The Red Sox expect infielder Yu Chang to return from a hamate fracture this week, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (Twitter link). The team plans to deploy Chang as its starting shortstop once he’s reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Chang has been out since undergoing surgery in late April.
Chang’s status as the team’s starter at short figures to be tenuous, at least in the long run. Trevor Story is hoping to return from elbow surgery sometime this month and ease back into things as a designated hitter at first. However, he’s expressed optimism about being able to return to shortstop at sometime in August. Beyond the potential impact of Story’s return, the trade deadline looms on Aug. 1 and could obviously impact Boston’s middle infield outlook.
Utilizing Chang as the starter at shortstop, even if only for a month or so, highlights the middle-infield problems that have plagued the Sox throughout the year. Boston found out late in the offseason that Story would miss at least the first half of the season. Subsequent moves to bolster the middle infield depth — acquiring Adalberto Mondesi and signing Adam Duvall, thus pushing Enrique Hernandez from center field to the infield — haven’t had the intended effect. Mondesi hasn’t played in a game this season due to injury, while Hernandez has been pushed out of the starting shortstop role due to defensive struggles.
Of late, the Red Sox have used rookie David Hamilton at the position, but he’s batted just .120/.241/.160 in his first 29 Major League plate appearances. On the whole, Boston shortstops have posted a .212/.281/.325 batting line this year, which translates to a 63 wRC+ that ranks last in the Majors. They also rank 20th in Defensive Runs Saved and 27th in Outs Above Average.
Chang’s return should, at the very least, help on the defensive end of the coin. The 27-year-old is regarded as a versatile and above-average infield defender, with positive DRS and OAA grades in his career at each of second base, shortstop and third base.
At the plate, however, Chang probably won’t provide much of a boost. He’s appeared in 213 big league games and tallied 585 plate appearances but managed just a .206/.271/.358 batting line with a 7% walk rate and 28.4% strikeout rate. That production would grade as a slight upgrade over Boston’s cumulative shortstop output in 2023 — a damning statement on the team’s middle-infield play as a whole — but still grades well below league average.
The Sox will hope that defensive gains made by installing Chang at shortstop can help keep their playoff hopes afloat. A 13-game deficit in the American League East seems nearly insurmountable, but Boston is a more manageable five games back of the final Wild Card spot in the American League, currently sporting a .500 record. Their play over the next several weeks will be of particular note, as it’ll likely determine the front office’s approach to the 2023 trade deadline on Aug. 1.
You mean to tell me Chang’s slash line is better than what they’ve been rolling out this year?
And yet, they didn’t even at least TRY goodrum.
I guess they judged him on his showing in AAA. They made the decision from there.
Yu get what Yu pay for.
Yu do indeed. Friendly bet on how low the average will be?
I’m a Pirate fan, and he hit .167 as a Bucco, so I’ll go with that.
I’ll take the under on .205
Great, another empty at bat in the bottom of the lineup. Perfect way to contend for another wasted draft pick. This team is so screwed.
“Another” wasted draft pick? Which other ones are there?
This has been an issue with the Red Sox for years, well beyond the Chaim Bloom era. Who’s the last pick who was a really good player for a very long time?
bud – While several Dombrowski picks are looking really good right now, you’re right it’s been a while since a Sox pick has been really good for a very long time.
Has to be Mookie, drafted 2011.
Yep, could even count Benintendi for making it and not being a total flop. Even if he screwed himself up with the launch angle stuff.
By far their worst draft class was 10 years ago, 2013. The only player to contribute for the Sox was Kyle Martin, who gave them 7 outs out of the pen in 2017. We haven’t seen some of the later Dave Dombrowski people or the Bloom people develop into big leaguers, but if the past holds true again than they seriously need to look at what they’re doing wrong with player development.
bud – Oh God, did you have to remind me of the 2013 draft? LOL!!
The Trey Ball draft, 7th overall pick because the Sox were coming off the worst Red Sox season since 1965 aka The Bobby Valentine Year.
Trey Ball ….. I still have nightmares when I hear that name …
Just another example of a move ownership and the idiot they hired to cut payroll that blows up in their face.
Yes, what an idiot Bloom is. Most great GMs have at least 4-5 stud SSs lined up to take over when someone gets hurt. FiRe BlOoM! We need to hire a smart GM that spends money like the Padres and Mets
Weak straw man sources
Exactly sources !! That’s the lazy way of General managing. Just seek out superstars and spend the owner’s money. You don’t get players who are hungry and seeking a contract that way you get guys were settled in and not as urgent with their performance. That’s lazy GMing.
