Red Sox add infield depth, speed in trade for Adalberto Mondesí

The Red Sox and Kansas City Royals are exchanging promising players who missed most or all of the 2022 season.

First reported by MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the Sox will receive infielder Adalberto Mondesí, who missed all but 15 games last year due to a torn ACL, and a player to be named later or cash considerations in exchange for left-handed reliever Josh Taylor, who hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2021 due to back issues. The Red Sox have confirmed the trade.

Ahead of Red Sox Winter Weekend last Friday, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom made it clear that fortifying the middle infield was a top priority. Now, the Sox are giving up a solid bullpen piece for a more expensive player with fewer years of club control in order to do so. Taylor is set to earn $1.03M this year and won’t reach free agency until 2026, while the Royals avoided arbitration with Mondesí by agreeing to a $3.045M salary; he’s on track for free agency after the upcoming season.

The Sox are giving up a pitcher who excels at limiting lefties; over 107 career games thus far, Taylor has held lefty batters to a .174/.249/.230 line. Prior to missing the entire 2022 season with a back injury, he’d had been one of Boston’s most reliable relievers since his 2019 debut. In 2021, the southpaw, who will turn 30 in March, posted a 3.40 ERA across 47 2/3 innings.

Who’s the new guy? Son of Raúl Mondesí, a 13-year MLB veteran who won 1994 NL Rookie of the Year and two Gold Gloves, Adalberto’s bigleague career began in a unique and historic way. As a 20-year-old top prospect in 2015, he became the first player in major league history to make their debut during the World Series.

Mondesí is a career .244 hitter, but brings much-needed defensive depth to a weak middle infield that will be without Xander Bogaerts for the first time in a decade and without Trevor Story for at least several months of the season. Kiké Hernández is slated to be the everyday shortstop, while Christian Arroyo will handle second base. Rob Refsnyder offers infield depth as well.

Primarily a shortstop (241 starts), Mondesí has also made 64 career starts at second and 20 at third in his seven big-league seasons.