Red Sox 24-Year-Old Out For Season; Is Time In Boston Coming To End?

Connelly Early's brilliance is dominating the headlines for the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday morning, but there was a quiet transaction that had to occur for him to even arrive in the majors.

On Tuesday, Early was added to the 40-man roster so he could be called up for his major league debut. Dustin May went on the 15-day injured list to clear space on the active roster, but the Red Sox either had to designate someone for assignment or transfer someone to the 60-day injured list.

Boston went with the latter, and selected 24-year-old infielder Vaughn Grissom, who has been dealing with plantar fascitis and last appeared in a game at Triple-A on Aug. 9. His season is now over, and his position in the organization is fringy at best.

Has Vaughn Grissom played last game as a Red Sox?

Grissom, as most will recall, arrived as the lone return piece in the Chris Sale with the Atlanta Braves. Sale winning the National League Cy Young Award last season caused enough pain to Boston fans, but Grissom hitting .190 with a .219 slugging percentage while spending most of the season injured and/or in the minors didn't help matters.

In 93 games this season, all for Triple-A Worcester, Grissom slashed .270/.342/.441 with 13 home runs, nine steals, and 48 RBIs. Those aren't bad numbers, but he performed significantly better against the same level of competition two years ago while still in the Atlanta system.

Once expected to be the second baseman of the future, Grissom is now so far buried on the Boston depth chart that it's hard to imagine him keeping a 40-man roster spot for the entire offseason. The Red Sox promoted Kristian Campbell over him at the start of the year, and have used six different second basemen at the major league level.

As they mull tough decisions in the upcoming Rule 5 draft, where eligible players not on their teams' 40-man rosters can be claimed by other organizations, the Red Sox have to consider using Grissom's spot to protect someone else. This is not a firm prediction, but it's easy to envision him being traded for a minimal return, as some rebuilding team might envision him as a reclamation project.

The Red Sox aren't in the business of trying to win the Sale trade at this point. They're thinking World Series next year and beyond, and if Grissom isn't going to contribute to that goal in 2026, they've got to free up his roster spot for someone who can.

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