Is Jose Iglesias benched for disciplinary reasons?

Jose Iglesias was pulled from Saturday's PawSox game, and hasn't started or appeared in any of Pawtucket's subsequent contests. He's not hurt, or someone would have just said as much: instead, we've been given somewhat vague reasons as to why he's not in the lineup, reasons that make it sound as if he's being disciplined by the team.

Tim Britton, who covers not just the Red Sox but also the PawSox beat for the Providence Journal, published this quote from Red Sox manager John Farrell on the subject:

"Just in the reports from the Triple-A staff, we felt it was best he needed a couple of days to regroup," Farrell said. "Kind of get back to what has allowed him to be a very good player and experience success. He's dealing with some things."

Then, there's Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com, who straight up comes out and says Iglesias has been pouting and lacking in effort since David Ortiz left the team:

When Iglesias was optioned back to Pawtucket last month following the activated of starting shortstop Stephen Drew, the Red Sox were braced from some fallout and disappointment.

Iglesias actually responded well initially, which one baseball source attributed to the presence of David Ortiz. Ortiz has served as a mentor to Iglesias and the source believes that Iglesias chose not to pout while Ortiz was with the club.

More recently, however, Iglesias has expressed his frustration over being blocked by Drew's presence and it has affected his play and effort level at times.

Here's the long and short of it. If Iglesias thinks he's major-league ready, that's fine, but he has to actually act like he's major-league ready, both on and off the field. If he's not showing effort, he's going to miss out on chances to prove that he does belong in the majors, and he might find himself surpassed by the likes of Xander Bogaerts on the shortstop depth chart before long.

If you're looking for what might have finally set PawSox manager Gary DiSarcina off, it might have been what Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal said, "could be interpreted as a lazy throw" to first base on Saturday. Now, MacPherson goes on to say that we're "left to guess" because no one is outright saying anything, but you could see where the timing would fit, especially given the specifics from McAdam.

Iglesias will likely be back in the lineup, maybe as soon as Wednesday. But he has to learn that just because he's a great defensive shortstop who has worked on his hitting doesn't mean he gets to upend everyone in front of him on the depth chart. He's not the first talented prospect to have to wait his turn behind a major-league veteran before, and hopefully that sinks in sooner than later.

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