The Red Sox announced this evening they’ve added four players to the 40-man roster. Infielder Jeter Downs and right-handers Josh Winckowski, Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford have all been added to keep them from selection in the Rule 5 draft.
Downs has been one of the game’s higher profile prospects for a while. A supplemental first-rounder of the Reds out of a Florida high school in 2017, he’s since been involved in two blockbuster trades. Downs was part of the package sent from Cincinnati to the Dodgers in December 2018 for Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp, then got traded to the Red Sox as part of the Mookie Betts deal the following winter.
Over his first few seasons, Downs offered a steady combination of bat-to-ball skills, power and second base defense. He’d projected as a potential everyday second baseman and twice ranked among the game’s top 100 overall prospects at Baseball America. But Downs struggled through an uncharacteristically poor 2021, leaving his stock a bit more uncertain. Over 405 plate appearances with Triple-A Worcester, the right-handed hitting Downs managed just a .190/.272/.333 mark with 14 home runs. Most alarming, he struck out in a massive 32.3% of his plate appearances — his first season fanning at greater than a 21% clip.
Winckowski has been involved in a pair of trades himself, both occurring last offseason. The Blue Jays sent him to the Mets as part of the Steven Matz deal, and New York flipped him to Boston in the three-team Andrew Benintendi/Khalil Lee swap not long after. A 16th-round pick by Toronto back in 2016, Winckowski has slowly climbed the minor league ladder as a starter. He split the 2021 campaign between Double-A Portland and Worcester, working to a cumulative 3.94 ERA in 112 innings with a below-average 21.3% strikeout rate but a quality 6.9% walk percentage.
Bello, a former amateur signee out of the Dominican Republic, is considered one of the organization’s more promising young pitchers. BA slotted the 22-year-old fifth in the farm system this offseason, praising his three-pitch mix and calling him a potential mid-rotation starter. Bello split this past season between High-A Greenville and Portland, working to a combined 3.87 ERA in 95 1/3 innings. He punched out a stellar 32.8% of hitters along the way against a solid 7.7% walk rate. Bello seems likely to start next season at Triple-A and could plausibly be an option for the big league club at some point in 2022.
Crawford made a two-inning cameo at the major league level in September, showing a five-pitch mix led by a 93.8 MPH fastball. The righty had been selected as a COVID replacement, though, so he was removed from the 40-man roster not long after. He’ll now stake a more longstanding spot on the roster after combining for a 4.28 ERA with great strikeout and walk numbers (34.4% and 5.2%, respectively) between Portland and Worcester.
Probably too soon to give up on Downs, but I’d be surprised if he turns out to be anything more than a bench player.
He was a free gift from the crybaby Boston media
I wish the best for Downs but the circumstances that brought him over were cringe AF
Yeah, that BA and K rate at AAA are pretty alarming. Tells me he’s nowhere near ready for the bigs.
Yes, but they’re basically forced to protect him because some team could slot him in as a utility player for a year before sending him back to AAA next season. Some pretty big holes in his swing though.
They’re not all that alarming when you consider he barely made it to AA at the end of 2019 and then lost the entire 2020 season because Covid killed the minor league season. He was pushed being sent to AAA this year. But instead of demoting him they let him try to work things out knowing he was a bit over his head.
Yup, he was only 22 in AAA, after having only 48 ABs in AA. Tough to figure out where he lands. His AAA season stunk, but his AZFL has been pretty good.
kingken67 – Lets be accurate when talking about Downs. Downs was an inflated prospect so Friedman could sell him in the Mookie deal. Standard practice is to identify someone not cutting it then move him somewhere he can be successful short-term then promote him and sell him as a top prospect. Pivetta when through the same charades going to Philly. The inflated value put pressure on the receiving team to move the hot prospect faster than his skills warranted and the next thing you know you have a bust.
Downs never mastered AA pitching despite being artificially ranked by MLB at 44th thanks to Friedman. Too bad the cats out of the bag now because his trade value has plummeted and his prospects of making the bigs are very low and if he does make it his ceiling is as a bench jockey.
Saving face is all Bloom is doing by putting him on the roster. At least his Winckowski acquisition which came at too great a cost still has some upside. It makes sense to add him to see if he can trend upward in 2022. Everyone would rather have Benny but you can’t throw out the baby with the bathwater so hang on to Winckowski and pray for an upward trend.
Next year is a big year for Downs. I think he should get a little slack for not having a year at AA. He finished AAA strong and had good numbers in the AZFL.
AITSTYW – Were talking about Jeter Downs. I have no idea who you are referring to based on what you wrote.
