Red Sox's Marcelo Mayer Responds To Alex Cora's Surprising Comment

On Friday, Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora revealed that Marcelo Mayer is not a lock to make the team, and that he needs to prove he can be a valuable player offensively.

Mayer had great defense last season, and with Caleb Durbin in the fold, the only question was whether he would play second base or third base. That was until Cora revealed that he needs to prove he is capable of helping the big league team.

"With Marcelo, like I said yesterday or two days ago, we'll give him the baton, but he has to run," Cora said on Friday, per MLB.com's Ian Browne. "You know, if he wants to be the starting second baseman in Cincinnati, there's a lot of work to do. It's not a given that he's second baseman or third baseman for this team. There's a lot of things that he needs to show us this spring, and we expect him to do that because he's that talented, but at the same time, there's a lot of guys here that can do the job."

Second base or third base is still a question mark surrounding Mayer, thanks to Durbin's arrival. Durbin proved he can be a solid offensive and defensive player last season, so he figures to take one of the second or third base jobs. Durbin has spent most of his time at third base this spring, but on Friday, Mayer got work at third.

Durbin was supposed to work at second base, but he was not present due to a root canal. When asked by reporters if Mayer thought things were trending toward him being the team's second baseman, he took the time to remind reporters that Cora said he is still fighting for a job.

“I don’t know," Mayer said on Friday, per Browne. "(Cora) made it clear that I'm still looking for a job. So wherever it is they need me to play, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Mayer will have to prove himself in games, but that may not be in the early part of the spring training schedule. Mayer noted that he still has some hurdles to clear before seeing game action.

"I think I won’t be playing for a few days," Mayer said, per Browne. "I've still got to take some live BPs, hit off the Trajekt, a little bit, kind of get my wrist exposed to that stuff. My wrist is in a great spot, but they want me to do that first before I jump into games.”