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The Boston Red Sox are on the rebound after a hectic month of August, winning the first five games in a row, then losing the next five, and then going 4-3 in the next seven. Now, they just finished the sweep against the San Francisco Giants.
If they keep this up, they’ll be looking pretty good for the rest of the season. It also helps that in just a week's time, the MLB will give Boston and all the other teams some wiggle room.
September brings Boston options
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On September 1st rosters will be expanded, allowing the Red Sox to add two players to their roster. The caveat for this, though, is that those players will not be eligible for the playoffs if they aren’t on the 40-man roster or coming off the 60-day IL.
The main purpose of those spots is to allow teams to call up fresh players from the minors to give the MLB team’s most overworked players a chance to rest, and prepare for October baseball. Now, Boston has a few players coming from the IL, and this expansion gives them some possibilities.
Red Sox should hold their players
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According to Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy, the three stars Boston have been waiting on in Roman Anthony, Isiah Kiner- Falefa and Trevor Story, are almost ready to return to the Major League team. Most likely, at least one of them could be active as soon as tomorrow.
Although, what might be best for Boston is to hold out on calling up Kiner-Falefa and Story. If they were to be called up now, then they would replace guys like Mickey Gasper and Nick Sogard, who have been incredible in the past couple weeks for Boston. Losing those two in the final stretch might mess up Boston’s mojo.
Here’s the fix: Since those two are on the 60-day IL, they are automatically considered eligible for playoffs. So, if Boston can wait until September 1st to call them back up, they can still have Gasper and Sogard on the roster, and they will be able to put Kiner-Falefa and Story extra spots while maintaining playoff eligibility.
Anthony is the exception
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The exception to this idea is Anthony. He’s arguably one of Boston’s best players, as seen from his half-season last year. If he’s completely healthy, getting someone of his caliber back ASAP is in Boston’s best interest, as he’ll need as many at-bats at the MLB-level as possible before October.
Kiner-Falefa and Story aren’t on his level, though. And, with how Story is struggling in his rehab at AAA, and Kiner-Falefa is his backup, getting them ASAP isn’t really needed.
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