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

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.