Plus, could the Red Sox possibly trade for Paul Skenes?
Man, I can’t imagine what is going through Kristian Campbell’s head right now. He is playing worse than he ever has in his entire life (Baseball Reference doesn’t have his little league stats, but I’m confident that a future Major Leaguer didn’t put up a .335 OPS for an entire month when he was 12). And he’s doing in the big leagues, for a team that is spiraling underneath the glare of a white-hot spotlight, while still essentially learning how to play second base (remember, he played just 36 games at the position last year). And now he’s got something else to deal with: he’s going to play first base this weekend against the Atlanta Braves. He has never played first, either professionally or in college. (Sean McAdam, MassLive)
So we’ll see how Campbell does at first. But what about Rafael Devers? While Alex Cora adamantly shut the door on Devers playing third base again in the wake of the Alex Bregman injury, he says that they will “keep talking about the other position.” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
Is this roster juggling a prelude to calling up Roman Anthony? Not according to Craig Breslow, who insists that Anthony remains in Worcester because he still has some things to work on. Specifically, the Sox say they want Anthony to get better against offspeed pitches in the zone. Given that most big league hitters still struggle against offspeed pitches in the zone (Hitting is really, really hard! Putting offspeed pitches in the zone is, like, how pitchers get big league hitters out!) that justification seems… dubious. (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)
And by the way, not that this was ever in doubt, but Roman Anthony remains the top prospect in all of baseball according to Keith Law, who updated his rankings this week. But Anthony is not the only Red Sox to crack the list. Jhostynxson Garcia debuted at #46, while Franklin Arias has shot all the way up to … wait for it … #8! (Keith Law, The Athletic)
So given all of the young talent that remains in the Red Sox organization, is it possible that they’d put a package together to trade for Paul Skenes? I have absolutely no idea why the Pirates would even begin to entertain the idea of trading Skenes right now, but people are yapping. (Jim Bowden, The Athletic)