Inside The Red Sox

Red Sox Slugger May Undergo Position Change To Boost Boston's Offense

Alex Cora is searching for new ways to get the offense going

Scott Neville

Red Sox Slugger May Undergo Position Change To Boost Boston's Offense
Red Sox Slugger May Undergo Position Change To Boost Boston's Offense /
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Will the Boston Red Sox change the position of their hottest hitter to optimize the lineup and bolster the offense?

"Alex Cora has a math problem. For the time being at least, he’s got too many quality hitters and not enough spots for them in the lineup," MassLive's Christopher Smith wrote Wednesday. "As a solution, Cora and the Red Sox are giving consideration to having Justin Turner play some second base."

Two of the Red Sox's hottest hitters at the moment are Turner and Triston Casas -- both of which have been anchored either to first base or the designated hitter role. That has created a ripple effect in the outfield, which boasts Alex Verdugo, Jarren Duran, Masataka Yoshida, Adam Duvall, Rob Refsnyder and occasionally Kiké Hernández.

Boston is not getting much of anything out of the second-base position, with Hernández (-0.5 bWAR) and Christian Arroyo (-0.2 bWAR) as the primary options at the moment. 

If Cora could plug Turner at second, he could slide another outfielder in the designated hitter spot and keep Casas at first -- at least against right-handed pitching.

As Smith noted, the Red Sox's lineup on Wednesday featured both Jarren Duran and Adam Duvall in the outfield, Masataka Yoshida as the designated hitter and Turner at first base. That left Casas out of the lineup against Texas Rangers right-hander Jon Gray, despite hitting .288/.366/.507 against righties in June.

“We need offense,” Cora told Smith. “I know we want defense, but I think JT will make the routine plays and turn double plays.”

Turner has 103 starts at second base in his career but has not played a full game there since 2015 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He's logged eight innings up the middle this season.

While the lineup optimization is much-needed, the Red Sox cannot afford to lose much more defensively. That said, Boston needs to get going fast, and tossing all of the hottest hitters in the lineup might be the best way to climb back into postseason contention. 

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Scott Neville
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

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