The Red Sox lost Trevor Story to season-ending shoulder surgery less than two weeks into the 2024 campaign, and they’ve cycled through several options there in the interim. However, infielder/outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela has started the past six games at the position, and manager Alex Cora said today that he’ll remain the everyday option at shortstop moving forward (X link via Ian Browne of MLB.com).
The 23-year-old Rafaela, who just signed an eight-year $50MM extension earlier this season, is regarded as one of the game’s top defensive outfielders but also has plenty of experience in the infield. He’s played all three positions left of first base, including 766 career frames at shortstop between the minors and the big leagues. Story, Vaughn Grissom and Romy Gonzalez are all on the injured list for the Sox, who’ve also tried David Hamilton and Pablo Reyes at shortstop. Rafaela will be the preferred choice moving forward.
It’s been a rough start to the season at the plate for Rafaela, a top-100 prospect who’s torn through upper-minors pitching but has yet to find much offensive success in the big leagues. The righty-swinging speedster hit .241/.286/.386 in 89 plate appearances during last year’s MLB debut effort and carries a dismal .171/.213/.293 slash through the exact same number of plate appearances thus far in 2024. Even with those struggles, Cora saw fit to give the touted young prospect a vote of confidence with today’s announcement.
The health of the rest of the roster could always chance the calculus, of course. The Sox currently figure to run with a primary outfield of Tyler O’Neill, Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu for the foreseeable future. An injury to any of that trio could push Rafaela back into the outfield, at least on occasion — particularly if and when Grissom and Gonzalez heal up to replenish some infield depth.
It’s perhaps not ideal to have an elite defensive outfielder operating as the everyday shortstop in the long run, but Rafaela is regarded as a plus defensive second baseman as well and has thus far handled shortstop plenty capably. That versatility is part of the reason the Sox valued him enough to put forth that extension offer in the first place. Even if his long-term home is likely in center field, he can help patch things over in the infield when injuries mount as they have thus far in 2024.
He’s also regarded as a plus defensive SS too. The author under sold that by saying he was “capable”
Not to mention Rafaella would have had a 3 hit game last night, only Dalbec, not being able to judge a ball Raffy hit to RF was thrown out at 2nd, costing him that 3rd hit.
must have been so rare for Dalbec being on base which was the cause, being he’s 2-37 after last night.
I really thought Dalbec was ready to perform…
4A player
Me and you, both Dewey. If there was a moment that the Baseball Gods created for him to assert himself, it is now. 2 hits in the last 5 games is a start, but the dude needs to get out of his own head and just let it rip… or his career is RIP
mike – Dalbec is Franchy without the dance moves.
Maybe they will be teammates on Seibu next year.
dewey – To put it in perspective, think of it this way … the very worst (.167) hitters in MLB get at least 1 hit in every 6 AB’s.
When Chris Davis had the 54-AB hitless streak, he batted .168-.179
Realistically nobody expects Dalbec to hit worse than that playing a full season, so he will get at least 1 hit every 6 AB’s. … especially when the opposing team gives up 16 hits.
I just thought he,’d mature unlike Chavis who I never expected to sustain his initial performance.
dewey – I am really, really excited about tomorrow’s matchup ….. my man Kutter against my man Shota!!!
It might be the fastest game in MLB history if the Sox can go into the 9th leading 1-0 and hold on for the win.
Fever, I just want the defense to perform like an MLB club. You practice, preach and build a team which includes glove work, covering bases and throwing. Cora and management have to take responsibility for not teaching, developing and building a roster with backups ready.
Don’t feed the troll.
dewey – I can’t help but wonder if the overuse of analytics is a contributing factor to the lack of fundamentals, all the errors and baserunning blunders.. There has been much discussion about players being flooded with too much data that they are required to absorb.
And if you remember back to the Moneyball of the early 2000’s, that’s what happened with those Oakland teams, constant fielding errors and baserunning blunders. The Red Sox came back to win the 2003 ALDS because of it.
