The Pirates have traded infielder Hoy Park to the Red Sox, according to the transactions tracker at MLB.com (hat tip to Chris Cotillo of Mass Live). Park was designated for assignment yesterday. Going the other way is left-hander Inmer Lobo.
Park, 27 in April, has spent most of his career in the Yankees’ organization. He went to the Pirates in 2021 as part of the trade that sent Clay Holmes to the Bronx. Unfortunately, he didn’t find much success with his new team. He was optioned frequently between the majors and minors this year, hitting .216/.276/.373 in the bigs and .225/.332/.354 in Triple-A. Based on that tepid showing, he lost his roster spot when the Pirates claimed Lewin Díaz.
Despite the lackluster offense, the Red Sox likely were intrigued by Park’s defensive versatility and speed. He’s posted double-digit steal totals in each of his professional seasons when combining different levels, in addition to having played all three outfield positions and every infield position except for first base. If his work at the plate can improve at all, he could be a useful utility option for them.
The club’s position player mix has a bit of uncertainty at the moment, with Trevor Story and Enrique Hernández both candidates to play shortstop. Both players are also capable of playing second base with Hernandez also a candidate for work in center field. Christian Arroyo could play some second with Jarren Duran an option for center while Jeter Downs is also in the infield mix. Park’s versatility could have him moving around based on how those situations play out over time.
As for Lobo, he threw 22 dominant innings over five starts in the Dominican Summer League with a 0.82 ERA, 34.1% strikeout rate and 2.4% walk rate. He’s still quite young, as he won’t turn 19 until February, but he’s an intriguing long-term prospect for the Pirates.
Wtf Bloom??
Looks like AAA depth.
“the Red Sox likely were intrigued by Park’s defensive versatility”
And there you go, Bloom’s favorite catch-phrase …. “versatility”.
Who gives a crap if he can’t hit his way out of a paper bag.
Who gives a crap if he isn’t very good at any position.
The fact he can play multiple positions makes him “versatile” and therefore “valuable”.
Gotta keep those bench players to a minimum so they can have 14 pitchers on the roster, right?
Dude Red Sox are gonna be fighting hard to not be last place in the division even if they bring everyone back and add a big name or 2.
DSL… phrasing my guy
For all those hating, just remember that this is only the beginning and he’s very unlikely going to be a starter. Attack Bloom all you want but grade him after the offseason.
To be fair, the league is finally enforcing the 13 pitcher maximum rule, so there’s that.
That being said, Park is a cheaper Yu Chang and hopefully is their for AAA depth than an actual piece on the ML roster
Rsox – If true about the 13 pitcher limit, that’s good news. I’ve been waiting and waiting for them to finally implement it.
AAA depth that seems to often end up on the MLB roster
Good luck to Park wish he was with the Pirates.
@fre5hwind Figured most pirate fans had seen enough. I would much rather have the pitching prospect.
Pirates got an intriguing prospect though.
Maybe. Lobo’s numbers look good, but for some reason he signed for only $10K.
From Ian Cundall on Twitter:
“Asked around about LHP Inmer Lobo & was told he’s a pitchability type. Mature frame for an 18-yr-old with minimal physical projection. Fastball 86-90, slider and changeup. Type of arm that succeeds in the DSL by changing speeds & locating. Didn’t pitch after July 1 due to injury.”
Still I always kinda of liked him.
Hey Hoy!!!
The Red Sox just added David Hamilton (70 stolen bases in AA to their40-man roster). The new rules make it much easier to steal bases and ‘manufacture’ runs which the Red Sox had a crap load of trouble doing this year. The article states:
“Despite the lackluster offense, the Red Sox likely were intrigued by Park’s defensive versatility and speed. He’s posted DOUBLE-DIGIT STEAL TOTALS IN EACH OF HIS PROFESSIONAL SEASONS when combining different levels, in addition to having played all three outfield positions and every infield position except for first base.”
….so there is your answer….for all you “fans”. ?
Idiot comment
That a Hoy!!!
So we just traded a really good pitching prospect for a dude who can NOT hit.
I don’t understand Bloom at all. It’s like he is trying to get fired
Lobo is in the DSL what are you talking about
ghosts – Lobo is a basketball player, and a darn good one!
