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MLBTR Podcast: Bregman Injured, Marcelo Mayer Called Up, And Pirates Talk

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Should the Orioles trade Félix Bautista at the deadline? (29:35)
  • What are the chances the Giants could sign Kyle Tucker this offseason? (35:10)
  • Are the Cardinals for real? (40:35)
  • Does Kevin Alcántara of the Cubs get traded this summer? (48:10)
  • The Dodgers have 14 pitchers on the injured list. Does this reflect poorly on the club’s training and conditioning? (51:15)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Bob DeChiara, Imagn Images

Red Sox Promote Marcelo Mayer; Alex Bregman To IL With “Significant” Quad Strain

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4:27pm: The Red Sox have officially announced the selection of Mayer’s contract. Bregman was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right quad strain to create room for Mayer on the active roster, while Casas was placed on the 60-day injured list to create a 40-man roster spot. Cora told reporters (including Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic) this afternoon that Bregman’s injury is “significant” and compared it to a quad strain Bregman suffered in 2021 that ultimately caused him to miss around two months.

1:39pm: The Red Sox are promoting top infield prospect Marcelo Mayer, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Katie Morrison-O’Day of MassLive observed that Mayer was being congratulated by his teammates in the clubhouse at Triple-A Worcester. Her MassLive colleague Christopher Smith first reported that the former first-round pick is headed to Fenway Park.

The promotion comes as Alex Bregman navigates a right quad injury that seems likely to send him to the 10-day injured list. Bregman came out of yesterday’s blowout win over the Orioles in the fifth inning. He came up a bit gimpy after making an aggressive turn around the first base bag on a single off the Green Monster. He immediately exited in favor of Abraham Toro. The team is still awaiting MRI results from this morning. Manager Alex Cora told reporters (including WEEI’s Rob Bradford) that the star third baseman woke up with more soreness than he’d expected today.

Boston did not place Bregman on the IL before the first game of today’s doubleheader. There’s a good chance that’ll come between games tonight. They’ll also need to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Mayer, but that can easily be achieved by transferring Triston Casas to the 60-day injured list.

Cora has already shot down the idea that Rafael Devers could see any third base time in Bregman’s absence. He’ll remain a full-time designated hitter. That means the 22-year-old Mayer should be in the lineup on a near everyday basis at third base. He obviously can’t be expected to replace the production they’re losing with Bregman’s absence. The two-time All-Star takes a .299/.385/.553 batting line to his likely stint on the injured list.

Mayer has very little experience at the hot corner. He started one game there in Double-A in each of the 2023 and ’24 seasons. He’s added four appearances in Triple-A this year. Mayer has taken the vast majority of his professional reps as a shortstop. He’d moved more frequently to second base over the past few days. That wasn’t because of any question about whether he can hold up at shortstop. It was instead in preparation for what seemed to be his best path to an MLB debut — playing second base with Kristian Campbell preparing to slide to first base after the Casas injury.

While there may be some growing pains given Mayer’s lack of experience at the hot corner, it’s common for shortstops to move to other infield positions. He has the plus arm for the position and is generally regarded as a sure-handed infielder. At 6’3″, Mayer is on the bigger side for a shortstop. His range, while adequate, has never been the strongest point of his defensive profile. That’s less of a concern at third base.

Mayer certainly brings a higher offensive ceiling than the utility options (Toro and David Hamilton) who may otherwise have replaced Bregman. The fourth overall pick in 2021, Mayer has been a feature on top prospect lists throughout his professional career. The left-handed hitter has moved a little more slowly than anticipated, largely because of injuries to his left shoulder and right wrist that affected him in 2022-23. Scouts have remained enamored with his power, polished strike zone discipline and overall natural athleticism.

That has been on display over the past two minor league seasons. Mayer hit .307/.370/.480 in Double-A a year ago. He’s out to a solid .271/.347/.471 slash with nine homers in 43 games during his first Triple-A action. He’s drawing walks at a strong 10.4% clip compared to a 19.7% strikeout rate that matches last year’s mark for the lowest of his career.

While the Bregman injury is the immediate impetus for Mayer’s promotion, there should be opportunity to stick past Bregman’s return if he performs well. The Sox may feel comfortable using Campbell at first base by that point, potentially opening second base. Mayer could also eventually supplant Trevor Story as the starting shortstop. Story began the season with a power barrage but has done almost nothing offensively for the better part of six weeks. He’s hitting .159 with one home run and 38 strikeouts in 122 plate appearances since his two-homer game on April 18.

