Red Sox take scraps from Mets and Rays to bolster depth

The Boston Red Sox have been obliterated by injuries. They lost Lucas Giolito and Trevor Story, two of their highest-paid players, for the season. Giolito didn't pitch at all, Story played in just eight games.

As if those season-ending injuries weren't damaging enough, the Red Sox currently have Triston Casas, Vaughn Grissom, Masataka Yoshida, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, and Garrett Whitlock all on the IL. Despite all of the injury adversity they've had to deal with, the Red Sox entered play on Wednesday with a 17-13 record.

The Red Sox deserve credit for their strong start even with the injuries, but eventually, it'll catch up to them. With that in mind, the Red Sox acquired some much-needed depth from the New York Mets and Tampa Bay Rays.

Red Sox look to Mets and Rays to acquire much-needed infield depth

Soon after the Red Sox acquired Garrett Cooper in a deal with the Chicago Cubs, Boston signed Dominic Smith who opted out of his minor league deal with the Rays. Smith gives the Red Sox some much-needed first base depth behind Cooper in light of the major Casas injury.

Smith didn't do much as a starter for the Washington Nationals last season, slashing .254/.326/.366 with 12 home runs and 46 RBI but he's a strong defender at first base and has been roughly a league average hitter throughout his seven-year career. It's a nice add at a moment of need for this Red Sox team and it comes cheap as well.

While his MLB track record isn't atrocious, Smith has just a .712 OPS in 21 games played for AAA Durham in the Rays system. Whatever replaces Bobby Dalbec works, I guess.

In addition to the Smith addition, the Red Sox pulled off a minor trade with the Mets, acquiring the recently DFA'd Zack Short in exchange for cash considerations. This was the exact same trade Boston just made to acquire Cooper. Like Smith, Short is known mostly for his glove and has played five positions in his MLB career including three of the four infield positions. He had just nine at-bats with the Mets this season, recording one hit.

He is just a .172 hitter in his 462 MLB plate appearances, but had a strong Spring Training with the Mets and can't be much worse than David Hamilton, who has struggled.

These are far from the game-changing additions that Red Sox fans would've hoped for, but Boston's front office does deserve credit for being proactive and attempting to replenish some depth when the team desperately needs it. Perhaps if Boston is still in the hunt around the deadline we'll see some more aggressive moves from Craig Breslow and Co.