{"id":110080,"date":"2024-03-25T18:34:31","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T18:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/?p=110080"},"modified":"2024-03-25T18:35:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T18:35:32","slug":"red-sox-cut-ties-with-former-30-hr-all-star-slugger-hong-nhung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/red-sox-cut-ties-with-former-30-hr-all-star-slugger-hong-nhung\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Cut Ties With Former 30-HR All-Star Slugger"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<p>Getty\u00a0Red Sox signee CJ Cron was released on Sunday<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1241110638-e1711389853309.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Red Sox Cut Ties With Former 30-HR All-Star Slugger - Heavy.com\" width=\"590\" height=\"332\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It was only two years ago that first baseman C.J. Cron belted 29 home runs and knocked in 102 RBIs, earning his first-ever All-Star nod while suiting up for the\u00a0Rockies. That came on the heels of a year in which he hit 28 homers with 92 RBIs, and four years after he whacked 30 homers for the\u00a0Rays. Cron can hit, and hit with power, and he appeared to be a solid bet to at least make the\u00a0Red Sox\u00a0as a bench player when he was signed by the team on March 3.<\/p>\n<p>Alas, Cron opted out of the minor-league deal he signed on Friday when it was clear he\u2019d been beaten out as the backup first baseman\u00a0to Triston Casas\u00a0by Bobby Dalbec. Over the weekend, the team released Cron altogether, rather than seeking to re-sign him after the opt-out.<\/p>\n<p>The Red Sox did say they\u2019re keeping pitcher Joely Rodriguez, as the Boston Globe\u2019s Alex Speier\u00a0announced on Twitter\/X: \u201cJoely Rodriguez has made the Red Sox roster, a decision punctuated with a joyful shout from the lefty in the clubhouse. CJ Cron, meanwhile, has been released.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"2f5cc50c2db72de880866b1e7aec3ce2\">\n<article>Joely Rodriguez has made the Red Sox roster, a decision punctuated with a joyful shout from the lefty in the clubhouse. CJ Cron, meanwhile, has been released.<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Bobby Dalbec Getting Backup Role?<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s an unfortunate turn of events for Cron, who was favored to keep a spot with the big-league team because he could not be optioned to Class AAA Worcester, where Dalbec still has an option left. At 28 years old and having spent four years in Boston, Dalbec obviously did not want to return to the minors. He won\u2019t have to, after\u00a0batting .255 with three homers\u00a0and nine RBI in 21 games this Spring.<\/p>\n<p>Dalbec will be the backup to Casas and, barring injury, is likely to have a limited role this season. He is primarily a first baseman, but can DH or play a little third base, though he has logged only 22 career starts there.<\/p>\n<p>Dalbec spent much of 2023 in gaining minor-league experience playing the outfield. Dalbec played only 21 games in Boston and 114 in Worcester, as the Red Sox have tried to figure out a way to keep him on the team even with Casas playing first base as much as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Manager Alex Cora addressed that earlier in the offseason,\u00a0per NESN.com: \u201cI think versatility is coming into play. I think the outfield play we like. He did a good job in Triple-A. Obviously, the configuration of the stadium is different in Triple-A but he did a good job. And we need a right-handed bat that can play in the corners and be versatile. So he has a shot to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>CJ Cron \u2018Felt Good\u2019 in Spring Training<\/h2>\n<p>Cron, though, is strictly a first baseman, and has never played a game at third base or in the outfield. Though his slugging history is intriguing, the Red Sox needed him to do more than just back up Casas and occasionally man the DH slot, and that\u2019s just not in his skillset.<\/p>\n<p>Cron was limited to just 71 games last year with the\u00a0Rockies\u00a0and\u00a0Angels, mostly because of a back injury, and was not 100% when he was on the field.\u00a0He hit .248\u00a0with 12 home runs. It\u2019s hard to believe he will remain a free agent for very long, given his recent power history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just timing and playing the game,\u201d Cron said early this month,\u00a0per MLB.com. \u201cYou haven\u2019t done it in so long \u2014 just on your legs and getting into the rhythm of the game. Defense, offense, it\u2019s all just kind of a rhythm thing, and we\u2019ll figure it all out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cron was asked about his back injury, and said, \u201cFelt good. Felt a lot better than it did last year, that\u2019s for sure. Hopefully we can keep this thing under control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, yes. But he\u2019ll control it somewhere else, it seems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty\u00a0Red Sox signee CJ Cron was released on Sunday It was only two years ago that first baseman C.J. Cron belted 29 home runs and knocked in&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":110082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}