On Monday here at Over The Monster,Jake Reiser already asked “how do the Red Sox incorporate Roman Anthony, Trevor Story, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa?” But as we’re learning from this roller coaster Red Sox season, roster construction is both a complex and fluid beast that evolves by the day, and yesterday was a particularly interesting one.
So much of the focus so far has been on the guys returning, and rightfully so. I mean, did you see that home run Roman Anthony hit on Monday? Or how about Keagan Stiefel’s
article here on Tuesday questioning the speed at which Trevor Story will return?
But as compelling as it is to focus on all the guys coming back, something really interesting happened yesterday with all the guys who don’t want to leave. Namely, Nick Sogard, Jarren Duran, and Mickey Gasper all hit a home run. This is pretty amusing because you could argue that all three of these guys are at the top of the list in terms of people about to lose playing time when the cavalry comes back.
Gasper feels like the first man off the roster when somebody gets added. So what does he do this week? Hits a home run in every game of a three game series after have only having two major league home runs in his entire career (and none with the Red Sox). How about Jarren Duran? Do you think he feels Roman Anthony breathing down his neck? He went deep in the third inning yesterday.
And then there’s Nick Sogard, who is under pressure from the return of both Story and Kiner-Falefa, and led off the scoring with a home run of his own in the bottom of the first inning. But even before that long ball, Tyler Milliken was noting how much of a winning ballplayer Sogard has become, and I agree. At this point, Sogard needs to survive the upcoming roster tsunami. He does way too many little things to not be included as the bench/utility guy when all the dust settles.
Either way, isn’t it fascinating how human beings work? The guys on paper who all stand to get less playing time soon (or even get completely displaced off the roster) end up swinging the hottest sticks.
So with rehab assignments underway and a roster reshuffle immanent, where do you guys in the OTM community stand on this ever changing topic today? Use this thread to talk about that and whatever else you’d like, and as always, be good to one another.
