The Boston Red Sox have a major roster logjam that needs to be sorted out before the start of the regular season.
Currently, the organization has four outfielders that all need to play and only three spots: Ceddanne Rafaela, Jarren Durran, Roman Anthony and Wilyer Abreu. Boston is seemingly committed to keeping Rafaela in center field rather than bring him in to play second base.
The other issue is at first base/designated hitter with Triston Casas, Willson Contreras and Masataka Yoshida. To help combat this issue, the Red Sox could move Casas back to third base.
Think about it: Casas was drafted as a third baseman by the Red Sox, and he played there until the 2019 minor league season when he made the jump across the diamond and started learning a new position.
According to Ian Browne of MLB.com, the earliest Casas could return is May and will more than likely undergo a rehab assignment. This is the prime opportunity to reignite his ability to play third base and get him some work at the hot corner.
If Casas is able to make the transition back to third base, the Red Sox could keep Marcelo Mayer at second base with Contreras at first base and Yoshida at designated hitter. This would certainly be a better scenario than a platoon of David Hamilton and Romy Gonzalez in the infield.
This setup certainly isn’t ideal either, but the Red Sox are simply running out of time to make roster moves and offload some players while trying to fill other key positions. Spring training begins in less than one week, so time is of the essence for Boston to get something done or come up with a creative Plan B.
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