The Red Sox have been dealing with some tension around the infield this spring, as their recent acquisition of Alex Bregman has led to questions about where Bregman—and, by extension, Rafael Devers—will play in 2024. Bregman is the superior defender at third base, but Devers to publicly emphasized that his position is third base. Meanwhile, team officials have refused to declare either Devers or Bregman the starting third baseman to this point. Today, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow spoke to reporters (including MassLive’s Sean McAdam) about the situation, and downplayed the severity of any clubhouse issues that could arise over the team’s infield alignment.
“I think having really good players that are talking about positions is not a terrible place to be in,” Breslow said, as relayed by McAdam. “…my obligation is to put the best team on the field, on both offense and defense that I can possibly can… So we’ll continue to have those conversations.”
Breslow’s comments seem to clearly indicate that the club has no intention of handing him the third base job out of respect for his tenure at the position. Given that the club seems to be staying the course of determining its infield alignment based on performance this spring, Breslow noted that he has confidence in the ability of manager Alex Cora to handle any concerns within the clubhouse resulting from the ongoing battle for third base.
“But part of the reason we as an organization feel that Alex is the perfect manager for the Red Sox is his ability to command a clubhouse, his ability to communicate with players across different cultures and ethnicities.” Breslow said, as relayed by McAdam. “He’s such a great communicator. …any time you have a talent roster, there are players who are going to want more playing time or fill different roles. You rely on the manager to be able to have those conversations and get everybody moving in the same direction.”
Should Bregman ultimately be installed at the hot corner with Devers moving to DH, Cora’s ability to communicate and command the clubhouse may be put to the test. Devers has long maintained his desire to stick at third base and has clearly expressed a very strong preference to remain at the hot corner all throughout his career, and Cora himself has even acknowledged that Devers was promised that he’d be the club’s third baseman long term when he signed a 10-year extension with the club prior to the 2023 season. Of course, that pact came under former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom rather than Breslow, opening the door to the tensions the Red Sox are facing today.
Elsewhere on the roster, the Red Sox are dealing with a number of injury woes impacting their rotation. Kutter Crawford, Brayan Bello, and Lucas Giolito are all behind at this point in camp due to various ailments, but Christopher Smith of MassLive relayed a positive update on the status of Giolito. While Giolito has been a bit slow out of the gate this year as he continues to recover from the internal brace procedure he underwent last spring, he noted earlier this winter that he expects to be ready for Opening Day. Per Smith, a major step in the right-hander’s process of preparing for the start of the season will take place tomorrow, when he’s scheduled to throw his first live batting practice since going under he knife last year.
Giolito’s status entering the season figures to take on outsized importance for the Red Sox given the fact that both Crawford and Bello are nursing injury situations of their own. Smith adds that Bello threw from 90 feet today as he battles back from a bout of shoulder soreness, and that his progression from here will be determined by a strength test later today. As for Crawford, the right-hander is still feeling discomfort due to his patellar tendon in long toss and bullpen sessions. It’s a worrying sign for the right-hander, who pitched through knee issues for much of the 2024 season. Those problems have lingered into the start of camp this year and appear to be putting Crawford’s availability for Opening Day in doubt.
In more pleasant injury news, Smith writes that southpaw Chris Murphy has resumed throwing bullpens after undergoing Tommy John surgery back in April. The southpaw isn’t expected to be a factor for the Red Sox in at least the early part of the year year, but Smith relays that Murphy hopes to pitch in the majors at some point in 2025 wouldn’t completely rule out a return in the first half of the season. For now, he’s taking things slowly with 10- and 15-pitch bullpen sessions, both of which featured exclusively fastballs.
A return late in the first half or even at some point in the second half would be a welcome development for the Red Sox, as the 26-year-old looked like an interesting piece during his rookie season back in 2023. The lefty appeared in 20 games for Boston as a multi-inning reliever, and while his 4.91 ERA in those 47 2/3 innings was fairly lackluster he still managed to open some eyes thanks to a solid 23.1% strikeout rate and a 3.70 FIP. Once he’s healthy, the southpaw could compete with players like Cooper Criswell and Josh Winckowski for a spot as a long man in the Red Sox bullpen this year.