Cora: "[Ceddanne] Rafaela [Will] Make An Occasional Start At Second Base

[Matthew Lenz]

Before the Boston Red Sox series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora sat down with a pool of reporters.

Christopher Smith of MassLive is reporting that "[Ceddanne] Rafaela [will] make an occasional start at second base", per Cora.

However, he also reported that Marcelo Mayer will stay in the majors and "play a lot of second base." 

Rafaela has shown a notable offensive improvement this season, evidenced by a .268 batting average, 12 home runs, and a .779 OPS as of July 11. He has also contributed 12 stolen bases. Defensively, Rafaela has maintained his versatility, primarily playing center field, showcasing strong defensive metrics and a significant defensive WAR (3.8).

Mayer, in his MLB debut season, has displayed mixed results offensively. With a .231 batting average, 4 home runs, and a .684 OPS in 36 games, his offensive performance has been modest. He has primarily played third base and shortstop. 

Do you agree with the decision to keep Mayer in the big-leagues and to take Rafaella out of centerfield from time to time? Join the conversation in the comments!

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[Hitch]

Ridiculous! Jleave him where he is and trade your team back into balance! 

[Bellhorn04]

Sure why not.  Just means Raffy gets an occasional start there against a lefty starter.  I would assume that if Mayer shows he can handle lefties well that would be rare.

I think it's great that Mayer now has his position settled and will be starting most of the time.

 

[Dynasty Prospects Anon]

1 hour ago, Hitch said:

Ridiculous! Jleave him where he is and trade your team back into balance! 

I can’t agree more with leaving him there. But also don’t want to trade anyone anymore. The vibes and energy have been so fun lately 

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Seattle All-Star outfielder Julio Rodriguez and his 3.3 WAR has been replaced on the AL squad by teammate Randy Arozarena: 3.2 WAR. Both are having good years, but Rafaela -- who boosted his Red Sox past the M's for the last Wild Card spot -- sports a 3.9 WAR... second among league outfielders to Aaron Judge.

Randy A.: 15 HR 44 RBI .244 BA .793 OPS -0.1 dWAR

Ceddanne: 13 HR, 46 RBI .271 BA .792 OPS 1.8 dWAR

Then there are strikeouts: Arozarena 109, Rafaela 64 (and Julio 91 down by the schoolyard).

 

 

[moonslav59]

This further emphasizes the need for an OF'er to be traded. Brez needs to take away this choice from Cora, ASAP!

Plus, Mayer should play as near to FT as any regular. (We have Romy to play 2B, when he rests.)

Ref to platoon with Yoshida at DH would free up all OF'ers, including Anthony to play FT.(If we trade Duran not Abreu, then Anthony plays RF v L and LF v R, or we keep Ref in RF vs L.)

[mvp 78]

2 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Sure why not.  Just means Raffy gets an occasional start there against a lefty starter.  I would assume that if Mayer shows he can handle lefties well that would be rare.

I think it's great that Mayer now has his position settled and will be starting most of the time.

 

Raffy?

[Maxbialystock]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Seattle All-Star outfielder Julio Rodriguez and his 3.3 WAR has been replaced on the AL squad by teammate Randy Arozarena: 3.2 WAR. Both are having good years, but Rafaela -- who boosted his Red Sox past the M's for the last Wild Card spot -- sports a 3.9 WAR... second among league outfielders to Aaron Judge.

Randy A.: 15 HR 44 RBI .244 BA .793 OPS -0.1 dWAR

Ceddanne: 13 HR, 46 RBI .271 BA .792 OPS 1.8 dWAR

Then there are strikeouts: Arozarena 109, Rafaela 64 (and Julio 91 down by the schoolyard).

 

 

Rafaela came on strong in June and now July--too late to really register with the voters.  But your stats are compelling.  

[Kimmi]

On 7/12/2025 at 7:47 AM, Hitch said:

Ridiculous! Jleave him where he is and trade your team back into balance! 

I prefer that Rafaela stay in centerfield.  That said, I really don't want to see any of our outfielders traded, namely Duran or Abreu.  If giving Rafaela some playing time at 2B allows Cora to manage the logjam more efficiently, then I'm all for it.  Hopefully, I won't have to take back that statement in the coming weeks.

[Soxlover]

12 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

I prefer that Rafaela stay in centerfield.  That said, I really don't want to see any of our outfielders traded, namely Duran or Abreu.  If giving Rafaela some playing time at 2B allows Cora to manage the logjam more efficiently, then I'm all for it.  Hopefully, I won't have to take back that statement in the coming weeks.

