Red Sox Playmaker Suffers Yet Another Setback, Putting Season In Jeopardy

Boston has yet to figure out how to fix a player who could give the infield a boost

Scott Neville | Aug 17, 2023

Red Sox Playmaker Suffers Yet Another Setback, Putting Season In Jeopardy /

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Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox never truly made a monumental middle infield acquisition after Xander Bogaerts departed to the San Diego Padres and Trevor Story had surgery that held him out until August.

The one splash Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom made, was the trade with the Kansas City Royals to bring in Adalberto Mondesí.

After numerous setbacks and delays trying to recover from a torn ACL he suffered last May, he's now back on the shelf.

“It has been on and off," Red Sox manager Alex Cora told MassLive's Chris Cotillo. "He started, again, his baseball activities. He didn’t feel so well so we had to shut it down. He’s just getting treatment. It has been that battle, how he feels and where he’s at. We’ve done everything possible to get him right. He has done everything possible to get it right. It’s just a matter of jumping that last hurdle and we haven’t been able to do that.

"For us and for him, it has been frustrating because we’ve done everything possible and we’re still doing everything possible to get him back. We’re running out of time. But it’s not lack of effort. From his end and our end, I’ll tell you, we’ve done everything. We’ll see what happens.”

Mondesí had just started to make notable progress -- facing live pitching, running and taking ground balls according to Cotillo.

The 28-year-old is an impending free agent and has yet to play a game for Boston, or even make a rehab start after many assumed he would be ready for Opening Day.

It's truly odd to see this many issues with what has become a standard procedure in the modern era. Red Sox frontline starter James Paxton experienced a similarly frustrating season a year ago and decided to come back to the organization that rehabbed him back to health -- for a hefty discount.

It's possible Mondesí could do the same -- bringing elite speed, above-average defense and power to a lineup that could use another electric playmaker. First, he has to get healthy, and it's not likely to happen this season.

More MLB: Red Sox Expected To Add Pair Of Notable Pitchers This Winter After Season-Long Woes

Published Aug 17, 2023

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