The Red Sox have agreed to a minor league deal with right-hander Matt Carasiti, per WEEI’s Rob Bradford. He’ll be invited to Major League Spring Training.
Carasiti, 29, last pitched in the Majors with the Mariners in 2019, when he tossed 9 2/3 innings and yielded five runs on 11 hits and five walks with 10 strikeouts. He’s also spent time in the big leagues with the Rockies, who drafted him in the sixth round back in 2012. The right-hander may have been in the mix for some innings with the Giants last year had he not required Tommy John surgery after a handful of Spring Training appearances.
Carasiti is a Connecticut native who brings to the Red Sox a career 3.15 ERA in 100 Triple-A innings, where he’s punched out 26.2 percent of the hitters he’s faced against a 9.9 percent walk rate. The righty also spent a year with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yakult Swallows in Japan, working to a 4.18 ERA in 94 2/3 frames. Given the timing of his Tommy John surgery, he probably won’t be ready to pitch come Spring Training, but he’ll give the Sox some Triple-A depth with a bit of big league experience once he’s ready to take the mound.
SoxRewl
Seems like he could complete for a backend bullpen spot when he’s recovered from TJS. Solid AAA numbers indicate he may have something decent to contribute.
expos771
holy moly
hopefully there no attandances this year
DarkSide830
what, will the fans in Worcester be unhappy?
deweybelongsinthehall
Heard elsewhere that Moreland is again being discussed. Bring back Mitchie Two-Bags!
LetGoOfMyLeg
Hey Ted, Perception is not reality.
AL34
High ERA on this guy on a minor league contract. Not a great contributor or a high upside on this guy. I just cannot figure out why he picked up Octavio and ate the contract. My buddy is a Yankees fan and said that he could not get anyone out last year with his slider. Without his slider his fastball is hitable
JoeBrady
Let me help you out here:
1-You never heard Carasiti before today.
2-No one in the world cares about how much minor league depth their team adds.
3-Octavio was a fine RP, but retired in 2013. The guy we acquired was Ottavino.
kingken67
I’d add to your list
4) Ottavino’s numbers last year were badly skewed by 2 horrible outings, 8/20 against TB where he gave up 3 runs in 2/3 of an inning and 9/7 when he gave up 6 runs without recording an out in an outing against Toronto. In both of those games , 2 of the runs he was charged with came in after he left the game on hits allowed by the pitcher who replaced him.
Outside of those 2 outings he allowed 3 runs in 17 2/3 innings, or a 1.53 ERA. To say he couldn’t get anyone out last year is a vast overstatement.
AL34
Sorry Auto correct, meant Ottavino. Very hittable last year even with that skewed outing. Yankees fans were not enamored with him last year. Maybe Red Sox feel they can fix him with all the other guys Bloom picked up
JoeBrady
I always thought that the NYY overpaid for Ottavino, but his FIP the past two years was 3.44 & 3.52. He was way overrated in 2019, and way underrated in 2020. Such is the nature of small sample sizes. Or, from another perspective, if one were to regress (and i doubt I used that correctly in this case) his BABIP to .300, then his OPSa for the last two years would be .652 & .622. Both well better than average.
kingken67
Even with the 2 bad outings in the numbers he allowed 20 hits and had 25 strikeouts in 18 1/3 innings pitched. What about those numbers screams “very hitable” to you? I think the take of Yankee fans is “let’s let the fact that he was basically given away to the Red Sox color our memories of him” here.
JoeBrady
Kind of, and that cuts both ways. The RS fans in here that hate the RS, think Ottavino is terrible, only because the RS acquired him. It’s not complicated once you take the emotions out of it. The NYY want to move him because they need cap space. His real value as a FA might’ve been $4-5M.
So the NYY can either cut a check for $3-4M, which is not as helpful as adding a prospect.. So they added German.. So it is up the viewer to determine if German’s FV is worth $3-4M.
AL34
Do you think we are a championship team with all Blooms pickups? How about a contending team ? How about a .500 team? Why don’t you admit it that this team is no better than a 4th place team! He picked up nothing but throwaways and released players. This team is going to be awful with a pitcher coming back from a year off EROD, Sale coming back from Tommy John Surgery, not due back to probably June or July. Eovaldi always one pitch away from disaster. This pitching staff has more questions than answers to it.
Dorothy_Mantooth
They are a .500 team this year with upside. There’s no way JDM & Benny repeat their dreadful 2020 seasons. Garrett Richards was an excellent addition to the starting lineup and E-Rod will be back too. Ottavino is a sneaky good pickup. One more impact addition to the bullpen (Colome, Kela, Rosenthal) and the Red Sox could win 90 games this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bloom adds Rich Hill to the mix too. This team is going to surprise a lot of people this year; don’t be surprised if they sneak into a WC if playoff expansion is accepted.
rusty.coqbern
Minor league depth is important for teams in Boston’s current position (TB makes massive use of threat depth).
