Note your lineup cards Red Sox fans, left infield boys are back
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| The boys are back: shortstop & third base. |
Contributing Writer
Everything is right in the world as far as the Red Sox left side infield is concerned.
That failed $10MM broken man experiment has been tossed overboard like so much spoil fishing bait.
The best part of the trade away of Stephen Drew yesterday at the deadline was that he will be hampering the Yankees into their second half run.
Drew hasn't been very productive since signing with the Red Sox, hitting .176/.255/.328 with four homers and 11 RBIs.
The Yankees will pay almost all of the $5 million owed to Drew which is pure genius on the part of the Red Sox front office.
Effective immediately Xander Bogaerts will be moved back to shortstop and Will Middlebrooks will be activated from the DL to assume duties at third base.
"I'm happy to be back," Middlebrooks told ESPNBoston.com's Joe McDonald. "I don't know what to expect. I'm just excited to be back here, playing baseball at Fenway."
With Drew out of the way, general manager Ben Cherington looked back on the decision to move Bogaerts out of the shortstop position.
"We signed Stephen Drew because we were trying to fill a need at a time that we were still trying to win and claw for wins," Cherington said. "In retrospect, that move didn't work out the way we wanted it to. Now this is an opportunity to move Bogey back and use the rest of the year to let him play."
In his 53 games as a shortstop, Bogaerts slashed .296/.389/.427.
His numbers dropped badly since moved to third, slashing just .182/.217/.300 in 44 games.
"He would tell you if he was sitting here that he's gone through some challenges this year," Cherington said. "We've all seen it. Nothing at all has changed in our opinion of him as a player. He's going to be a really good player for us for a long time."
That time is now, with manager John Farrell penciling him into the lineup tonight at shortstop.
The rest of the season will be for them to settle back into their positions and solidify the left infield moving forward into the 2015 season.
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