FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Red Sox re-signed Yu Chang on Thursday and added him to the 40-man roster. As the corresponding transfer, Trevor Story is now formally on the 60-day injured listing, although Alex Cora praised his progress after inner bracing surgical procedure in early January.
With Story out for at the least the primary half of the season and Adalberto Mondesí recovering from ACL surgical procedure, the center infield choices are Kiké Hernández, Christian Arroyo, Rob Refsnyder, and some prospects on the 40-man roster who’ve but to debut.
Chang spent the ultimate weeks of the ’22 season in Boston when the Red Sox claimed him off waivers from the Rays on Sept. 12. He additionally performed for the Guardians and Pirates final season, for a complete of 69 big-league video games throughout the 4 golf equipment, however solely 11 of them have been with the Red Sox.
In 196 main league video games, he’s a profession .213/.279/.360/.639 hitter, however that’s not why the Red Sox introduced him again. Cora was fast to level out that Chang’s protection and flexibility offers the Red Sox some essential depth.
“We need a deeper roster. With him, we accomplished that,” Cora mentioned. “His defense was good. He put good at-bats but defensively, he’s solid. You can move him around. Good athlete. He put competitive at-bats but I think his defense is what separates him from the others.”
Chang will make $850,000 on a one-year, major-league deal that reportedly contains efficiency bonuses.
Location, location
Rafael Devers could also be hesitant to step right into a extra vocal management position, however he’s formally moved right into a spot beforehand occupied by a number of the biggest leaders in current Red Sox historical past.
The 26-year-old famous person, who acquired the primary $300+ million contract in franchise historical past final month, now has David Ortiz’s outdated locker within the Fort Myers clubhouse.
After Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia and JD Martinez occupied the prime location, which has extra space than the opposite lockers, in addition to its personal mirror, so the participant nicknamed ‘Carita,’ which implies Baby Face, can get his recreation face on.
Feeling grateful
At a spring coaching stuffed with gamers attempting to rebound from accidents, gratitude is the widespread denominator.
Story, Chris Sale, James Paxton, and Adam Duvall are amongst these with one thing to show.
After Sale spoke passionately about having perspective on Wednesday, Paxton advised reporters how a lot he was appreciating the little issues.
“I haven’t pitched health in like, three years,” he mentioned. The 34-year-old has made six begins because the starting of 2020, and missed the whole 2022 marketing campaign as a result of, after recovering from the Tommy John surgical procedure he’d had the 12 months earlier than, he sustained a Grade 2 lat tear in his first rehab look, and his season was over earlier than it started.
Now, the pitcher nicknamed Big Maple is simply joyful to be out within the sunshine enjoying catch together with his teammates.
“I never had so much doing (drills) … just getting out there with the guys and doing all the regular baseball stuff was a lot of fun … being hurt for as long as I was hurt, the regular things, you appreciate more,” he mentioned.
Story seems for recommendation
As he recovers from inner bracing process on his proper elbow, Story sought out a former Red Sox teammate who went by way of it.
Rich Hill, a Milton native who’s performed for the Red Sox a number of occasions all through his 18-years-and-counting profession, is a shoulder to lean on.
“I talked to (Hill) a lot about it when we decided to do the surgery, and also afterwards, just kind of trying to understand the rehab process,” he mentioned.
The UCL surgical procedure requires a shorter restoration than Tommy John, however worst-case state of affairs, Story might nonetheless miss the whole season.
Source: www.bostonherald.com