Mayer will not reach a full year of service time unless he triggers the Prospect Promotion Inventive by finishing in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting. The Sox would not receive an extra draft choice under the PPI because they did not carry Mayer on the big league roster for at least 172 days. He would be on track to qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player during the 2027-28 offseason if he’s in big leagues for good, though future optional assignments could certainly change that timeline.

Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.

Kristian Campbell Taking Drills At First Base

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Kristian Campbell started doing first base drills before the Red Sox’s series opener against the Braves. Boston has been patching things together at the position since Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago.

“Looking for options,” manager Alex Cora said about Campbell’s pregame work (link via Chris Cotillo of MassLive). “Obviously, we’re getting Romy (Gonzalez) probably by the end of the week or early next week. But just introducing (Campbell) to first base and seeing how it looks. … It can take 10 days, 15 days, a month, two months, but we started the process.”

Gonzalez, a utility infielder, got first crack at the position after the Casas injury. He was sidelined by a quad contusion a week later. As Cora noted, the Sox expect he’ll be back after a near minimal stint. Abraham Toro and Nick Sogard, each of whom were in Triple-A at the beginning of the month, are splitting first base until Gonzalez returns.

The Sox approached Rafael Devers about taking first base reps. He indicated he wasn’t willing to do so, publicly expressing frustration with chief baseball officer Craig Breslow after the Sox moved him off third base to designated hitter at the beginning of the season. Devers has not played a single defensive inning all year.

Campbell has no collegiate or professional experience as a first baseman. He has played mostly second but also has experience at both left side infield positions and all three outfield spots. Campbell has started 34 games at the keystone during his rookie season. He has added 50 outfield innings — 38 in center and 12 in left. While it’s not worth placing much stock in six weeks of defensive metrics, Campbell has not graded well at second. Statcast has him two runs below average, while Defensive Runs Saved has graded him six runs below par. That’s tied with Jake Cronenworth for second-worst at the position (above Washington’s Luis García Jr.).

It doesn’t seem the Sox are planning an imminent first base move for Campbell. They may be reluctant to kick a 22-year-old top prospect down the defensive spectrum as a short-term response to an injury. There’s little harm in seeing how Campbell takes to pregame work, though, and the Sox have another top middle infield prospect looming. Marcelo Mayer is hitting .274 with eight homers at Triple-A Worcester. He could eventually push the scuffling Trevor Story for playing time at shortstop. If Campbell were to move to first, one of Mayer or Story could slide to second base.

Triston Casas Likely To Miss Entire 2025 Season Due To Knee Surgery

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The Red Sox announced this morning that they have placed first baseman Triston Casas on the 10-day injured list with a ruptured left patellar tendon. He suffered the injury during last night’s game. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow says that Casas will have surgery and they don’t expect him back this year, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.

To replace Casas on the active roster, the team has selected Abraham Toro’s contract from Triple-A Worcester. Boston had an open spot on the 40-man, so no further corresponding transaction was necessary. In an additional roster move, the Red Sox reinstated Brennan Bernardino from the bereavement list and optioned Luis Guerrero to Triple-A.

The Casas news is awful but unsurprising. He suffered an obvious injury last night when he hit the first base bag awkwardly while trying to beat out a grounder. He was down on the ground in clear pain for a long time and eventually was taken off the field on a stretcher. It seemed likely that he would miss an extended period of time and that is now confirmed. He hasn’t yet been moved to the 60-day IL but that will happen whenever the Sox need a 40-man spot.

The Sox will have to figure out what to do about replacing Casas at first base. Breslow says that all options are on the table and he didn’t rule out Rafael Devers taking over, though outfield prospect Roman Anthony or infield prospect Marcelo Mayer are unlikely to be moved to first.

Devers is currently the full-time designated hitter after getting bumped off third base by Alex Bregman. Moving him into first base and opening the DH spot would help the club with some roster crunches elsewhere.

Anthony and Mayer are two of the best prospects in baseball, but both are currently in Triple-A and somewhat blocked on the big league roster. The Sox currently have an outfield mix consisting of Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Rob Refsnyder. The infield has Bregman, Trevor Story and Kristian Campbell at third base, shortstop and second base respectively. Outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida could get into the mix as well, though he has been battling ongoing shoulder problems and his return timeline is unclear.

With Devers in the DH spot, it’s a bit of a crowded picture. If he were to take over at first base, that would open things up and allow various players to rotate through the DH spot. Devers has no professional experience at first but plenty of subpar third basemen have made the move across the diamond over the years. While Breslow seemed to leave the door open to the idea, manager Alex Cora downplayed the possibility. “From my end, right now, no…. he’s my DH,” Cora said, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe.

