“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, 1905
The Boston Red Sox must not be fans of mid-century philosophers, because they’re about to repeat the same mistake for the third time in two months.
Trevor Story, who started his rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester on Sunday, needed just one game to make the somewhat surprising claim that he could be activated as early as Friday against the San Francisco Giants, as shared by MassLive’s Chris Cotillo.
If he is, it would mark the third time this season that the organization activated an injured player within one week of starting their rehab assignment.
Romy Gonzalez, who missed all of spring training after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery, appeared in just six minor league games before being activated off of injured reserve. If you’re wondering whether or not that is enough, it isn’t, as the utility infielder slashed an atrocious .185/.265/.308 (12-for-65) across 19 games split between first base and second base before being optioned to Triple-A on Aug. 4.
Adley Rutschman, who was on the injured list when acquired via trade with the Baltimore Orioles on Aug. 3, was given even less time as he appeared in two games during his rehab assignment before being called up to slash .059/.273/.059 (1-for-17) across five games heading into Monday’s contest with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Is Story supposed to do better?
It’s one thing to be in desperate need of help in the middle infield, which this team certainly is, but it’s another to rely on an oft-injured veteran who is coming off sports hernia surgery and slashed .206/.244/.303 across 41 games before heading to the injured list on May 16. If they’ll do it with that guy, why wouldn’t they just take the same approach with outfielder Roman Anthony and infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa during their respective rehab assignments that start this week with Double-A Portland and Triple-A Worcester?
Boston has options when it comes to the former, as Andruw Monasterio is slashing .284/.344/.468 with 12 doubles since taking over every day at shortstop, while there continues to be plenty of desire to see top prospect Franklin Arias amid his tear (.297/.365/.514 with four home runs and four doubles across 18 games) since being promoted to Worcester. Monasterio just happens to be one of the worst defensive shortstops in baseball, while taking a risk and promoting Arias would all but put a fork in Story.
Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy admitted that the expectation was for Story to take over as the everyday shortstop and Anthony to take over as the leadoff hitter and left fielder/designated hitter during his pregame media availability on Monday, as shared by Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe.
I’ll spare you the fake Albert Einstein quote about the definition of insanity being doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, but…
The Red Sox have averaged just 3.5 runs per game across their last nine contests, following up a 32-5 streak with one that has seen them go just 2-7. It’s not an exact science, but there are trends that could be helpful to follow.