Might Second Base Be the Real Cause of Boston's Third Base Drama?

Over the past few days, Red Sox media – including this website – has been understandably focused on the drama at third base. The situation will absolutely iron itself out in time, and it’s hard to fault anyone too much in this situation. We have no idea what Bregman has said behind closed doors, but he’s said all the right things in public. Alex Cora has not chosen his words perfectly, but he’s been pretty clear about where the team stands. Rafael Devers, who was promised that third base was his just two years ago and then spent the whole offseason hearing the Red Sox swear up and down that they had no intention of moving him, has every right to be upset that they’re going back on their word. However things shake out, it’s clear that the team sees Bregman at third and Devers at DH. Our topic for today: What does that mean for second base?

Let’s assume that Kristian Campbell starts the season in Worcester, not exactly a stretch, since he’s only played 19 games at Triple A. In a perfect world, with everyone healthy, I think the team’s best infield looks like this: Devers at third, Trevor Story at short, Bregman at second, Triston Casas at first, and Yoshida at DH. Sure, Devers’ glove would hurt the team. But if you move him to DH and sit Yoshida, then Vaughn Grissom takes over at second, and trading Yoshida’s bat for Vaughn Grissom’s hurts much, much more. The Red Sox know that.

They’re giving Grissom a chance to earn the second base job, but he has a career 81 wRC+, and the advanced defensive metrics haven’t exactly loved his defense. He has yet to demonstrate great plate discipline or the ability to hit the ball hard. It’s entirely possible that the Red Sox believe in Grissom more than the projections do. He’s only 24, and the Red Sox have had a huge amount of success developing hitters in recent years. Grissom showed up to camp with 20 extra pounds of muscle, so he’s clearly focused on improving his bat speed and hitting the ball harder, a major organizational focus. This is his shot. Still, it’s far from a sure thing, and it’s hard to imagine the team putting all its eggs in that particular basket. That means we need to rethink our initial assumption about Campbell starting the season in Worcester.

That’s a lot of preamble, but my point is that the Red Sox must believe that Campbell has a very real chance of breaking camp with the club. With Campbell at second, all of this drama makes much more sense. If he’s on the team, there’s no longer any room for Bregman at second base, so of course they have to move Devers. Unless you're going to take the shortstop job away from Story (not as crazy an idea as it might sound), there's just no other option. Handing the second base job to Campbell would be its own gamble. Once again, he’s played just 19 games at Triple A, and although he’s hit everywhere down the line, he’s also run some crazy BABIPs. Starting him in Boston would be extremely aggressive. The team would need to be sure that he could handle, but also sure that it was in his best interest from a developmental standpoint. Still, the more acrimonious things get at Fenway South, the more it looks like the Red Sox are working on finding a place for the budding star.