Playing him in the OF limited Wilyer Abreu’s games, which wasn’t good.
Now we need to find out if Abreu can hit lefties. It’s not the end of the world if he can’t, but if he can, then Abreu becomes a very valuable player.
If he can, great. If he can’t, that’s why Refsnyder’s around
Lord – Right you are! My man Abreu has to play every day.
Fever – He needs to manage his hitting streaks. 2023 suggested he has two extremes, hot and cold and not much in between. He is hot right now, lets see in a week if he stays hot. Great if he does but patterns often repeat themselves just like Rafaela pressing and going after pitches off the plate when he’s needing success to be satisfied.
One needs consistency and the other need discipline and both should be able to accomplish their goals given time. (a major portion of 2024!!)
Why? According to Fangraphs: in 2024:
OFF: -6.3 (below league average)
DEF: -1.3 (below league average)
WAR: -0.5
DFA candidate.
WTF?
@deweybelongsinthehall
I see you don’t like data.
“DFA candidate”
When was the last time a healhty top 10o prospect with less than 200 MLB at bats was DFA’d?
Oh that’s right. Never.
we can see you don’t operate in reality.
I see someone isn’t aware of SSS(Small Sample Size). You don’t DFA someone with his talent.
@ellisburks
Plenty of guys in baseball that have talent but can’t put it into practice and thus aren’t that good or just don’t make it to the MLB. Lots of #1 draft picks don’t even make it. This guy isn’t that talented and should be DFA’d.
The Hall of Fame is full of guys who didn’t hit right away. The All Star teams are full of guys who didn’t hit right away. Silver Sluggers are not all instantly raking. And on and on. Patience and hard work. Difficult to measure by staring at data. And so it goes. And so forth. Etc.
@whyhayzee
I’m always proven right… Enjoy eating crow!
@whyhayzee
Most of the HOF is full of Hall of Decent players. I’d say probably only 15 or 20 guys should be in there as it stands. We’ve eroded the value of the HOF each year there was someone elected. Even in Japan, they don’t always vote guys into their HOF.
Old York, Then you would have advocated DFAing Dustin Pedroia?
@DBH1969
No, Sir. HIs second year info:
OFF: 12.8 (above league average)
DEF: 5.3 (above league average)
WAR: 3.7
There was something to work with there. This current guy… not so much.
Mike Schmidt .197 after 145 games, OPS, 10 percent below league average. Dump him.
Sandy Koufax, 36-40, 4.10 in 6 seasons. Dump him.
Dwight Evans, .230 for his first 137 games. Dump him.
Brooks Robinson, 4 years, OPS+ 68. Dump him.
@whyhayzee
Koufax was pretty overrated. Guy was the 95th best pitcher in history. Couldn’t even make it to the top-10. Agree with your assessment. Plus, he was injury prone and it shortened his career.
hayzee – I’m just amazed he got so many responses to that comment.
DFA a 23-year-old multi-positional top prospect who just signed a $50M contract?
Why y’all dignifying it with a response?
@whyhayzee
Agreed. He should have been a full-time DH. His defense essentially cost the team wins. If the team didn’t think they could DH him full-time, they should have dumped him.
@Fever Pitch Guy
Because truth hurts.
@whyhayzee
Schmidt was producing positive WAR and had low negative OFF in his second year and provided above league average defense. There was potential and it proved to be so. Although, by 85, his defense was weakening and they should have DFA’d him at that point. But I get fans get emotional and attached to players.
OFF: -1.5
DEF: 7.5
WAR: 2.1
Old – If you had simply posted the FG stats and said he doesn’t look like an MLB player yet, I would have supported you.
The DFA part is what’s laughable, even if he hadn’t been given that ridiculous $50M contract.
So, York… you are completely ignoring the beginning of his first year where he was just as bad as Ceddanne?
Okay
You aint bright.
Old york: you’ve just made the dumbest troll ever on this thread.
You saying you’re always right is 100 percent proof that you have no idea what you’re talking about.
