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Why Lou Merloni doesn’t see the Red Sox playing Kyle Schwarber at first base
Merloni referenced Alex Cora's failed experiment with Christian Arroyo at first base as a reason Schwarber likely won't play the position when he returns from injury.
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It’s not clear that Kyle Schwarber can cure all that ails the Red Sox offense when he returns. But at this point, it couldn’t hurt too much.
The Red Sox’ big trade deadline acquisition is still working his way back from the hamstring injury that sidelined him last month as well as some groin tightness he experienced while rehabbing last week.
When he does finally enter the lineup, Alex Cora hopes the lefty slugger’s power bat will add another major threat to a Sox lineup that’s currently lacking them outside of their trio of Rafael Devers, J.D. Martinez, and Xander Bogaerts.
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The question is, of course, what position Schwarber will play upon his return.
He’s widely expected to get a shot at first base — a position he’s never played before — in order to keep the team’s best bats in the lineup. His bat, the team must hope, would help turn around the Sox’ struggles at first base, a position at which they’ve gotten the worst production in Major League Baseball.
But former Red Sox infielder and WEEI host Lou Merloni doesn’t see that happening.
“You just traded for a DH…That’s the reality of it,” Merloni told The Greg Hill Show on Tuesday.
His critique touches on a nerve many felt at the deadline: that the club should have fought harder to acquire former Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo — Schwarber’s old teammate — because of his positional fit with the team.
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Instead, as Merloni sees it, Chaim Bloom and the Red Sox front office gambled on a high-risk move for a player who: 1. Hasn’t played first base, and 2. Is coming off of an injury that could make the prospect of playing first base, or any position, very difficult.
He pointed to the team’s recent (failed) attempt to fill the first base void with Christian Arroyo, and the injury that resulted from it, as an example.
“Alex Cora had a hole at first base. He still has a hole at first base to the point where he took a guy that was willing to do whatever it took in Christian Arroyo who said, ‘You know what, at least I’m an infielder. I know how to pick the ball. I know how to catch a ground ball. I can play first base. Put me there, I’ll do whatever you want,'” Merloni noted. “And that took two or three innings before he pulled a hamstring and hasn’t been in the lineup since.
“So you think Alex Cora is going to take a guy that’s missed two months of baseball with a hamstring injury and now has a tight groin and is gonna put him at first base after he feels awful about what he did to Christian Arroyo and how that thing played out? I don’t see it at all. They got a DH, and they needed a first baseman.”
Being unable, or unwilling, to play Schwarber at first base would create some problems for the Red Sox lineup, as Merloni points out.
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Chief among them is that Martinez, the team’s current designated hitter, might be forced back into the outfield in order to keep Schwarber at DH. After all, though Schwarber has plenty of experience as an outfielder, running after fly balls on a sore hamstring and groin isn’t ideal, either.
Furthermore, a lineup that can’t play Schwarber at first base likely will have to continue relying on Bobby Dalbec, who has had a rough rookie season.
With that in mind, the slugger, who comes to the Red Sox fresh off his first All-Star nod hitting .253/.340/.570 with 25 homers, says he intends to take the challenge of playing first base head-on.
How well it works out, or how much his body will cooperate with that demand, is anyone’s guess.
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