Should Travis Shaw Be Named The Opening Day Starter At Third Base?

(Photo Credit: Forrest Mulheron/New England Baseball Media)

By: Forrest Mulheron

Travis Shaw unexpectedly impressed many during his major league stint last season and has continued to seize the opportunity this spring.

Shaw's minor league numbers were far from off the charts, .261/.369/.445 with 69 home runs and 280 RBIs over 521 games, but they were consistent enough for the Red Sox call him up for a cup of tea on May 8th of last season.

In a game on August 1st against the Tampa Bay Rays, Shaw found his groove and went 4-for-4 with two home runs, a double, three RBIs and five runs scored. He would become an every day player over the remainder of the season and finished the year at .271/.327/.487 with 13 home runs, 10 doubles and 36 RBIs

Most of his damage came in the friendly confines of Fenway Park where he hit .319/.364/.588 compared to .215/.286/.374 everywhere else, but managed to turn it around over the last two road series of the year. In the final seven games of the season in New York and Cleveland, Shaw collected eight hits including two home runs and drove in 6 RBIs.

Shaw's impressive run over the last few months of the season earned him an invite to this years spring training camp and so far he has looked like a man on a mission - by hitting .471/.526/.706 with eight hits (one home run) and five RBIs, many people are starting to question whether Shaw should take on a more important role on this team.

With Pablo Sandoval showing up to camp looking just as out of shape (if not more so) than last season and struggling both offensively and defensively, many have to wonder if that role should be the starting third baseman.

Sandoval largely disappointed last year after signing a five-year, $95 million dollar contract to leave San Francisco and come join the Red Sox. It was by far the worst year of his career, hitting just .245/.292/.366 in 126 games while committing 15 errors and looking mostly lost in the field.

This season was supposed to be different, with Red Sox manager John Farrell pointing out that Sandoval had already lost 20 pounds by the winter weekend. When he arrived at camp, however, it appeared as though he had not lost any weight at all - which he seemed to all but admit when he claimed to have not stepped on a scale once during the winter.

(Photo Source: The Boston Globe)

Any theories about Sandoval's lack of conditioning over the winter have been confirmed by his lackluster play at third so far this spring, committing multiple errors (even in the same inning) and struggling to just cover the bag at times.

It is still early in camp and most of these issues seem to play themselves out, but if Shaw continues to shine as Sandoval continues to struggle - how long will the Red Sox wait before pulling the plug on the Panda?

The front office and management alike showed last year that they are willing to play someone based solely off their contract rather then what makes the most baseball sense (continuing to start Victorino over Castillo even after multiple trips to the disabled list).

However, lots of things have changed since last season - including a new general manager in Dave Dombrowski, a bench coach in Torey Lovullo who should be managing the team and endless amounts of young, cost-effective talent (Bogaerts, Swihart, Betts, Bradley Jr., Holt, Shaw, Smith and Rodriguez cost less than $4.6M combined).

With a GM that has no attachment whatsoever to the overpaid Sandoval and a plethora of cheap contracts most teams could only dream of, the Red Sox need to make the smart baseball move regardless of what it costs them.

If that means trading Sandoval at an extreme discount or even cutting him all together to give Shaw the third base job, so be it.