TODAY: Arroyo has been outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers.
AUGUST 4: The Red Sox announced Friday that they’ve activated deadline acquisition Luis Urias and added him to the Major League roster. Infielder Christian Arroyo was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.
Arroyo, 28, has spent the past three-plus seasons in Boston, typically providing roughly league-average offense at second base. From 2020-22, the former top prospect turned in a combined .273/.320/.427 batting line (102 wRC+), walking at a well below-average 4.7% clip but also putting the ball in play at a better-than-average rate (19.4% strikeout rate). His production has taken a major nosedive in 2023, however, as he’s produced just a .241/.268/.369 slash with a career-low 3.4% walk rate. This year’s 21.8% strikeout rate is also a notable step back from last year’s career-low 16.8% mark.
While he’s played all over the infield and also logged 108 innings in right field last year, Arroyo has played primarily second base and third base in the big leagues. Defensive metrics generally approve of his glove at second; he’s tallied 12 Defensive Runs Saved and 8.5 Ultimate Zone Rating in 1332 innings there. Statcast’s Outs Above Average considers him to be essentially an average defender there. His grades at third base aren’t as strong, but he’s also only logged 447 innings at the hot corner.
Arroyo’s lack of minor league options surely played a role in the decision to DFA him, as did this year’s diminished production. Boston’s acquisition of Urias could put the now-former Brewer into a similar role to the one Arroyo has held in recent seasons. Urias is having a down year himself — notably in just 68 plate appearances — but has a higher offensive ceiling than Arroyo. From 2021-22, Urias slashed .244/.340/.426 with 39 home runs for the Brewers. He’ll likely hit for a lower average than Arroyo but also has more power and draws walks more than twice as often.
Like Arroyo, Urias is a former shortstop who’s settled into a second base/third base role due to defensive concerns. Perhaps most notably, he has a minor league option remaining beyond the current season, so he’ll give the Red Sox more flexibility with their roster while ideally providing comparable, if not superior production.
As for Arroyo, with the trade deadline passed, he’ll be placed on waivers. He and the Red Sox agreed to a $2MM salary over the winter, avoiding arbitration. He’s still owed about $624K of that sum. If he’s claimed on waivers, the new team will pick up the remainder of that tab but also retain the right to control Arroyo through the 2024 season — his final year of arbitration eligibility. If he’s unclaimed, he has the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency.
However, Arroyo is just days shy of reaching five years of service time, meaning that he can’t yet reject the assignment and retain the rest of his salary. Had he been designated even a week later, he’d have that right. As such, if he’s unclaimed on waivers, he’ll surely accept the outright assignment to keep that salary. He’d then be able to become a free agent at season’s end (assuming the Red Sox don’t add him back to the 40-man roster).
Geez, the other day I heard Cora on radio talking this guy up , like he’s gonna be an important cog rest of way. Lol
That’s why I pay little hede to what’s said as air filler
I am right there with you, Edp007. I also remember this guy being a cant miss prospect. No such thing as cant miss.
I don’t recall anyone saying Arroyo was a can’t miss prospect. That said, he almost has 5 years… so maybe he didn’t miss.
Arroyo was always an average, “filler” type player; a guy you hold onto until you can acquire someone better. That being said, it’s surprising the Rsox spent 3+ yrs with him and didn’t or couldn’t acquire anyone better.
gravel – Nobody is saying he shouldn’t be proud for making it to the majors.
Fact is, the only reason he managed to stick with the Red Sox for four years is because he was on the IL so often. Otherwise, he would have been cut a long time ago.
I wish him the best, but am glad he’s gone. I’ve had my fill of “versatile” players who can’t hit and can’t adequately play any position. Jack of all trades, master of none.
Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t defending the choice but questioning the tag “can’t miss.” No reputable talent evaluator was saying that about Arroyo.
I’m glad Arroyo stuck around as long as he did. He’ll probably latch on somewhere.
I also remember this guy being a cant miss prospect.
=========================
He wasn’t. He trailed off pretty early in the minors. He topped out as #62 in BA, but for only one season, and never ranked by BP. He was maybe “okay” in low-A at age 19, but had a 22/4 K/W in A-ball, with only 1 HR in 118 ABs, and never excelled again.
