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None of the roster moves the Boston Red Sox made on Saturday came as a surprise, but they were still quite informative of where they are as an organization.
As the club announced on social media, outfielder Kristian Campbell was optioned to Triple-A on Saturday, while six other players (pitchers Alec Gamboa, Tayron Guerrero, and Kyle Keller, catcher Jason Delay, infielder Vinny Capra, and outfielder Braiden Ward) were reassigned to minor-league camp.
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Meanwhile, Red Sox manager Alex Cora announced that Marcelo Mayer had earned the starting second base job, likely against right-handed pitchers only to start the year.
“Marcelo is going to be our second baseman,” Cora said Saturday, via Chris Cotillo of MassLive. “I talked to him today. He did an amazing job in the offseason. ... I wanted to push him. Nothing is given here. Obviously, last year wasn’t great for him offensively but it’s part of the process and he understands that.
Mayer and Campbell were once part of the "big three," the most exciting group of position player prospects the Red Sox have had in recent memory. That neither of them is an established big-leaguer a year later isn't a sign that the hype was unjustified or that both can't still be important assets, but it shows there's still a lot to discover with regard to the team's future.
And this is also something of a sliding doors moment, because while Campbell has gotten a lot of looks and still has some adjustments to make away from the major league spotlight, Mayer now has to make an impression in his first extended taste of that same spotlight.