Cotillo: Cora Says Marcelo Mayer Will Play A Lot of Second Base

[Nick John]

With the Red Sox beginning to get back to full health with the additions of Masataka Yoshida and Alex Bregman, the roster is beginning to feel overcrowded. To help deal with it, the versatility of many players will be important down the stretch to not just give some players rest but to also get others into the lineup outside of their main position.

Per MassLive’s Chris Cotillo, Alex Cora said on Friday before game two of a four game series against the Tampa Bay Rays that rookie Marcelo Mayer will play a lot of games at second base while still getting some time at third base on days Bregman doesn’t play. If Bregman sticks to the current plan, he will play in two games in each of the next three series against Tampa Bay, the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies.

Ceddanne Rafaela is another player who will be moved around with the roster currently having six outfielders on it. Cora also said that Rafaela will be looked at to play second base at least once or twice a week.

The Red Sox look to end the first half on an impressive run as they go for their eighth straight win tonight. Does the plan to rotate Mayer between second and third seem like a good one? Should Rafaela remain in center field only? Leave your thoughts down below.

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[Hitch]

It is the only thing that makes sense to stop Toro playing every day 

[Larry Cook]

Yoshida took grounders at 1st base today!!! That could help with the logjam!!! 

[harmony]

Seattle infielder Cole Young provides an interesting comp with Boston infielder Marcelo Mayer, who is seven months older than Young.

Mayer was the No. 4 pick in the 2021 draft one year before Young was the No. 21 pick in the 2022 draft. Each was drafted as a shortstop but made his MLB debut this year elsewhere in the infield.

This season Mayer has posted an 86 OPS+ and 81 wRC+ in 124 plate appearances while posting 0.3 bWAR and 0.5 fWAR in 40 games. Young has posted a 92 OPS+ and 88 wRC+ in 129 plate appearances while posting 0.8 bWAR and 0.1 fWAR in 35 games.

FanGraphs projects Mayer with an 84 wRC+ and 0.4 WAR in 47 remaining games while projecting Young with a 96 wRC+ and 0.6 WAR in 48 remaining games.

Entering this year, ZiPS projected Mayer with 1.1 WAR in 87 games in 2025, 1.2 WAR in 92 games in 2026 and 1.5 WAR in 96 games in 2027. ZiPS projected Young with 2.1 WAR in 134 games in 2025, 2.3 WAR in 138 games in 2026 and 2.7 in 141 games in 2027.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/marcelo-mayer/29668/stats?position=3B

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/cole-young/31680/stats?position=2B

Despite the similarities, Baseball Trade Values recently assigned Mayer a surplus value of $54.6 million and Young a surplus value of $26.6 million.

[moonslav59]

5 hours ago, harmony said:

Despite the similarities, Baseball Trade Values recently assigned Mayer a surplus value of $54.6 million and Young a surplus value of $26.6 million.

Looks like they overvalue Young.

🙂