It's actually hard to do (1), because he's played so little SS, stretched out over such a long time: he doesn't have anywhere close to the sample you'd need to say anything with any confidence.1) I don't remember bad defense from Holt. Could you show me the numbers?
2) I wish there were a thread with only news about X. I keep checking this only to find discussions of who may or may not make up for his absence.
In any case, what numbers we have are mixed. Ultimate Zone Rating (in tiny, meaningless samples) thinks he was okay, then awful, then great! Defensive Runs Saved hates him. In terms of raw numbers, in his Red Sox career — he never played SS above the minors for Pittsburgh — he has seen 64 balls hit to his zone, and recorded outs on 52 of them. That's a slightly better rate than Bogaerts, generally seen as meh-average with the glove. But then, it's also only about a month's worth of SS play, spread out over five seasons.
Tzu-Wei Lin is a better player than Marrero — outside of one torrid season for the Sea Dogs. Lin is also 3/6 with 2 BB on the young Pawtucket season.And while Marrero is good with the glove, he's useless otherwise. The pining over a AAAA utility player is a bit over the top, no?
If Bogaerts has to go on the DL, Tzu-Wei Lin is just as good a fill-in as Marrero would be.
My move here would be to call up Two-Way, if Bogaerts hits the DL.