Few players on the Boston Red Sox faded into the background this season more than infielder Vaughn Grissom.
Following an underwhelming first year in Boston after the high-profile Chris Sale trade with the Atlanta Braves, Grissom quickly lost his grip on the second-base job, getting overtaken by top prospect Kristian Campbell. He spent the entire season in Triple-A, so it wasn’t exactly shocking when Boston dealt him to the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday.
In return, the Red Sox received a lottery-ticket type prospect, former Arizona State outfielder Isaiah Jackson — and clearing a 40-man roster spot was nearly as valuable. For Grissom, though, heading to an Angels club with plenty of room on its depth chart offers something of a fresh start.
On Wednesday, Grissom opened up about his reaction to the trade and the unfortunate truths of his time in Boston, which concluded with only 31 major league games played and negative-0.2 bWAR.
“As much as I wanted it to work out in Boston, it just wasn’t the reality. And I’m happy for my opportunity with the Angels,” Grissom said, per Tim Healey of The Boston Globe. “I learned a lot, which was cool. I learned a lot about myself. But I’m definitely happy to be on my way to the Angels.”
Grissom’s opportunity with the Red Sox was once wide-open too, but he injured his hamstring in spring training last year, then everything went awry. He caught a nasty virus of some sort that caused him to lose 14 pounds during his rehab, then never got where he needed to be from a physical perspective for the rest of the year.
Boston would have had to designate Grissom for assignment at some point during the offseason if they couldn’t find a trade for him, so getting even a relatively unknown prospect like Jackson was a win. But Grissom was once seen as a Top-100 prospect talent, so he’s got a chance to make Boston regret his exit.
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