That’s an accomplishment there’s some winners on here
I can see York’s point. There was that player who only hit .170 in his first year. Most defo a DFA.
What was his name? Let me look it up.. Oh ya, Manny Ramirez.
Boy did THAT guy suck! Can’t believe he lasted for 19 years! Talk about SUCKING!
@DBH1969
PED’s my friend… Anyone looks gone using them.
Old – In all fairness, Manny got called up in September that first year. Then the following year he put up a 1.069 OPS his first month.
While Rafaela had a similar bad first month of his career last September, he obviously cratered in the first month of this season.
So no comparison.
Sorry, York. I got on a roll, bro, and couldn’t stop.
I still completely disagree with your opinion, but it is all good man
The top 100 prospect they just signed to an 8 year, $50 million extension *two weeks ago* is a DFA candidate? Possibly the dumbest comment I’ve ever read on here.
Dump, dump, dump, dump, dump.
hayzee – Ever do the Dumpty Dance?
Oh wait …. I’m thinking of the Humpty Dance, nevermind.
rct – Just read your comment, you beat me to it.
He has to be joking or trolling. Even if Rafaela continues to suck for the next 3 years they STILL wouldn’t DFA him.
It’s amazing how many slick fielding shortstops who couldn’t hit a lick have World Series rings.
hayzee – Right you are! That was a long, long time ago though …. before Jeter, ARod and Nomah broke the mold.
Back then you’d build a team to be solid up the middle defensively …. CF, SS-2B, and Catcher. The big bats would be the corner infielders and corner outfielders.
Now teams can’t afford to carry all-glove no-bat shortstops and centerfielders. There’s nobody good on the bench to pinch hit for them in key situations. The baseball world has drastically changed.
If he’s the CF of the future, it’s probably best to just keep him there for now. He made some early errors in CF on relatively easy plays (IIRC). The smart play would be to grab an actual SS to fill in while Mr.Glass nurses yet another injury and let Rafaela get comfortable in CF and focus on improving his bat.
Story and Yoshida are costing the Red Sox a ton of money for no production.
That makes no sense joemo. Team has to have the best 9 available on the field. Abreu, Oneil and Duran, cold spell or not the last week have been really good for this team and SS would be a kiki hernandez like defensive position for the team without Rafaella playing it right now.
I do understand missing ‘Shida, he’s a solid bat and 1 of the better ones who is missed, but his glove cannot be hidden, not even in left. It’s DH or bust as far as I’m concerned, few games at fenway where he doesn’t have to move much is it since he has shown an ability to play the wall fairly well, tho few road games where has to move much, he has derek jeter lack of mobility to me.
John – the Red Sox have shown time and time again that they’re building for the future, not trying to actually compete this year. Putting Rafaela at SS makes the team “better” now but may affect his growth long term if he’s going to stick to CF.
This move makes sense for a team like LAD, and what they did with Mookie. It doesn’t make sense for the Sox to potentially sacrifice Rafaelas long term growth.
Joemo = Ask yourself who the better athlete is
Rafaela or Mayer – Answer is Rafaela
Ask who has the stronger arm – Again Rafaela
Who covers the most ground? Rafaela
Who is over-rated and would get more in a deal? Mayer
You have jumped to a conclusion about what’s best for Rafaela and Boston. If you are wrong then the organization is hurt by selecting the weaker SS to be the future and you passed on trading for a key missing piece like a Top of the rotation SP to go with the young guns.
Sacrificing Rafaela’s long term growth is simply jargon. He will develop as a hitter either way, as a base stealer either way and he’s a great athlete like Mookie who can play multiple positions because of his entire skill set.
I say think Rafaela at SS long term and go get a top flight SP nearing free agency for a 6 year contract like BAL did.
Interesting take, TF. I hadn’t thought about the possibility of trading Mayer, but he would be a valuable trade chip. And if Rafaela starts in the OF, they might eventually need to trade one of the kids there instead.
In the meantime, this improves the flexibility of the team situation and shouldn’t hamper his development.
