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admin | April 29, 2024 | Boston Red Sox | No Comments

Red Sox Make Surprising Roster Move to Create Room for Garrett Cooper

Miami Marlins v Chicago Cubs - Game One

The roster is getting a makeover, and it may not look the way you expect.

A flurry of roster moves are ongoing with the Red Sox this week, spurred by injuries, a rehab assignment, and the general evolution of the roster.

We can start with what’s already happened: Over the weekend, the Red Sox acquired first baseman Garrett Cooper from the Cubs for cash.

Since Cooper had recently been designated for assignment and the Red Sox have a huge need at first base with Triston Casas out, it was an easy move to make. The one stipulation however was that the Cubs wanted the Red Sox to wait until after they left town before potentially using their old player against them.

To make room on the 40-man roster for Cooper, the Red Sox moved Triston Casas to the 60-day IL. But to make room on the active 26-man roster? That’s where things get trickier.

Coming into this week, the Red Sox had four potential infield candidates that could be displaced: Enmanuel Valdéz, David Hamilton, Pablo Reyes, and Bobby Dalbec. One advantage Reyes seemed to have over the other three is that he’s out of options and could not be sent directly to Worcester to be stashed in Triple-A if expunged from the big league roster.

Well, guess what?

Oddly, the last thing Pablo did for the Red Sox was pitch a scoreless ninth inning in Saturday’s 17-0 win over the Cubs.

So, with Reyes gone, this leaves Valdéz, Hamilton, and Dalbec all as demotion targets for when Vaughn Grissom gets called up in the next 24 hours.

I may be reading entirely too much into this, but my guess is that Dalbec might be safe here. The reason? Well, as weak as the Red Sox have been in terms of major league production from the middle infield so far this season, they actually do have a surprising number of options bubbling below the surface, and the domino effect of Reyes being expendable because of that means they also moved the other guy who can fill in some at first base.

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