Red Sox explore a platoon situation at third base between Caleb Durbin and Nick Sogard
Suddenly, the Red Sox don’t have a clear-cut starting third baseman.
Caleb Durbin was on the bench for a fourth time in six games Saturday against the Twins, as interim manager Chad Tracy has tilted toward a platoon at the hot corner. Durbin has started against lefthanders and Nick Sogard has played third against righthanders over the past week.
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Amid Durbin’s very good defense and very bad offense, have the Sox considered sending him to Triple-A?
“Haven’t talked about that yet,” Tracy said before the game. “I will say, [in] the more sporadic playing time here lately, the games he has played, his at-bats have looked better. He had the go-ahead hit in Kansas City. He had some good at-bats [Friday] night, the ball he hit to center field, he dropped down a beautiful bunt.
“There’s been some positive in there, and some signs that it’s getting a little better, but we haven’t gotten to that [minor league demotion consideration] yet.”
Durbin said Tracy let him know during the team’s previous series, at the Royals, that his presence in the lineup would be a daily decision.
“Obviously, I have things I have to work on, so the goal of just trying to get better doesn’t change,” Durbin said. “Just be ready for the opportunity whenever you’re in there.”
Benefitting from the available playing time — and winning more of it with his performance — has been Sogard, one of Tracy’s favorites from their parts of five years together with Triple-A Worcester.
Sogard returned to the majors when Trevor Story went on the injured list on May 16. Saturday marked the sixth game in a row for which he was in the starting lineup at third base (four times), shortstop (once), or second base (once).
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He entered Saturday hitting .353 (6 for 17) with a double.
“He’s obviously taken great at-bats since he’s come up here, but he can move around the field, play third, play short, play second, pop into a corner outfield if we make moves late, he can go do that,” Tracy said. “And really it’s just the at-bat quality that we’ve seen when he’s in there.”
Tracy added that Sogard’s arrival “coincided with some things turning for us” offensively.
“You just can’t ignore when he came up, the at-bat quality that he’s had,” Tracy said. “[Durbin] plays great defense, but you just can’t ignore [Sogard]. So it doesn’t mean that it sticks that way. Durb could get going and things could change, but right now, those [Sogard] at-bats are good. And we’re starting to put up some runs. We’ve got to try to keep going with that.”
The Daily Crochet
Garrett Crochet is set for live batting practice Tuesday, Tracy said. It will be his first time facing hitters since landing on the IL (left shoulder inflammation) going on a month ago.
His goal for that next step?
“Feel good, as cliché and lame as that sounds,” Crochet said after completing a routine bullpen session Saturday. “I’d like to go in there and execute as well, but that would just be a bonus at this point.”
Romy starts hitting
Romy Gonzalez (left shoulder surgery) said he has been moving forward in his hitting progression. “There’s still some time to go there, but the fact that he’s swinging a bat is good news,” Tracy said. . . . The Sox expect to activate lefthander Danny Coulombe (neck) on Sunday. Given how well their optionable relievers have been pitching, there’s no obvious answer as to who will be subtracted from the roster to make room for Coulombe. “It’s not easy to look at that and decide how we’re going to do this, who it’s going to be,” Tracy said. . . . Triston Casas is doing “rotational exercises,” Tracy said, after recovering from an abdominal injury. He has not begun swinging a bat and remains a ways away from a return. He hasn’t played in more than a year, initially because of a major knee injury that required surgery and more recently because of the side issue.
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