Christian just don’t put me in right field? He’s like a deer in headlights out there.
also have to remember the move might not be his idea. I’m sure most managers would love to have kept Verlander and Scherzer, but people above them make those decisions.
Conner Wong
+ Kolton Wong
—————–
=Steven Wright
Does two Wongs equal a Steven Wright?
Doctor John: He was in the Wright place. But it must have been the Wong time.
What Cora says matters little to bloom. Plus Cora is a hack. He needs to be gone.
Morons!
As much as I appreciated Arroyo’s hustle, he was the obvious choice to DFA. His average and OBP are lower than expected and his power has all but disappeared, not to mention his below average range at 2B.
They’ll give Urias a chance in the majors. If he works out then great! If not, Story is coming back very soon so they’ll need to make another roster decision, most likely Yu Chang will be the next to go, but Reyes in an option too. Boston needs better offensive and defensive performance out of SS & 2B. Hopefully Urias & Story are the answers. If not, Boston has plenty of others to fill in for Urias as Story is not going anywhere.
Still banking on Trevor can’t play a single inning without tearing a rotator cuff Story to come back and what? The guy couldn’t play SS can’t make the throw what’s the grand plan to do with him? Besides pay him 100 mill to ride the IL till his miserable contract is finally over.
“Still banking on Trevor can’t play a single inning without tearing a rotator cuff”
This is what you said right before James Paxton was activated:
“Key words…37 Years old….88 MPH Fastball…DFA.””
Your lack of baseball knowledge is only exceeded by your hatred of all things Bloom.
I’m late to the party here as I just noticed the move. Story to me should be playing second. While the arm apparently is healed, why force the issue? As an athlete, he’ll try to make that deep short spinning through. Let the arm heal until next spring training before having become the primary SS.
dewey – I think there’s pressure on Bloom to play Story at SS because:
a) Bloom gave Story SS money
b) Xander was forced out of Boston because of Story
c) You want your most athletic talented defensive middle infielder playing SS where he will have the most impact
So the Sox are now 4 games out of a WC spot with 3 teams to catch as Seattle has caught fire.
And one thing people here don’t realize, the Sox had NINE days off between July 3 and August 3 which helped Cora a lot. Now he has 26 games in 27 days, which means every man on the roster will need to be used because of Cora’s penchant for using players – especially pitchers – as little as possible. So I fully expect to continue seeing the dregs of the bullpen used in high leverage situations. At least they got the Royals, Tigers, Nats and Yanks up next before the brutal final 38 games begin.
Fever, you also want to better ensure he’s healthy next year.
My god, why are you making stuff up?
The schitt that gets written in here, to explain regular everyday baseball stuff is pure gold. I blame the Hollywood writers strike.
I’m not sure Luis Urías is really a better option in the long term than Arroyo, but it’s such a relief to see him leave. He’s one of those bench players who’s JUST promising enough that the hemming and hawing every offseason over whether to address the 2B problem resolves itself with “well…. Christian can probably do it!” Maybe they’ll sign an actual regular next year.
They need a one year fill in until Mayer is ready for SS and then Story will move back to 2B. They’ll figure out if Urias can bridge that gap in the next few months.
Mayer is hitting .189 at AA. He’s got aways to go…
Why not bring up Ceddanne Rafaela?
Grooming him for the OF. I thought Verdugo was gone at the deadline to bring Rafaela up.
27/3 K/W.
Urias can be demoted when Story is activated
So they’re tossing Arroyo overboard and keeping Yu Chang and his .165 BA? Makes perfect sense. Onward to the playoffs.
Arroyo is a lousy defender and not really a SS. Coin flip either way because they’ve been too bad to be in a winning teams lineup.
Story is coming back soon and I guess they thought another 2B was not needed.
I call bs on bs. Arroyo came up as a SS. And has way better D stats at SS and all other positions than Baez. Baez 146 errors in 981 starts at all positions. Arroyo 11 errors in 244 games in all positions. 3 errors at SS for whole career, granted way less games. Looks to me like Baez is a much worse defender
Baez makes errors on balls that arroyo doesn’t get to.
BStrownmang beat me to it. No range to Arroyo.
thx for clarifying. I’ll buy that
What playoffs?
