BOSTON — Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom continued his quest to strengthen his team down the middle by acquiring talented but often-injured infielder Adalberto Mondesi in a trade with the Royals on Tuesday.
In return, the Red Sox sent left assistant Josh Taylor — also a player with a history of injury problems — to Kansas City. The Red Sox will also receive a player to be named or cash payments as part of the exchange.
In Mondesi, the Red Sox are getting a player who led the 2019 majors in triples (10) and stole 20 bases (24) but hasn’t been on the field much the past two seasons. With rule changes coming into play this season that should increase stolen bases, a player like Mondesi is more valuable if he stays healthy.
Mondesi tore his left cruciate ligament on April 26, 2022, ending his season. It typically takes around nine months for an athlete to return from a cruciate ligament injury, which puts Mondesi on target to be ready for spring training.
In his career, Mondesi has started 241 games at short, 64 games at second and 20 at third base. Although Hernández has only made 64 starts as a short compared to 187 as a second, Bloom recently said the veteran is a plus defender wherever he plays. Cora gushed about how Hernández’s speed in the first step at the shortstop would look.
For the past two seasons, Hernández has been Boston’s main midfielder. But after the departure of Xander Bogaerts via free agency and Trevor Story, who underwent right elbow surgery that will keep him out indefinitely, the Sox decided to move Hernández back to the infield while they signed a deal with which free-agent slugger Adam Duvall agreed to play in midfield. Hernández said a few days ago that he prefers to play in the infield because he enjoys playing the game faster.
The addition of Duvall for a year at a cost of $7 million is unofficial as the deal is pending. But for Cora, the position-player orientation is finally coming into focus.
The lineup could look something like this:
Masataka Yoshida, LF
Kiké Hernández, SS-2B
Rafael Devers, 3B
Justin Turner, DH
Alex Verdugo, RF
Adam Duvall, CF
Triston Casas, 1B
Adalberto Mondesi, SS-2B
Reese McGuire, C
Rover Christian Arroyo, outfielder Rob Refsnyder and Connor Wong would be available from the bench. Corner infielder Bobby Dalbec and outfielder Jarren Duran will also be battling for roster spots.
The son of former MLB outfielder Raul Mondesi, Adalberto has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, playing just 358 games while appearing in parts of seven seasons, all with the Royals. He may become a free agent after the 2023 season. After making his famous MLB debut for Kansas City in the 2015 World Series, Mondesi has hit a lifetime .244/.280/.408 slash with 38 homers and 133 stolen bases in the major leagues.
Taylor was a dominant left-on-left pitcher for the Red Sox in 2021 but didn’t play in the majors at all in 2022 due to a back injury. He has a 3.69 ERA with 129 K’s in 102 1/3 innings and 121 appearances (one start) for the Red Sox over three seasons (2019-21). The southpaw, who turns 30 on March 2, is taxable until 2025.
Thomas Harrigan contributed to this story.