Legitimate GMS are pounding the pavement scouting seeking Diamonds in the Rough that may have slipped through and truly looking for Hungry Young players ready to sprout.
Yes there’s some misses and 80% of Red Sox fans on this site dwell on those players and fire away with derogatory scathing posts and immature name calling of men in high positions with the team. But that’s how baseball is done.
Hopefully you strike oil sometimes and that’s where there’s true satisfaction in the job. Then you must draft well and hire the right people. Takes a lot of work and you’re under a lot of scrutiny with a big Market team but you fight through it come out of it a winner in the end hopefully.
Or the Dodgers
You need a mixture of both, good scouting and trading along with smart FA signings that fit with your team and the timeline of it. If you keep cycling out a ton of trash players, getting lucky on one doesn’t really mean you’re a great GM, just lucky. Just like signing a bunch of top FA’s or using financial muscle to eat money and make deals doesn’t make you great either. Rays and Braves do both above all teams.
sources – Pretty sure long before the season started Bloom knew Story and Mondesi wouldn’t be playing for a while.
And yet he did nothing except assume Kike could be the everyday SS.
I don’t fault him for not getting andrus, I didn’t see andrus as an answer either, but even trying moncada would be an upgrade. And it’s not like those were the only 2 still available, and, that nothing could be done in the trade market.
Now you know what Pirate fans have gone through under the previous regime
Oh No
Nomar and Xander may be laughing at Yu.
Rico Petrocelli?
It would be nice to see Hamilton continue to get a shot. Plenty of rookies look bad in their initial debuts. Dude has far more upside than any of those other guys IMO (which admittedly doesn’t say *that* much).
Story has a 101 OPS+ the last two years. Mondesi has had one season with an OPS+ over 92, which was way back in 2018. Chang has a career 72 OPS+ and was terrible to begin the season. Kiké continues to get worse.
Hamilton was on a 150-game pace of like 30 HRs and 85 SBs prior to getting called up. The extra power seemingly came out of nowhere, to which I doubt that he can sustain at the MLB level… but given his decent walk rates, I think he could hit something like .240/.330/.425 and easily aim for 40+ SBs in a full year. That is upside none of those other guys bring at this point of their careers.
If Boston decides they’re out of it come trade deadline, they should run Hamilton at SS the rest of the season. He’s not a highly ranked prospect, so yeah, maybe he’s a AAAA guy that can’t catch up to MLB pitching. But you can’t convince me he’s going to be much worse than Chang at this point. I’d take the upside in that scenario..
Agree with you, we need to give these intriguing guys a chance and see if they can hack it in the show. That said, I think the team is directionless and isn’t really concerned with giving said young intriguing guys a chance currently.
Branching off that, I’ve seen with this organization that they give up on guys too early. They don’t seem to be willing to let guys have an opportunity. I’d really like to see them just let Hamilton make it or break it, similar to Pedroia back in the day.
Gives you an idea of just how bad Kike Hernandez has been at shortstop.
Kiki is a backup utility guy. Pretty good in center field but can play short and second as well when needed. Because of all the injuries they had to start him at Short quite a bit but that’s not where Kiki excels. I thought you knew that.
Kike Hernandez is a Quality Utility player for a championship team. Everyone on a championship team has a specific role. Roles are determined by a player’s skill set. Hernandez has a skill set that allows him to spell players for a couple games at various positions on the field throughout the season. When you have to use these utility guys as a everyday player, he becomes overexposed and his value drops significantly. This is a common mistake made by a lot of front offices that listen to their analytic people and not their baseball people.
Not – The thing with Kike is he steps it up in the postseason, but is generally a poor regular season player.
He has a .900 OPS in 69 career postseason games, obviously against generally very good pitchers.
But his career regular season OPS is only .722
And 6 of his 10 seasons his OPS has been under .730
His first season with the Red Sox was fantastic, then he tailed off dramatically.
Same thing with the Dodgers, first season was great and then he tailed off badly.
All of those facts lead me to believe he’s not as motivated this year as he should be, especially with him being healthy now.
Hopefully this is a nightmare. I got to get back to dreaming about Shohei on the Red Sox and Devers becoming an MVP.
I think both of the latter are more likely to be nothing more than hopes and dreams.
After the angels, and his criticism of being there, no way Shohei would have interest in joining the dysfunctional bloomare that’s gripped RSN since 2019….
You probably weren’t a fan before 2019 so I understand why the absence of Championships hurts so bad. Pretty tough here in Boston cuz we don’t win it every single year as you’re expecting from wherever you came.