For now, it seems like utility infielder Romy González will be the first attempt. Cora tells Speier that this is an opportunity for González “to go out and perform.” He is the only Boston player apart from Casas to have played first base this year. He’s having a decent season so far, with a .279/.340/.419 batting line and 113 wRC+. However, that comes with no home runs and a .364 batting average on balls in play. In his 502 career plate appearances, he has a .246/.277/.390 line and 81 wRC+.

That career production would be less than ideal production from first base, which is generally a bat-first position, but the Sox will give it a try for now. Perhaps they will explore some external options in the coming weeks, looking to make a trade or grab another player off waivers. Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe says that Breslow is indeed looking at the trade market.

González had previously been in a multi-positional role, having also played some second and third base this year. In his career, he has played shortstop and the outfield as well. With him set to become the club’s regular first baseman for now, Toro has been added to add some defensive versatility to the bench.

Toro, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the offseason. He has been performing well in Triple-A so far this year, with a .310/.403/.480 line, though a .392 BABIP is doing him some favors. In his big league career, he has played the three non-shortstop infield positions and the outfield corners. He has always hit well in Triple-A but has a .220/.285/.353 line and 82 wRC+ in 1,298 big league plate appearances.

Photo courtesy of Eric Canha, Imagn Images

Poll: Which Top Prospect Will Arrive In Boston Next?

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After an offseason that saw the Red Sox get aggressive in improving the big league club by adding Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler, and Alex Bregman, the club showed a different kind of aggressiveness when they included top infield prospect Kristian Campbell on their Opening Day roster. That move has certainly paid off for them so far; not only has Campbell signed on with the club long-term, but he’s hitting an excellent .318/.426/.545 across his first 13 games in the major leagues while serving as the club’s regular second baseman and occasionally making appearances in the outfield.

Campbell wasn’t the only top prospect the Red Sox had knocking on the door to the majors this spring, however. Outfielder Roman Anthony and infielder Marcelo Mayer are rated just as highly as Campbell, with all three being consensus top-15 prospects across the entire sport. While a vacancy at second base and Campbell’s impressive work flying through the minor leagues last year were enough to get him called up to the majors first among the trio, it should surprise no one if all three are in the majors in relatively short order. With that being said, it remains unclear which of Anthony and Mayer are most likely to make it to the majors next.

Anthony, 21 next month, has a strong case to come up and contribute soon. As a consensus top-two prospect in the sport who has been ranked number one overall by multiple major publications, Anthony’s ceiling is immense. Last year, he slashed .291/.396/.498 between the Double- and Triple-A levels, including a phenomenal .344/.463/.519 slash line when looking just at his 35 games (164 plate appearances) at the highest level of the minor leagues. That hot finish at Triple-A created plenty of buzz about the possibility of Anthony breaking camp with the Red Sox over the offseason, but Anthony’s .206/.391/.324 slash line in Spring Training this year wasn’t enough to convince Boston brass that their top prospect was ready for the next step.

His early season performance at Triple-A hasn’t exactly demanded consideration for a promotion, either. Through ten games, Anthony is hitting .177/.364/.412 in his return to the club’s Worcester affiliate. While that’s a sample of just 44 plate appearances, Anthony’s 31.8% strikeout rate so far this year at the very least suggests he’s running a bit cold right now, though that he’s been able to walk at a 22.7% clip and bash a pair of homers while doing so is certainly impressive. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo recently suggested that the Red Sox are currently hoping to see more production from Anthony against left-handed pitchers before he makes it to the big leagues. That’s on top of a need for Anthony to work on his defense, which will be challenged as he appears likely to move from center field to left upon being called up to the majors.

That to-do list and Anthony’s middling play early in the season could open the door for Mayer to beat him to the majors. The 22-year-old provided a strong challenge to Campbell for the second base job during Spring Training as he hit .333/.455/.528 during camp, though Mayer’s lack of experience above the Double-A level always made him a less likely option to get the job. Mayer’s first taste of Triple-A has seen him cool off significant relative to his spring performance, as he’s hit just .243/.282/.405 with a 28.2% strikeout rate through nine games at the level. He’ll surely need to start hitting better than that with Worcester before he gets called up to the majors, although the club hasn’t laid out any more specific issues that Mayer needs to address before he can be called up like they have with Anthony.

The fact that the club has specific areas they’d like to see Anthony grow before he reaches the majors, in conjunction with Mayer finishing as arguably the runner up behind Campbell for the club’s starting second base job, would seem to suggest that Mayer is closer to being promoted than Anthony is. However, Anthony has one major leg up in this conversation relative to Mayer: the construction of Boston’s lineup. With Campbell serving as the club’s regular second baseman, there is no longer an obvious spot on the infield which Mayer can take up. Campbell, Triston Casas, Alex Bregman, and Trevor Story are all slated for regular at-bats this year, and even the DH role is filled by Rafael Devers on a daily basis.

