Tag: Dustin Pedroia

The Red Sox Just Destroyed Me With This Opening Day Video Narrated by Dustin Pedroia

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Hope everyone was prepared to ugly cry on this Good Friday Opening Day because Dustin Pedroia just made it super dusty up in here. This isn’t just another mindless hype video; this is a guy who is talking from the heart about never taking the game for granted. Go out there and bust your ass and play like a champion because the game can be taken from you at any moment. Nobody know that better than Dustin Pedroia.

With that being said, Opening Day is here baby!

That’s the beauty of baseball. It’s something about Opening Day taking place in the beginning of spring as winter is finally beginning to thaw and flowers are starting to slowly blossom. Sure it’s 34 degrees right now, but we all know it’ll be sunny and 70 before too long. Not to mention the cold dark hell we’ve all gone through over the last year, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. This is exactly why people say baseball is more romanticized than any other sport. I know the Red Sox in all likelihood are going to suck this year, but after another miserable Boston winter I have hope for better days ahead.

Dustin Pedroia Announces His Retirement

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NESN – Dustin Pedroia is calling it a career. The Boston Red Sox second baseman announced his retirement from Major League Baseball on Monday. Pedroia, who dealt with knee injuries over the latter part of his career, played in just nine games over the last three seasons. He did not play in 2020.

“Dustin is so much more than his American League Most Valuable Player award, his All-Star Game selections, and the Gold Gloves he amassed throughout his impressive 17-year career in our organization,” Red Sox owner John Henry said in a press release.

“Dustin came to represent the kind of grit, passion, and competitive drive that resonates with baseball fans everywhere and especially with Red Sox fans. He played the game he loves in service to our club, its principles and in pursuit of championships. Most of all we are forever grateful to him for what he brought to our club and to our region as an important role model showing all of us how much one can accomplish with determination and hard work.”

We all knew this day was coming and is something that had been discussed more openly in the last couple of years as Pedroia battled debilitating knee injuries. Once I heard Jerry Remy during a game tell the story of Pedroia asking him what kind of flooring he had in his house because the hardwood was killing his knees I knew his playing days were likely over. He is one of the greatest players in Red Sox history and will almost certainly have his number 15 retired as a 4x All-Star, 4x Gold Glove winner, 1x Silver Slugger, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, an MVP award, and three World Series rings.

As a career .299 career hitter with all the aforementioned hardware, Pedroia’s retirement is bittersweet because it’s another Nomar “what could’ve been” story. Like Nomar a decade before him, if Pedroia didn’t get hurt and have his career derailed by constant injuries he could’ve been a legitimate Hall of Famer. If you ask me I will forever say fuck Manny Machado for the dirty slide that basically ended Pedroia’s career, but Pedey has never (publicly) faulted Machado and has even been quite open about how he’d rather play his ass off and risk his body than half ass it just to add a few years to his career.

It all started with the Machado dirtbag slide in Pedroia’s already surgically repaired left knee in April 2017, but there was also the Jose Abreu collision in May 2017 that sent him to the DL, when he went back on the DL in August 2017 I was spooked, then he had another knee surgery in October 2017, he returned in 2018 but was back on the DL by June, in July 2018 we asked Is This the End for Dustin Pedroia, he then returned for Opening Day in 2019, and then by September 2019 it was pretty clear Pedroia was done.

But I don’t want you to leave this blog pissed off lamenting the past because I want to celebrate not only his greatness on the field, but how genuinely awesome a dude Dustin Pedroia is so here are a few of my favorite stories.

The Brady Quinn Ping Pong Story

“Yeah, he’s one of a kind,” Roberts says. “He and I work out at the same place in Arizona in the off-season, and I’ve seen him call out NFL players during Ping-Pong games, asking them when they’re starting Jenny Craig. He told Brady Quinn, who is a monster, a physical specimen, ‘I’m going to rip this ball right off your throat.’ He’s a piece of work.”

“Ask Jeff Fucking Francis who I am!”

But clearly he is a player that is not only beloved by fans, but he is revered by teammates including the all-time greats like Big Papi.

And in a statement from former Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon comes a quote that I may just have to slap on a t-shirt: “Diamonds are forever and so is Dustin Pedroia.”

Above all Dustin Pedroia was a hilarious, hard working, regular ass dude which is why he was beloved in the city of Boston. In a career full of A+ soundbites, I leave you with just a few of his classic stories.