Playoffs?? you kidding me??? playoffs??? i just hope we can win a game
The poster above implied playoffs, not me. I have the same reaction as you.
A Jim Mora reference.
This makes no sense…. and Chang and Reyes are still on the Roster…. can’t wait for Chang to strike out 3 more times tonight on sliders that are not even strikes. I believe he has 1 hit the entire season on a breaking pitch.
Arroyo is bad with the glove and is exclusively a 2B, the other two can play multiple positions and Chang is excellent. Considering they’re bench pieces, that’s all that’s needed.
still they could have at least waited a few more days for Arroyo’s deal to kick in. classless move by a jerk like Bloom
I’d say it’s a very shrewd (and tactfully smart for BOS) move, Randy. Bloom essentially forces Arroyo to accept the Outright (knowing he’d clear Waivers at this time)
LOL! I always liked Arroyo, but when someone (in any professions) gets paid millions, I don’t have much sympathy,
Chang hit his 6th HR tonight, and has played much better defense than Hernandez. Chang is fine for the fourth option on any MLB team. That said, he will be a DFA when Story returns rather than Reyes.
Option 2, Mondesi is on the 60-day IL, so he is not using a spot on the 26 or 40-man rosters, and will be non-tendered at season’s end. That was a risky move by Bloom that utterly failed making option 3 (Hernandez) the starter for most of the season.
Story, option 1, was always going to be the starter as the Red Sox had no interest in bringing back Bogaerts (based on how they treated the negotiations), but other options, (when Story got hurt) like Iglesias and Andrus, were not that good. Correa, Turner, and Swanson were too expensive.
Chang, at least, has been solid defensively as compared to Mr. 14 errors Hernandez. O well, hopefully Story can make a difference…I just hope the Red Sox do not fall farther back than the current 3 games behind the last WC spot.
Ah yes, ye old unheralded prospect turned jack-of-all trades trope again. Kind of a meh player but should latch on with another squad
So they’re bringing in Urias with his .535 OPS to replace Arroyo with his .638 OPS. That should win the World Series!
Kind of off-topic but I always thought Arroyo looked like a leprechaun.
I think the Sox dolid this to ultimately sign Kolten Wong
If they do that then they’re clearly tanking
Sox lose Lucky Charm, miss playoffs.
I zeeeeh leprechaun!!
This guy just looks like a Detroit Tiger
I’d start him at short if I could find a taker for Baez. It would be an improvement offensively and defensively.
You’re sick of him and understandably so but Arroyo is a massive downgrade to Javy Baez defensively at SS.
Watch Baez. He makes brilliant plays (“El Mago” – the magician) and then commits errors on easy plays. He fails on both offense and defense. I just want him gone.
Exactly how the Cubs felt.
Javy Baez is the definition of a frustrating player but Arroyo isn’t a major league SS. Boston played Yu Chang and Kike there all year (not exactly good options) because he doesn’t have the range for the position. Baez is better despite all of his flaws.
Can you get Boston to start thinking about acquiring Baez for us, maybe this off season? Zack Short has sat on the bench and has comparable offensive numbers. He’d only be an adequate SS defensively for Detroit, but easier to root for. Good news for Bloom would be it wouldn’t take much to get Baez, at the moment.
stymeedone:
So now Detroit is running a better team than Boston? Lol. What place are they in again?
We’ll help you out by taking Riley Greene off your hands. But, pretty much every other starter would be on the bench or DFA’d as soon as they arrived in Beantown.
But sure, you go right ahead and compare Boston’s weakest position, if it makes you feel proud of your Tigers.
@Rsmith
Lol somebody piss in your Wheaties? He was definitely making a joke about how he wants Baez gone.
At last check th Tigers are ahead Of the Sox in their respective divisions too! (Another comment to not be taken too serious)
This hurts, even though he wasn’t that good
Good luck to you Christian – I hope you sign up in a good situation and are able to continue your career
I’m guessing the Giants or Cards.
Cherington is familiar with him from his Bosox days and he loves churning infielders who cannot hit but make up for it with a lack of fielding. He is a perfect Pirate.
Cut throat. I like it.
