Red Sox Doing Disservice To 24-Year-Old INF From Infamous Trade

The Boston Red Sox's primary objective is and always will be winning baseball games, but they've also got to do right by their players.

Sometimes, though, awkward roster construction gets in the way of some of those players getting a fair shake. And that's been the unfortunate case this season for infielder Vaughn Grissom.

Grissom is currently most famous for getting traded straight-up for Chris Sale, who went on to win the Cy Young Award in his first season for the Atlanta Braves. It will be hard for the Red Sox to ever rescue that trade in the eyes of public perception, but Grissom deserves better than he's currently getting.

The 24-year-old had a bad 31-game sample last season (.465 OPS) and has been in the minors all year. But he's been performing well there, and the fact that he couldn't get a call-up this week when Marcelo Mayer got injured is a telltale sign that he's never going to get a real shot at the big leagues in Boston.

On Friday, after Grissom was passed over in favor of David Hamilton to fill Mayer's vacant roster spot, manager Alex Cora attempted to explain why the former hasn't gotten another shot--though he also praised Grissom's progress in Triple-A of late.

“We’re facing a lot of righties the upcoming days so Hammy was the player,” Cora said, per Christopher Smith of MassLive.

“Swinging better, getting on base, playing good defense,” he continued when asked what he's been hearing about Grissom's progress. “Doing a good job.”

In 85 games in Worcester this season, Grissom is slashing .280/.351/.446. He hit his 10th home run of the season on Friday, and he's racked up 91 hits and 42 RBI. But unless he secures a trade, he's likely to stay down no matter how good his numbers get.

Though Grissom didn't help his cause in 2024, the real killer was the meteoric rise of Kristian Campbell and subsequent $60 million extension he signed in April. Campbell was demoted to Triple-A in June, but he figures to get his next shot before Grissom ever gets his.

At some point, the Red Sox have to admit defeat on the Sale trade and try to get something in return for Grissom, even if he's just a throw-in in a larger deal. And it's in the player's best interest too to find an organization that believes he can be a big-leaguer.