Red Sox Bolster Lineup By Signing Left-Handed Bat Amid Carousel Of Roster Changes

The Boston Red Sox have refused to show signs of weakness despite suffering a plethora of significant injuries to begin the season.

Boston enters May with a 17-13 record, good for third place in the American League East -- just one game behind the New York Yankees and 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles.

With that said, the bottom of the roster is incredibly underwhelming and was overdue for some changes. Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow finally has decided to overhaul the infield to kick off a new month.

"Free-agent first baseman Dom Smith and the Boston Red Sox are in agreement on a major-league contract, pending physical, according to sources familiar with the deal," FanSided's Robert Murray reported Wednesday.

Smith hit .254 with 34 extra-base hits including 12 home runs, 46 RBIs and a .692 OPS (93 OPS+) in 153 games for the Washington Nationals last season.

The left-handed slugger will be paired as a platoon option with Garrett Cooper. Smith posted .263/.338/.398 slash line against right-handed pitching in 2023.

The 28-year-old's acquisition not only all but guarantees the departure of Bobby Dalbec to Triple-A Worcester, but is not the only transaction of the day.

The Red Sox traded for utility man Zack Short to switch up the infield depth and will be just days away from promoting second baseman Vaughn Grissom -- who currently is battling the flu. Those moves would imply that the trio of Dalbec, David Hamilton and Enmanuel Valdez will all be back in WooSox uniforms by the end of the week.