KD17
How many rings do the Rays have? Boston shouldn’t give a crap about the minors except to graduate guys to the majors and trade guys to fill holes. Stockpiling mediocre players isn’t a winning strategy. Bloom is missing the mark so far. Hey, but it’s only been a year and a half. Why should anyone be evaluated on such a short time period?
Only answer is fans don’t like losing and 2021 will resemble 2020 in Boston. Best case, over 500 by 2022 if Sale is fully recovered. Without star power being added, just so-so minor league players, the Red Sox are doomed to linger at the bottom. Can anyone name a player that Bloom paid big money for during his career? The best player he nabbed in TB was Glasnow and he was still under control. so no, Bloom has yet to bring an established star talent to any team he has worked for.
Red Sox fans need to take a reality check. Don’t be thinking big with Bloom, think lots of minor league players displacing current minor league players and not graduating to the majors for several years. The interesting fact about building minor league depth is that having 5 average 2Bs doesn’t help your MLB team unless you can trade them and if you trade them like DD did you get criticized for ruining the farm system. What an ugly catch 22 for the GM!!
Winning teams seek star power not minor league depth. Heck, even the self proclaimed genius Friedman had no rings until Bloom gave him the star power he needed to win. Does anyone see anything like that happening in the Red Sox future? I sure don’t. Set expectation realistically by focusing on early draft picks. Maybe in 2020 if it takes time for Sale to get in the groove and E-Rod breaks down as is expected coming off his COVID issue the Red Sox can draft before Baltimore in 2022.
SteveZ
Another pitcher recovering from TJ. Carasiti will fit right in with Boston.
hitman32
As a BoSox fan I am still waiting for some real value to be added to the rotation & bullpen!!
AL34
I agree with you. Way too much “High Upside” cheap contract guys!
hitman32
CHAIM BLOOM…. come on man!!
Starting Pitchers: (available)
Taijuan Walker, Jake Odorizzi, Brett Anderson & Julio Teheran all are under 4.10 lifetime era, all are under age 34
Relief Pitchers: (available)
Roberto Osuna, Alex Colome, Trevor Rosenthal, Shane Greene & Jeremy Jeffress – all right handed, under 4.50 lifetime era & all under age 34
Justin Wilson, Andrew Chafin, Jose Alvarez, Sean Doolittle – all lefties, under 4.50 lifetime era & 34 or under in age.
JoeBrady
Taijuan Walker-I’d be interested, but had a 4.56 FIP last year
Jake Odorizzi-I like Odorizzi, but MLB-R was predicting $39M/3. Given that he was hurt last year, that feels rich
Brett Anderson-Solid arm, but he has 2 seasons in the past 10 years in shich he’s thrown than 83 innings. I don’t think anyone is more injured than him.
Julio Teheran-Underrated, imo. Poor peripherals, but generally runs a 3.80-4.00 ERA with a very dependable innings average. He was my #2 choice after Richards. My guess is the RS chose Richards because his 2020 was much, much better.
Mlb1971
AL34 thinks Gerritt Cole and Mike Trout should be who the Red Sox go after. Lol. Lol
JoeBrady
It’s LOL when folks like AL34 are involved, but most of the RS writers, except for Abraham & Merloni, think the same way.
hitman32
@JoeBrady
IMO…I would like to see Odorizzi in the BoSox rotation but I agree 3/$39M is a bit over priced, so with that said I would like to see Taijuan Walker which would be more in Bloom’s spending range. Then for him yo get Roberto Osuna -RH (closing exp) & Justin Wilson -LH for our bullpen.
But the wait goes on….
And if he is gonna trade Beni then get it done for prospects or whatever the discussions have been about & sign Rosario or Marisnick (both have CF exp) for our OF. Beni had a tough year so this yr is a 50/50 shot. It all adds up to being a numbers game, kind of like a small market teams play!!
AL34
No just somebody who can help this team not cheap high upside guys
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
We are going to go far with a career -.6 WAR player.
JoeBrady
He will be in AAA. Are you really that concerned about our minor league record?
Mlb1971
Joe – they do not understand the concept of AAA, you are wasting your time with people so obtuse.
JoeBrady
I’m not wasting my time. I like to make fun of make-believe RS fans that think they are clever by criticizing every RS move. It might be simple-minded, but I like running them off.
gibba192471
So, if you are so worldly, savvy, and baseball knowledgeable, why aren’t you working in the front office of a MLB team? I know why. You’re not any of that you’re just like everyone else on here. A fan with an opinion that means nothing. Stop trying to belittle others that know a little more or a little less than you. You just sound like a egotistical moron!
InPolesWeTrust
This guys has tons of friends.
KD17
gibba192471 – OUTSTANDING COMMENTS. When seeking an intelligent commenter on this site you need to sift through the trolls. Be prepared for the pack to attack you now that you didn’t speak kindly to pack-leader JoeBrady. He’s not even a Red Sox fan..