The Red Sox have designated right-hander Marcus Walden for assignment, Steve Hewitt of the Boston Herald tweets. They did so to make room for the signing of utilityman Marwin Gonzalez, who’s now officially part of the team.
Walden, formerly with the Blue Jays, Athletics and Twins, signed with the Red Sox before 2017 and broke into the bigs with the club a year later. He was an effective piece of Boston’s bullpen from 2018-19 – a 92 2/3-inning run in which he averaged around 94 mph on his fastball, pitched to a 3.79 ERA/3.91 SIERA, forced grounders at a 54.3 percent clip, and logged strikeout and walk rates of 23.1 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively.
Walden amassed a whopping 78 innings in 2019, so the Red Sox were likely expecting another workhorse effort in last year’s truncated campaign. Instead, though, the 32-year-old threw a mere 13 1/3 frames over 15 appearances, in which he posted a horrific 9.45 ERA/5.67 SIERA with a 14.1 percent strikeout rate and a 12.7 percent walk rate. A dip in velocity (92.7 mph average fastball) factored into his decline.
As poorly as he pitched last year, Walden is due to earn a league-minimum salary this season – his final pre-arb campaign – and he has two minor league options remaining. It’s conceivable another team will take a chance on him in hopes that he’ll bounce back to his 2018-19 form.
I thought he was good lol, im dumb
Edit: Yeah looked at his baseball reference, I am even more dumb. His other seasons weren’t bad tho. Someone could take a flyer on him
lol
Probably the Reds
Angels.
Hope not, for his sake. The last thing he needs is TJS at this point.
Perhaps it’s someone who’s reading this… perhaps it’s you!
I too presumed he was too good to be DFA’d… Texas or Detroit should grab him.
No. Boston’s catchers suck.
Brutal.
I wonder if Marcus is related to Jordan Walden?
Damn, he seemed like a bounce back candidate
Interesting. Walden was very decent for the Sox from 2018-19, but was horrendous last season. I feel like they would have held onto him if they weren’t facing a bit of a roster crunch, as a depth piece if nothing else. But there are younger, more promising pitchers coming down the pipeline, and they apparently felt like they had enough depth to let him go. Godspeed, Marcus.
He wasn’t even all that horrendous last year. He had 2 horrible outings that totaled 9 earned runs in all of 1 inning pitched. Absent those 2 outings his numbers were right in line with his other 2 seasons.
Yeah and it was a shortened season with covid. I think a lot of mlb teams are going regret similar moves based on 2020*.
Obviously he wasn’t as bad as his 9.45 ERA, but Statcast had him with an expected ERA of 8.72 and my own metric, based on K, BB, Exit Velo, HardHit%, and Barrell%, had him as 6.95. His average EV was 93,4, worst on the team.
And he 6 bad games. His last appearance was on 9/22; he faced 6 batters, allowed an average EV of 101.7, gave up 2 singles, a double, and a homer, and was charged with only 1 ER.
Eric – Walden was very bad last year as his stats show (and thank you)! The question is whether going forward will he be the 2018-2019 version or will he be the 2020 version?
The Red Sox obviously feel they have better options going forward. I believe the 40-man now has 14 remaining pre-Bloom players remaining with 26 new arrivals since he has arrived. The Red Sox averaged about 80 percent core player turnover between titles. He has more work to do.
So when he wasn’t bad he was good? Got it.
Once they brought in Andreise he became somewhat expendable. Both are long men/ 6th starter types
Red Sox will have always be facing a roster crunch with Bloom calling the shots.
Bloom subscribes to the new age way of configuring your bullpen: high velocity, multiple inning guys that can pitch in a lot of different situations. Walden seems like a guy that can thrive in that situation so I’m not sure why he’s being let go. I’m honestly really confused with his bullpen moves, besides the Ottavino heist. There were dozens of great relievers on the market that could’ve been had for cheap or even on minors deals but we passed. Oh well. Hope he’s successful elsewhere.
Just keeping with the theme of non-news being pushed out every few hours. It’s gotten so bad that they’ll post on janitorial staff being hired and fired.
This is a transaction on an MLB transaction site. There are only so many moves teams make during the offseason.
What should they be writing about?
I’m a Red Sox fan, so I opened this instantly. I’m sure other big baseball fans can appreciate an article like this because they would want the same news if someone was DFA’d on their roster.