Either an injury somewhere on the infield, a move to the outfield for Campbell, or a shocking move to bench Story would likely be necessary for Mayer to muscle his way into the lineup at this point. The same cannot be said of Anthony, who has a fairly straightforward path to playing time in the club’s outfield mix. Ceddanne Rafaela has served as the club’s usual center fielder entering the 2025 campaign, but he’s hit just .243/.275/.378 in the majors to this point in his career, including a paltry .205/.279/.205 line so far this year. While he’s a brilliant defender in center field, that’s not the type of production that should keep a team from promoting the sport’s top prospect to the majors once he’s ready. Rafaela, who has the ability to play both the infield and the outfield, could move to a utility role on the bench similar to the one Enrique Hernandez once filled once Anthony is ready to go. Anthony could either plug in directly for Rafaela in center field, or he could be tasked with manning left field while Jarren Duran slides over to center.

How do MLBTR readers think things will play out? Will Anthony make it to the majors first, off the back of his status as the sport’s #1 prospect and a potential opening in the outfield? Or will the club’s desire to see Anthony hit more against southpaws in the minors and Mayer’s strong work in Spring Training be enough to get him to the majors first? Have your say in the poll below:

Red Sox Notes: Devers, Mayer, Fulmer

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Rafael Devers’ position switch from third base to DH has been one of the offseason’s top subplots, as it dovetailed with Boston signing Alex Bregman to a three-year, $120MM contract to become the club’s new everyday third baseman.  Red Sox manager Alex Cora added another wrinkle to the situation when speaking with reporters (including The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey) yesterday, noting that Devers isn’t in the third base plans at all, as Romy Gonzalez will step in at the hot corner when Bregman needs a day off.

“Raffy is going to DH,” Cora said.  “We had a conversation, we talked about it.  He’s DHing.  He’s the DH of the Boston Red Sox.  One thing is we don’t want him to overthink it.  Don’t get caught up in the whole thing.  He’ll be OK.”

It isn’t known how the Sox might adjust if Bregman were to miss an extended amount of time on the injured list, yet Cora’s statement pretty plainly underscores Boston’s commitment to keeping Devers in a batter-only capacity for the time being.  McCaffrey writes that Devers is still taking grounders at third base as part of pregame warmups, possibly as a way of maintaining some part of his past pregame routine while adjusting overall to his new reality as a designated hitter.

The early results haven’t been great, as Devers is 0-for-8 with seven strikeouts in his first eight trips to the plate in 2025.  Naturally, two games is a minuscule sample size, and some rust was probably expected given how Devers only appeared in five Spring Training games.  Devers spent a good chunk of the offseason dealing with inflammation in both shoulders, and thus the Red Sox lessened his workload in camp as Devers worked his way back to full health.  The shoulder issue’s impact on Devers’ also surely factored into the team’s decision to keep Devers in a DH capacity.

While plans may change as the season develops, it would certainly seem like the Sox are trying to ease Devers into a full-time DH role over the long-term.  Bregman can opt out of his contract after the season, and while Devers could potentially be moved back over to third base after a year off, it would seem more likely that the Red Sox would use Bregman’s departure as a way to get star prospect Marcelo Mayer into the lineup.

Mayer made his Triple-A debut in Worcester’s game with the Syracuse Mets yesterday, and it is widely expected that the infielder will be making his MLB debut at some point in 2025.  If Mayer had had his way, he would’ve skipped Triple-A entirely and already be part of the Sox roster after posting huge numbers in Spring Training.

“Based on performance, I feel like I did earn a spot on that team,” Mayer said in an interview on WEEI’s Jones & Keefe show.  “With that being said, things didn’t go my way and now I’m here [in Triple-A] and I’m just going to get after it every single day, and keep doing what I’m doing.”

The comments caused a bit of a stir on social media, yet Cora told MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith and other reporters that he “100 percent” wants to see his players share Mayer’s confident attitude.  Obviously Mayer’s production will dictate how quickly he might join the Show, yet given the crowded nature of Boston’s current roster, it will be interesting to see how the Red Sox will carve out playing time for the fourth overall pick.  Since the Sox don’t want to call Mayer up just to have him ride the bench, perhaps some kind of injury might need to arise before a Mayer promotion is really on the radar.

