The Chicago Cubs came to play the Boston Red Sox over the weekend, and they left with a trade agreement. The Red Sox traded for recently DFA’d Garrett Cooper to help their first base situation. This is after Triston Casas went down with an injury. Boston needed to make room on their active roster for him by the opening of Tuesday’s series against the San Francisco Giants. Some speculated that it would be Bobby Dalbec or David Hamilton being left off the Red Sox roster. However, it turns out that the team made the decision to DFA Pablo Reyes, a versatile infielder who has had plenty of struggles this season.
The #RedSox today made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/N7FUvJ8j18
— Red Sox (@RedSox) April 29, 2024
Pablo Reyes DFA Comes Amidst an Infield Shuffle
The Red Sox are starting to get a little healthier. With more players to bring back to the roster, the more casualties there will be. That’s part of what is happening with Reyes here. Vaughn Grissom is progressing well in rehab and could find himself on the active roster on Tuesday as well. The infield is a bit of a mess currently. Boston is without Trevor Story for the year and Triston Casas out until at least the end of June. Boston has pieced it together, but it’s been ugly on the defensive side of the ball.
In the field, Reyes is worth -4 OAA, which is in the first percentile, making him one of the worst fielders in baseball. He primarily covered third base and second base for the Red Sox. The team ranks 21st in OAA at second base and third base. With Grissom coming back and Dalbec providing steadier defense, Reyes becomes expendable. Dalbec can spell Devers at third while providing good defense at first base when Cooper needs a break as well.
The new-look middle infield, once Grissom returns, could help propel a Red Sox roster to some consistency that just hasn’t been there on defense. The team has made 24 errors, which is the worst in all of MLB.
The Bat Didn’t Help Reyes
One thing that can be said for other players on the roster, like Rafael Devers, is that the bat can hide bad defense. Unfortunately for Reyes, his bat hasn’t been there this season. He’s hitting .183/.234/.217 with no home runs and two doubles. The metrics also dictate that it may not get better for Reyes. He’s in the 16th percentile for the expected batting average, 18th percentile for the hard-hit rate, and 36th percentile for average exit velocity.
The Red Sox are a bit of a surprise team this season, holding a 16-13 record after a dominant outing by Tanner Houck on Sunday Night Baseball. They’re third place in the AL East, and if they have any hope of making the postseason, the roster shuffle is a necessity.
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