“really good pitching prospect”
Did you ever hear of this guy before right now?
The most meaningless deal, and there’ll be 60 comments roasting them for it. The hate for Bloom is so odd.
Park for MVP 2023!
He signs a 9 figure extension by July guaranteed.
It’s not odd. Bloom done nothing but sign players to one year deals. It’s pathetic.
Yeah if you ignore the Trevor Story signing.
King – I totally get what you’re saying.
It’s better if Bloom’s usually bad signings are one-year deals instead of longterm deals.
I completely agree, you have a valid point.
brad – The two last place finishes in Bloom’s three years also has something to do with the frustration from the fanbase.
That was simply to prepare for the inevitable XB departure and btw how did that signing work out in 2022?
Hi Hoy it’s off to work we go!
Did you ever hear of this guy before right now?
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What have I been telling everyone? Half the RS are dumber than dirt. They have become a parody. They start commenting on overseas players, and 18 year old kids, and they do not have the first clue about them.
I went down to Cape Canaveral Space Center (highly, highly recommended). Never once did I bother to voice my opinion about how they put rockets together. But that is what some of our fans do, and quite frequently.
We had one fan arguing that the return for Melancon was insufficient when the article mentioned that they did not know what the return was.
And another guy complaining that Trey Ball was a poor draft pick because he was a slow-footed outfielder.
Don’t most people have some type of filter that says “look it up before you comment”?
Anyway, nice to see another 200-comment thread about nothing.
Joe – You called “half the RS dumber than dirt”.
Kinda ironic, ain’t it?
As for CC, check out a launch sometime … they are rare, but quite amazing in person.
They literally happened 3 to 5 times a month, SpaceX goes up every couple weeks it seems, I live in Orlando and honestly that’s one of the coolest things about living in Florida is being able to watch the Rockets go up
Garrett Whitlock as well
They had a guy sitting in a chair with a sign next to him saying he was a retired engineer. No one else engaged him, so I asked him a question. We had a great 20 minute conversation, given that we spoke two different languages, one of them being aeronautical engineering and one being accounting.
I asked him when the Mars launch would be and he said 2038. Then I made a couple of suggestions regarding the structural components. He asked if I was an engineer. I said ‘no, but I am a RS fan’. He just shook his head and said “I understand”.
Park shown he could hit in aaa. Small sample size he his lhp. Trying to say something positive but if the sox develop him into a mlb player it will be really impressive.
@dream GM Think about it, any other organization can find most prospects talent. Any organization but Pittsburgh. They know how to ruin prospects and can’t develop international prospect. Last homegrown international prospect by Pittsburgh was Marte. Before him, Clemente was the last international prospect to make a name from themselves. I won’t count Manny since he was traded to Pittsburgh. Their track record is bad for international development.
The Pirates have always swung and miss with the draft and occasionally get a star every so often. McCutchen was the last star player Pirates drafted and groomed. Hayes isn’t even close to what McCutchen done. So by far McCutchen is the last draft prospect that made a name for themselves. Cole has an argument for it but never really took off until he was traded to Houston.
Pirates are known to pull off some great trades. Like Manny S, AJ Burnett, Reynolds, Jason Bay, Doug Drebeck, and so many more, we’re by trades. Their trades have been more positive than negative. Everyone talks about the Archer trade being the worst in history of Pirates baseball. I think Armis Ramirez trade to the Cubs was the worst trade by the Pirates over that Archer trade and that is by narrow margin. Ramirez was coming into his own before being dealt to the Cubs. The Pirates got nothing in that trade but heartache.
Player development has been awful. Can only hope new management can improve it. I think it has some but not nearly enough.
My guess this move was in hopes to lure Kodak in.
??? Park is from SK and Senga is from Japan…
I guess my point was having over seas diversity on the team to lure in talent. Its a method that been used alot in the past.
There would still be a language barrier between the players? Only time I can think of is when the Red Sox signed Okajima to entice Dice-K to sign.
I guess my point was having over seas diversity on the team to lure in talent.
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So you think Senga will sign with the RS because we have a fringy Korean in the minors? We already have a Korean on the team.
