Just ahead of the deadline to add players to the 40-man roster before the Rule 5 Draft, the Red Sox announced that they have selected the contracts of two right-handed pitchers: Wikelman Gonzalez and Luis Perales. The club’s 40-man roster now sits at 39.
Gonzalez, 21, is the No. 9 prospect in the Red Sox system and the top-ranked pitcher, per MLB Pipeline. The righty is coming off a strong 2023 campaign in which he pitched to a 3.96 ERA in 25 starts between High-A and Double-A. He looked particularly impressive after his midseason promotion, posting a 2.42 ERA with 63 strikeouts in 48 1/3 innings pitched. Gonzalez won’t turn 22 until March, so it seems unlikely he’ll contribute to the big league team in 2024. Still, given his performance last season, it’s not hard to understand why Boston chose to protect him.
MLB Pipeline has Perales, 20, ranked one spot below Gonzalez, making him the No. 10 prospect in the Red Sox organization. The hard-throwing righty had a strong season of his own in 2023, pitching to a 3.91 ERA with 115 strikeouts in 21 starts between Low-A Salem and High-A Greenville. Perales is even less likely to play for the MLB club this coming season, but it is equally clear to see why the Red Sox made sure to keep him around.
In a slightly more surprising move, Boston chose not to protect Shane Drohan following his disappointing performance in 2023. The southpaw ranks 18th among Red Sox prospects on MLB Pipeline, but the evaluators at FanGraphs (8th) and Baseball America (9th) were more optimistic about the 24-year-old starter on their latest prospect lists. What’s more, Drohan’s age and experience make him a much more likely target for other teams in the Rule 5 draft. He made 21 appearances (19 starts) at Triple-A last season, and although the results weren’t great (6.47 ERA, 6.55 FIP), his numbers from Double-A (2.17 ERA in 11 starts from 2022-23) are indicative of the pitcher he could someday become.
Interesting to see if song or drohan get taken
I’m wondering about pitchers Zach Penrod and Grant Gambrell.
Solid moves on gonzalez and perales
Huh I thought Drohan was all but a lock to get selected
I guess they figure Drohan will not stick on another team’s 26 man roster after posting a 6.47 ERA and 6.55 FIP with 19 HRs and 63 walks in 89 AAA innings.
Yeah. Someone could try him as a reliever and he might stick
All in – Totally agree! Drohan was way beyond bad! He pitched himself out of a 40-man roster spot. He was absolutely hammered almost every start in AAA. If Drohan is taken in Rule 5, he will be returned unless he completely does a 180 from what he did in AAA!
What happened to the 200-comment threads on letting Song and Politi go?
Joe, the night is young 😉
Joe — They’re all watching the Bruins/Sabres game.
Slow your roll. NL Cy Young hasnt been announced yet. It might be Thad Ward.
I’m waiting for Thad to be left unprotected to see if anyone remembers how badly they wanted him protected. Or Darwinzon.
Joe – yes, Cy Young candidate Darwinzon Hernandez signed with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks July 28, 2023. He pitched 2/3 of an inning and gave up 2 runs……
It should be a tight Cy Young competition between Darwinzon and Thad.
That’s so 2022!
Give it some time haha
Joe – both Song (from Philly) and Politi (from Baltimore) were returned as they were not able to stick on playoff caliber teams. Hopefully those 200 crying commenters have learned more about how few Rule 5 players are good enough to stick. The last quoted number I read was that 77% were offered back to their original team.
Lol idk if we’re out of the danger zone there quite yet. Never have I seem so much attention and angst paid to a fringe 40 man dude as I have with song.
Bit of a gamble to leave Drohan unprotected. Sox had another spot open. Perhaps we are seeing of Breslow’s insight into pitching prospects. Leaves me to wonder if other teams who would have grabbed him think twice asking themselves, ‘what does Bres know that we dont?’
Maybe the Sox have their eye on the next Whitlock and think Drohan has a better chance of slipping tnough now rather than later.
I don’t know if Breslow has the cachet yet to be trying checkers vs chess moves
His new title says he gets the benefit of the doubt for now
@Ace, as a GM? No. No cachet yet. But being very good at eyeing talented pitching and developing it? he has some there. Not saying he is playing jedi mind tricks.
If he didn’t protect him when there was a spot there probably means he doesn’t place value in him. Probably.
More likely he wants a spot for his own rule 5 pick
Fair points all around haha
DBH – not only all that, but, you’ve got to remember the plus/minus end of the equations…
Free agent signings will need slots to fill, even if you account for possibly trading Verdugo that’s only 2 spaces.
So you ask yourself, *if* they added him to the 40-man, what kind of trade value does he likely have? I’d say not much right now.
So weigh that return where the player is then gone for good vs the *risk* someone drafts him, and, then needs to keep him on the active roster, and possibly/probably offers him back.
I’d bet the rule 5 cash is comparable to the cash considerations he’d bring on a trade right now, so that’s a wash too
The roster is already at 39. They will be adding more players.
It’s better to have players left unprotected (Song, Politi), you stand a chance to get them back. And if they go undrafted,they don’t take up a roster spot all season. Than to need a 40-man spot, and have to waive them later in winter (Darwinson). Where the RedSox have no chance to get them back.
Exactly. If a player is not a lock to stay on the 40 man the whole offseason, it is better to leave them off the 40 man and expose then to the Rule 5 draft.
Fair points all of you. The only thing I know for sure is that I looking forward to this off-season far more than the last 2!!!
So why would Llovera and Mills be on the roster?
Mills still has some pretty good upside. His minor league numbers in 2021-22 were flat out dominant, and then he got hurt. Could still see him turning out to be a pretty good reliever if he’s healthy. Llovera however, shouldn’t be on the roster much longer.
Song still has to spend a portion of his offseason in military reserve. How that will affect his readiness for spring training is questionable. When he washes out of baseball he can resume his military career.