IMPACT: Boston Red Sox PREPARE to REINTEGRATE Ceddanne Rafaela—Key Postseason ROLE at Stake

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The Red Sox have 12 games left, and one of their best players is about to come back. But Seán Raffaella's return creates a much bigger question than simply where he hits in the lineup. [upbeat music] You are Locked On Red Sox, the daily Boston Red Sox podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, and welcome to Locked On Red Sox, your daily Boston Red Sox podcast. I'm your host, Gabby Maljanian, and today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Happy Tuesday. Welcome to the show. Red Sox had an off day yesterday, so it is now crunch time. And because they didn't play last night, we talk more about postseason stuff, what the roster could look like, and who could be on that postseason roster. So I'm gonna be talking a little bit about the Red Sox offensive profile. What do they need to answer still offensively? What are their strengths? Gonna be talking about all of that. Patrick Sandoval auditioning for the postseason roster and the kind of difference that Seán Raffaella will make upon his return. So 12 games left in the regular season. 12. That's it. The Red Sox literally sit at 82 and 68 right now, and are sitting comfortably in a playoff spot. And we're at the point now where every game from here on out is telling Chad Tracy something about what this team should look like when October starts, like who plays, who starts, who comes off the bench, who gets the baseball, who gets left off the postseason roster. And on today's show, I'm gonna be talking about a player who Red Sox fans have been waiting to see back in center field in Seán Raffaella, who is now eligible to return. And assuming everything continues trending in the right direction with his quad, this is potentially a huge addition, because people sometimes forget how good Seán has actually been this year. Before going on the injured list, .282 batting average, .317 on-base percentage, .443 slugging, .760 OPS, 16 home runs, 70 RBIs, and 17 stolen bases, and 5.4 wins above replacement. Essentially that means that this isn't just a guy who makes some cool catches in center field for the Red Sox, this is a guy who's been one of the most valuable players on the roster because 5 and a half, so if you round that up to six, or if you wanna go exact with 5.4 and round it down to five, either way, he's getting the Red Sox five to six more wins than a replacement player would. So that is important information, and a lot of that is because of his versatility, because he can do a lot of different things, and that helps