There is no slack for Downs since he was in a Mookie deal as the over-rated 44th best prospect in baseball. Friedman completely duped his protege and the Red Sox are paying for Bloom’s stupidity.
LAD should have kept Downs at Hi-A but they moved him late in 2019 with only 12 games left against two teams with horrendous pitching staffs. His inflated numbers which were for 12 games were significantly higher than his first 190 games in the minors. This is exactly how an organization disguises a guy they’ve given up on and moves him to another team.
Downs played like crap at AAA as expected since he never graduated from AA thanks to yet another Bloom mistake. His good numbers in the Arizona League that you referenced included a .203 batting average. Don’t you think that’s setting your standards for good pretty low?
The only thing he did right in the AFL is what he does at every level. He’s a good walker. Yes, that’s his ONLY skill at hitting other than his bat speed and launch angle. Contact isn’t his strength but not swinging at pitches way out of the strike zone is something he has learned.
Not sure the last time I heard a guy talked up for not being able to hit but being able to walk but modern metrics make people say strange things!!
Downs has never shown any hand/eye coordination since he was in ROK ball. He swings for the fences, misses A LOT, walks at a good rate and if he gets lucky and makes contact his exit velocity is good and his launch angle puts him on a tract to hit 30 HRs some day while striking out 200 times and batting .225 with an OBP of .325.
Maybe it’s just me but that’s not a profile of a 44th best prospect.
Friedman never tried to sell Downs, he was presumably packaged in part duex by Boston after the Boston media vilified the original deal
I’m not saying Gm’s dont do what your suggesting, but this was an odd time to try to fit that peg into the hole
Cap & Crunch = I follow the prospect rankings very closely because I am an avid fantasy player in a keeper league that has 20 roster spots for minor league players. When a guy like Jeter Downs SUDDENLY and I do mean suddenly jumps from obscurity to 44th on the MLB prospect rankings the first thought is ALWAYS this guy’s GM is looking to deal him. It’s a little known fact but GMs and front office PR firms heavily influence the ratings that’s why a sudden jump is so telling.
Lucky Boston got the pretender as a top prospect. A quick look at his minor league career tells you immediately he doesn’t belong in the top 100 so you must ask yourself how he got there. Was it because he had 12 good games at the end of 2019 against two very, very bad AA pitching staffs and performed way, way over his norm of the previous 190 games at the lower levels of the minors? Or was a deal about to happen?
You are right that the press hated anything related to moving Mookie since he was a homegrown generational player and they were completely justified in frying Bloom for such stupidity. If they didn’t want to spend the money which also is ridiculous considering how much profit they make annually, then at least move him in a way that benefits the Red Sox.
They threw away Mookie and Price as if they were bird crap that had to be cleaned off the front windshield.
It was despicable and the Red Sox media was righteous in flame throwing the ownership and front office for their heinous moves. Was Graterol a better choice than Downs and Wong? Obviously 100 MPH pitchers are better than a bad infielder and a catcher with an upside of MLB back-up. Would that trade have made any more sense than the one that happened? NO. Moving Mookie made no sense and still doesn’t no matter what rationalization people use to pretend it wasn’t a colossal mistake.
Friedman did sell Downs, multiple times. First he sold the 12 games as a justification for jumping a guy struggling in the minors to be 44th overall prospect. That sale may have been someone calling in a favor from an old friend.
Then, he turned around and like a good used car salesman sold his Protege on what a great deal he was getting for Mookie. The #2 best player in baseball was going to return 3 top prospects for just one year of service. Convincing Bloom was like selling Bambi on the idea that two white lights approaching was a good thing!! It worked and now the Red Sox two years later are still struggling to get back up on their feet and be competitive again.
2021 for the Red Sox was much like the 12 games Downs played at the end of 2019. It was a gross exaggeration of his real skills. Boston’s talent level still pales from when DD was GM. Bloom gets full credit for the demise of the Red Sox and Downs is just one more piece of evidence in the on-going investigation of Bloom and the talent he allegedly possessed when Boston hired him.
Agreed on downs, I’m not penciling him into any future lineups anymore. Really wish they would sign Semein so 2b can be set for a few seasons.
Bello could be a good add next year. Nice.
Hard to believe Sox left Durbin Feltman not protected while keeping both Potts and Rosario, neither of which showed any life last year and acquired from SD in ’20 for Moreland. Smarter to coverFeltman, who was finally showing why was drafted with high praise in round 3 of 2018 and TJ guy Thad Ward, then outright both Potts/Rosario.
Strong feeling Feltman will go right away in the draft and Ward can be stashed half a year on IL.
I’d be kind of surprised if feltman was taken as high as you suspect, if at all. His velo still isn’t back to where it was at TCU and he projects as a middle reliever at this point. Still has value, but enough to pick him in rule v? I dunno man.
