scrapper to right center. Indeed there are more flyballs pulled, either outs or doubles on the spray charts, albeit unclear if there is enough altitude necessary to extrapolate to for the new environs.
Who has options remaining of the players acquired from Milwaukee?
Yoshida is nothing more than a very expensive pinch hitter at this point.
I would roll with what they have. We are just one injury away from not having a crowded outfield. Its a long season and a good problem to have. If the sox would of got what they wanted for Duran or any other outfielder then I think they would have made the trade. I don’t think they did and are fine with the crowded outfield for now. What’s wrong with a bench full of starters? Todays ball players need days off almost weekly anyhow……they just don’t build them like they use too!!
AK, some athletes are only in it for themselves and those extra games played could in their eyes end up getting them more in their next contract. When not playing, some pout and are not good in the clubhouse. Hopefully that doesn’t happen here
Why are we dragging this out again?
Pay to move Yoshida. Addition by subtraction.
If they don’t find a taker in the next few weeks, they’re just going to release him. It’s time.
Lineup :
1. Jarren Duran – DH
2. Caleb Durbin – 3B
3. Roman Anthony – LF
4. Willson Contreras – 1B
5. Trevor Story – SS
6. Wilyer Abreu – RF
7. Ceddanne Rafaela – CF
8. Marcelo Mayer – 2B
9. Carlos Narvaez – C
Bench Options :
Connor Wong – C
Triston Casas – 1B
Andruw Monasterio – INF
Isiah Kiner-Falefa – INF
Romy Gonzalez – INF
Nick Sogard – INF
Nate Eaton – Utility
Anthony Seigler – Utility
Kristian Campbell – Utility
(Yoshida will be gone by the end of spring training.)
Flip flop Durbin and Meyer positionally and I am with you. Meyer is better defensively than Durbin at 3B.
I see a trend building, lot of infielders who bat from right and lot of outfielders who bat from left with a few players who play both inf and of. I’ve been worried they would never be able to replace Duran but I felt same way about previous outfielders whether it was Greenwell, Drew or Trot Nixon. Outfielders seem to be easy finds when it comes to this teams history of them.
There shouldn’t be a comma before “too” in the sentence about Rafaela’s defense.