The Red Sox continue to explore their options on both the rotation and bullpen markets, but they’re also looking around for a right-handed-hitting infielder who can factor into the mix at second base, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports. Infielder Vaughn Grissom’s minor league rehab window is up on Aug. 9, but McCaffrey suggests that Grissom could be optioned to Triple-A Worcester rather than plugged into the big league roster. Meanwhile, Sox skipper Alex Cora said after the acquisition of catcher Danny Jansen that fellow backstop Connor Wong could see additional time at second base; Wong hasn’t played a ton of second base recently but does have 227 innings there in his career.
The trade market isn’t exactly deep in right-handed-hitting infielders — or middle infielders in general — but there are nevertheless a handful of options who could fit the bill. Switch-hitting Angels infielder Luis Rengifo (who has torched lefties at a .373/.418/.529 rate) has reportedly been of interest to the Sox already. They’ve presumably at least held internal discussions on other options, including Colorado’s Brendan Rodgers, Detroit’s Gio Urshela, Oakland’s Abraham Toro (a switch-hitter) and Chicago’s Paul DeJong. The Reds’ Jonathan India has seen his name in trade rumors for the better part of a year, but Cincinnati has been reluctant to deal him. Within the Sox’ own division are Gleyber Torres and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, but Boston may be wary of sending any talent of note to a direct rival.
The mere fact that Cora suggested playing Wong at second base and declined to confirm that Grissom would be plugged right back into Boston’s second base slot speak to the fact that an addition is possible. Second base has been a black hole for the BoSox this season, as they’ve seen Grissom, Wong, Enmanuel Valdez, David Hamilton, Jamie Westbrook, Pablo Reyes, Romy Gonzalez, Ceddanne Rafaela and Zack Short combine to hit .192/.249/.293 at the position. The resulting 47 wRC+ is dead-last in the majors and suggests that Boston second basemen have been 53% worse than average with the bat.
The Red Sox actually depleted some of their middle infield depth yesterday when they traded Nick Yorke (notably, a right-handed hitter) to the Pirates in a swap of former first-rounders/top prospects that netted them right-hander Quinn Priester. That suggests that pitching is considered the more dire need, but it still shouldn’t come as a surprise if the Sox work multiple angles today and come away with another arm (or two) and a more established big league infielder than Grissom or the now-traded Yorke.
Boston was already known to be on the lookout for a right-handed bat — that much was reported last week — but at the time, it seemed a first base addition could also be possible. However, the Sox are now slated to send injured first baseman Triston Casas on a rehab assignment later today, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (X link). That makes second base a far more likely spot to augment the lineup with a right-handed bat.