Red Sox option Franchy Cordero, add Travis Shaw to active roster

The Red Sox are off on Monday night, but that didn’t stop them from making some roster moves. After claiming Travis Shaw off waivers on Sunday, the Red Sox had to add him to the active roster as he had accrued enough service time to decline an option to Triple-A. Boston did just that on Monday as part of a flurry of moves. They also demoted both Franchy Cordero and Connor Wong while releasing Marwin Gonzalez, who had been designated for assignment over the weekend.

Starting with Shaw, as I said it is no surprise that he was added to the active roster as the team really had no chance. They are still looking for left-handed help at first base, and Cordero has not really been getting the job done. Shaw does not have a great track record over the last few years, but he can play first base, has had major-league success, and has performed at Fenway. There’s always a chance a return to Fenway can spark a hot couple of weeks, at the very least. With Bobby Dalbec playing well right now, Shaw likely won’t get all the starts against right handers anyway. If nothing else, this does buy some more time for Kyle Schwarber to potentially get some practice in at first base.

With Cordero, the team was hoping his performance in Triple-A would carry over to the majors, but it just hasn’t happened. Since being called back up, he has hit just .219/.265/.219, which is somehow worse than he hit in his first stint. As for Wong, his call-up was always going to be temporary. And then there’s Gonzalez, whose release was inevitable after he was designated for assignment. It will be interesting to see if another team takes him on a minor-league deal at this point in the year, or if he’ll be waiting until next spring to get another chance.

Expect more moves tomorrow, as the Red Sox active roster now stands at just 25 players. With a doubleheader on Tuesday, they can add two more players before tomorrow’s first game. One of those players will be Tanner Houck, who is expected to start that afternoon tilt against the Yankees. My guess is they’re also hoping to add Josh Taylor back to the roster as well, as he was added to the COVID list prior to Sunday’s game. With Travis Shaw taking Taylor’s 40-man spot — players on the COVID list do not count against 40-man rosters — the team would have to make another corresponding 40-man move if they were to add Taylor back into the mix. We’ll of course provide updates on Tuesday when moves are officially announced.