Red Sox land infielder Mondesi in trade with Royals
BOSTON — Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom continued his quest to make his staff stronger up the center by buying gifted however oft-injured infielder Adalberto Mondesi in a commerce with the Royals on Tuesday.
In change, the Red Sox despatched lefty reliever Josh Taylor — additionally a participant with a historical past of harm points — to Kansas City. The Red Sox can even get a participant to be named or money concerns as a part of the change.
In Mondesi, the Red Sox get a participant who led the Majors in triples (10) in 2019 and stolen bases (24) in ’20 however hasn’t been on the sphere a lot the previous two seasons. With rule adjustments coming into play this season that ought to improve stolen bases, a participant like Mondesi figures to be extra worthwhile if he can keep wholesome.
Mondesi tore his left ACL on April 26, 2022, which ended his season. It usually takes an athlete about 9 months to return from a torn ACL harm, placing Mondesi on track to be prepared for Spring Training.
In his profession, Mondesi has began 241 video games at brief, 64 video games at second and 20 at third base. Though Hernández has made solely 64 begins at brief in comparison with 187 at second, Bloom just lately stated that the veteran is a plus defender wherever he performs. Cora raved about how Hernández’s first-step quickness would play at shortstop.
For the final two seasons, Hernández was Boston’s main middle fielder. But after the departure of Xander Bogaerts through free company and Trevor Story present process proper elbow surgical procedure that may hold him out indefinitely, the Sox determined to maneuver Hernández again to the infield whereas agreeing to a deal with free-agent slugger Adam Duvall to play middle subject. Hernández stated a number of days in the past that he prefers enjoying the infield, as a result of he enjoys enjoying the sport at a sooner tempo.
The addition of Duvall for one yr at $7 million isn’t official as a result of the deal is pending a bodily. But the position-player alignment is ultimately coming into focus for Cora.
The lineup might look one thing like this:
Masataka Yoshida, LF
Kiké Hernández, SS-2B
Rafael Devers, 3B
Justin Turner, DH
Alex Verdugo, RF
Adam Duvall, CF
Triston Casas, 1B
Adalberto Mondesi, SS-2B
Reese McGuire, C
Rover Christian Arroyo, outfielder Rob Refsnyder and Connor Wong could be obtainable off the bench. Corner infielder Bobby Dalbec and outfielder Jarren Duran can even be preventing for roster spots.
The son of former MLB outfielder Raul Mondesi, Adalberto has been stricken by accidents all through his profession, enjoying simply 358 video games whereas showing in components of seven seasons, all with the Royals. He’ll be eligible to turn into a free agent after the 2023 season. After famously making his MLB debut for Kansas City within the 2015 World Series, Mondesi has posted a lifetime .244/.280/.408 slash with 38 homers and 133 stolen bases within the huge leagues.
Taylor was a dominant left-on-left pitcher for the Red Sox in 2021, however didn’t pitch within the Majors in any respect in ’22 attributable to a again harm. He has a 3.69 ERA with 129 Okay’s in 102 1/3 innings spanning 121 appearances (one begin) for the Red Sox over three seasons (2019-21). The southpaw, who will flip 30 on March 2, is controllable via 2025.
Thomas Harrigan contributed to this story.