This guy bloom has done a nice job rebuilding the farm and putting decent contenders on the field every year. I think they’ve stayed financially stable and ready to pounce when a decent free agent crop Surfaces one of these coming december’s. Lately it’s been 40-year-old starting pictures and a bunch of so-so’s. Red Sox won’t need much in the next year or two as the young guys mature and only a few holes are plugged in free agency including probably four starting pitchers lol.
I think Bloom has done a good job with the farm system, but I think he forgets that you also need veterans to build a team.
‘Contenders’ on the field dont languish in last place of the division for 3 of 4 years….
Looking at the free agent classes of the last 3 years I don’t see good opportunities to spend a fortune. Even Xander Bogaerts and even JD Martinez and even Nathan Eovaldi or Eduardo rodriguez. I let all those guys walk. No dead money on my books and a tip of the cap to bloom for feeling the same way.
Fenway fanatic I don’t understand your post. They have a veterans at every single position on the field for that matter. With the injuries they’re still a .500 team and one run in the right direction puts them in the playoffs. Don’t understand why would you say there’s no veterans on the team? Baffling. I think every position player aside from there top young guys Cassas and Duran is over 30. Plus Devers the stud.
What the Red Sox need is four starting pitchers but the last few off-seasons really haven’t had four go to guys you would sign. Just a bunch of 40-year-olds and guys who always get hurt.
I meant pitching veterans locked up long term
Fenway – Let’s see what the farm system looks like a year from now. Without Bello, Duran, Casas and hopefully Yorke and Mayer, I would expect the ranking to drop quite a bit.
GASox – You are absolutely right! And let’s not forget, the one good year (2021) had a core of talented players that Bloom had absolutely nothing to do with acquiring.
All 5 All-Stars in 2021 were players that Bloom inherited.
Gary – Some of that “dead money” will be on the mound at Fenway tonight, and it will be the All-Star Game starting pitcher and Cy Young favorite. Let’s see how it does against the Sox.
At least the Sox were classy enough to put together a nice tribute video for Nate last night.
I agree
As much as I wish Eovaldi was on the Red Sox, he is a perfect fit for the Rangers.
Fenway – I agree, Nate is now on a team that wants to win and is willing to spend to do so.
Dreamers are always on fantasy island. Come on down to reality where there’s a .500 team playing their butts off and poised for either a run into contention or an exciting sell-off at the trade deadline and go for it again next year. Why dream when reality is vivid and dynamic?
Gary – “Exciting sell-off” ….. too funny! Never in my life have I heard that before.
You remind me of Baghdad Bob, you’ll probably need to Google him.
Playoff hopes lmao
despite being last in the ALE, they’re 5 games back from a playoff spot lol
@mostly 5 teams ahead of them for a wild card, including 3 in their own division. That’s fine if you think they have a chance. Obviously I disagree. It is what it is
Statistically, they of course have a chance. If last year’s TDL was any indication though, they’ll likely not improve much at all compared to those in the thick of the race. If I were a betting man I’d say they don’t make it in, but it’s unreasonable to think it’s a nonexistent shot. Fangraphs has it at 17.8% right now. Low, but not crazy impossible.
It isn’t impossible that they win the division. The deck is infinitely stacked against this, it’s just as difficult to see them making any playoff push. This is the team that lost 2 of 3 to the White Sox, Rockies, Angels, and Guardians and got swept by the Cardinals and Pirates.
There are a .500 team and three Wild Card teams will make it in. You’re calling it a season already? Okay bud thanks for spending half the year with us. See you next season.
@Gary You don’t like my opinions, by all means, click the little option under my post that says “Mute”. I promise I’ll get over the sting somehow..,
Wong Chang. Duran Duran. Bachman Turner Overdrive. Dropkick Murphy. This team rocks.
He’s the one they call Bernardino, he’s the one that makes ya feel alright
sharif don’t like it
rockin’ the casas
hell’s bello
Come Sale away, come Sale away with meee.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” – Einstein
I think Albert foresaw Chaim Bloom when he laid down that quote.
Daily fire Bloom rant in full force.
Gross roster mismanagement by Bloom. Just ridiculous.
The only thing ridiculous is your critique of bloom. They’re 500 and with all the injuries that’s pretty darn good.
Chaim Bloom won’t make it thru the end of the year, I’m guessing. Things don’t work in Boston like they did in Tampa.
Considering how they’re going in Tampa currently, we may have hired the wrong guy from their front office.
May have? Lol. We got the idiot red headed step child.
It took Tampa more than 3 years to build what they have going on.
suit – You are 100% correct, teams that don’t spend much money will always take longer to rebuild.