Michael Fulmer is also in Worcester, and will be working as a starting pitcher during his time in the minors, Red Sox senior director of player development Brian Abraham told Smith.  There is some flexibility at play since Abraham said “as of right now” Fulmer will start, but the Sox seem interested in stretching Fulmer out to see what he can do in a potential return to a starting role.

Beginning his career as a starter with the Tigers, Fulmer enjoyed some instant success in capturing AL Rookie of the Year honors in 2016.  Injuries (including a Tommy John surgery that cost him all of 2019) necessitated a move to the bullpen in 2021, and Fulmer seemed to thrive in that role while pitching with the Tigers, Twins, and Cubs over the 2021-23 seasons.  Unfortunately, Fulmer continued to battle health problems, and he underwent a UCL revision in October 2023 that cost him another full season, as he didn’t pitch at all in 2024.

The Red Sox inked Fulmer to a two-year minor league contract in February 2024, with the understanding that he’d take the first year to rehab and then prep for a return this season.  Fulmer told Smith that he and Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow even discussed a possible return to starting pitching when the contract was first signed, and Fulmer is open to working in any capacity.

“If it sticks, it sticks.  If it doesn’t, then I go back to the bullpen,” Fulmer said.  “I did the transition once and it was a fairly easy transition. I’ve enjoyed both [roles].”

Poll: The Red Sox Second Base Battle

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Entering Spring Training, there was plenty of buzz around the future of the second base position in Boston. However, that buzz mostly surrounded the wild card that was the club’s recent addition of Alex Bregman, a third baseman by trade but one who had expressed a willingness to move to second base. That led to plenty of belief that Bregman could slide over to the keystone in deference to incumbent third baseman Rafael Devers, but all indications point towards the club shifting Devers to DH with Opening Day just over a week away.

That leaves a relatively wide-open battle for the second base job this spring. For most of camp, that’s appeared to be a battle between incumbent David Hamilton, top prospect Kristian Campbell, and Vaughn Grissom. While Grissom was the prize of the Chris Sale trade and intended to be the club’s starting second baseman last year, he struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness throughout the year as he got into just 31 big league games and hit a paltry .190/.246/.219 in that time. After Grissom struggled once again in Spring Training this year, hitting just .176/.300/.235 across 13 games, it was hardly a surprise when his bid for the starting second base job came to a close when the Red Sox optioned him to Triple-A yesterday.

Grissom’s exit from the race to start at the keystone in Boston this year didn’t fully narrow the field, however, as another candidate has entered the fray: top infield prospect Marcelo Mayer. While Mayer entered camp seemingly unlikely to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster given the fact that he has yet to play at the Triple-A level and missed much of last year with an injury, the 22-year-old is a consensus top-20 prospect in the sport for a reason and has turned heads this spring with a phenomenal .357/.438/.536 slash line in 15 spring games. That strong work, in conjunction with Mayer’s .307/.370/.480 slash line in 77 Double-A games last year, paint a clear picture of a player who’s ready for a new challenge.

It’s become easier to imagine that challenge being in the majors, though it would certainly be defensible for the club to instead simply promote him to Triple-A and wait for him to prove himself at the position as well. After all, Mayer has spent his entire career at shortstop aside from single-game cameos at third base in each of the past two seasons. He’d not played second base before until this spring and still has only a handful of innings at the position as things stand. While it’s not unheard of for talented players to make the jump from Double-A to the majors and hold their own or even excel offensively, doing that while also learning a new position would be a big ask for any player.

That could make one of the club’s other options more attractive. If the club wants to give Mayer more time to develop while still injecting its Opening Day lineup with some youthful upside, Campbell would be a viable alternative. The 22-year-old is a consensus top-ten prospect in the sport, even more highly rated than Mayer by most services, after a phenomenal year where he catapulted himself from High-A all the way to Triple-A across just 115 games and crushed the ball at every level along the way. After a 19-game stint at Worcester last year where he hit an impressive .286/.412/.486, Campbell entered camp with a clear path to making the club’s Opening Day roster. That path has been complicated, however, by a lackluster spring where he’s hit just .158/.289/.211 in 16 games.

Those offensive struggles, in conjunction with defense at second base that grades out as more decent than spectacular, have created questions as to whether the Red Sox would be better served with more time at Triple-A, serving as depth for the club both at second base but also in the outfield, where he spent 25 games last year in an effort to create more positional versatility. On the other hand, however, Campbell is clearly a strong talent who has proven he can hit at the Triple-A level. He’s also the only right-handed bat in the mix for the everyday second base job with Romy Gonzalez ticketed for a bench role. That’s a factor worth considering given the heavily left-handed makeup for a Red Sox lineup that figures to rely on Devers, Jarren Duran, Triston Casas, Masataka Yoshida, and Wilyer Abreu in significant roles throughout the year, to say nothing of top prospect Roman Anthony. Campbell joining Bregman and Trevor Story as a right-handed hitter who can offer some pop and keep opposing southpaws honest could help balance the lineup in a way that neither Mayer nor Hamilton can offer.

