This morning’s surprise acquisition of Caleb Durbin in a six-player trade with the Brewers gave the Red Sox the additional infielder they’ve been coveting but also created questions about the infield alignment. Durbin can play both second base and third base. Both positions are generally unsettled for the Red Sox.
Manager Alex Cora touched on the matter in his first media session of spring, indicating that for the time being, the team isn’t going to commit to one defensive setup just yet (link via Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). Each of Durbin, touted prospect Marcelo Mayer and veteran utilityman Isiah Kiner-Falefa can play either second base or third base.
The situation is further muddied by the fact that infielder Romy Gonzalez is behind schedule due to a shoulder issue that bothered him throughout the offseason (links via MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and the Globe’s Tim Healey). Gonzalez suffered the injury in Boston’s 160th game of the season. He rested it and rehabbed it throughout the winter and believed the issue to be behind him but instead aggravated it when starting a hitting program last month. He’s since received a platelet-rich plasma injection and is aiming to be ready for Opening Day, but that’ll depend on how his shoulder progresses (or does not progress) during the Grapefruit League schedule.
Whether at second base or third base, Durbin figures to be in the lineup every day. He’s a fine defender at either position and had relatively neutral platoon splits in 2025. Neither he nor Mayer will work at shortstop, per Cora. Trevor Story was always going to get the majority of reps there, but it seems Kiner-Falefa is the primary backup at the moment. If both Story and Kiner-Falefa were to go down with an injury, perhaps the Sox would rethink utilizing Mayer and/or Durbin there, but that’s not in the cards for the time being.
Ideally, Gonzalez would be healthy enough to take regular at-bats against left-handed pitching. He decimated southpaws at a .331/.378/.600 clip in 2025 and owns a lifetime .302/.345/.527 slash against them. Against lefties, the Sox could theoretically go with Gonzalez at second base and Durbin at third base, then switch to a combination of Mayer and Durbin against right-handed opponents. Mayer hit .260/.333/.462 against righties in 2025 (majors and minors combined) but just .230/.260/.378 against left-handers.
Utilitymen Andruw Monasterio and Anthony Seigler, both acquired alongside Durbin, could both factor into the mix as well. Monasterio swings from the right side of the plate and can play all four infield positions. Seigler is a lefty-swinging catcher/infielder who’s played far more second base than catcher in recent seasons. It’s a long shot that either would claim a starting role, but both will be in the mix for bench jobs.
There are still questions in the outfield as well. Much has been made of Boston’s outfield group, which consists of Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu and, to a lesser extent, Masataka Yoshida. There are more bodies than at-bats to go around. Cora plainly said today that the Red Sox view Abreu as an everyday player and plan to get him at-bats against both lefties and righties (via MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith). They want to keep Rafaela in the outfield as often as possible, too, due to his superlative center field defense.
That’s a departure from the manner in which Abreu has been deployed in the past. The 26-year-old has logged just 145 of his 849 major league plate appearances against lefties (17%) and turned in a bleak .205/.271/.318 slash in that time. A poor spring showing could always change that plan, but it’d be a notable role change for Abreu. If he can improve to even passable but below-average output against southpaws with more exposure, it’d be a boon for the Sox on the defensive side of things, given that Abreu grades out as one of the better right fielders in the game.
If both Rafaela and Abreu are in the outfield most days, that leaves Duran, Anthony and Yoshida in the mix for left field and DH work. Presumably, the bulk of that time will go to Duran and Anthony. Both are superior defenders to Yoshida, and both have performed better at the plate as well.
Yoshida remains a square peg for the Sox’ roster, but he’s owed $36MM over the next two seasons and no team is taking on that sum (or even a notable portion of it). The former NPB star hit .266 last year but with a paltry .307 on-base percentage and just a .388 slugging percentage. By measure of wRC+, he was 12% worse than average at the plate. The Sox could still try to find him some occasional at-bats against right-handed pitching. He’s a career .295/.345/.451 hitter in those spots but has hit lefties at only a .237/.310/.340 pace since coming to MLB. In 755 innings in left field, he’s been dinged for negative marks by both Defensive Runs Saved (-4) and Outs Above Average (-8).