Just don’t comment if you have nothing positive to say. As a huge sports fan, I love this app and think the level of detail is awesome. And everyone I have recommended this app to has had nothing but positive feedback.
MLB experience, two options remaining, will latch on somewhere. In fact the Angels really need some optionable relief help. Is he worth booting Kyle Keller, Luke Bard, or Jose Quijada off the 40 man?
Sorry folks, parks closed. Moose out front shoulda told ya
I would of preferred to cut Brewer or Brice before him.
Walden had more success than Brewer in 2018-2019. I would have preferred Brewer be cut, but he may yet as the RS still need to open two more spots.
Yeah Walden is better than either of them
I’d rather have Walden than Andriese but that’s splitting hairs and may not fit into their plan seeing as how they signed Matt as a free agent. Braiser would be the other guy on the chopping block imo. I like braiser but he’s nothing special. They’ve done a good job trimming the fat this off-season. There was a lot of it, that I saw game in and game out last season pitching wise. I have no interest watching hart start another game but I would if I had to and wouldn’t like it the whole time
Andriese has more experience starting. And is better than Walden. Brasier was solid last year.
Agreed on andriese which is why I mention their plan. but I will say Andriese starting isn’t the answer to any team’s question imo. Braiser was solid but I see him and Walden as interchangeable. Walden was solid the year before, whereas braiser was shakey. they’re older than brice and brewer which is why I have them at the top of the cut list
I like when they sum up a pitcher, they start with average MPH like that means something lol
Too bad. He’s not without talent.
If Marcus advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
Baseballpun- you sound like a fortune cookie….
Maybe they can flip him for a young prospect.
i like this for the Phillies
Bloom is making it look like unless you are a superstar, you have to have been signed or traded for by him. Otherwise someone else stands to get the credit, and apparently he can’t have that! All the second tier players from Dombrowski, or Cherington era are pretty much history!
Well my guess they got him into camp and didn’t like what they saw…. two good years and then he tanked last year ..
Badco44 – I agree. The RS have about 70 players in camp, so DFAs need to happen to clear spots on the 40-man, they have too many pitchers for the AAA roster. More cuts are coming and it may be who looks productive regardless of past performance.
While obviously he had a dismal 2020, I don’t think this was the guy to DFA. You’re going to give Colten Brewer and Austin Brice another chance even though they’ve never had good numbers in the bigs but DFA Walden who, yes, had a crap year but also had very solid numbers in 2018 and 2019? Just 2 years ago he was one of the most reliable guys on the pitching staff and you’re just going to get rid of him? I mean I guess this is why Bloom makes the big bucks and I don’t but I just don’t understand it.
See my comment. He went all put in 2019 throwing the slider a ton, knowing it might hurt him in the long run, and it seems to have done just that.
Could be a useful arm for the Phils, I can see Dave making a move.
I’m surprised they DFA’d Walden over the new Schreiber guy they recently picked up. Their options to DFA were: Brice, Payamps, Brewer, Schreiber, Bazardo or Walden.
The Red Sox are carrying 4 catchers on their 40 man roster so I figured they might DFA one of them but it brought to my attention one of the quietest and possibly best moves Bloom has made so far: trading Chris Mazza & Jeffery Springs to Tampa for Catcher Ronaldo Hernandez and another IF prospect. Ronaldo Hernandez is only 23 years old, has mashed the ball in the minors and has thrown out well over 40% of base stealers. I have no idea how Bloom pried him loose from Tampa in return for those lousy pitchers, but it was a heck of a move. Hernandez has a decent shot of becoming a legit starting catcher with a well above average arm & bat. Well done!
Agreed, that was a fantastic move by Bloom. And that is coming from somebody who has been pretty disappointed in him so far. The Ottavino trade was also a great move, so hopefully this is the start of… something.
Always appreciate your takes Mantooth. RE the Hernandez deal, many Rays fans claimed Hernandez was no longer the catcher of their future due to an alleged downward trend. Not sure that makes sense to me, seems like Bloom spent next to nothing and got quite something. Personally, I see Vazquez’s future replacement (hopefully a long ways off).
Jxdawg – I agree if you look at Hernandez and evaluate him based on age and performance you COULD think he’ll be great. The problem with using below AA numbers to project is the quality of pitching is not comparable to MLB or even AA or AAA pitchers. If a guy struggles at Hi-A like Downs and then plays 12 games against a weak pitching staff at AA and does well most folks completely discount is blah performances at ROK, A and Hi-A.