Today Marks the SEVEN Year Anniversary of the Red Sox Winning the 2013 World Series

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The 2013 Red Sox authored the single most improbable championship run I have ever seen. This Red Sox team was a squad filled with journeymen picked off the scrap heap, no names, and guys on one year deals hoping to revive their careers. Andrew Miller, Jake Peavy, Kohi Uehara, David Ross, Mike Napoli, Johnny Gomes, Shane Victorino etc.

The Red Sox were coming off a season in which they were 26 games out of first place and finished dead last in the AL East. They had just pulled the plug on the disaster that was the Bobby Valentine experiment after just one season so they were being led by their third manager in three seasons. So I can’t say I was expecting much from the 2013 team. Prior to the season, the front office signed a bunch of players that were essentially cast offs from other organizations in moves that at the time screamed Bridge Year. John Henry and Ben Cherington will tell you otherwise, but building a team like this was the definition of catching lightning in a bottle.

Except all of these forgotten has beens instantly bonded and banded together to quickly build a team chemistry that was rivaled probably only by the 2004 team.

I’ll never forget this quote from Jake Peavy.

“I’ve never been with a team that is as single-mindedly as focused to do everything they can do to be world champion,” Peavy said. “That’s not making any guarantees because you can’t do that. But we’re going to die trying.”

Goosebumps.

Every guy on that team felt like they were an underdog that had been written off. They all fueled off one other to individually have some of their best seasons and of course go on one of the most unlikely championship runs in baseball history.

Combine that with the emotional rollercoaster that was the Boston Marathon bombing and you had a team that became a rallying cry for a city in need of healing. Where 2004 had Cowboy Up, 2013 had Boston Strong and one of the greatest impromptu speeches from a Red Sox legend.

David Ortiz would go on to have an all-time performance in the World Series too, batting .688 with an absolutely ludicrous 1.948 OPS.

I was living just a mile down the road from Fenway in 2013 so I went to like 20 games that season so I feel an even deeper connection to this team. I still have the ticket stub on my wall from the best game I have ever attended: Game 2 of the 2013 ALCS vs the Detroit Tigers.

I also still have maybe the strangest piece of memorabilia in recent Red Sox history: ticket stubs for Game 7 of the World Series at Fenway Park.

I even have a giant framed picture of Jonny Gomes placing the World Series trophy and a Boston Strong jersey at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

This team was bigger than sports.

The 2013 Red Sox also did what the 2004, 2007, and 2018 teams never got the chance to do; they closed it out at home. I’ll never forget Koji getting the final out and everyone at the bar tossing their $8 tallboys in the air before sprinting out onto Landsdowne Street to celebrate like drunk maniacs as fireworks erupted from the Green Monster.

Maybe they weren’t the best Red Sox team in franchise history, but I can’t say I’ve ever had more fun rooting for a team

If the Red Sox Trade Xander Bogaerts, We Riot

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There have been more and more rumors circulating that the Red Sox are at least entertaining the idea of trading their best all around player. In the midst of their worst season in decades, the Sox are looking for any and all avenues to rebuild and reload. This ain’t it. 

If the Red Sox punt on this season I’m ok with that because I understand the legitimate need for a bridge year every now and then. It’s something Theo Epstein was adamant about in “Feeding the Monster.” You can’t be good every single year. Even the Yankees adopted this soft reset approach over the past few years to extraordinary (regular season) results. You need to take a step back and reload every once in a while otherwise you’re going to trade all your assets and overextend yourself on overpriced free agents and then you’ll have to do a hard reset. Kind of like what they’re staring at right now.

You saw the full value of the bridge year in 2006 when the Sox were less than two years removed from a World Series title but were coming off getting swept in the 2005 ALDS (thanks Tony Graffanino). Despite winning 95 games in ’05, the Sox recognized they were further away from winning a title than their record reflected. So rather than just double down on an aging core they took a step back and acquired some young talent like Coco Crisp and some veteran placeholders like Mark Loretta until the next wave of prospects like Dustin Pedroia (2007 Rookie of the Year), Kevin Youkilis, Jonathan Papelbon, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Clay Buchholz were ready to truly flourish and/or take over full time. It paid off. In 2007 the Sox recognized they were ready to compete again with a combination of their veteran core (Manny, Ortiz, Varitek, Schilling, Nixon), the aforementioned infusion of young (cheap) talent, and some new acquisitions. So they went all out ahead of the 2007 season and signed JD Drew to a (at the time) massive 5 year $70 million deal as well as Daisuke Matsuzaka to a 6 year $51 million deal (plus the $51 million posting fee). The result? The Sox were the wire to wire best team in baseball winning 96 games and the AL East en route to their second title in 4 years. Yes, the Sox did trade one of their top prospects in Hanley Ramirez for Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell before the 2006 season, but Beckett was only 26 at the time and was the anchor of their rotation when the team went for it all in 2007.

