The Boston Red Sox' mess at the first base position has no easy solution.
Rafael Devers made sure of that Thursday when he strongly objected to moving from designated hitter to first base in the wake of Triston Casas' season-ending injury and called out Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, suggesting the front office should "do their job" to find a replacement for Casas.
Breslow and Co. could scour the free-agent or trade markets for a stopgap first baseman, but the pickings are slim (a 35-year-old Anthony Rizzo, anyone?). If you ask manager Alex Cora, the more sensible path is promoting from within.
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SIGN UP HERE "We’ve got some capable guys in Triple-A that can play the position,” Cora told reporters Thursday afternoon. “We’ll just go to the next guy. That’s the way it works."
The traditional first base options in Triple-A don't inspire much confidence, however. Worcester's current first baseman, Nathan Hickey, is a converted catcher who's hitting .237 this season, while Vaughn Grissom (six games at first base in Worcester) hit .190 at the MLB level last season before suffering an injury.
That leads us to the "less traditional" option: Marcelo Mayer.
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One of the top prospects in baseball, Mayer is a shortstop by trade, playing all but 12 games at the position over five minor league seasons. But ESPN's Buster Olney spoke to a number of MLB staffers who could see the Red Sox trying Mayer out at first base to get him up to the major-league level.
"He's athletic enough to do it, and he'd hold down the position offensively," one staffer told Olney. "You'd have some growing pains on defense, but he's played on the right side of the infield before [at second] and he would hit enough to make it work."
There's an obvious risk in having one of your top prospects switch positions -- especially a shortstop. But the Red Sox did something similar with Xander Bogaerts in 2013, starting him out at third base to get him to the majors before moving him to shortstop in 2014.
Would Breslow -- who was on that 2013 Red Sox roster as a pitcher -- make a similar move with Mayer, who's raking in Triple-A with 35 RBI in 31 games?
"That's the thing -- they need offense from that position," the staffer added to Olney. "If they weren't trying to win, you wouldn't think about it. But they are trying to win and it's something you consider."
Boston currently is relying on the platoon of Abraham Toro and Romy Gonzalez, which doesn't seem sustainable for a team with playoff aspirations. If they're serious about playing in October, then getting Mayer's bat to the majors -- even if it means playing first base -- should be on the table.