Past that, you should be aware that Koreans generally hate the Japanese. And the Japanese generally don’t like the Koreans, for reasons that escape me.
Joe – The correct answer would have been “The Red Sox (not “we”) already have a trainer on the team, Masai Takahashi, who is from Tokyo and has been with the Red Sox for nearly two decades.”
Its the fact of tapping into the Asian culture to show they like diversity on their team.
I believe Japans occupation of Korea in the 1930s to 40s has a lot to do with that. They used Korean people for forced labor. This included women to “entertain” their soldiers.
You are correct
Nice backpedal.
The Sox need a camera?
Senga is Japanese, Park is Korean. Usually, the two countries people don’t get along well.
They traded for a Korean player to lure a Japanese player?
Otto, hahahahahahahahahahahahah
I get it im a dumba$$ haha
You’re not dumb at all.. Teams do that, the smart ones at least. My Jays been trying to lure Asian players to come to Toronto for years. They signed Ryu, Kikuchi, signed Yamaguchi. It definitely helps imo to try to lure Asian players coming from a different country. You show Asian players that you’re a diverse franchise, I think they definitely take that into play when coming from a different country.
Tsutsugo
What helps even better than having asian players is giving out large piles of cash.
Jock, no you aren’t haha Just funny stuff.
Story to Arizona?
I don’t see Bloom giving up enough prospects to unload that contract.
Career .201 hitter who had a -0.3 war last season. Basically he hurts the team rather then helps them. Gave away an 18 year old with really nice numbers in the minors, (whatever league he’s in).
Look at his #s vs lhp (not that it’s a large sample size or sustainable) I think it was a awful trade but maybe they seen something they can improve.
Sox need someone to play 2B when Story is moved to SS
It’s just replacement Jeter Downs, who is not long for the 40 man. You can argue Jeter is younger with a better prospect pedigree, but Park hasn’t hit under .200 in over 700 AAA at bats, and didn’t strike out more than 50% of the time in his MLB trials. He’s a better bet to be an okay up-and-down utility infielder.
Relax
They have a lot of work to do. He was a weak defender at every position. Hits soft grounders mostly but has some pop in there. I wish I watched him in aaa to see how he put up those numbers.
swanzey – If that’s what Bloom wanted, why not just keep Arauz?
Clause is rumored to be signing with the Yankees and bringing with him Judge and eight tiny reindeer.
“Santa! I know him!”
you sit on a throne of lies! Lol
We now have Boeggarts replacement. The person who thinks Sox fans don’t have reason to dislike Bloom must be a fan of the Yankees.
Amen to that. Roughly half of my posts the past few weeks have just been me trashing Bloom and the Red Sox ownership. It’s becoming unbearable.
Bunch of low-lifes on this website.
Welcome to “The Show” chicken boy. Ahahaha!
Yes, because living the “high life” is calling other people names like an 8 year old on same said website. The irony.
Gotham – He’s moody, hasn’t been around in a while but apparently didn’t want to waste any time insulting everyone with name calling.
Shouldn’t turkeys be the angry birds today?
“Red Sox Acquire Hoy Park”
Why? What’s wrong with Fenway?
Amid some dumb-a$$ comments, a ray of sunshine!
Joe – Agreed! Well done Mr. Lester!!
It’s probably worth mentioning why the Pirates were interested in getting Park in the trade for Clay Holmes. This was his line with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate at Scranton-Wilkes Barre at the time of the trade: .328/.475/.567/1.042 with 10 HR in 48 games.
I don’t want to tell Sox fans how to feel about acquiring Park, but I might mention how another discarded Yankee, Rob Refsnyder, performed in Boston after seeming a lackluster player before he was acquired.
That’s a solid line. Makes a lot more sense now.
Park was never given a chance to show his skills, Shelton, the Bucs manager, changed lineups like people change their clothes. it changed every game
Make that Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Never in a lifetime would I have cought that. But thanks.
I was visiting my dad and brother in ny both huge Yankee fans go to every game so I try to keep up on them. Someone asked Cashman about Park when he was putting up those stats and Cashman said something like he isn’t a major leaguer. Not better than anything we already have. Something like that. They were starting Odor at 2b at the time. Not that Cashman is never wrong, just surprised me how confident he was with that statement.