He’s completely wrong about Mayer in everything he said.
john – I’m a huge Duran fan as you know, but it’s infuriating to see him still playing yet again today while Yoshida rots on the bench.
Cora is creating a very bad situation, it’s being talked about all over the baseball world.
Fever,
Thought read an article where Yoshida was supposed to p-lay today and surprised to see he isn’t. Also.. Duran does need a couple of days off, agree there. he’s pulling off outside pitches, unlike he was early in the season when he was going with them and shoving them into LF, he looks kind of lost at the plate, then Cora (to me) often makes poor choices.
John – I posted yesterday, during yesterday’s broadcast the NESN announcers were ripping Cora a new one about this very subject. The announcers insisted Yoshida would be in the lineup today, especially with it being a day game after a night game.
Everything I’ve heard from Yoshida indicates he’s healthy physically and mentally, so there doesn’t appear to be a “hidden reason” for it. Hopefully this is brought up in next year’s docuseries, but it sucks having to wait a year to find out.
Holy crap! Literally 2 minutes after I posted that, look who steps to the plate!!
Glad to see Alex reads the comments here.
Thanks Fever, yesterday’s broadcast might have been where heard “shida was supposed to have been playing, listen/watch lots of games each day and read many articles.. They do jumble together..
What was hilarious during the 4/24 game was Middlebrooks and obrian both hammering away at the (un) hof worthy game calling of HP ump lassogna, it was possibly the worst have seen in quite some time as those who saw the game will agree and not just sox fans, but both sides. Was quite glad to hear announcers (rightfully) berate lousy umpiring, Dan Lassogna sometimes calling pitches close to a foot outside the zone and maybe 6” low a strike.
That guy made Angel gonsalez proud.
John – Yeah maybe Dan just wanted to speed up the game to get out of the cold, the weather was so miserable. Funny it’s supposed to be 80 degrees in Cleveland this weekend.
Youk picked a good series to skip, maybe he saw the forecast!
I never thought getting Yoshida in the first place was a good idea. How many DH types do you need ? Trade him . They will probably loose $ on him but cut your losses . Just think if Yoshida and Story $ went towards Bogey?
B dog – For more than a 3 month period last year Yoshida absolutely raked with a .920 OPS before tiring out.
In his 7 seasons in Japan he raked with a .960 OPS
On the world’s biggest stage he had 1.258 OPS in the WBC last year.
Who cares about LF defense, think of all the poor defensive left fielders the Red Sox have had over the years.
If the Sox were smart they’d have Yoshida playing LF at Fenway and DH on the road.
Fever – Not everyone is alike. Cal Ripken Jr. did it for years and people constantly said he should take a day off. I never wanted to come out. Did you? I found the specific pitchers had far more to do with my successes and failures hitting than how tired I was.
I would rather not say this out loud, but I agree with Cora on this one point out of a million!!
Fever – Manny was a pretty good hitter and justified playing the outfield since we had Papi. Yoshida can justify playing and his hitting had ONE small stretch of acceptability. He needs to go and have a spot on a roster that needs a high OBP guy who can’t field, doesn’t hit for power and has little speed. The right fit will benefit him greatly. Blame Bloom. It’s a catch all category.
Yoshida is also not getting AB’s, which is not going to help his production. He has to learn to adjust to teams having more knowledge of him now and the only way to that is playing time
I still think he’ll hit but boy is he slow a foot. Only one slower is me…
dewey – I find it hard to believe Guapo is faster than you.
Yoshida should be traded for pennies on the dollar to open up Devers to DH. Yoshida does not have position whether DH or LF on this team. Wonder if the Dodgers need a DH….(thank you Dodger Blue for taking Carl Crawford and David Price).
Rusney Castillo and Allen Craig were Ben Cherington’s final straw as Yoshida and inactivity at the deadline was Chiam Bloom’s.
Rafaela has looked more comfortable at the plate since moving to SS for what it’s worth.