Personally, I’d play an OFer at DH and keep em all, for now, but Cora will play Yoshida instead, so Brez has to trade Yoshida or an OFer

[Kimmi]

6 minutes ago, Soxlover said:

Personally, I’d play an OFer at DH and keep em all, for now, but Cora will play Yoshida instead, so Brez has to trade Yoshida or an OFer

I have no problem with Yoshida doing most of the DHing.

I think Cora has done a pretty good job so far of juggling the lineups.  As of now, Bregman is reportedly only going to play 2 games out of every series, so that helps some.

I guess we'll see what happens at the deadline.  I'll be holding my breath.

[dgalehouse]

Is Rafaela riding a hot streak or is he blossoming into a legitimate star? That is what the team needs to find out. Meanwhile, there is no urgency to trade an outfielder. Injuries and slumps will take care of playing time concerns. 

[Soxlover]

23 minutes ago, Kimmi said:

I have no problem with Yoshida doing most of the DHing.

I think Cora has done a pretty good job so far of juggling the lineups.  As of now, Bregman is reportedly only going to play 2 games out of every series, so that helps some.

I guess we'll see what happens at the deadline.  I'll be holding my breath.

I’m fine with a Yoshida- Ref DH platoon But not if it forces Anthony, Abreu or Duran to the bench…

Which it does!!!

[Soxlover]

23 minutes ago, dgalehouse said:

Is Rafaela riding a hot streak or is he blossoming into a legitimate star? That is what the team needs to find out. Meanwhile, there is no urgency to trade an outfielder. Injuries and slumps will take care of playing time concerns. 

how long does Duran, Abreu or Anthony have to slump to bench one? None are slumping now, so who do you sit?

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

4 hours ago, Soxlover said:

I’m fine with a Yoshida- Ref DH platoon But not if it forces Anthony, Abreu or Duran to the bench…

Which it does!!!

Masa is a better hitter than Duran and Abreu.

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Masa is a better hitter than Duran and Abreu.

He is a good hitter, and I'd be fine with a Yoshida-Refsnyder platoon at DH, and Masa is not bad vs LHPs, but better than Duran and Abreu?

2023-2025 OPS:

.802 Duran (120 wRC+)

.797 Abreu (117)

.764 Yoshida (116)

Yoshida does have a better BA and OBP, and many feel OBP>SLG, so it can be viewed as close, but I'd rather have Abreu-Ref than Yoshida-Ref. I'd rather have Duran FT DH than Yoshida, and that's before looking at baserunning.

It's not a slam dunk, but looking forward, I'd go with youth about to reach prime than Masa.

Now, Masa is untradable, so I see an OF'er trade as making the most sense. Involve a 3rd team, if need be. No rentals.

 

 

[moonslav59]

2023-2025 Splits:

vs R

.873 Duran

.842 Abreu

.811 Yoshida

vs L

.896 Refsnyder (.932 IN '25)

.663 Yoshida

.640 Duran (.564 IN '25)

.582 Abreu (.703 in 44 PAS IN '25.)

Romy. KC, Eaton and Sogard are better v L in 2025 than everybody on this list, except Refsnyder. If we are talking DH...

[Bellhorn04]

10 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Masa is a better hitter than Duran and Abreu.

You'd have to elaborate on this a bit, because Abreu has a higher SLG and higher OPS.

 

  

[drewski6]

16 hours ago, Soxlover said:

I’m fine with a Yoshida- Ref DH platoon But not if it forces Anthony, Abreu or Duran to the bench…

Which it does!!!

Bregman is limping and wincing every game. You trade from this position player group, and you are one likely injury + one likely slump away from having 2 massive downgrades in your lineup.

Im with Kimmi, keep the depth. Twins are hesitant to trade Joe Ryan anyways.  You dont give up a better player (who has multiple years of control beyond this one, who is an integral part of this team) for a lesser because of too much depth.

[Bellhorn04]

5 minutes ago, drewski6 said:

Bregman is limping and wincing every game. You trade from this position player group, and you are one likely injury + one likely slump away from having 2 massive downgrades in your lineup.

Im with Kimmi, keep the depth. Twins are hesitant to trade Joe Ryan anyways.  You dont give up a better player (who has multiple years of control beyond this one, who is an integral part of this team) for a lesser because of too much depth.

Agree 100%.  Depth can be very temporary.  And good point about Bregman's health still being a concern.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

11 hours ago, SPLENDIDSPLINTER said:

Masa is a better hitter than Duran and Abreu.

Yoshida is a better contact hitter because his K-rate is only 13.1 in his two plus MLB seasons. But his Hard Hit Percentage is low at 39.8%. 