@YourDreamGM, interesting, but that doesn’t sound like a Cashman comment. He might think that, but I can’t see him saying that.
@LordD99 You got me. I just made it up.
Fink – This is Franchy’s line at AAA this year: .325/.397/.590/.987
This is Sam Horn’s AAA numbers in the Pirates organization: .333/.412/.697/1.109
I think the list of AAA superstars who bombed in the majors is a lot longer than the list of players that had a decent MLB career.
@Fink ployed when Park hit 10 long balls and hit 328 looks great, but that was during the juiced ball year. Since then, he’s come back to earth like several others like him.
No, it wasn’t. He hit 10 home runs in 2021. The last full juiced ball season was 2019, when the league hit 6,776 home runs. They also were juiced in 2020, when they played less than half a season. In 2021, the league hit 5,944 home runs, 832 fewer than in 2019.
Thanks for all the info, Fink.
Interesting. The future Pirates may love this deal.
Who are you kidding?
The Pirates are the embarrassment of the entire league
And yet, you just know this guy is going to hit .340 next season. It’s a Pirates thing
Besides, this 18 year old pitcher won’t be brought up to the major league team until he’s 25, heaven forbid if Nutting doesn’t want him to be eligible for super 2 status until he’s no longer effective
Hey….TheMan….listen. He’s 18 years old. If he progresses then he’ll make an impact in 2025 or 2026, otherwise known as the FUTURE. Are we clear?
Seriously? You’re talking to Pirates fans about “the future?” Hilarious. We’re fans of the team that’s personally two years away from being two years away and you come with the Sargent York reply?
Yeah. We know all about “the future” and are constantly reminded to be patient, the kids are coming, from a miserly owner. But preach, dude, and maybe put away the Call of Duty games for awhile
please don’t insult my intelligence
Chances of him being brought up 2 years from now are slim to none
The management of the Pirates do everything possible to keep players from being eligible for super 2 status
Every team does this.
not like the Bucs.
They waited to bring up Cruz, sent Suwinsky back to the minors for a few months, then brought him back with only a few weeks left in the season
the owner has publicly acknowledged he doesn’t want highly touted prospects to play entire rookie seasons because of their eligibility for super 2 status
1) Kris Bryant agrees with me.
2) Citation of the “publicly acknowledged” comment(s) by the owner would be appreciated.
3) Suwinski was sent down after an 0-for-33 skid, not because of Super 2.
Nor more so than the O’s and Tigers. Teams tank to 1) acquire the better amateur players and 2) to avoid overpaying for mediocrity. The Pirates will contend in the near future, unless, of course, the prospects falter.
Apparently you live in fantasyland
The Pirates are in perpetual rebuild mode
And yet the Sox are picking up guys the Pirates DFA’D
These are the kind of moves the Sox need for the next championship! Lol! Wtf is going on! I know we need youth but please sign Deavers!!
$320 million for Devers seems pretty worth it. So what’s the problem then?
Who gets DFA’d first Joely or Hoy?
Unfortunately there are plenty of others on the 40 that I’d like to see go first…
Just reviewed 40 man list. Gonna have to disagree.
Start with Brasier…
Nope K/BB was almost 5. Era in sept/ Oct was 2.25. I’ll admit he had a few bad months and a few good months in 2022 but these two new guys are questionable at best.
Neither
Yankees: your move.
Los Lobos rocked La Bamba. Good job Pirates.
Can’t wait to see Hoy Pahk and his cah in Havahd Yahd
Not heard around Boston “Go ahead! Sign Judge or Verlander! We got Park!”
Wait till they rename Fenway Park, Hoy Park.
former – I would think Chips Ahoy would be a major advertiser in Hoy Park.
This is raw but youtu.be/ucLobUXaoUM.
I agree with the Jeter Downs comment, this guy will take his 40 spot. Downs is pretty much out of time. Park is just depth.
Jeter Downs. Thats pretty much happened on every ball hit to the right of the SS hole over the last 5 seasons or so of the Captain’s storied career.
