The Red Sox are approaching a crossroads with regards to right-hander Bryan Mata. As noted by Chris Cotillo of MassLive, Mata has begun a rehab assignment as he works his way back from a hamstring strain that he suffered back in February. The 25-year-old was once one of the club’s top pitching prospects but has struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness over the past two seasons, pitching to a combined 6.39 ERA in 31 innings of work across all levels of he minors since the start of the 2023 campaign.
While the rehab assignment for a struggling pitcher who has yet to make his big league debut wouldn’t typically be especially notable, Mata’s rehab assignment is particularly worth noting because the righty is out of options. Given that, the Red Sox will have to make a decision regarding his future in the organization once his rehab clock runs out on June 12. If the club isn’t willing to offer Mata a spot on the active roster, they’ll need to designate him for assignment and risk losing him on waivers to get the chance to outright the young righty to the minor leagues. MassLive’s Sean McAdam reported back in February that the Red Sox expect Mata to be claimed if he’s exposed to waivers, though it’s possible that could change depending on how he looks throughout his rehab assignment.
Losing Mata on waivers would be a frustrating outcome for the Red Sox given the tantalizing talent he flashed prior to injuries sidetracking his career. In his most recent healthy season, the right-hander pitched to a strong 2.49 ERA in 83 innings while advancing through four levels of the minor leagues, including a 1.85 ERA in 10 appearances at the Double-A level and a 3.47 ERA in five starts at Triple-A. That season, Mata struck out a whopping 30.3% of batters faced, albeit with an elevated 13.3% walk rate. If the righty can get anything close to those huge strikeout numbers during his rehab assignment, it could certainly make sense for the club to offer him a role in the bullpen given the number of optionable relief arms they’re currently utilizing.
More from around the AL East…
- Orioles fans received some tough news from down on the farm on Friday, when the club announced that top third base prospect Coby Mayo suffered a fractured rib and has been placed on the minor league injured list. The Orioles indicated that Mayo will be out for “several weeks” due to the injury. It’s a frustrating setback for the 22-year-old, who is a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport and has impressed with a .291/.359/.605 slash line in 42 games at the Triple-A level this year. It was certainly plausible that the club could turn to Mayo as a starting option at some point in the near future given his fantastic play and the struggles of fellow top prospect Jackson Holliday, though this injury surely represents a setback for Mayo’s timeline to be called up to the majors. Jorge Mateo is currently rounding out the club’s starting infield mix in the majors alongside youngsters Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson.
- Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman has been off to a rough start this season, with a 4.89 ERA through nine starts despite a decent 3.50 FIP. Gausman’s struggles this season are particularly surprising given his utter dominance in recent years; from 2021 to ’23, the right-hander pitched to a 3.10 ERA (132 ERA+) with an even better 2.79 FIP. Gausman spoke to reporters (including MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson) yesterday about his frustrating results this season and described the campaign as an “uphill battle” to this point before suggesting that he “probably should have gone on the IL” at the start of the season. The righty battled shoulder soreness throughout Spring Training but nonetheless opened the season in the club’s rotation amid injuries sidelining much of the club’s starting pitching depth, including Alek Manoah and Yariel Rodriguez.
If Mata looks good on his rehab assignment, keep him.
Plenty of other dump candidates, such as Chase Anderson.
Maybe the Sox will find a taker for Jansen or Martin by June 12th.
Should keep him anyways. If his rehab assignment sucks, put him in low leverage relief and see how he does.
Agree with both of the above comments. Fever, I now admit I was wrong on Duran’s defense…
dewey – I’m just glad they didn’t trade Duran, I really hope the Sox extend him. He is the best all-around player they’ve got.
FPG, you might be Wong in that assessment. Pun intended.
hayzee – Funny thing is, when I typed my comment Wong did come to mind …. I’m loving what he is doing on both offense and defense. I just think it’s a little too soon, let’s see if he can keep it up.
There’s been so many Red Sox catchers who did really well offensively for a year, and then their offense cratered ….. Sandy Leon batted .310 with an .845 OPS in his second year with the Sox ….. Salty .804 OPS in 2013 …. …. Vazquez .798 OPS in 2019 (his current OPS is .384).
Love the comments because while the team is not going anywhere in 24, some moves by both CB I and II don’t look bad (or in the Betts case, as bad). Forced to trade Betts and bring hampered by having to also move Price, Wong as the sole return left doesn’t seem as bad as it did six months ago. Verdugo? I’m very pleased with Wissert and Fitts looks promising. Let’s see what the return on Pivetta will be. The Vasquez trade was also good although I’m not sold on Abreu. What will the team get for O’Neill? I’d love for the team to extend Pivetta and I’Beil but I don’t expect it to happen. This team though will be strong in 25.
