Red Sox's Alex Cora Dishes On Whether Boston Needs Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer

The Boston Red Sox look like a team in need of a spark. And they have two potential flints sitting in Triple-A.

Top prospects Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer both look ready for the big leagues. Anthony is rocking a fantastic .428 on-base percentage, while Mayer is supplying the power with a .500 slugging percentage and 39 RBI, which is only two less than major league leader Aaron Judge.

The Red Sox have a logjam of position players as things stand, but Anthony and Mayer are both obvious building blocks of the future starting lineup. And coming off a sweep, with the Red Sox sitting a game below .500 at 22-23, one might reasonably think it's time for a shakeup involving one or both of the kids.

However, manager Alex Cora doesn't think it's time just yet. Cora had a roundabout response about whether or not the team might need either Anthony, Mayer, or both on the roster to help turn things around.

“No, we need to execute pitches,” Cora said Wednesday on WEEI. “I think that’s the most important thing, especially in the later part of the game. There’s been a lot of damage done against us. You can go to the series against Minnesota, right? We lost that one. We had a chance to get them two out of three, even sweep them, right? And we didn’t execute pitches.”

“Obviously, there’s a lot of talk about what some of the guys are doing in the minor leagues, right? And obviously, they’re really good at what they do. But we have some good players here, and they’re doing their job. I think defense can improve. And obviously the pitching part of it, especially when we have the lead late in games.”

The Red Sox are going to have to cut some key clubhouse figures out of playing time to get Anthony and Mayer on the roster, and that might ruffle some feathers. Outfielder Ceddanne Rafaela (and even All-Star Jarren Duran if he keeps slumping) and shortstop Trevor Story are certainly watching their backs.

The longer the Red Sox struggle to stay above .500, the louder the calls for Mayer and Anthony will grow.