Deven Marrero re-called from Pawtucket

After last night’s game, it was announced that Brandon Workman had been optioned back down to Pawtucket after throwing 46 pitches over three innings Thursday night. It was a tough break for the righty, but unfortunately that’s how things work for those with minor-league options. In the linked post, I speculated that it was likely a position player would be coming back to Boston to return the normal position player/pitcher ratio to the active roster. Unsurprisingly, that position player is Deven Marrero.

Marrero was called up briefly at the start of the season when Xander Bogaerts was put on bereavement leave, but he didn’t appear in a game. I would venture to say he won’t be up very long this time, either.

With Chase d’Arnaud on the roster along with Josh Rutledge — who will presumably be the starting third baseman for now — the Red Sox don’t need to have a player who is primarily an infielder. That being the case, Steve Selsky could very well be up after this weekend’s series in Minnesota. If you recall, Selsky was just optioned down to Pawtucket on the 28th of April to make room for d’Arnaud, so he’s not eligible to come back up until Monday.

Selsky, of course, is pretty much just an outfielder, although the Red Sox have worked him out at both corner infield slots. It would be ideal to have an infielder on the roster given the lack of talent there relative to the outfielder, but Marrero just isn’t a very valuable player. He’s great with the glove, but almost all of that work comes at shortstop and the Red Sox are obviously set there. At the plate, his bat has just never developed. In 73 plate appearances with Pawtucket this season, Marrero is hitting .169/.178/.211. This after posting an OPS of .487 there in 388 plate appearances last year.

It should also be mentioned that Brock Holt is hoping to start a rehab assignment this weekend, so if all goes well he could be back to the majors soon as well.

For now, Marrero gives them a little more infield insurance on the bench and could theoretically be used as a defensive replacement or pinch runner this weekend. Beyond that, there’s probably not much of a near-term — or long-term, for that matter — future for the former first round pick.