Red Sox chief of B.O. Chaim Bloom continued his bargain bin shopping to get the Sox stronger up the middle. Today he acquired talented but often tub soaking infielder Adalberto Mondesi from the Royals . In exchange, the Red Sox sent lefty reliever and fellow tub dweller Josh Taylor (who i wrote about yesterday) to Kansas City. According to reports the Sox will also get a player to be named or cash considerations, oh cash ? more yacht fuel ? as part of the exchange.
Mondesi led the Majors in triples (10) in 2019 and stolen bases (24) in ’20 but hasn’t been on the field much the past two seasons mostly because of a torn ACL. Mondesi, when healthy, can be used all over the infield and has started 241 games at short, 64 games at second and 20 at third base.
Kike Hernández who is slotted in as the opening day SS has made just 64 starts at short but has 187 under his belt on the other side of second, Bloom recently said that the veteran is a plus defender wherever he plays. Cora loves Kike’s quick twitch and thinks would play well at shortstop.
This move feels like a depth trade in my opinion. I believe Christian Arroyo will still be the opening day second basemen, Hernández will play short. And Mondesi will slip in at ( who needs a day off ) throughout the season. Also it will be nice to have his speed on the bench late in ballgames.