Speaking of Hamilton, he would be a viable alternative to running with a youngster at second base in the event that the club prefers more stable production to begin the season. The 27-year-old doesn’t offer much upside with the bat, having posted a .248/.303/.395 slash line in 98 games last year that probably isn’t too far from his realistic ceiling, but his defense and baserunning are both top-notch and allowed him to put up 2.6 bWAR/1.7 fWAR in just 317 trips to the plate across 98 games last year. Hamilton would also be much easier to justify platooning with Gonzalez than Mayer, who will likely need regular playing time to maximize his development. That could help to alleviate concerns about carrying another left-handed hitting regular for Red Sox brass this year.

As is the case with all top prospects nearing their big league debuts, service time is another consideration. It’s possible that the Red Sox could capture a seventh year of team control over either Campbell or Mayer by holding them down in the minors for at least the first few weeks of the season. And with stars this valuable. that’s surely a tempting possibility. With that being said, the current CBA’s prospect promotion incentive makes the decision to leave a player in the minors to try and get an extra year of service a more complicated one than it was in the days of Kris Bryant and George Springer. If either Campbell or Mayer were to finish within the top two of AL Rookie of the Year voting this year, they would be awarded a full season of service time regardless of how many days they actually spent in the majors.

What’s more, if either player earned a full year of MLB service naturally and either won Rookie of the Year this year or was a finalist in AL MVP voting during his pre-arbitration years, the Red Sox would earn an additional draft pick in the following year’s draft. Given that, if the Red Sox believe there’s a clear path for either youngster to succeed enough that they finish within the top two for Rookie of the Year this season, they might be incentivized to simply put that player on the roster to begin the year in hopes of recouping a draft pick.

Who would you start at second base on Opening Day if you were in Boston’s position? Does Campbell’s Triple-A experience or Mayer’s strong camp hold more weight in your mind? Or perhaps Hamilton is the safest bet that offers the club an opportunity to keep both Mayer and Campbell in the fold for longer? Have your say in the poll below:

Red Sox Option Vaughn Grissom

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The Red Sox announced this afternoon that they’ve optioned infielder Vaughn Grissom and pitchers Luis Guerrero and Josh Winckowski to minor league camp. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel first reported the Grissom move. Boston also reassigned non-roster invitees Nathan Hickey and Mark Kolozsvary.

Grissom entered spring in the mix for Boston’s Opening Day second base job. He and David Hamilton were trying to hold off top middle infield prospects Kristian Campbell and Marcelo Mayer. The Alex Bregman signing muddled the picture, but it seems the Sox intend to keep the longtime third baseman at the hot corner.

Bregman hasn’t played any second base this spring. Manager Alex Cora told reporters (including Chad Jennings of The Athletic) that the Sox don’t intend to get Rafael Devers any third base reps in camp. With Masataka Yoshida expected to open the season on the injured list, Devers will probably start the year as a full-time designated hitter while Bregman handles third.

Acquired from the Braves for Chris Sale in the 2023-24 offseason, Grissom had a rough first year with the Sox. He missed time with strains in both hamstrings and didn’t hit when healthy. He managed a .190/.246/.219 slash without a home run in 114 MLB plate appearances. Hamilton jumped him for the majority of the second base playing time down the stretch. Grissom spent a good chunk of the year at Triple-A Worcester.

A healthy offseason provided some hope that the 24-year-old would recapture the promising offensive form he has shown in the minors. He didn’t show much in camp, though, as he hit .176 without a homer in 14 games. He’s no longer in the running for a spot on the Opening Day roster. He’ll begin the year back in Worcester. Grissom has an excellent .307/.408/.459 slash in nearly 700 Triple-A plate appearances over the last two seasons. His plate discipline still makes him an intriguing player, but he has dropped down the organization’s middle infield depth chart.

Hamilton, Campbell and Mayer remain on the major league side of camp. The lefty-swinging Hamilton is the only member of that trio who is on the 40-man roster or has MLB experience. He hit .248/.303/.395 with eight homers and 33 stolen bases over 98 games last season. He has swiped five more bases with a pair of homers while batting .239 over 18 games this spring.