The Red Sox have the opportunity to do the same thing here, but if they elect to trade Xander Bogaerts they’re not just punting on a season; they’re removing the core of their rebuild. Why trade a 27-year-old shortstop who just re-signed on a team friendly deal (6 years, $120M) through 2025 and finished 5th in MVP voting last year?

Why trade a guy that you scouted, signed at the age of 16, developed into a player that is just now hitting his prime, is a 2x All-Star, is a 3x Silver Slugger, and became a vital piece of two World Series titles? Yes Bogaerts has a full no-trade clause kick in after the deadline this year, but these are typically the kind of guys you want to build around.  

This is not the same as Mookie Betts. Mookie Betts wanted a contract that quite literally was 3x the size of what Bogaerts re-signed for last spring. Mookie was in a walk year and was noncommital about even wanting to be in Boston, whereas Xander re-signed early. The irony is that despite Mookie’s career WAR doubling that of Bogaerts, you’d probably get a better return for Xander because he has 4+ seasons left on his contract. Doesn’t mean you should do it though. 

I am a full blown prospect fanatic so while it obviously paid off in 2018 I never loved Dave Dombrowski’s M.O. of ripping apart the farm system. So I understand the value of Bogaerts and the return the team could get, but if you trade him you basically are putting all your chips into the middle of the table and banking on TBD prospects, Rafael Devers, and Alex Verdugo. Not something I want to bet the next 5-10 years of the Red Sox on. 

Obviously Boston’s farm system is not ripe with future All-Stars like the ’06 team was, but thats the best part about currently being on pace for the worst winning percentage in team history; you are in play for the No. 1 overall pick. The Red Sox have never had the first overall pick in the history of the MLB draft. That’s value right there. Combine that with some smaller deals like you’re seeing with Workman and Hembree getting dealt and potentially trading guys like JD Martinez who I love, but is 33-years-old and may be the only valuable asset you have. There’s also Andrew Benintendi who I would have thought unthinkable to trade at the start of last season, but he has seemingly taken a plummet in his development the last two seasons. If the rumors are true and the Sox could get a young, promising starter like Mike Clevinger or Zach Plesac, I’d strongly consider it. 

It’s time for Chaim Bloom to make the smart, unheralded moves that the team brought him here to do. Blowing it up and trading a player that is essentially your captain is not the way to go. Don’t forget, the Sox also have Eduardo Rodriguez and Chris Sale returning to the mound next year. So use the Theo blueprint; take the bridge year, but don’t blow up the damn bridge.

Follow the Real Estate: Dustin Pedroia Just Put His House On the Market

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Realtor.com – Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia is hoping to tag a buyer for his luxury residence in Chestnut Hill, MA, an upscale enclave outside Boston.

The two-time World Champ quietly snapped up the home in 2013—the year he helped lead the Sox to a World Series victory. Pedroia’s red-brick Colonial, listed for $8.95 million, is less than a mile from the compound of departing NFL star Tom Brady, which is also still on the market, for $33.9 million.

With 8,500 square feet, the light-filled layout includes seven bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms spread across three levels.

Follow. The. Real Estate.

We literally just saw a very similar situation play out over the last year with another Boston legend. Despite denials from some local media guys that Tom Brady putting his Brookline house on the market had anything to do with him intending to leave New England; he ended up doing just that. So while it doesn’t necessarily mean anything imminent because all of these guys have multiple houses, can afford to buy a new mansion tomorrow, oh and theres no sports going on anytime soon anyways, but pay attention to this.

I don’t think anyone realistically expects Dustin Pedroia to play for the Red Sox again, but I always held out hope maybe he could get healthy enough to suit up as a part-time DH or something. Well this move makes it seem like Pedroia may be ready to call it a career and retire somewhere else. Maybe thats back in California where he grew up, out in Arizona where he dominated in college, or down south just to escape these bullshit winters. I despise Boston winters and I haven’t had multiple grueling knee surgeries so I can’t imagine Pedroia wanting to stick around post-playing career.