Ward is likely out all of 2022, so he’d have to spend 90 days on the 2023 roster if drafted
I agree surprised that Feltman was exposed to the rule 5.
I loved this guy coming out of the draft. Great first season in the minors, and then disappeared.
Wow, adios Jimenez, Ward, Feltman & Ort. I’m thinking Yankees take Ward for Whitlock payback. Couldn’t the Red Sox just add him to 40 man and then move home to 60 day IL?
There is no IL list in the offseason. You either need to add someone to the 40 man or leave them unprotected. What sucks is that a team
can draft him and then stash him on the IL once the season starts. So he could be a legit target by a lot of clubs as he won’t need to play until August or so.
They can’t protect everyone
Winckowski was recently in an AFL brawl for throwing at a Pirates prospect.
I thought Boston had 7 open spots on their 40 man. How did they not protect Jimenez? He is (or was) their CF of the future. Maybe they are gambling that he’s too young/inexperienced for a team to keep on their major league roster all season, but I believe he will be selected in the Rule V draft (most likely by a BAL, TEX, PIT type of club). The only question is whether or not he can last an entire season on a major league roster; I sure hope he does not and has to be returned to Boston.
Have to leave spots open for free agents. He’s only played at high A and if selected he needs to be on the MLB roster. No way a team wastes a roster spot adding him. If he was further along then absolutely.
Everything I’ve read about Jimenez seems to indicate he has tremendous physical potential, but quite literally no feel for baseball. He is an uncontrolled slap hitter at the plate (a strangely hollow 300 hitter) and a lost soul in the field. He is fast, of course, so his only use for a claiming team is as a pinch-runner off the bench. I assume the Red Sox FO thinks that ineptitude is the greatest protection in the R5 draft. I’m more concerned about losing Cedanne Rafaela, who is quite young and small but already has a superior glove–he could easily slot in as an IF/OF defensive replacement for many teams all season long. And I am much concerned about losing Victor Santos. I see many clubs DFA’ed players today–I cannot imagine why Rosario and Potts survived the day on the 40-man. On the face of it, protecting only four players looks like a strategic error, although I quickly add that I’ll trust Bloom & Co. over my own baseball decisions any day.
The more I think about this, the more shocked I am. I can’t believe Boston didn’t protect Thad Ward. While he’ll be out in 2022 due to TJS, he has certain Major League upside and will most likely be drafted. They also should have protected Kaleb Ort, Feltman and the worst oversight as mentioned above in Jimenez. The Sox not only had 7 open spots on their 40 man roster, they also have at least (4) DFA candidates on their 40 man in Hudson Potts, Jeisson Rosario, Tim Locastro and Phillips Valdez. I can easily see at least 3 if not 4 Red Sox farm hands being drafted in the Rule V draft and they are going to really hurt the organizational depth. Bloom had better have big plans to replace this talent or this is a huge swing and a miss by the club.
I’m not real sure on the rule 5 rules for injured players. If they have have to be on the active rooster for a certain amount an extended period of time and can’t just be stashed on the 60 day IL then it makes sense why Ward wasn’t protected. I will admit I don’t know the rule.
I doubt that anyone takes Jimenez because he is simply not ready it’s going to be very hard to keep a kid that will most likely get the bat knocked out of his hands at the big league level on your 26 man all year. I suppose one of the tanking teams may be able to do it but it’s a calculated gamble I guess.
I am surprised about Feltman and Orr both guys could be big league reliever depth. Feltman pitched very well in the second half of the season and I am almost positive he will be drafted away. Bloom has done a solid job so far so I will trust that he knows what he is doing.
I think the question teams ask themselves is: Will player X last a whole season on a 25 man roster? If the answer is no, then I believe there is no need to add the player to the 40 man roster. If a player does not last a year on the 25 man roster, he needs to be offered back to his original team, right? So, not protecting every player that could be drafted doesn’t necessarily seem like a bad decision.
I agree and I think not protecting Jimenez is a calculated gamble. The guy just isn’t ready for the big leagues. I just don’t see how you keep him on your 25 man all year at this point.
I think that’s what a lot of this revolves around. Jimenez has a 86/19 K/W in A-ball. The chances of him making any major league contribution has to be almost -0-. Even if he does develop, and that’s a big if, he probably doesn’t make the show for three years. I doubt anyone, even the Orioles, would draft a guy to sit on the bench for the entire year.
I’d guess Feltman is the big risk. I think he’s easily worth the gamble to keep the guy with the team for a month or two to see if he shows anything.
But unless there are multiple Kaleb Orts in the league, the dude will be 30 at the start of next season.