In an effort to bolster their slumping offense and provide more options at first base, the Red Sox designated Travis Shaw for assignment Friday and called up Franchy Cordero to take his spot.
The moves were first reported by MassLive's Chris Cotillo.
Shaw, whom the Red Sox re-signed this past offseason after he had been claimed on waivers from Milwaukee last August, had struggled mightily this year, going hitless in limited playing time (19 at-bats) in the first three weeks of the season.
The Sox had envisioned Shaw providing an alternative to first baseman Bobby Dalbec and gave him some starts against righthanded pitchers. However, he was unable to even reach base against them in 19 plate appearances.
Cordero, part of the package acquired for Andrew Benintendi in February of 2021, failed in a couple of chances with the parent club last season, with a line of .189/.237/.260. He did hit one homer in 49 games, and it was the longest hit by a Red Sox player the entire season.
This year, Cordero was off to a solid start at Triple-A Worcester, with a .918 OPS and three homers and 245 RBI in 19 games, though he continued to strike out at a high clip.
Throughout his career with three organizations, Cordero has had difficulty transferring the success he's enjoyed at the minor league level to the big leagues. In 411 major league at-bats, he's slashed just .221/.283/.380 with 13 homers and 45 RBI in 143 games and an OPS+ of 78. He's also struck out in more than a third of his at-bats. He possesses massive power, but hasn't often been able to access it because of difficulty making consistent contact.
The Red Sox have been getting virtually no offense from their first base position. Starter Bobby Dalbec is invoking memories of his first-half struggles from a season ago, at .154/.211/.246. Dalbec has one homer and three RBI. With RISP, he's just 2-for-22 (.091).
Presumably, Cordero will get some starts at first base against righthanders in an effort to get him going and provide an alternative to Dalbec.
In time, of course, the Red Sox envision Triston Casas as their first baseman of the future. But with only a month of experience at Triple A, the Red Sox want him to get more development time. The organization summoned outfielder Jaren Durran last July, and saw him overwhelmed by major league pitching as he got sporadic playing time. The Sox undoubtedly want to avoid a similar scenario with Casas.
It's doubtful that Casas will be promoted to the major league roster until the Sox are convinced he can be close to an everyday contributor.
There will be other roster moves made before Friday's game in Baltimore. The team is planning to re-activate pitchers Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford, both of whom were placed on the inactive list prior to the Toronto series because of their vaccination status. Neither player has been vaccinated agasint COVID-19, and Canadian laws preclude their entry into the country.