Hernandez did the opposite. He was excellent at ROK and less excellent at A and then average at Hi-A. So as the pitching improved he dropped off. Since we all genuflect when TB does just about anything because they have such outstanding comprehension of metrics I think people should ask themselves why they gave up on him. My belief is they saw the downward trend EARLY in his minor league performance and found something that made him not worthy of keeping.
Like Downs, I am very skeptical of Hernandez because his numbers tell a story that suggests he won’t be a regular in the majors. Remember, a franchise ONLY wants minor league player that have two types of value: 1 = The minor league player adds value eventually on the MLB roster, hopefully as a starter not a back-up and 2 – The prospect has sufficient value to bring back a need MLB resource to help the team win that year.
Both Downs and Hernandez may never make the contribution to the Red Sox major league team that gives them their prospect value.. Those are the players you trade for things you need immediately or for other minor league players that DO project to help the major league team. Even though many don’t like Chavis and I’m sensing many don’t like Dalbec as much as they should because of his strike out rate, both players have made in to the major league team and have contributed. They are far more valuable than Downs and Hernandez because they accomplished the goal of all minor league players, they helped their major league team win.
If Hernandez can re-establish his hitting at AA or AAA then he might become the next catcher after Vazquez but until he does, he’s just unfulfilled potential.
Kd – arrogant as Ob ana, but dumb as Sleepy Joe
Yeah Dorothy it was a great move. Bloom took advantage of the Rays depth. Regarding John they may want to see what he has before giving up on him. That’s why they claimed him. I think they keep Bazardo his minors numbers look solid.
Sox have only 3 C on the 40-man. Chris Herrmann signed a minor-league deal.
I don’t like this. Could see Walden being good somewhere else and Gonzalez hitting a buck fifty. You can never have enough pitching.
Why not DFA Payamps again?
I’ve had them DFA’ing Walden at some point all winter. He threw his slider 37% of the time in 2019 and I recall reading an interview where he said that he had always resisted throwing it that much because of the strain on his arm, but it was time to see how good he could be if he did. Well, in 2020 he lost 0.9″ of downward movement, 1.3″ of horizontal, and 1.1 mph, and it got hit very hard. And I looked up those numbers because you could see it. Other teams are likely to .be skeptical of his health.
Another American DFA’d yet the recently well traveled Payamps is on the 40 man roster. 16 of 40 man roster are international players. Wondering if American baseball players have become that bad at the game or if we are catering to someone’s demands and desires. Hmmm….Franchy better payoff or else RS nation will be pissed
Can you be anymore racist towards international players? Even tho the best player on the team is international. What a shame bud.
theodore glass – So you haven’t observed the same minor league personnel pattern as soxshortstop so he must be racist? If he noticed the opposite trend and commented would that be racist too? Could it be that soxshortstop has observed a current trend in the Red Sox organization and that it could be a valid observation being driven by ownership in hopes of diverting people from realizing just how racist ownership is? They did give away their two best minority players. Maybe the new trend is a martketing ploy to slow the talk about the lack of diversity in the Red Sox organization.
Also, when did Sale become an international player? He’s the best player on the team based on all-star selections and likelihood of HOF honors.. Many would argue JD is second best based on his career. The best player from 2019 was shipped to LA and if you should be calling anyone a racist it should be ownership or Bloom depending on who CHOSE to give away Mookie and Price to LA.
Think about it. The top two black players (a minority race) are given away below market value and ownership claims it’s a money issue when they’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars. Now, to cover up their lack of diversity they hire a black female coach, an unqualified minority manager who got convicted of cheating and accused of cheating with a second organization and now the make-up of the minor leagues is trending toward minorities. Couldn’t that just be a marketing department doing it’s job by advising ownership of the optics? It sure seems that way to me.
Think about a generational player (who happens to be a minority) wanting to leave an organization that historically has been accused of a lack of diversity. If you were trying to control public opinion by diverting the diversity issue to a financial issue wouldn’t that change the obvious optics? Nobody has cried out racism despite the best two black players being given away. Why is that? Whoever creates the public image for this ownership group has done an outstanding job diverting the public from their huge diversity issue.
