Some 30 years ago, Red Sox general manager Lou Gorman, having passed on the opportunity to obtain Willie McGee at the trade deadline, finally reached a point of exasperation.
"Where,'' asked Gorman of reporters, "would we play him?''
At the time, McGee was one of the game's better offensive forces and the line went down in infamy. Gorman was roundly ridiculed.
Chaim Bloom and the current-day Red Sox, meanwhile, have no such concerns about Kyle Schwarber, acquired from the Washington Nationals late Thursday night. In a best-case scenario, Schwarber would be best be utilized in the DH spot. But with J.D. Martinez already in that role, the Sox will have to get a bit creative.
The Red Sox sought some options for first base, where their production at the position is near the bottom of the league, and though Schwarber has never played there in a game, he's going to give it a try.
"We are going to take a look at him over there,'' said Bloom. "He's excited to do it. This is someone I would not bet against to really do anything that he sets his mind to on a baseball field. This is a guy who blew out his knee and hit .400 in the World Series in the same year. So I wouldn't bet against him.
"But even if that doesn't come to pass, we think the input of his bat is huge. There's going to be a lot of ways for him to help us. It's going to allow us to feature much stronger lineups, especially against right-handed pitching. It's going to allow us to take care of our guys down the stretch, give more days off when needed to some of the guys we've been leaning on. It's going to deepen our bench when he's in there and when he's not. If we get where we're trying to go, it's a weapon we can really, really leverage in very important games at the end.''
"With Kyle, obviously he's a big bat and we also added versatility,'' said Alex Cora. "That's very important to what we're trying to accomplish. We can do a few things with him. I know people are talking about first base with him, but we can move him around and use other guys in certain spots and also we can protect other guys against certain pitchers. I think we're a more complete team now that we have him.''
In the outfield, Schwarber will probably be limited to left field. But that could allow Alex Verdugo to slide over to center. Or, the Sox could have either Kike Hernandez or rookie Jarren Duran in center while moving Verdugo to right, providing an opportunity to sit Hunter Renfroe against some tough righthanders.
Finally, there's the option of having him DH while having Martinez play left field.
One option that the Sox are not yet ready to explore is having Schwarber catch. He caught in college and has caught occasionally in the big leagues, but for now, the Sox don't count that as a place for him in their lineup.
"We haven't talked about that,'' Bloom said. "We did talk about the first base thing, that being more of a need. And we like our catchers. I wouldn't necessarily rule anything out, but it's not something I anticipate as a regular option. I would bet, even though we haven't brought it up to him, he would do it. He's pumped up to be here. Basically the first thing he said was how much he loves Boston and he's here to help us win a championship. And I would bet that if there's something that would help us do it, then he would be willing to do it.''
At his best, Schwarber gets on base frequently (.340 OBP this season) and could hit in one of the top two spots in the lineup while also providing Cora with additional left-right balance.
Of course, before Schwarber to contribute anywhere, he's got to be fully healthy. He's currently on the IL after suffering a severe hamstring strain earlier this month. Bloom estimated that it could be a while before Schwarber is cleared to get on the field.
"We went into this with the expectation that we're probably looking at a couple of weeks,'' he said. "He's made pretty good progress. He's been hitting on the field for a while now. It really just getting the running component in there. You all saw how hot he was with the bat when he went down (having hit 12 homers in the span of 10 games). He's done a lot of work hitting-wise to stay there. Hopefully, when he comes back, he'll be able to pick up right where he left off.''