Dave Roberts, Quintin Berry, Rajai Davis. The legacy continues.
The Boston Red Sox are contending this season. They had something missing though: the speed. Well, the speed off the bench. That’s a Red Sox staple late in the season and a major boost on a postseason roster. When Jackie Bradley Jr. hit the disabled list this week and the Red Sox needed an outfielder, going out and grabbing Rajai Davis from the last place Oakland Athletics made perfect sense. The Red Sox sent some minor leaguer, Rafael Rincones, that I hadn’t heard of to Oakland for him. Oh well though.
Davis has like a .233 batting average and .647 OPS in 100 games but if we’re being honest here, you should not care. He is not a starting outfielder. He’s a bench player for a last place team. Why would he start for a first place team? Not how it works.
The good news, however, is that the Connecticut native is fast as anyone on the Red Sox. He is 26 for 32 in stolen bases this season. That’s over a 80 percent success rate. The Red Sox are an aggressive team on the basepaths this season, so this dude seems like the perfect pinch runner.
When the Red Sox roster expands in September, they’ll have some pretty good depth. That way they’ll be able to test him out in that pinch-running role, when Bradley comes back. It gives the team a chance to see if he’s worthy of a postseason spot because let’s be honest, Brock Holt has no value on a postseason roster.
Here’s another thought too: that’s another veteran ballplayer for a young club. It can’t hurt, right? Davis knows how to run the bases. That could be something that rubs off positively on some of the younger guys for sure.
Also. The Red Sox had to DFA Steve Selsky to make this happen. Tom’s take:
Not to call anyone out here, but the Red Sox have DFA'd Noe Ramirez and Steve Selsky in the past week but not Henry Owens and that's garbage
— Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) August 23, 2017