Alex Bregman’s departure not solely opened up a gap which the entrance workplace thought it had solved in 2025, nevertheless it deepened the thriller of what we have now in Marcelo Mayer. Mayer will proceed to be an unknown amount till he spends extra time within the majors and proves he can keep on the sphere for a full season. Not solely is he younger and untested, however he can play second and third base in addition to shortstop. What place he’ll kind of settle into in 2026 has been one of many extra enigmatic questions of the offseason.
One piece of circumstantial proof—and that’s generally all we’ve acquired within the offseason, till the method fully unfolds—is that Mayer has said: “Second base, you’re doing the whole lot backwards.” To some, this may increasingly sound like a level of discomfort, nevertheless it additionally conjures up the grace and confidence of a Ginger Rogers, doing the whole lot Fred Astaire did—however backwards (and in heels). For somebody working to transition from one aspect of the infield to the opposite, I’ve little doubt that’s what it would really feel like.
A current submit on Bluesky from Alex Speier might do extra to light up the entrance workplace’s pondering.
If that is to be believed (and I’ve been taken in just a few occasions over time), this would possibly counsel that Eugenio Suárez is not going to find yourself on the dust for the Sox. Our personal Mike Carlucci stated so in our Slack chat, and others have famous this on the socials too. (Whilst Suárez is taken into account a very good total match for the crew.)
This defense-forward pondering must also have implications for second base. It might fairly be stated that being “very aware of protection” ought to preclude an in-house platoon at second of Romy González, Nick Sogard, or David Hamilton. With the potential exception of Sogard, who can also be younger with out lots of time within the majors, we all know these gamers, they usually’re not the reply. Romy could be profitable coming off the bench. Hamilton is perhaps finest as a pinch runner.
Whereas the rumors are going this manner and that, it feels like second base remains to be open. So who’s it gonna be?
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