Rsox – The stats don’t indicate that FWIW ….
As CF – .185 BA .233 OBP
As SS – .182 BA .217 OBP
Maybe not but it seems like he’s taking better AB’s at the plate
Rsox – I hope so, if he can be more patient and take more pitches he will improve.
Fever – In a short while Rafaela will reverse their situations just like last year. These guys are young and need time. Larger sample sizes are needed during this meaningless season.
from what little i’ve seen duran looks like a competent center fielder curious what red sox fans think
dasit – Agreed. If he gets traded, his new team could easily plug him into CF.
dasit – And sure enough, a few minutes ago Duran made a sensational catch and threw to 2B to complete a doubleplay.
Keeping Ceddanne at SS makes sense. There is far more depth in the OF than the IF, and he is a better SS than anyone else on the roster.
I had been posting this offseason / early season that Marcello Meyer was still a year away because of his injury last year, but he seems to have rebounded just fine.
The best solution is to promote Meyer and move Ceddanne to CF.
Yoshi needs to be traded. He is wasting away on the bench. He is going to get paid either way, so now the choice for the Sox is do they pay him for no return, or pay him for a prospect.
DBH: Agree with keeping Rafaela at SS. I don’t think we will see Mayer in Boston until September at the earliest. I think he may need to improve his plate discipline as he hasn’t walked much. It is probably a good move to trade Yosida if he will only DH because Devers may need to move to DH.
twitter.com/JoeyCopponi/status/1778080990318981610
Let the Kid Sox play! Don’t trade any of them, supplement with signings.
I believe the thinking is that he is adjusting to mlb pitching, so why not have the 2 fastest guys at the top. Besides, Duran makes a GREAT number 2 hitter. Put another speedster at the top, and opposing pitchers are going to be mumbling to themselves… as long as Ceddanne stops trying to pull every outside pitch
DBH – Except for the first inning, they had Duran following Rafaela every plate appearance anyway.
True. But Cora loves his R/L/R/L…
Sets up Lil Raf, Duran, O’Neil, Big Raf, etc
Well as usual. Cora watches a pitcher struggle and leaves him. 53 pitches later Sox down by 5. Pathetic display yet again from a manager with a good pen. SMH
Sox – The fact Anderson is even on the team says all you need to know about the depth on the team.
And what a horrible play at the plate!!!
McGuire with the passed ball, when he finally grabs it (no pun intended) he throws it away. Meanwhile Martin dogs it covering homeplate on the same play. Three errors on one play, two official.
Yeah, they should’ve pulled him after the 1st and let the BP handle the remaining 8 innings.
I can not, for the life of me, believe I am posting this, but….
It is curious that Cora pulled Dalbec? He was 1 for 2. That is 3 hits in a week. He is just starting to find his swing, why pull him? Is he hurt?
Cora had to show how smart he is with moving everyone around on the field.
I am SOOOOO glad I am not the only one who thinks he makes decisions based solely on wanting to prove is he smarter than everyone else!!!
DBH – Its called overmanaging, he does it often.
DBH and Fever = It’s called pure stupidity and it reflects a lack of baseball acumen.
Remember when Breslow made two “this is all about me moves for Giolito and O”Neill”? His average was .500.
Cora would need to improve .490 to catch Breslow!! He’s that bad and has been since 2018.
Well let’s see. Cause of Cora’s mismanagement Sox lose again.
I think that’s 5 games this so far , not recognizing when to leave a starter or pull them , plus over playing a players. Pathetic at best.
Just f’n terrible management.
I’ve said last year and will continue until that idiot is gone.
Sox67 – AMEN!!!!! Someone needs to take out the trash.
What about moving backward though?
I know everyone is worried about Rafaela and his slow start but he will adjust like he has done at every level. His plate approach was always very likely to make him struggle out of the gate and big league pitchers were going to take advantage of his very poor plate disipline. He will adjust he has a very high floor due to his defensive acumen. I’m not saying he’s going to be a .300 hitter but I expect him to hit somewhere in the .230 to .250 range he will run into a few pitches he has sneaky power his defense is center can be special while his defense at short is probably more average. He will make some incredible plays there but he will also mess up some routine plays. Still overall he has a high floor with definite upside.