Mayer and Campbell are generally ranked among the top prospects in the sport. Mayer, who hasn’t played in Triple-A, hit .307/.370/.480 over 335 Double-A plate appearances last season. He’s hitting .357/.438/.536 in an impressive spring showing. Mayer has never played second base in the minors — all but two of his appearances have come at shortstop — but he’s getting reps on the right side of the bag in camp. Trevor Story is locked in at shortstop, so it makes sense to get Mayer reps at other positions.

Campbell is primarily a second baseman who has experience in the outfield and at third base. He improved his stock more than any other minor leaguer last season. The 2023 fourth-rounder hit .330/.439/.558 to reach Triple-A in his first full professional season. He has had a tough Spring Training. Campbell has fanned in a third of his plate appearances while batting .158 in 45 plate appearances. While that doesn’t mean much for his prospect status, it’s something the Sox will need to weigh as they decide whether he should break camp.

Red Sox Interested In Exploring Long-Term Extensions With Top Prospects

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At yesterday’s Fenway Fest fan event, Red Sox top prospects Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell indicated that they have not heard from the club’s brass regarding the possibility of signing long-term extensions in Boston to this point. Today, a report from Alex Speier of the Boston Globe relays that while the Red Sox have not yet reached out to begin extension discussions, the team is nonetheless interested in exploring the possibility with its top prospects.

Namely, Speier lists Anthony, Campbell, and top infield prospect Marcelo Mayer all as youngsters the club is hoping to talk extension with. Campbell, in particular, has made clear that he would be interested in negotiating if the Red Sox approach him. Speier notes that the club’s 2023 fourth-rounder told reporters last season that he would be “100 percent” open to a long-term deal with Boston and also reports that Anthony is seen as being willing to “at least listen” if the Red Sox were to approach him about signing a long-term extension.

All three youngsters come with significant prospect pedigree. According to Baseball America, Anthony is the top prospect in all of baseball, while Mayer sits just behind him at #10 and Campbell clocks in at #24. MLB Pipeline, meanwhile, has all three youngsters within the top ten: Anthony is ranked #3 overall behind Dylan Crews of the Nationals and Walker Jenkins of the Twins, while Mayer comes in at #7 and Campbell rounds out the trio at #10. The trio’s performance on the field has generally backed up those rankings, as well. Campbell flew through three levels of the minors in 2024, slashing .330/.439/.558 along the way, while Anthony hit .291/.396/.498 at the Double- and Triple-A levels last year. Mayer was limited to just 77 games at Double-A due to injuries last year but nonetheless hit a solid .307/.370/.480 at the level in his age-21 season.

Pre-debut extensions for players with that level of prospect pedigree are somewhat rare but one did occur last winter between the Brewers and outfielder Jackson Chourio, who had been ranked as the #2 prospect in baseball by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline at the time of the deal. Chourio wound up signing an eight-year extension last offseason that guaranteed him $82MM with club options and incentives that could allow the deal to max out at $142.5MM over ten years. Chourio’s extension seems like it would be a sensible benchmark for Anthony should he wind up signing a deal before making his big league debut, given their similar prospect rankings and Anthony’s status as a similar five-tool outfielder who projects to land in a corner at the big league level.

Campbell and Mayer, on the other hand, may not be in line for paydays at quite that level. Tigers infielder Colt Keith landed at the other end of the pre-arbitration extension spectrum when he signed a six-year deal last winter. That contract guarantees Keith just $28.6425MM and maxes out at $82MM over nine years if the Tigers pick up a trio of club options they hold on the youngster’s services. Prior to the 2024 season, Keith was ranked as a consensus top-30 prospect in the game but did not crack the top 20 with any major service. That limits Keith’s usefulness as a point of comparison for Campbell and Mayer, given both are rated as top-10 prospects by at least one major prospect outlet.

Keith also falls lower on the defensive spectrum than Campbell and especially Mayer. He was limited to second and third base throughout his time in the minor leagues while both Red Sox infielders have spent much of their time in the minors at shortstop. While Campbell has mixed in work at second base and in the outfield and manager Alex Cora suggested to reporters (including Christopher Smith of MassLive) yesterday that the club plans to have Mayer start playing second and third base in addition to shortstop this year, the ability to play shortstop along with stronger prospect pedigree seems likely to allow both Red Sox infielders to set their asking prices meaningfully higher than Keith’s deal.

Of course, it’s also possible the Red Sox could wait to work out an extension with one or more of the trio until they’ve already debuted in the majors. Speier notes that the club extended utility man Ceddanne Rafaela back in April on an eight-year, $50MM deal just over 100 plate appearances into his big league career. That deal can max out at $62MM over nine years, but it’s on the low end of deals signed at that stage in a player’s career in recent years; only Aaron Ashby’s $20.5MM extension with the Brewers guaranteeing less in the past half decade. A look at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker demonstrates how quickly a player’s asking price can skyrocket once they’ve accrued big league service time. Julio Rodriguez’s $210MM guarantee with the Mariners is the most lucrative deal of the bunch, though Wander Franco, Corbin Carroll, and Ronald Acuña Jr. are among the other extensions signed with less than a year of big league service time that eclipsed the $82MM guarantee Chourio secured from the Brewers last offseason.

