The Red Sox have made room for lefty Brian Johnson on their 40-man roster by designating righty Dalier Hinojosa for assignment, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal tweets. Johnson is taking Clay Buchholz’s spot on the active roster as Buchholz deals with a flexor strain.
The Red Sox signed Hinojosa to a $4.25MM minor league contract following the 2013 season after he pitched for many years in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, but the 29-year-old has struggled to make an impact in Boston’s system. He’s spent most of the past two seasons with Triple-A Pawtucket, tossing 103 2/3 innings of relief with a decent 3.56 ERA and 9.0 K/9, but with a too-high 4.3 BB/9. Still, it looked like he might be able to find a role in middle relief in the big leagues. He appeared in one game with the Red Sox this season, pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings but walking three batters and hitting another.
Somebody like Detroit will probably pick him up. I honestly have no idea why they refuse to DFA Breslow. Hinojosa could do the job just as good and he comes with upside.
Breslow is a lefty and Hinojosa is a righty. The Sox have been adamant about carrying 3 lefties in the pen. It is agreed that Breslow is quite bad, but until there is a lefty pen replacement for him, he’ll probably avoid being DFA’d. We thought it was going to be Edwin Escobar who might replace him, but he has essentially imploded at Pawtucket.