Red Sox Could Acquire Highly Intriguing Slugger From Angels After Strong Season

Boston has an opportunity to bolster their depth

Scott Neville | Jan 29, 2024

Red Sox Could Acquire Highly Intriguing Slugger From Angels After Strong Season /

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The Boston Red Sox have plenty of areas to improve upon after three last-place finishes in a four-year span.

The lack of frontline starting pitching and an impact right-handed bat are expected to plague the upcoming season but depth has been an area of weakness for years.

Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has an opportunity to acquire an intriguing player coming off of a dominant season for little to no cost and should at least examine the opportunity.

The Los Angeles Angels designated outfielder/first baseman Trey Cabbage for assignment on Saturday.

The 26-year-old with arguably the best name in professional baseball could be a perfect depth option for Boston.

Cabbage hit .306 with 58 extra-base hits including 30 home runs, 89 RBIs and a .975 OPS in 107 games for Triple-A Salt Lake last season. He also stole 32 bases in 35 attempts.

His impressive Triple-A campaign warranted a big-league debut, which was not nearly as fruitful. Cabbage hit .208 (11-for-53) with a .553 OPS in a brief 22-game stint.

Strikeouts played a huge part in the Angels' willingness to lose Cabbage -- though they likely are hoping he can pass through waivers.

The rookie posted a 49% strikeout rate during his big-league stint and a more damning 34% strikeout rate across a much larger sample size at the Triple-A level across 418 at-bats.

While Cabbage has plenty of intriguing traits paired with gaudy numbers, the Red Sox have a history of not being able to get the best out of intriguing talents plagued by high strikeout rates.

Before Bobby Dalbec, there was Michael Chavis -- neither of whom has reached their potential despite elite traits due to their propensity to swing and miss. The Red Sox faithful fear Ceddanne Rafaela could land in the same category.

Cabbage would be a fine flyer to claim on waivers but Boston's track record indicates that he would not thrive in its organization.

Still, Cabbage could be acquired with a waiver claim for nothing but a 40-man roster spot or as part of a trade that would involve Boston sending a low-level prospect of little significance.

Cabbage will not make or break the Red Sox roster but a team that lacks depth could take a low-risk, high-reward shot on a young star with 30-30 potential. Especially given how much ownership desperately wants to remain in a rebuild for reasons unknown.

More MLB: Red Sox Reportedly Have Identified Potential Fit To Bolster Lineup

Published Jan 29, 2024

SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer. His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu