Boston Red Sox infielder Bobby Dalbec is set to enter another spring training with the club after being in trade rumors since last offseason. Dalbec primarily plays at the corner infield positions, where the Red Sox are set with Rafael Devers and Triston Casas, so dangling him as trade bait made sense.
Dalbec joined Rob Bradford on the Audacy original podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” and talked about those trade rumors as well as how he’s feeling entering spring training with the Red Sox.
“Are you surprised that you’re going into spring training with the Red Sox right now?” Bradford asked (12:30 in player above).
“Kind of, sort of,” Dalbec replied. “It’s a tough thing. It’s tough to guess, honestly. I thought I was going to potentially get traded somewhere before the deadline last year and that didn’t happen. I never really try to put too much stock into what I hear or anything like that because it’s either going to happen or it’s not.
Dalbec was once one of the top 100 prospects in baseball back in 2020 and 2021. He impressed with 25 home runs and 78 runs batted in while batting .240 in 2021 but was relegated to Triple-A Worcester last year with just 49 major-league at-bats.
“So I kind of just take it day by day,” he continued. “If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, I’m still trying to compete for a job and compete to win a World Series just like every other guy in that locker room.”
The 28-year-old slugger is hoping to work his way into a roster spot in Boston. He hit 33 home runs with 77 RBI in 114 games at Triple-A last year with a .269 batting average and .938 OPS. Perhaps more importantly, he also got some playing time in right field in an attempt to add some versatility to where he can play.
Dalbec may appear to be the odd man out but don’t sleep on him in spring training, especially if he can build off of what he did last year in the minors.