Let it be known the Arroyo can never say “I wasn’t given a chance to play in Boston”
I agree
Come to the Cardinals
I had a feeling it would be Arroyo over Reyes and Chang. He’s been there awhile and hasn’t exactly stepped up. It’s a shame because I like Arroyo, but it’s time to realize that he isn’t dependable. Chang and Reyes are strictly back ups, but I could see Reyes accelerating in future years. Or he could be another Arroyo…
In any case, Urias isn’t groundbreaking but he does need more credit. He is having a bad year, but prior to this year he has been dependable and has hit a lot of homers and had a high OBP. It’s a small sample size, but notable, and we will see if he can continue with a new change of scenery.
@Little Stevie- Yes, and then you can join them with the rest of your crappy Cardinals; enjoy!
Captain: The Cardinals will rise again! Speaking of crappy, how are you going to feel when your team doesn’t even make the PO’s?
Ultimately I dont see Arroyo being a huge loss, but he loses his roster spot over Pablo Reyes? I just dont understand that.
Agreed, there was certainly other players that should have received their walking papers first
It came down to versatility. Reyes can play any of the OF positions as well as 2B and SS. Arroyo is pretty much just 2B.
Fair point
Arroyo had his chance. He couldn’t hold a consistent starting job at second
The Red Sox should sign Jean Segura, and play him everyday at second base. With Story at short, they would have an excellent middle infield defensively. Segura isn’t finished, and second base is easily his best position.
Why would they DFA Arroyo and then sign someone with worse offensive stats than him. And don’t bother saying they’ve done that with replacing him with Urais because we’re not talking about the same sample size. Segura had more than enough chances with Miami to do something offensively this year.
Back to sf! numbers match what they got going on lol
Yeah I don’t get this, Urias hitting what .140, and they do this… or is this just one of those moves the whole team goes through waivers
Bloom is probably banking on reversion to his usual stats. I thought Urias was the right move, but a little surprised that Arroyo was the cut instead of Chang or Reyes.
Joe – Literally 2 minutes ago Urias dogged it on an easy grounder that should have been an out, throwing too late to get the hustling Schneider at 1B. The last thing the Red Sox need right now with their horrendous defense is yet another horrendous middle infielder. This is the kind of stuff you just don’t know about without actually watching the games.
And on the next play Jacques fails to cover first base, allowing another Toronto baserunner to reach base. This is an organization-wide problem that needs to be addressed, because they simply don’t value defense or baserunning fundamentals.
I’m not a huge fan of Story, but seeing him back in the infield will be a welcome sight.
You just like to make crap up don’t you? Jacques didn’t “fail to cover 1B” on that play. It was an attempt on a 3-6-1 DP that couldn’t be turned because the batter was too fast. Jacques was there at the bag. The ball got there after the runner.
King – What are you, Jacques mother? Or have you just had one too many Bud Lights tonight?
Look at the replay tomorrow morning, shoulda been an extremely easy double play but Jacques wasn’t there and then with his back to 1B tried to feel for the base with his left foot. If he had been there with his right foot planted against the base he’d have gotten the runner.
And don’t think for one minute I’m gonna ignore yet another horrendous blunder by Casas, who once again got a gift by the official scorer in ruling it a hit. The announcers both strongly voiced their belief it should have been an error as nearly every other ML first baseman would have made the play.
Red Sox defense is horrific and there’s no way you can con people into believing otherwise.
As I mentioned elsewhere, I’ll wager on Urias bWAR/PA over Arroyo. He just has a higher ceiling.
No. Waiver trades are gone with new CBA. He gone.
The Red Sox can keep Arroyo in AAA if he clears waivers.
I think arroyo has too much service time
The last paragraph of the article says Arroyo is a few days short of reaching five years of service time, meaning that he can’t yet reject the minor league assignment (after clearing waivers) and retain the rest of his salary. I often don’t read the whole article, but I did today. The fact that the Red Sox did this right before he could reject the minor league assignment makes me wonder if their goal is to sneak him through waivers and keep him in AAA.
Lol Yeah, I didn’t make it down that far. I guess they can keep their options open when rosters expand. $2MM isn’t a ton of money if some team believes they can fix arroyo though. Doubt it happens but plausible.
Giants fan here. I remember him being a top prospect that didn’t quite live up to the lofty expectations. Glad to see he made it a few years with BOS. Good kid. Hope he lands somewhere
He was a top Giant prospect when the Giant’s farm was poor. I don’t recall him ever cracking a top 100 mlb prospect list.
