Article: Alex Bregman Leaves With Quad Tightness & The Red Sox's Backup Plan Is Paper Thin

[Alex Mayes]

In the bottom of the fifth inning on Friday’s first, but actually only game due to a second weather postponement, Alex Bregman rounded first on a ball hit off the Green Monster, pulled up short, and immediately signaled for the trainer. Without hesitation, Cora replaced Bregman on the basepaths, and Bregman walked down the tunnel into the training room. Later in the broadcast, we learned that he left with ‘quad tightness’ and would likely not be playing in the second game of the doubleheader.

Alex Cora expounded more on the injury to NESN’s Tom Caron, “Just tight right now. Given the night, get some treatment, and we’ll know more tomorrow… Hopefully, something minor, that he misses a few days. And if he goes on the IL, then hopefully it’s like 10 days. We’ll keep our fingers crossed, and like I said, we’ll know more tomorrow.” Cora also later said that imaging wouldn’t need to be done on the quad, hopefully pointing to a minor injury.

Bregman gave a bit more detail about what he felt when asked. “I felt my quad grab. I didn’t continue running to second base for the double... I just stopped and returned to the bag to avoid making it any worse. I knew I needed to come out and see the trainer.”

First, it’s great that the coaching staff listened to Bregman at that moment. You could see on his face that he was concerned, and there was no attempt to get him to stay on the field. Should Bregman be forced to miss the next few games, including both games of the new double header the team is set to play on Saturday, May 24, then the options at third are… less than ideal, to put it mildly.

When asked, Cora floated Ceddanne Rafaela, Nick Sogard (who was scheduled to play third in the nightcap on Friday), Abraham Toro, and Connor Wong all as options. None of those names strike fear in the hearts of opponents, but they are all on the major league roster and have some experience in the infield. Rafael Devers? I’d pay good money to see that conversation between him and Craig Breslow. Devers has clarified that the team told him to “throw his glove away.” Even though there is now an opening at his preferred position, there’s no way we see him play third. 

The option that could send shockwaves through the clubhouse, though, is to call up Marcelo Mayer. He has experience at third, even though he’s been playing second lately, and could help spark a new onslaught of offense. I don’t think we will see Mayer called up unless Bregman’s injury is worse than expected. It seems like the team is dead set on Kristian Campbell shifting to first at some point and then Mayer taking over for him at second. 

Right now, though, we must be cautiously optimistic that Bregman’s injury isn’t as bad as initially thought. Cora and crew want to see how he feels Saturday morning before the first game of the double header and make a decision then. Should they feel that some time on the IL is necessary, we could finally have an opening that forces everyone’s hands and gets the hottest hitter in the minor leagues to Boston before this homestand ends. 

View full article

[Nick]

Per MLB.com (today's article)

The MLB situation: Boston’s biggest infield question mark is at first base following Triston Casas’ season-ending injury. The Red Sox generated plenty of intrigue by first working Kristian Campbell out there last Friday, and it appears the club is still batting around the idea of sliding him over instead of relying on other stopgap options like Abraham Toro, Nick Sogard and the currently injured Romy Gonzalez. That’d open up the clearest lane for Mayer, even with shortstop Trevor Story enduring a rough offensive and defensive season.

When a promotion could come: Unlike Anthony, there is a distinct path for Mayer to reach Boston soon. Alex Bregman departed Friday's contest early with right quad tightness, and with the Sox in win-now mode, they could turn to their No. 2 prospect at any time in the coming days-to-weeks, especially as he gets settled in at second.

[notin]

And now we have injuries at two infield positions Devers won’t play.

Also apparently anyone who cannot be replaced by Mayer or Anthony is at risk.

 

[Bellhorn04]

31 minutes ago, notin said:

And now we have injuries at two infield positions Devers won’t play.

Also apparently anyone who cannot be replaced by Mayer or Anthony is at risk.

 

It's like the baseball gods have been having fun with us the last few years.  We can't seem to assemble a roster that doesn't have a lot of missing and/or misfit pieces.   

[Old Red]

1 hour ago, notin said:

And now we have injuries at two infield positions Devers won’t play.

Also apparently anyone who cannot be replaced by Mayer or Anthony is at risk.

 

Are you just coming to the conclusion that Raffy won’t be playing two infield positions. That has been decided for sometime now, and one longer than the other, but you, and others just won’t accept, and you figure if you keep droning on long enough Raffy, and Cora will change their mind. Cora said back in ST after Raffy was moved to DH that he would NOT be the backup 3B. Then when Casas got hurt Cora said he hadn’t talked to Raffy about going to 1B, and said he wasn’t going to. JH flew to KC not to talk to Raffy about 1B IMO, but to soothe things over with Raffy, so he wouldn’t ask to be traded. Cora, and Raffy won out over Brez, and I believe JH backed that decision. You guys can call Raffy a bad teammate, diva, or subordinate all you want, but it’s not going to change things anytime soon.🤭

[JerryL1042]

Isn't it interesting baseball became a one or no position  sport!!!

For the amount being paid for that one you could get 3 or 4 players

who would play anyhere on the field.

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, notin said:

And now we have injuries at two infield positions Devers won’t play.

Also apparently anyone who cannot be replaced by Mayer or Anthony is at risk.

 

 Devers is on this team for his bat.  Right now he's ranked 4th in MLB in OPS, .972, the highest of his career, also 1st in MLB in rbi's, 6th in total bases, 4th in walks, etc.  And don't forget that Raffy was repeatedly pilloried (a term with special meaning in New England) on talksox for his subpar defense.  I honestly think his current success is because of moving to DH.  He even leads MLB in games played.  

What Alex Mayers failed to point out is that Bregman is simply irreplaceable.  Bravo for Breslow in getting him because he was/is the perfect partner in the lineup with Raffy and also a good defensive thirdbaseman.    

Cora and Breslow should try to ensure that the 9 best bats are regularly in the lineup, so I think the best choice at 3B is Sogard, but I would also be fine with moving Mayer up to play 3b.  

 

 

[vjcsmoke]

I think the Bregman injury opens up an opportunity for Marcelo Mayer to try manning the hot corner.

This way we can put Story back at SS and Campbell back to 2B. 1B is still a mess but at least we have solutions for 3B in house imo.

The speculation of Devers back to 3rd don't make sense. We don't need to piss him off by temporarily shifting him back only to put him back to DH once Bregman is healthy.