For over a decade, Dustin Pedroia brought stability to second base for the Red Sox that had him on track for a potential Hall of Fame career before Manny Machado ruined it on April 21st, 2017. While Pedroia still somehow managed to play over 100 games that season, it was the final time a member of the Red Sox reached that benchmark at the keystone. Now, Craig Breslow and the rest of the front office are hoping Vaughn Grissom can break that 6-year trend.
Immediately after the deal was announced, Chad Jennings of The Athletic reported that the Red Sox are expecting Vaughn Grissom to be their everyday second baseman. That pushed internal options like Enmanuel Valdez, Pablo Reyes, and David Hamilton all down the depth chart. For months, Whit Merrifield, Brandon Drury, and Jorge Polanco were speculated as potential options for the club, but Breslow chose the route of adding to the team’s young core.
If there’s one thing Braves’ POBO Alex Anthopoulos made clear after Chris Sale was flipped to Atlanta, it was that the Red Sox had their sights set on Grissom. While the Red Sox were able to shed $8.6 MM off their CBT ledger in the deal, there’s a reason they chose to eat a good portion of Sale’s money ($17 MM). Especially during a time when they’re reportedly trying to get more money off the books.
“I don’t want to speak for the Red Sox and their plans for him, but my understanding is he’ll get a great opportunity there,” Anthopoulos said. “We were in a position where we were trying to get a starter. I would have loved to have done a deal for less. I would have loved to have kept him and traded somebody else. It just wasn’t going to happen in our conversations (with Boston).”
