The Boston Red Sox' impending roster crunch arrived on Sunday morning as the team activated Roman Anthony and Trevor Story off the 60-day injured list. To make room on the 26-man roster for Anthony and Story, Boston optioned a pair of utility men, Anthony Seigler and Mickey Gasper, to Triple-A Worcester. Despite both players' contributions in getting the Red Sox' season back on track, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow made the right decision in optioning the pair. 

The 27-year-old had been a massive source of energy as Boston turned its season around. After being recalled from Worcester on June 20, Seigler caught fire, hitting .351/.400/.541/.941 in his first 11 games. However, since July 1, Seigler was hitting only .213/.304/.352/.656 while seeing his playing time decrease thanks to the emergence of Nick Sogard as the everyday second baseman. 

When looking at potential options to send to Worcester upon Story’s activation, Seigler and fellow utility man Andruw Monasterio were the two most likely candidates. However, given that Story has been out of game action since May 15, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to handle a full workload immediately, and Monasterio is the only other player on the 26-man roster to handle the shortstop position in his stead.  

Since being recalled on Aug. 17 to replace the injured Masataka Yoshida, there hasn’t been a hitter across all of Major League Baseball hotter than the 30-year-old utility man. In 11 games since being recalled, Gasper has hit .423/.595/1.115/1.710 with five home runs, while posting the second-highest OPS over a seven-game stretch in franchise history. 

However, Gasper was serving as the primary designated hitter against right-handed pitching, a role Anthony is expected to fill, while Jahmai Jones handled the position against lefties, with Anthony shifting to left in place of Jarren Duran. While Breslow and interim manager Chad Tracy could have continued to ride the hot hand with Gasper, it would have come at the expense of Jones or outfielder Eli White, both of whom would have had to be designated for assignment, available for any team to claim. 

Since arriving in Boston over the All-Star break, Jones has filled the “lefty-masher” role left behind by Rob Refsnyder’s free agent departure, hitting .438/.550/.813/1.363 in 22 games. Given the high number of left-handed hitters in the Red Sox lineup, Jones is set to be a crucial member of the Red Sox offense down the stretch. To risk losing him in order to capitalize on Gasper’s hot streak would be poor asset management. 

As for the 32-year-old White, he serves as the defensive replacement at all three outfield positions without seeing a drop-off from any of Boston’s Gold Glove-caliber outfielders, something Tracy has said he covets. He also possesses 99th percentile sprint speed and is likely going to be the Red Sox pinch runner in the playoffs, a role whose importance cannot be understated, especially in an offense that leans into small ball as much as Boston’s. 

As the only one of three demotion candidates with minor league options remaining, Gasper was the unfortunate casualty of the state of the Red Sox roster. 

Both Seigler and Gasper must spend at least 10 days with Worcester before they can be recalled, unless there is an injury.