NEWSLETTER
In a very roundabout way, a stray Boston Red Sox outfield signing could impact the Cubs, ever so slightly.
Outfielder Adam Duvall is signing with the Red Sox, according to Craig Mish:
Duvall, 34, has intermittently been a solidly-above-average offensive player over his career, though he is coming off a down 2022 season, which featured season-ending wrist surgery in late July. If he’s healthy, I could see his righty bat playing very well at Fenway, though.
Where this is notable for our purposes is that, in signing Duvall, the Red Sox now have a little more coverage in the outfield, which will allow them more flexibility in how they deploy Enrique Hernández, who would’ve otherwise been playing mostly in center. As you know, the Red Sox lost Trevor Story to elbow surgery, and they needed to add another position player somewhere up the middle to cover it. (Heck, Hernández was listed on the Red Sox dot com depth chart as the starter at both shortstop and center field, if you needed a sense on how much they had to add someone.)
Because the Red Sox can now coordinate Hernández a little more, they may not need to add another infielder, specifically.
That, then, could squash that Nick Madrigal trade speculation, for example. It’s still possible the Red Sox would want more depth, in case they aren’t completely sold on Christian Arroyo at second base, but at least now they probably feel less up against the wall.
