By Jordan Long
The Boston Red Sox sit at 55-27, 1st in the American League East division. Boston felt in order to become a larger World Series threat they needed another bat to help the offense. The Red Sox did that with a trade involving the Toronto Blue Jays. The Red Sox acquired 1st baseman/outfielder Steve Pearce while sending minor league infielder Santiago Espinal to the Jays.
According to ESPN.com, Manager Alex Cora said, “It’s one more weapon that we have. We got better tonight.”
Pearce’s offensive numbers don’t jump out. He is hitting .291 with 4 home runs and 16 RBI’s this season. Then again that is a small sample size since he only had 79 plate appearances with the Blue Jays. In his 11 years at the MLB level, Pearce hits .255. He doesn’t smack the ball with a lot of power with only 83 home runs. What he can do for the Red Sox is move base runners around the base paths for RBI’s with 268 in his career.
Defensively, Pearce plays left field, right field, or 1st base giving Manager Alex Cora options on where to play him. Pearce is more comfortable at 1st base and left field. In his Major League career, Pearce appeared in 216 games in left field and 225 games at 1st base. At left field he has a strong arm to throw batters out trying to advance with 10 outfield assists. Pearce rarely drops the ball for an error with 3. At 1st base, Cora can trust him to catch the baseball when a batter is heading to 1st with only 10 errors.
This was a smart trade by the Red Sox. They didn’t have to give up a whole lot to obtain Pearce. He will be able to help this team offensively and defensively. Pearce won’t be play everyday but should see some play. Only time will tell how this will benefit the Red Sox this season. Hopefully, it pays off with a trip to the World Series.
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