Why does observing a trend have to be racist act? Why can’t it simply be a baseball fan observing that things are changing. You’ve heard about the concept of reverse discrimination, right? It’s just as real as racism. Observing reverse discrimination when it happens and speaking out about it isn’t an act of racism. Shouting out that it is, now that’s an act of racism!
KD17 you hit out of the park on to Lansdowne.
More kiddy17 bs….80 years old and fading
Mlbtra – There is only one person that addresses me with the kiddy17 bs phrase when they can’t come up with something intelligent to say so if XXX1971 has changed his moniker, great he’s no longer embarrassing a Boston great. If this is somebody related to him or related to theodore glass, you might want to reconsider responding when you have nothing of value to say. It’s your right to spout comments like you did but you should be very embarrassed that after much thought that was all you could figure out to say. It’s both sad and pathetic, but feel free to throw the insults when nothing intelligent comes to mind. I really don’t care.
For the record, I’m not that old!! But even if I was I wouldn’t be insulted by someone calling me old. It happens to everyone eventually!
Just because Sale is the most accomplished doesn’t mean he’s the best. It’s clearly Xander.
Theodore – Xander is an excellent player. It’s not an insult to him for Sale to be considered a far more likely player to make the HOF.
The ‘best’ player is a vague description and subject to interpretation. I assumed you meant the one with the best skill set or career. That has to be Sale since he is considered to have been a top 5 pitcher for nearly a decade. Bogey is one of many at his position with great careers but few people have rated him ahead of Lindor, Seager, Story, T Turner or Correa during the last decade and now with Tatis, Bichette and Anderson are joining the elite he’s never going to be consider the number 1 shortstop in baseball. When Sale was chosen to start the All-Star game two years in a row prior to getting hurt, he was considered the best SP in the American League for two straight years and has finished high in the Cy Young voting many times in his first 10 years. That’s why I said Sale. It wasn’t a slight to Bogaerts. I was simply recognizing that Sale’s career has been more prolific than Bogey’s. Both are and will always be considered great players.
If you want to argue who is the best player on March 26th 2021 and you want to base it on a very limited sample size like who had the best 2020 during the pandemic while Sale was recovering from TJ surgery your argument for Bogaerts increases since he had a decent 2020.finishing second to only one other starting hitter in OPS (Dalbec). If it’s an evaluation for the 2020 season then the best player is technically Houck since he had the best numbers for the season but they were limited since he wasn’t promoted until late in the year. See, the best player can be nearly anyone on the roster if you narrow the criteria to something that best matches the player’s timing of peak performance.
Today’s roster is the weakest it’s been in 20 years so the best player while Sale is out and Mookie is in LAD could be Bogey. I have no issue with saying that but like I said, the criteria for saying it is extremely limited.
Who will have the best 2021? It could be Bogey, it could be Sale if he’s healthy and the old Sale, it could be Devers, it could be JD if the video is back during games or it could be an unexpected player. It is very tough to guess going forward who will have the best year.
For me, the best is the one with the best career and that is Sale without a doubt and would have been Mookie if he was still here. Heck, I could argue that Price has had a better career than Bogaerts too. As much as many hated him, he was an outstanding pitcher throughout his career and probably will do very well in LA this season.
Xander is an outstanding player. Once again, it’s not an insult to him to state the obvious that Sale is a far more accomplished player. In 2018, the last time the Red Sox played well, JD hit .330, slugged .640 scored 111 runs and drove in 130 with 43 home runs. Xander hit .288, slugged .522, scored 72 runs, and drove in 103 with 23 home runs. Bogey did have 8 sbs to JD’s 6 sbs. See what I mean about point in time comparisons? JD in 2018 was better and both were behind Mookie and Sale performing in 2018.
So, if you think Bogaerts is the best that’s an excellent choice but it’s just an opinion. To justify the opinion, you must scale down the time frame of the performance significantly, or cherry pick the data to try to make the point valid. I simply took career performance. Who is right? It’s just opinions but the facts strongly suggest Sale, Mookie and even JD over Bogaerts from a career perspective.
Ha! Well since we are throwing out generalized blanket extremist labels for anyone who opposes your view; then how about we provide a blanket label for you as a self-righteous, ignorant, pompous, prejudice, and borderline bigot dullard. Seems fair. Re-read dumba$$. If you are trying to sell crazy here go somewhere else as we’re all stocked up.