Lets not retire his number just yet, but I can’t imagine this is a positive development for the possibility of Pedroia playing again. Retiring as an athlete sucks, being forced into retirement early and having a potential Hall of Fame career derailed because of injuries is just cruel.

So while I think Pedroia may want to lay low for a while, I can’t imagine him not getting back into baseball in some fashion. He has always been positively obsessed with baseball, going so far as to take grounders at second from his knees while rehabbing. Someone with that type of passion and knowledge of the game could absolutely manage or work in a front office, but I think it would be a disservice to the entire country if Pedroia didn’t go into broadcasting. He was never at a loss for words, routinely talked shit to anyone and everyone (including Brady Quinn over ping pong), and was just a blast to listen to so I hope to see Dustin Pedroia in the booth one day.

Today Should Have Been Red Sox Opening Day

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In a serious case of you don’t know what you have until it’s gone, today should have been Opening Day for the Red Sox. The team we’ve all ripped to shreds over the last several months for having worse managerial skills than a Chili’s GM isn’t playing on Opening Day and that is sobering.

I know it’s out of MLB’s hands because we have much more dire issues to face as a country, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling like Will Smith wondering when his dad is coming back.

In the absence of real baseball I have resorted to treating MLB The Show more seriously than I probably should. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Hell, Raffy Devers may become the first player in baseball history to win MVP while committing triple digit errors in the field!

To be honest though, a shortened season would most likely benefit a team like the Red Sox, who have a rotation consisting of one legitimate pitcher and a bunch of injury concerns, journeymen, and should be Triple-A lifers. But if baseball doesn’t come back until July like I fear, you could squeeze a bit more out of workhorses like Eduardo Rodriguez (assuming he doesn’t slip on a roll of stockpiled toilet paper and dislocate his knee cap). Granted baseball would like to maintain a regular schedule, if not pack more games in with doubleheaders. Manfred said exactly that on SportsCenter the other night while embellishing just a bit.

“Obviously, our fans love a 162 game-season and the postseason format we have.“

Then you have the absolutely moronic suggestion from Scott Boras to play 144 or 162 games depending on when the season starts and just extend the postseason all the way into December with a Christmas World Series at a neutral site. Really? Imagine the Yankees hosting an ALCS game in the middle of December?

In all likelihood though Rodriguez wouldn’t need to make 30+ starts. You obviously can’t have him making multiple starts per week, but you could eliminate the concern of innings counts and managing guy’s workload in preparation hopes of a postseason run. Same goes for Nathan Eovaldi. It also gives guys like Dustin Pedroia a few more months to recover from injuries and potentially get right for the season.

Glass half full bullshit optimism? Yup, but with no baseball on Opening Day and no games coming anytime soon I think we all could use a little optimism right now.

So the Red Sox Let Fan Favorite Brock Holt Walk Over Chump Change

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Brock Holt was your classic overachiever; a super utility guy that turned into a legitimate All-Star for the Red Sox. I think he gets a little overrated by Boston fans as most fan favorite dirt dog type players do, but he was a solid contributor and great clubhouse guy. Well the Sox let him walk over what amounts to peanuts as the details of his contract with the Brewers finally came out.

So for a team that doesn’t have a proven every day second baseman, 4th outfielder, and is cobbling together first base just let it’s best utility guy go for nothing. I don’t get it.

Not to mention the Sox could use a little good PR after this tumultuous offseason so maybe giving Brock Holt $3 million would have been worth the good will it would have garnered with fans. I mean the guy all but said he hates Milwaukee in his first interview wearing a Brewers hat.

So you can’t tell me the guy wouldn’t been open to coming back if the Sox offer was even remotely close.

The team’s top 3 outfielders currently are Andrew Benintendi, Jackie Bradley Jr. and JD Martinez, who cannot play outfield every day. Then you have Kevin Pillar ($4.25M), who’s fine, and Alex Verdugo as your 4th OF except he has a little thing called a broken back so it might be hard for him to patrol Fenway in the near future.

Is this a move thats going to make or break the season? Of course not, but after trading Mookie Betts and David Price in salary dumps, taking Eduardo Rodriguez to salary arbitration over $600K, and Dustin Pedroia all but certain to announce his retirement sooner than later, the Red Sox probably could have ponied up the $3M to re-sign a fan favorite.

The Red Sox Can Pay Mookie Betts $420 Million or Trade Him for Pennies on the Dollar. Clocks Ticking

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I love watching Mookie Betts play. He is one of the best homegrown talents the Red Sox have ever had. Betts has been insistent on reaching free agency, much to the chagrin of the Sox, but I don’t blame him one bit. Know your worth and go out there and get it. If I’m John Henry though, do I really want to pay Mookie $420 Million?? That is a lot of Schrute Bucks.