Then you’ve got teams like the 2016 Yankees that rebuilt in one year.
Fever: The Yankees did not rebuild in one year. I think we can agree that you can’t build or rebuild a farm system in one year and Tampa has succeeded based on their strong farm system. As I recall, the Yankees traded Chapman and Andrew Miller for 3 prospects: Justice Sheffield, Clint Frazier and Gleyber Torres. Torres was the only one who amounted to anything. They may have also traded Montero for Pineda in that timeframe, but Pineda didn’t amount to much. I think we can agree the Yankees made some trades, but that was not a rebuild. I hope Cashman keeps avoiding a rebuild and signing older players.
Actually, think teams that spend no money and tank and get top 5 draft picks rebuild the farm system faster. It does help to spend money on international prospects.
suit – The Yankees didn’t rebuild in one year?
Prior to the 2016 season they were ranked 16th.
bleacherreport.com/articles/2616830-mlb-farm-syste…
Exactly one year later they were ranked Numero Uno.
bleacherreport.com/articles/2692449-mlb-farm-syste…
And they’ve made the postseason every year since 2017.
It’s really quite simple, any team that spends money to sign free agents or acquire players in trades will probably have a strong farm system because the only time they would need to trade talented prospects is when there’s a strong need and when money won’t make a difference in a trade.
Obviously I’m not a Yankee fan, but they handled the signing and trading of players perfectly. Even with Cole, rather than trade a boatload of talent they simply waited until he became a free agent.
Trading Chapman and then signing him a few months later as a free agent? Genius.
Signing Miller and then trading him? Genius.
The list goes on and on.
Fever: I’m not buying that you can build a deep farm system in one year. I don’t think you can actually add enough players in one draft and one international signing period to overhaul a farm system. It looks like the rise in the rankings for the Yankees farm system was possibly due to including Sheffield and Frazier in the top 10. I’m happy the Yankees have a bunch of old guys under contract.
You morons need to STOP with Chaim Bloom predictions of being gone at or before the end of the year….. he is doing exactly what John Henry hired him to do. They will remove Cora way before Bloom…. so that is the change you will see first..
Let me say this post is in no means supporting the decisions the entire Red Sox Front Office/Team Ownership has made recently, although they were correct in not retaining Bogaerts and paying him anything close to what SD paid him..
Of course Cooper, the BIG problem with your train of thought is that before bloom bungled handling Bogey, TWICE, the opportunity WAS there to have him return at half the years and probably 40% of the money.
If bloom hadn’t screwed things up so badly, Bogey wouldn’t have hit FA, and, the Pads would’ve never gotten to make the insane offer.
Bogaerts was smart to go to free agency and see if anyone would make an insane offer. That’s the way his agent, Scott Boras, operates. I don’t believe Bogaerts would have signed another team friendly deal. He didn’t even finish his first team friendly deal. He opted out.
Lol, GA Red Sox fan is willing to pay Xander Bogaerts 50 million at 42 years old lol. That’s genius in his opinion.
Where did I say any of those things Gary?
Answer: never.
There’s a series of articles at the time, none refuted, that said bogaerts would have traded his 3/60 remaining on his contract for something similar to story’s 6/140.
So, had they just thrown 3 yrs and 70m or 80m extra, bogaerts would still be at SS in boston,.and, the team wouldn’t have mlb’s worst fielding at the position.
It also wouldnt have required paying him into his late years.
With the kid they drafted no logical thinking person let alone high-ranking president of operations of a Major League team would give a 30-year-old broken down player six years and 140 million dollars to play shortstop.
The definition of insanity is leasing a 4 year old Mercedes when you’ve got a new one sitting in the garage.
They’d have the 2nd worst? Nope that’s not right. If they kept Bogaerts for SS, Kiki would not have played it, so who would be worse? I’d say Volpe, but being a poor fielder in NY wins gold gloves.
GASox – Right you are! Plenty of sources close to Xander insisted that he would have accepted just $20M more than what they gave Story.
Yep, just $160M would have kept Xander in a Sox uniform. But Bloom offered $90M instead, a lowball offer that will live in infamy just like the offer that was extended to Lester.
Gary – For the love of God, educate yourself on baseball matters before making such silly comments as the ones below! XANDER IS ONLY 45 DAYS OLDER THAN STORY!!!
“With the kid they drafted no logical thinking person let alone high-ranking president of operations of a Major League team would give a 30-year-old”
“The definition of insanity is leasing a 4 year old Mercedes when you’ve got a new one sitting in the garage.”
Is Gary KD17 with a new name?