As a Giants fan, I was absolutely mystified why Arroyo was selected in the first round. Not a shining moment for their scouting department.
I remember when he first got called up by the Giants. Had a great week or two at the start but a huge disappointment after the initial hot streak. Lot of hype but merely average at best.
This is quite the surprising move with Christian Arroyo. I’m guessing the Red Sox got no interest in him at the deadline. Wowsers.
Arroyo’s 2021 numbers seem to be his ceiling as he was on pace for about the same. Urias offers same defensive versatility but (at least over the past 2 seasons) a higher offensive upside. Good luck to Christian wherever he ends up (though hopefully not with the Rays)
urias is only 26 and was a 3-war player the previous 2 seasons. don’t have to squint too hard to see him rebounding
No surprise here. A major portion of the players acquired by this GM would be DFA’d on good teams. In Boston, since the new GM arrived we’ve seen bad players linger much longer than they should have, get more playing time than they should have and have been hyped far more than their career stats suggest they deserved. That’s the new GM’s sell tactics. Lots of manure fertilizing the fan base.
Look at the roster today. Which starters are true MLB starters on offense.
1 – Devers is a true DH playing 3B
2 – JT is a 3B forced to play 2B since Casas and Devers are playing his two best spots
3 – NO Shortstop but we had Bogey
4 – Yoshida is a true DH playing LF
5 = Duran got his chance and proved himself
6 = Verdugo slugs along as a league average outfielder hyped to be a future all-star
7 – Wong a DFA candidate that has been hot but will return to his normal production
8 – Duvall a fourth outfielder due to his hot and cold streaks
The rest of the offensive players are DFAs waiting to happen.
Arroyo should thank his lucky stars that he got as much playing time as he did. If not for the ineptness of the GM, he would have never been more than a utility infielder sitting in AAA most of the season.
The Red Sox may be thinking Arroyo clears waivers and they can keep him in AAA and give Urias a try in the meantime. Right after the trade deadline may be a good time to sneak someone through waivers.
Its Arroyo’s choice and I would think he’d want a fresh start. Too many young middle IFs coming up to compete with at Worcester in the near future.
My mistake, looks like hes still shy of 5years service. So he will have to take the assignment. Odd, I feel like he’s played forever.
7 years, 4 teams, plus probably some additional publicity from being a high draft pick.
Arroyo is having a better offensive season than all of yankee’s infield, except for one Gleyber Towers!!!
The Yankees can have Arroyo as far as I am concerned. He can hang out with Franchy Cordero, Greg Allen, Ryan Weber, the and Jession Rosario (Cashman has nothing in Bloom)
This doesn’t surprise me one bit, considering Cora is behind it.
Milt—Arroyo’s father is of Puerto Rican descent. I don’t know how the hell you can say something disparaging about Cora for this. They just dealt Kike and cut Arroyo.
Didn’t see this coming. Would have thought Chang first.
Chang must have incriminating pictures of somebody to still be on this team.
Chang is still the best defensive replacement in the middle that this team has, so that extends his run. I think the club is sick of watching Arroyo just jumping out of his skin to swing at the first pitch no matter where it is–he is unteachable against that nervous energy to do something, which basically makes him a pretty easy first-pitch out.
It is like swapping the 2 dying batteries in your remote and hoping to get some juice
I always liked the way the late Jerry Remy, in his deep basso voice, would say Christian Arroyo’s name.
For all the bitching about Wong…. He is a good defensive Catcher with a good arm and quick feet… I can deal with him hitting .245 with a little pop. Having Reese back will help him not have to carry as much of the load as he was having to do.
Coop – He’s good compared to Vaz, but not the type of catcher that would be in demand for his glove only.
He is definitely not going to be DFA’d, as you suggested, that’s a fact.
Does this mean no team thought he is worth prorated league minimum (or encumbering a roster spot)?
I think they would need to release him. then someone could look him up for league minimum. But as Baseballhistory mentioned, Segura might be a better option at minimum salary. I like Urias better than Segura, but I like Segura better than Arroyo.
Cora needs to go. This great reset experiment did not catch any lightning.
Now he’s not event the most recently dismissed Red Sox infielder!