Article: How Does Marcelo Mayer's Injury History Affect the Red Sox in 2026 and Beyond?

[Nick John]

Following the news of Marcelo Mayer needing wrist surgery, the former top prospect's injury history may force the Red Sox to reconsider their options for next year.

While Mayer is an incredibly talented player defensively and has shown flashes of offensive potential during his time in the Boston organization, there should be concern over his ability to stay on the field. Since being drafted in 2021, Mayer has yet to play in 100 games in a single season. His career high is 91 games back in 2022, ad between Worcester and Boston this year he appeared in 87.

In 44 games with the Red sox this season, Mayer hit .228/.272/.402 with eight doubles, a triple, four home runs and 10 RBIs. Though most of his value came from his tremendous defense at third base and second base, this is a guy with a career .826 OPS in the minors. He's been viewed as a "sure thing" for quite some time, but the recurring injuries are going to make it hard for the front office to bet their future on him.

Consequently, this offseason will be important for the Red Sox, as they could have to completely turn over the infield should Alex Bregman and Trevor Story both opt out of their contracts. While Story is unlikely to opt out, there is a good possibility that Bregman opts out and returns to the free agent market, meaning first base, second base, and third base will have openings on the depth chart. Realistically, the hope would be that Mayer could slot into either the starting third baseman or second baseman role, but it may not be the best idea to rely on him as a starter until he proves he can stay healthy across an entire season.

Instead, Mayer's health may force Boston to make some difficult choices especially pertaining to how much they’re willing to spend to retain Bregman. There’s no debate surrounding the third baseman's value to the Red Sox this season, and it should be a foregone conclusion they’ll do everything they can to bring him back for next season. But, now that their possible fallback option in Mayer will be recovering from wrist surgery, the team may be forced outside of its comfort zone in negotiations with Bregman.

The team could also pursue Eugenio Suarez this offseason if they feel he’s a possible solution at third base, but he’s certain to have several teams pursuing his services. Mikey Romero could also be called upon, but he's displayed his own inconsistencies and injury woes while steadily climbing the minor league ranks. Romy González—who has bounced between first base, second base, and third base with the Sox—can capably fill in at any spot, but he's best suited for his current short-side platoon role. Maybe the Sox will go the trade route for an infielder, and put resources into acquiring a player like Ketel Marte from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Marte will be 32 years old next season and will be under contract through the 2031 season for at a tolerable price. With Bob Nightengale of USA Today announcing that Arizona will listen to offers for their All-Star second baseman. it makes sense for Boston to at least make a call over the offseason.

All of those options are serviceable at worst, but it's unlikely the team will execute every one of those moves. Retaining Bregman and giving Kristian Campbell another chance against major league pitching would quickly fill some holes, but that would still leave a gap at second base.

As such, for the Red Sox in the long run, the best roster features a healthy Mayer in the lineup. There’s a reason the team loves the young infielder and aren’t ready to move on from him. They’ve seen his talent first hand and know the kind of ballplayer he is when healthy. Unfortunately, that "when healthy" stipulation is starting to creep into "if healthy" territory. Mayer has a bright future ahead of him, but he'll need to do everything in his power this offseason to build toward a more durable, dependable frame—otherwise, the Red Sox may be forced to look for alternatives immediately.

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[TedYazPapiMookie]

With all the injuries, risk tolerance should suggest he be packaged to some other team for a current need of the 2026 ball club.  His value on paper doesn't bring home wins or division titles or world series rings.  That's the harsh reality of an injury prone player.  BOB HORNER always come to mind for me because he had awesome talent and couldn't stay on the field.  Heck, Bryce Harper at a young age had injuries issues for years and ended up at 1B where he still had issues for a while.  

You have a guy with a bad wrist which impacts hitting and throwing since it's his right wrist.  Even after surgery, it will take time to rebuild his physical health to be able to hit with the power he had when he was younger.  He's a great kid, but how fair is it to others who also play SS for the team to hold his spot open for him when he's finally right?  If Story returns to his previous Red Sox form in 2026 is the answer really the injury prone Mayer when you have a healthy SS named Campbell in the organization?  Why isn't he working out at SS if he's not going to be promoted to the MLB in 2025?  Afterall, the wasted effort at him playing 1B when the team now has Lowe and Casas returning next year is a joke.  Campbell should be returned to his natural position of SS like in 2024 to prep him as a back-up to Story in 2026 because Mayer is not reliable enough to fill that position.

The opt outs suggested are farfetched at best.  Nobody is willing to pay Bregman more than $80Million over the next two years and we can extend him if it appears someone else is willing to extend him.  Story IS NEVER getting $23.3 Million from another team after putting up a 94 OPS+ for four years in BOS.

The left side of the infield will be Bregman and Story and Anthony should be in LF behind them.  They are the three best hitters on the team based on historical performance. 

The team will guess incorrectly that Narvaez will be the Catcher in 2026 just like they expected Wong to be in 2025 and were wrong.

Duran, Rafaela and Abreu will start the year on the 2026 roster, but Abreu really has no place to play since he's not replacing Anthony and Duran and Rafaela are both better defenders than Abreu and are not platoon hitters.  Mayer likely will play ahead of Campbell at 2B despite being injury prone and not earning it and Casas and Campbell will probably be wrongfully traded (one of them) to make room for Nate Lowe.  Basically, the hitting side of the team will probably look almost identical to this season so no opts are going to happen in my opinion and Cora will continue to make the same personnel mistakes.  2026 should look a lot like 2025 except I believe Breslow will significantly improve the pitching staff with some of the Devers money. 

[mvp 78]

If Mayer produces like Horner for his first 6 years, I'm calling it a slam dunk win and they shouldn't trade him. Just let him go to FA and have him become someone else's problem. Keep Story at SS and make sure there is a decent backup at 2b (Romero/Arias/other). 

[mvp 78]

Horner is the man simply for being on the DL and changing from street clothes into a uniform when the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Braves–Padres_bean_brawl was going down just so he could fight somebody.