DBH – Haha, that would be quite the role reversal now wouldn’t it?
Come to think of it, haven’t seen KD in a few days. Maybe he became too heartbroken trying to follow this team and couldn’t do it anymore?
@FPG, he could be on vacation
Cooperdooper has spoken.
Yes he has and spoken well.
So they were correct in signing Kike and Kluber for 20 million? Were they right to sign Story when the risks were pretty readily apparent with the arm and the lacking contact ability?
Exactly. They could have signed Bogey early and used the Storey money to offset the extra. Still could have signed Devers. They’d still have been better off and around the same investment. Obviously some direction comes from ownership, but the GM is there to make those decisions without haveing to consult the owners every time. We need to stop thrift store shopping for players and invest in the ones that are talented early (home grown).
The question is one of two options koolga….
Either
A) bloom only made the offer he did when Bogey was a FA because he knew better offers were there and Bogey would never accept it, or
B) bloom had the spending ability all along amd could have offered Bogey the type of money he offered as a FA, but, just a couple months earlier, and, severely bungled the negotiations.
Either option is bad, but which was it?
Option C) as you noted above, “TWICE, the opportunity WAS there to have him return at half the years and probably 40% of the money.”
That’s the option I would have taken…
They absolutely had to sign Kiki Hernandez. At that time there were no center fielders on the December free agent Market and Jarren Duran was a nobody. Absolutely a risk they had to take. I thought you knew that.
Gary – Fixed it for you.
“They absolutely had to sign Kike Hernandez because he’s Cora’s BFF.”
And BTW, if Kike (you spelled his name wrong) was going to play CF then how would Duvall and Duran get into the lineup? Duvall was signed much later than Kike, and not even Bloom is stupid enough to have given up on Duran after just 91 ML games.
FPG, I purposely spelled his name wrong because a while ago the correct spelling would flag my post because of the derogatory term possibility I guess? So I’ve been spelling it my way and everything has been fine. Obviously that flag has run its course and no longer pops up. Thanks for the heads up.
So because we have opinions, you need to call us Morons? Not classy for a Red Sox fan to call others that.
Get used to it koolga. If you don’t agree with these fire Bloom folks then you’re an idiot. That’s how they emphasize their point you know the types. They raise their voice, they call you names. It’s good stuff. It’s not baseball discussion but it’s good stuff.
They also said Hernandez wouldn’t play SS yet 6 of his last 10 starts have been at Short. Chang will get some starts, Hernandez will get some too and Hamilton probably gets sent down
Yu say no, Chaim says yes , Yu says yes , Yu say no …
Chang’s status as the team’s starter at short figures to be tenuous
Let it never be said that Mr. Adams does not possess the gift of understatement.
WOW. Dude was horrible in PGH & they tried giving him thejob. Well now Pirates are loaded with SS’s now so the Bosox & BUCS should get on the phone & work something out – anything betterthan YU …. My goodness bosox with all those good hitters but nothing at SS….
Basic roster decisions continue to prove difficult for Bloom. No plan.
His plan is to play Chang at shortstop. What are you not understanding? I think it’s even in the article above. I think you just fancy complaining, no?
You’re a company man, Gary. I think you “fancy” blind faith, no? Bloom is awful. “What are you not understanding?” Mr. Farm System is running out of time.
Running out of time for you. He’s got a long leash with me. We’re all just running our mouths here isn’t that what this section is for? You have your opinions and I have mine. You whine incessantly and I comment on it. Fair?
By the way I’m not understanding the company man thing. You’ve labeled me with it several times before. So is it a dig of some sort? Is it a bad thing?
I think my first thoughts are that yes, I am a company man. I stand behind every kid in that Clubhouse and every player on that field and every person on that payroll. I’m behind them 100%. The manager, the president, everyone. I am a company man.
My other thoughts are that if you’re not a company man you’re a fair weathered fan. You root and cheer them on IF they’re doing well and if they’re not, you bash them, lambaste them, and call for their heads.
I’m not expecting any kind of explanation in return because I’ve offered an olive branch previously and it was squashed. I wish you well.
Ok company guy. They are saving money, are the ticket prices coming down ? I don’t think so . Tell me some of Bloom’s trades that are worth while.
B dog – even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. Bloom has had a couple trades, and a couple signings, that worked out OK.
The real question is, what is his success rate in signings and trades? That’s what makes an executive good or bad.
If I make 800 transactions, statistics say I’m going to hit on a few of them even if I let a cat at a keyboard pick who to trade and who to get.
I AM SO MAD ABOUT THIS!
Embarrassing look