Red Sox Links: Defensive Shakeup

The Red Sox are yet to put together a consistent stretch of “complete” games. If they hit well, they don’t pitch well, and vice versa. They are consistent in how poorly they play defense. Kike Hernandez has been at the center of that, committing 13 errors on the season. Alex Cora has finally seen enough and said he’ll be moving off shortstop in the future. (Greg Dudek, NESN)

In other fielding news, Triston Casas has been struggling. Alex Cora clearly doesn’t want to give up on this year and play for the future, as he said Justin Turner will see more time at first to improve the defense. (Ian Browne, MLB.com)

Alex Verdugo was benched last week for not running out a ground ball. He said the decision didn’t sit well with him, but also said that it doesn’t affect his relationship with Alex Cora at all. (Gayle Troiani, NESN)

In National League news, Ramiel Tapia found a new home with the Milwaukee Brewers. While it’d be nice for him to stay in the system, at least the Yankees didn’t pick him up. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)

And lastly, looking at the league as a whole, changes could be coming to the rules on the back end. This could include limiting spending on technology and potentially imposing staffing restrictions. To me, this feels like teams that are behind the curve in terms of analytics looking for a way to catch up, or a way for owners to cut costs. Either way, I’m not a fan. MLB typically doesn’t care about the fans though. (Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic)