Roman Anthony and Trevor Story greeted Boston Red Sox fans with two hits each, including a double apiece, following their activation on August 30, a positive sign for both players. But in order to activate them, the Red Sox had to make the tough decision to option Anthony Seigler and Mickey Gasper, two players who have had massive moments for the Sox this year.
Gasper and Seigler are ineligible to be called up on September 1 as the roster expands to 28 players, but the former has already returned to Boston after Willson Contreras was placed on the injured list. Before the Sox's August 31 game against the Seattle Mariners, interim manager Chad Tracy announced that Isiah Kiner-Falefa will most likely be one of the players called up tomorrow (via Ari Alexander of 7News Boston).
Kiner-Falefa has been on the injured list since June 19 with forearm inflammation. He's logged seven hits, including a double (.241/.371/.276 slash line), three RBI, three stolen bases, seven walks and eight strikeouts over nine rehab games with the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox.
One more player will come up to join Kiner-Falefa and the rest of the Red Sox, but it can't be Seigler. It also can't be relievers Raymond Burgos or Wyatt Olds, who were both optioned between August 29-30.
Red Sox will call Isiah Kiner-Falefa up as one September call-up and, most likely, a pitcher as the other
If the Sox go the pitching route — which would be a good idea, given the exhaustion setting in their rotation — they could call Tyler Samaniego back up as a bullpen reinforcement. Samaniego started the season in Worcester but came up to Boston soon enough and posted a 2.66 ERA and 1.48 WHIP over 20.1 innings. He's clocked a 4.22 ERA and 1.53 WHIP over 32 frames with the WooSox.
Boston could bring up John Brebbia, who signed with the Red Sox organization as a free agent on August 7. He pitched 4.1 ugly innings for the Colorado Rockies in the majors this year, but he's looked better with the WooSox, having given up four runs on 11 hits with 11 strikeouts and six walks over 10.2 innings.
If the Red Sox plan to bring up two hitters, they could summon Romy Gonzalez for another go in the big leagues. He slashed .185/.264/.308 with 21 strikeouts over 19 games with the Red Sox this year. He's looked much better since his option to Triple-A and is batting .333/.397/.500 over 15 games since August 7.
Boston could go really wild by bringing up top prospect Franklin Arias or former top prospect Kristian Campbell — but it probably won't. Arias only reached Triple-A on July 24 and the Red Sox just traded Marcelo Mayer for a reliever as a consequence of calling him up too early. Campbell has spent an entire season in Triple-A and has only begun to find his swing in the last two months or so. Throwing him in with the big league team so soon could be risky.
The Red Sox are most likely to call up a pitcher beside Kiner-Falefa to bring a spark to their exhausted pitching staff, and either Samaniego or Brebbia would be good options.
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