The answer seems more and more likely to be no he does not.

I don’t know if Mookie wants to be here or not and it’s not really fair to look at contract negotiations and decipher one way or another, especially with both sides so far apart in total dollars. Sure you’d prefer a guy who loves Boston over someone who hates the fishbowl mentality of playing at Fenway, but thats not even my concern. My concern is this contract becoming a disaster relatively quickly. 12 years is a long, long time. We laugh when we look back at the Albert Pujols Angels contract, the second A-Rod Yankees contract,the Giancarlo Stanton contract, the Miguel Cabrera contract etc. etc. Now of course you’re paying for the front half of that contract where guys are racking up MVPs, Triple Crowns, and ideally World Series rings, but a 12 year deal would have the Sox paying Mookie through his age 40 season. How many 40 year old baseball players do you know?

And Dennis Quaid doesn’t count.

Again, it’s not my money so if the Sox want to break the bank then have at it, but the team is already mired in a (self imposed) payroll mess because they can’t (read: won’t) foot the bill.

Betts is an absolute stud and although he had a bit of a down year last year, he is only 2 years removed from an MVP season. I just worry about a 5’9″ guy making $35M a year until I have kids old enough to be wearing their Sox jerseys to MIDDLE SCHOOL. The Sox are in a similar situation right now with another homegrown talent limping to the finish line in Dustin Pedroia. I don’t want to speak ill of a fellow short guy, but Pedroia’s body just could not hold up and the Sox are now on the hook for a player who sadly may never take the field again.

So should the Red Sox trade Mookie? Well if John Henry didn’t show his poker face worse than Teddy KGB with a box of Oreos then yea maybe.

But the entire league knows the Sox are looking to unload Mookie and shed salary so they are getting lowballed by everyone. Granted a lot of the best deals that get done are the ones you never hear of in the press, but the best offer we’ve heard, according to the San Diego Union Tribune, is with the Padres for Wil fucking Myers plus “two young major leaguers and at least one prospect.”

“Myers led the Padres with a 4.4 combined WAR (wins above replacement) in 2017 and ’18 but last season endured significant slumps and finished with a .239/.321/418 batting line and -0.3 WAR.

Betts posted a 33.8 WAR over the past four seasons, second in the major leagues to Mike Trout’s 35.5 in that span.” 

Oh and eating at least half of Myers’ contract to boot? PASS.

God damnit. Always look for the blue check mark kids.

Ken Rosenthal also reported something similar with names like Manuel Margot and Kirby Yates thrown in.

Margot is a 25 years old centerfielder who hit .238 with 12 HRs, 37 RBI, a 3.04 OBP and 1.8 WAR last year. Solid. Kirby Yates (who the Sox actually drafted in 2005) is a legit reliever, was an All-Star last year, and had 41 saves and a 1.19 ERA with a 15.0 SO9 (K’s per 9 innings). However, he’s also going to be 33 before the start of the season and had 15 career saves in the 5 seasons prior to last year. MLB relievers rise and fall like the ocean so I’m not exactly dying to have one be the linchpin of a Mookie trade.

I would rather ride out the season and take one last shot at a World Series with a still borderline elite Red Sox roster (if healthy) and risk losing Mookie for nothing rather than dumping him for 30 cents on the dollar.

Now all the Sox need is a manager…

The Latest News on Dustin Pedroia is the Darkest Yet

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ESPN – His name was written in pen on a sign over his locker. His Boston jerseys neatly dangled inside on hangers. Second baseman Dustin Pedroia was back with the Red Sox — if only for a quick visit. He hobbled through the clubhouse Tuesday on crutches, his surgically repaired left knee on the mend.

Pedroia really doesn’t think about hitting so much these days as simply not hurting. He’s hoping the latest surgery on his troublesome knee allows him to throw batting practice with his kids pain-free one day. That’s really the extent of the plans for the 36-year-old Pedroia, who has been limited to nine games over the past two seasons.

Still, he wanted to drop by just to chat with his teammates as they opened a two-game interleague series at Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies. Earlier this month, doctors removed bone spurs and performed a knee joint preservation procedure in Vail, Colorado.

Taking the field again? For now, that’s down the priority list.

