Elvis Andrus was supposed to be the safeguard against a middle-infield disaster, but Andrus is hitting .201/.280/.254 and the rest of the roster has already been consumed by chaos and despair, so I suppose it doesn't really matter that he's now on the injured list after straining his left oblique on a swing during the eighth inning of Friday's loss to the Astros.
It matters a little more that Romy González came off the 10-day injured list to take his place, if only to understand the Sox's intentions for the position over the remaining three-quarters of the season.
González was 5-for-36 with a triple (off a position player) and zero walks against 14 strikeouts before he went on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation. He hasn't played since April 30, after which he got swept up in the tornado of roster moves. There wasn't any word of an injury before he went on the IL, and there wasn't a whisper about a rehab stint as so many others started theirs, so the Sox aren't putting González in a position to succeed, if success is even remotely possible.
Then again, González success may not really factor into the equation. It makes more sense if González is just a body to help the Sox hedge against the options limit in the new CBA. Lenyn Sosa has already been optioned to Charlotte three times this season, so he's already more than halfway to the limit of five. It'd be kinda silly if they used a fourth so he could barely play before Jake Burger returns, especially if he needs daily plate appearances to work on decreasing the amount of harmless flies to right field.
Hanser Alberto will probably play everyday at second in the interim, and while the long-term prospects of that arrangement excite nobody, he's hitting .255/.304/.510, which makes him the natural choice for at-bats in a crisis situation.
The larger question is what second base will look like if the Sox remain capsized through the rest of May. It makes sense in the abstract to give all the plate appearances to Sosa, but that's easier to say when Sosa's in Charlotte. When Sosa's in Chicago, he tends to look at overmatched as anybody, as evidenced by his .126/.143/.223 line over 106 MLB plate appearances. He'll get another chance, but it doesn't need to be right away. Don't underestimate how long four months can be when the best options are bad ones.