Contrast with 2025 Duran's 23.5 K-rate/46.6 HH% and Abreu's 23.6 K-rate/46.3 HH%.

Then there is '25 Romy: 22.1 K-rate/60.9 HH% (thanks to Cora match-ups).

Also '25 Anthony, who now faces everyone: 21.8 K-rate/56.4 HH%...

Other '25 combos:

Refsnyder: 26.6 K-rate/53.3 HH%; Mayer 29.8 K-rate/52.5 HH%; Bregman: 18.4 K-rate/47.9 HH%;

Ceddanne: 19.4 K-rate/47.5 HH%; Story 27.9 K-rate/47.5 HH%; Narvaez 23.5 K-rate/42.6 HH%; 

Campbell 27.4 K-rate/42.3 HH%; Toro 15.5 K-rate/32.9 HH%.

Devers as a '25 Red Sox: 31.2 K-rate/54.4 HH%... so in the heart of the order, the team replaced its biggest whiffer with a top prospect who actually has a higher Hard Hit percentage.

 

 

[notin]

44 minutes ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Agree 100%.  Depth can be very temporary.  And good point about Bregman's health still being a concern.

Depth is important and can be temporary, but I have no problem with the idea of trading deoth to fill gaps.  But make good, fair, smart trades.  Just because you have an elite first base prospect behind your young slugging first baseman doesn’t mean you should trade said prospect for Larry Andersen…

[moonslav59]

3 hours ago, Bellhorn04 said:

You'd have to elaborate on this a bit, because Abreu has a higher SLG and higher OPS.  

So does Duran, since 2023.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

Bregman is limping and wincing every game. You trade from this position player group, and you are one likely injury + one likely slump away from having 2 massive downgrades in your lineup.

Im with Kimmi, keep the depth. Twins are hesitant to trade Joe Ryan anyways.  You dont give up a better player (who has multiple years of control beyond this one, who is an integral part of this team) for a lesser because of too much depth.

We have a massive gap, right now. It's known and ugly. If we do lose a key player to injury, we'd get back down to even.

Plus, assume we trade Abreu and play Anthony FT in RF and platoon Yoshida & Ref at DH. Now, another OF'er gets hurt for the season: lets say Duran. Our OF would be:

LF KC or Garcia/Refsnyder (Romy platoons at DH with Yoshida or Masa goes FT DH)

CF Rafaela

RF Anthony

We still have a decent OF AND a Joe Ryan type.

Now, assume no trade, and Duran gets hurt: We'd have a better OF with Abreu instead of KC or Garcia, but we'd still have Buehler as our #5 and an iffy Fitts as our #4.

I'll take Joe Ryan and hope we extend him like we did with Crochet.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, Bellhorn04 said:

Agree 100%.  Depth can be very temporary.  And good point about Bregman's health still being a concern.

How is keeping Duran or Abreu helping 3B depth issues?

I get the line-up issues, but we need pitching. That's a known. Injuries are unknown, and we still have decent OF depth and line up depth, if we lose an OF'er.

We can't play 6 guys in 4 slots. It's more like 5, if you count Abreu & Ref as one, but we also have Campbell & Jh Garcia as OF depth. If it gets real bad, we can put Yoshida-Ref in LF and DH an IF'er- maybe the "hobbling" Bregman, so his bat stays fresh and healthy.

We still have plus depth, even after trading an OF'er. 

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

Yoshida is a better contact hitter because his K-rate is only 13.1 in his two plus MLB seasons. But his Hard Hit Percentage is low at 39.8%. 

That's not all that goes into making someone a better hitter.

Power and BB% matter, too.

Yes, I agree Masa is a better contact hitter. You did not qualify your statement, at first.

As an offensive weapon, I'll take Duran & his speed and more power over Masas. I'll take the Abreu-Ref platoon easily over Masa FT or even a Masa-Ref platoon. They are better overall hitters and offer other offensive skills beyond just pure batting skills.

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, notin said:

Depth is important and can be temporary, but I have no problem with the idea of trading deoth to fill gaps.  But make good, fair, smart trades.  Just because you have an elite first base prospect behind your young slugging first baseman doesn’t mean you should trade said prospect for Larry Andersen…

Any trade is a big risk. Keeping players is risky, too.

We shoulda traded Dalbec after '21. Some say, we shoulda traded Duran after '24. We might have gotten something for DHam after '24. We coulda traded Houck and Crawford.

I'm not against great depth. I love it! 