Not to be confused with his brother Fenway
Rule of thumb, if Pirates don’t think a guy can help them how likely can he help a team trying to go deep in playoffs?
A++++ for Pirates. I figured he would clear waivers. Never watched the prospect but he sounds interesting. Park isn’t worth 50 grand let alone 700.
On a scale of 1-10, I wonder how much RS fans miss Dave Dombrowski?
SaintChris-
Answer – zero
He has been gone three years, and the Red Sox just finished paying David Price $16,000,000 for his third year in LA, Chris Sale $87,000,000 for 48 innings, and the last of JD Martinez $110,000,000 who has definitely declined. ALL THANKS TO DAVE DOMBROWSKI !
JC -yeah because none of those guys helped win a WS. ffs
Win a WS and you are a god, no one can ever question your moves ever again. ffs.
I’m a strong 8.
To echo JC#1, our 2022 team received 3.0 bWAR from Price, Sale, Eovaldi. and JD, all for the bargain basement of $81M
Theo says hi. With Carl Crawford, Joshua Beckett, John Lackey, a bucket of KFC and 2 buckets of Bud.
Theo – Two of those names do not belong.
Maybe a 10
Well if he hits they can say “it’s the Park factor”..if he doesn’t hit they can say “it’s the Park factor”.. win win lol
Seems like aquiring speed guy I bet this 6 inches between bags for speed & non speed guys is going to have SBs & runs run wild…it is way to much distance…half a foot! Does anybody realize how hard it will be to nail basestealers now? Anybody? Thats why they protected Hamilton over Ward in the rule 5 40man situation. Might be brilliant and I’m sure the stat guys already know the anticipated numbers here on runs and SBs etc…SB guys value jumps a ton with this rule change.
guru – That depends, do the analytics-obsessed front offices still view SB’s as a bad thing? With all the flip-flopping they do I’ve lost track of what’s “in” and what’s “out”.
do the analytics-obsessed front offices still view SB’s as a bad thing?
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Kind of an odd question, but fortunately, I am an expert at obvious answers.
SB=Good
CS=Bad
Joe – I shouldn’t have to ask this question, but if they do value SB’s now then why are SB attempts the lowest they’ve been since the 1960’s?
then why are SB attempts the lowest they’ve been since the 1960’s?
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That was actually Tito’s doing. Fewer SBs are a function of fewer attempts. In 2003, before Tito changed the baseball landscape, the success rate was only 69%. Tito, an early aficionado of saving outs, cut way back on the attempts, go from 123 attempts in 2003, to 98 in 2004 to 57 in 2005. The rest of the league copied him.
And Tito’s early work in this field is probably derivative of Tom Tango’s earlier work.. Sacrifices are down for the same reason. Under Tito, they went from 24 to 12, and the rest of the league followed. You can use these strategies, under certain circumstances, but SBs aren’t efficient unless you are at about 75% or higher.
Bbguru – stolen base attempts will be successful 80-90 percent of the time, and attempts will increase three to four fold.
The other reason to acquire speed in the infield is because there will be no more shift. The first infielders will need to cover more ground.
Red Sox get a AAAA player and the Pirates get a DSL SP. i.e. a normal throwaway move. Nothing worth celebrating nor condemning.
Nah. Red Sox got a speedy utility guy for their bench. Think Brock Holt role.
MudyChicken – Totally agree. Dombrowski won 3 division titles and a World Series, which screwed the Red Sox for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, was it worth the WS in 2018….yes, but he made plenty of BAD moves that were unnecessary (like re-signing Sale and Pearce…). The Red Sox management made the correct decision to fire DD. The 2020, 2021, 2022 results, to a very large extent, (blame, credit, blame) are on DD. Bloom’s first real team that he has real impact will be in 2023.
Can’t blame someone when they’re no longer there. We don’t know how DD would have handled the Red Sox if he remained. What’s clear is directionally Henry and DD didn’t see eye to eye. Maybe the recent years are more on Henry?
Lord – Henry holds the purse strings, soyes he is to blame to some degree. The Red Sox were still constricted by the players DD signed LONG AFTER HE WAS FIRED. THAT IS A FACT!
Bloom will be in deep discussions in March with those that no one else wanted.