Given how quickly the price of an extension can rapidly escalate once a young star begins to establish themselves at the big league level, it’s easy to imagine the Red Sox being particularly motivated to see if a deal between the sides can be reached in the coming months. With that being said, the club has shown a willingness to extend players later into their career as well. Boston brass are already known to have begun discussions with left-hander Garrett Crochet about a possible extension with two years left before free agency, and the club has previously extended Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers on nine-figure deals ahead of their final seasons before free agency.

Latest On Red Sox Pitching, Trade Discussions

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Craig Breslow’s first offseason as Boston’s chief baseball officer has been marked by one notable free agent signing (Lucas Giolito’s two-year, $38.5MM deal) and several significant trades, with the likes of Tyler O’Neill and Vaughn Grissom joining the roster and Chris Sale, Alex Verdugo, and Luis Urias all leaving Fenway Park.  With more work on the pitching staff still to be done, the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier writes that the Red Sox could again turn to the trade market, though with some limitations on the scope of their talks.

Rather than pursue pitchers who are just under team control through the 2024 season (i.e. Corbin Burnes or Shane Bieber), Speier reports that the Sox are trying to acquire pitchers who have multiple years of control.  Naturally, such hurler come at a high asking price in trade talks, yet Boston is unsurprisingly wary about parting ways with its top prospects.  It doesn’t appear that any of Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, or Kyle Teel are available in talks, though it isn’t clear if the Red Sox might be more open to dealing from the next tier down on their list of minor leaguers.  Speier cites outfielder Miguel Bleis and second baseman Nick Yorke as among the several other Sox prospects who have drawn trade interest from rival clubs.

Between these relatively lesser prospects and other potential younger trade chips on the big league roster, the Red Sox might be able to swing some kind of deal for a more proven upgrade, whether in the rotation or perhaps even somewhere else on the roster.  However, as Speier writes, “there’s little sense they’ll push in the chips to land an established top-of-the-rotation starter either via trade or free agency.  Further additions appear more likely in the middle or back of the rotation to improve depth and reliability.”

This isn’t markedly different from past reports about Boston’s offseason plans, though the Sox were at least somewhat engaged on enough big-ticket names (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell) to create the impression that the team was willing to splurge in the right circumstance.  Even with Montgomery and Snell still unsigned, it doesn’t look like the Red Sox will emerge as a real suitor unless either starter drops his asking price — though in that situation, one would imagine a lot of other clubs might also step up their pursuits.

One of the lingering questions of Boston’s offseason is how much Breslow has been authorized to spend, considering that some level of payroll limitation appears to be in place.  The Sox currently have approximately $177.5MM on the books for 2024 according to Roster Resource, so they’re pretty close to matching their $181.2MM Opening Day payroll from 2023.  That figure from last year ranked 12th in all of baseball, the first time in the 21st century that the Red Sox weren’t at least in the top ten in Opening Day spending.

This relative hesitation towards larger spending has manifested itself not only in the lack of movement on Montgomery or Snell, but also in Boston’s pursuit of Shota Imanaga.  Granted, it appears as though the league as a whole perhaps had some concerns over Imanaga’s viability as a Major League starter, given that his four-year, $53MM deal with the Cubs fell below industry expectations.  However, Imanaga’s contract could become a five-year, $80MM pact if the Cubs exercise a club option for 2028, and they’ll have to make that decision following the 2025 season and 2026 seasons or else Imanaga can trigger an opt-out clause.

The Red Sox also had interest in a more creative deal for Imanaga, but Speier reports that their offer included only two guaranteed years “with the potential for two additional vesting years.”  Imanaga will earn $23MM ($22MM in salary and a $1MM signing bonus) over his first two seasons in with the Cubs and Speier writes that Boston’s offer paid him more than that $23MM amount through 2025, though it isn’t surprising to see why Imanaga decided to take the Cubs’ offer.

There’s still plenty of offseason left for Breslow to make more moves, and an argument could be that made that the Red Sox roster is already looking better than it did in 2023.  That said, simply being better doesn’t necessarily translate to a team capable of contending for a championship or even a playoff berth, and patience is running thin amongst the fanbase after consecutive last-place finishes in the AL East.

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