To me, it's simple: the step down from Duran or Abreu to Anthony is was less than the step up some other team gets by acquiring one. They have much higher value to another team. They have something we value more: a pitcher with more than 2-3 months of control. Maybe, I'm too high on Campbell, Jh Garcia and Masa-Ref as the new OF depth, but to me, it's a risk worth taking. 

I'd much prefer this to trading Arias or Garcia plus Clarke or Valera for a top rental SP'er. (That might not even be enough to get it done. We might have to trade 3 or add Early/Sandlin/Romero types)

 

 

[Bellhorn04]

21 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

To me, it's simple: the step down from Duran or Abreu to Anthony is was less than the step up some other team gets by acquiring one. They have much higher value to another team. They have something we value more: a pitcher with more than 2-3 months of control. Maybe, I'm too high on Campbell, Jh Garcia and Masa-Ref as the new OF depth, but to me, it's a risk worth taking.

Campbell, Garcia, Masa and Ref are not good OF depth for 2025.  Campbell and Garcia are unproven as MLB players.  And Masa and Ref are bad defensive players. 

[drewski6]

49 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Any trade is a big risk. Keeping players is risky, too.

We shoulda traded Dalbec after '21. Some say, we shoulda traded Duran after '24. We might have gotten something for DHam after '24. We coulda traded Houck and Crawford.

I'm not against great depth. I love it! 

To me, it's simple: the step down from Duran or Abreu to Anthony is was less than the step up some other team gets by acquiring one. They have much higher value to another team. They have something we value more: a pitcher with more than 2-3 months of control. Maybe, I'm too high on Campbell, Jh Garcia and Masa-Ref as the new OF depth, but to me, it's a risk worth taking. 

I'd much prefer this to trading Arias or Garcia plus Clarke or Valera for a top rental SP'er. (That might not even be enough to get it done. We might have to trade 3 or add Early/Sandlin/Romero types)

 

 

You claim to love it, but you are willing to throw it all away in lieu of dipping into Arias, Garcia, Clarke, Valera, Campbell for a SP upgrade, when we already have 3 SP (Crochet, Giolitto, Bello) and thats all you need for postseason (granted we need a #4 to help us get there).

Our #4 pitcher will make 0-1 postseason starts.

Nixon, Campbell, Yoshida, Ref (other than in platoon) isnt quality depth in 2025.  You also in this case lock Cedanne into the OF (while I prefer him there, the versatility is important because Bregman doesnt seem healthy and Mayer is not a big plus in 2025).

You are making us worse to improve our #3 pitcher (bello -> Ryan) and drastically improve our #4 pitcher (Fitts -> Bello) and this is 0-1 postseason starts.

You are also weakening us for 2026 and 2027.

Its just not worth it. Trade KC for Ryan or trade a lower prospect for a non "co-ace".

[moonslav59]

1 hour ago, drewski6 said:

You claim to love it, but you are willing to throw it all away in lieu of dipping into Arias, Garcia, Clarke, Valera, Campbell for a SP upgrade, when we already have 3 SP (Crochet, Giolitto, Bello) and thats all you need for postseason (granted we need a #4 to help us get there).

Our #4 pitcher will make 0-1 postseason starts.

Nixon, CampbellT, Yoshida, Ref (other than in platoon) isnt quality depth in 2025.  You also in this case lock Cedanne into the OF (while I prefer him there, the versatility is important because Bregman doesnt seem healthy and Mayer is not a big plus in 2025).

You are making us worse to improve our #3 pitcher (bello -> Ryan) and drastically improve our #4 pitcher (Fitts -> Bello) and this is 0-1 postseason starts.

You are also weakening us for 2026 and 2027.

Its just not worth it. Trade KC for Ryan or trade a lower prospect for a non "co-ace".

Throwing "IT  ALL" away? LOL.

BTW, you do know that adding a Joe Ryan type would add depth to the rotation, as a Fitts or Crawford would move down a notch into the 6th or 7th rotation slot.

We have depth 3-4 deep at some slots, and if some don't pan out or some vets get hurt, we'll still 1-2 deep.

It's nice to have 2-3 deep, but when you have a guy like Buehler pitching every 5 days, and a back to earth Toro playing a bunch, we could use some more quality, at the expense of a fraction of the quantity or depth.

OF:

Duran, Rafaela, Abreu

Campbell, Garcia, Anthony

Yoshida & Refsnyder (emergency)

That's 8 guys with one DH'ing every game. If you count Arias as depth, so is Garcia, if not more MLB ready so.

I love depth. I love a legit 4/5 SP'er more.

We could also use a solid pen arm. Talk about lack of depth. We have depth there, but most are sub mediocre or borderline.