“It would be nice to not hurt first,” said Pedroia, who has fond memories of Coors Field given that’s where the Red Sox clinched the 2007 World Series. “One step at a time. Hopefully, it works out.”

Before we get into the blog its my responsibility to remind everyone that Manny Machado is a dirtbag whenever discussing Dustin Pedroia. Moving on.

I don’t think many of us necessarily *expected* Dustin Pedroia to play baseball again, but this is probably the nail in the coffin. It sounds like he’s accepted the fact that he’s done and its probably time, but it doesn’t make it any less sad. I’ve held out hope that Pedroia would be able to return to at least a part-time role with the team. That is until I heard Jerry Remy (11 knee surgeries) talking earlier this year about a conversation he had with Pedroia and their shared knee issues.

He asked me, ‘Are there certain surfaces you have problems walking on?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, some hard surfaces.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I’ve got a floor in my house that I have to have changed because it bothers me.’

Remy added, “At the end of my career, I couldn’t move any more. I knew going to spring training I was done.

‘’I haven’t seen that much of Pedroia in the field this year. I saw him dive for a ball the other day and he wasn’t even close to it. But he turned some double plays. So you can’t make that judgement yet.

“But this is discouraging. Mentally, it’s very difficult to go through. It’s all you think about.’’

Dave Dombrowski basically told us Pedroia was done way back in 2017 when he said this knee injury was something Pedroia would have to monitor “for the rest of his career.” Pedroia then got a knee surgery he was pretty hesitant to get and the Red Sox publicly said the second baseman would be back in 7 months. Pedey returned in May 2018 before going back on the DL in June after just 3 games. Then in July 2018 Pedroia started dropping some pretty startling quotes about how he simply cannot risk coming back too early. Here’s what I wrote at the time.

That is scary. That sounds like a guy who is seriously concerned about his ability to recover from an injury. Forget returning to previous form, that is a guy who sounds like he might be done entirely…the days of Dustin Pedroia as your starting second baseman may be gone. Because when healthy, Pedroia can still absolutely mash and is one of the toughest outs in baseball, but therein lies the problem; Pedroia is rarely healthy anymore.

Pedroia was back for Spring Training and we were all pretty excited here at The 300s as No. 15 was ready to go for Opening Day…but only played 6 games before going back on the IL. He publicly stated that his knee “will never heal” back in May and shut down his rehab in an emotional press conference. I was convinced he was going to announce his retirement, but it seems like he wanted to take some time off and give it one more go.

Things sound a lot more myopic now though as this pretty dark update on Pedey dropped the other day. Despite playing in just 9 games in his last 2 seasons, he’s due to make $13M in 2020 and $12M in 2021 before becoming a free agent at 37-years-old. Here’s to hoping Pedroia can at the very least get healthy enough to enjoy his life and then maybe think about playing some ball again, but it seems like that goal is a distant second at this point.

Red Sox Are Calling Up Top Prospect Michael Chavis

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The Red Sox are reeling, currently sitting in last place in the AL East, and Dustin Pedroia has once again been placed back on the Injured List with knee issues. This team is in a bad spot right now so it was definitely in need of some changes. One of those will be the promotion of their No. 1 prospect in Michael Chavis to the major league roster. The Sox took Chavis with the 26th overall pick in 2014 so it’s time to see what the kid’s got.

Visual evidence that I watched Michael Chavis play in AA Portland.

As the Eagle Tribune points out, with the lack of production from Pedroia, Eduardo Nunez and with Brock Holt on the shelf,”Red Sox second basemen have combined for a .337 OPS, by far the worst in the majors.”

Chavis is only hitting .250 but he’s got an OPS of .954 with 4 home runs in 12 games. He did blast 31 dingers in 2017 between Single-A Salem and Double-A at Portland. This was of course before he was popped for PEDs last April and suspended for 80 games though. I worried that may be the end of Michael Chavis the Power Hitting Prospect, but he seems to still be whacking the ball around the yard. He actually had a higher OPS in 2018 as well as in 2019 (granted its a small sample size) than he did in 2017 so thats encouraging as well.

Now I’ve learned from the failed careers of super hyped prospects like Craig Hansen and Cla Meradith to temper my expectations when top prospects get called up, but its hard to not be excited to watch the kid play. He’s traditionally been a corner infielder,  but has been working at second base too so we could see him split time there with Tzu-Wei Lin, who was also called up today.

They’ll have to pry that second baseman’s mitt (I don’t think this is actually a thing) out of the cold dead hands of Christian Vazquez first though.