Red Sox Trade Away Infielder to Braves 1 Week After Team Debut

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Red Sox former infielder Zack Short, who was traded to the Braves this week.

It will not go down as an MLB blockbuster by any stretch but the Red Sox did pull off a trade with the Atlanta Braves this week after leaving town with two losses in two games, their fourth losses in the previous five games. The Red Sox traded infielder Zack Short to Atlanta a week after he made his Boston debut.

Short appeared in two games with the Red Sox, went 0-for-7 with four strikeouts and had apparently shown the Red Sox all they needed to see. Boston had purchased Short from the Mets on May 1, and he made his debut the next day. Now, he’s on to his third team this month.

In his place, the Red Sox brought Romy Gonzalez off the injured list. He played first base in his return and went 1-for-4.

Red Sox Using Ceddanne Rafaela at Shortstop

It will be interesting to see how Red Sox manager Alex Cora handles Gonzalez in his return to the roster. He is capable of playing anywhere in the infield, and was originally brought up in early April after a hot start in Triple-A Worcester.

The plan at that time was to platoon Gonzalez and David Hamilton at shortstop with Trevor Story having injured his shoulder and declared out for the year eight games into the season.

But Cora made center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela the team’s everyday shortstop, and has not wavered from that move in the weeks since. Rafaela has the potential to be one of the best center fielders in the game, with a great arm and tremendous range. The arm translates at shortstop, obviously, but he is still learning in terms of manning the position on a day-by-day basis.

At Baseball Savant, he rates a minus-3 in outs above average as a shortstop. He has committed three errors in his 17 games manning the spot. He has been hitting better, though, batting .263 in his last 17 games after starting the year at .161 in his first 20.

Spotlight on Wilyer Abreu

The goal of pulling Rafaela out of the outfield goes beyond just finding a replacement for Story. It’s also about continuing to develop rookie Wilyer Abreu, who might have trouble racking up at-bats unless the Red Sox thinned out the rotation in the outfield.

Jarren Duran and Tyler O’Neill have been consistently in the outfield mix. If Rafaela is in center, there is not much room for Abreu, who is 25 years old and ready to show he is an everyday big-leaguer. Abreu hit .316 in 28 games with the Red Sox last year, and entered the year as the No. 6 overall prospect in the organization, according to MLBPipeline.com.

After a slow start (.111 in his first eight games), Abreu had an April surge, but has slumped lately, going 2-for-23 in his last six games.

But the team needs to see what Abreu can do. That, Cora explained, has a lot to do with why Rafaela is in the infield.

“He will play short, We’ll use him at short,” Cora said, per Boston.com. “(But) this is not about the shortstop thing. This is about getting Abreu at-bats. I’m telling you, Willie has to play. So this is the way we’re going to find at-bats for him. Against righties, he will play every day. So we’ll find a way. We’ll move people around, but he will play against righties.”