Wilyer Abreu has been hot and obviously he won’t stay that hot and with his swing he will have definite swing and miss. He’s also patient at the plate and takes a professional at bat. I look at as Casas lite. He has imo with enough plate appearances 20+ homer power as well. He’s also a very good defensive outfielder with a cannon for an arm. He can be played in any outfield position and do a quality job he gets excellent jumps and he catches any ball he gets near. In Fenway he plays right field but on the road if the bigger field is in left he plays there he’s a good baseball player with good baseball acumen.
Bruin – I think Rafaela’s defensive issues is the bigger concern. People can live with him needing a year or more to become an acceptable hittter, but the defense should already be there …. and clearly it’s not, 4 errors already including 3 in the outfield.
Hey what do you think of Danny Kirwin? Sounds like another can’t NOT-miss kid like Dalkowski.
I’m not worried about Rafaela’s defense at all. I think he grows out of the careless errors he makes now he clearly is very talented in Center makes spectacular plays but also makes difficult plays look easy.
I don’t know much about Danny Kirwin haven’t really seen him just what I hear and I don’t like to comment based on what I hear. OTOH my breakout pitcher pick coming into this year ERC looks really good currently sitting at 95-97 with his sinker and has a hammer curve and fast improving change to go with it. His stuff is up across the board but he sat at 92 ish last year. He’s really thin still but bigger than the 6’3 160 he was last year. He’s probably up 175-180 and I think his fastball has even more velocity as he continues to mature into his body. Very exciting prospect.
Bruin – I just watched an inning where Rafaela let a ground ball go under him for a hit, then airmailed a throw to Dalbec that Bobby made a sensational sky-high grab on.
It’s gonna be a while before he can convince me that he’s a solid major league glove. Hopefully it’s just pressure from the contract and whatnot.
Fever – Too much worrying. Rafaela makes 3 errors in CF in about the same amount of chances as he has at SS where he has 1 error.. Devers plays 8 years as the worst fielder at his position in the history of the game and you keep focusing on EVERYONE EXCEPT DEVERS!!! WHY? Give the kids a chance. The talent is obvious. Whether it’s O’Neill, Duran, Rafaela, Abreu, Houck, Crawford, Bello, Whitlock, Casas or Grissom they all are very talented and need time to turn into all–star quality players so lets stop knit picking minor issues as you leave major issues like Devers, Yoshida, Story, Giolito and Cora not discussed. Want to vent then vent about the real problems not the guys who are the future. Let the kids play.
TF – You’ll be happy to know Devers will be back at 3B tomorrow …. but Cora said it, so of course he could be lying. LOL!!!
Dalbec just made another sensational play, he is rock solid at first base. Maybe someday MLB will have DF’s (Designated Fielders) and Bobby can play first base full time while Casas just hits! LOL!!
Devers isn’t all that close to being the worst fielder at 3B over the last three years, let along “in the history of the game”. He isn’t good, for sure, but he is serviceable until somebody better comes along.
Who do you want playing 3B? Reyes? Now HE might be the worst defensive 3B in the history of the game if you give him enough innings… He struggles with the throws.
That said, it is silly to pile on Rafaela’s defense. He is still quite young, and barely played SS in the minors. Once he gets some experience under his belt he should be very good at both positions.
York being a Yankee fan explains it….DFA Rafaela is fireable (or at least should be). The season is a month old, he has 2 months worth of AB’s at the major league level? It really takes 2,000 ABs or so at the show to make a real determination. That’s why a player is supposed to get in 7 years of playing time before free agency. Who in Boston’s system is better? I’ll wait…..If Abreu was better he’d take the job. They extended him because they know within 3 years he will be an all-star and they hope he returns the generosity by giving a discount when the time comes.