Mata is a tough cookie, theres a ton of rust to knock off, and, he’s only played a handful of games at AAA back before the injury issue…
I think they need to evaluate him as if he was a target to be a rule 5 pick. He hasn’t looked good pitching against the very bottom levels of the minors so far on his rehab, which, makes it hard to carry, but, remember how long since he pitched competitively.
Is there space to hold a guy for mop-up duty in blowout games when you’re on either side of the score, and, can you carry him long enough to finish his development at the mlb level? Thats tough if you’re trying to compete.
But, I vote you try. He’s got a good 3 weeks left eligible in rehab, get him some appearances, and, you can try to hide/carry him for a couple weeks at the least in your pen and see how it goes.
I’ll take the rings. Red Sox were 9-4 vs the Yanks last year.
Yankees vs Redsox used to be like a Major holiday for baseball fans and now it’s just another series. I don’t often give the Yankees credit, but they’ve held up their part and it’s not their fault that Redsox owners have literally fallen asleep at the wheel.
Mlbfan. Both teams go through ups and downs..through history they are rarely good for the same stretch of time ..this is bostons turn. If you want a good example of yankee disfunction subscribe to peacock
@Poolhall…True that, but as a hardcore fan MLB is better when both teams are good(and relevant).
Red Sox have 4 WS wins to Yankees 1 in this century (since 2001). They also have the most recent one. And the Red Sox arent holding up their end of the bargain? Lol. Some of use care about championship over .500 or better teams.
“Redsox have 4 WS”….The Redsox are in last place almost ever year past ’18. They have a great history but their recent present is rather mediocre. I can’t remember the last time the Yankees finished last and certainly not multiple times in a 3-5 year stretch.I’m literally a fan of every non New York team in baseball and it’s very disappointing to see the Redsox be so irrelevant and mediocre in MLB.
What about 2021 Red Sox knocked off the Yankees and went to ALCS? What about 2018 and before?
Very selective memory you have. Another lame cherrypicker.
mlb – It’s not that Sox ownership has fallen asleep, they just don’t give a damn about winning.
Neither Werner nor Henry has any ties to New England, in fact Henry is a lifelong Cards fan. He has 8 championship rings, all he cares about is making money.
Lucky is the guy who cared about winning and took the Yankees rivalry seriously.
This bad Red Sox team is just not going thru their ups and downs but, the owners have taken a more important stance which is they are placing their money in a European soccer league team and it seems they are going to ignore the baseball team and allow them to go thru some bad seasons and collect a few high draft picks. They did nothing but cut salary.
The Red Sox CBT payroll is at $218.6M per Spotrac now which is $18.4M below the luxury tax threshold. So, maybe they have cut spending a little, but they have been consistently spending over $200M per year. I think they should be very competitive at this level if they spend the money wisely. Last year the Yankees spent $75M more than the Red Sox and paid $32M in luxury tax and only got 4 more wins.
Suit, there’s is a big disconnect between CBT figure and *actual* spending, an inversion that hadn’t been present in prior years – not to the extent it is right now.
Different sources have different figures, but, generally the *actual* 40 man projected year end numbers are in the lower to mid 170s. Given the actual outlay is so much further removed from the taxation figure, that normally would tell you it’s a good season to pay the tax and secure talent during a relatively low-competition FA market and look forward to a CBT value that will plummet next offseason to reset in 2025.
GA: There is more than one way to evaluate spending. I pay attention to the CBT payroll because I don’t think the Red Sox are interested in paying luxury tax right now. I think they may spend more after more of a young core is in place. I think they may be avoiding signing free agents that will be declining when younger players such as Mayer, Anthony and Teel are in their prime years.
Suit:
I’ll agree wholeheartedly that Henry has no appetite to pay CBT penalties currently. In fact, I’d argue he has relatively low appetite to spend much at all.
The risk you run, however, is you can’t wait forever. The more young pre-arb guys become ready, the more of the current youngsters will be approaching FA.
For example, barring an extension Houck, Crawford, and Duran will all be notable arb-1s next year, with 3 years of control left. Based on statements thus far, I foresee Casas being a guy who will want to test FA unless you overpay for him, starting his own arb the following year.
Ideally, you keep a steady flow of one or two guys debuting per season, you never get a point where 6 guys come up all at once.
How you get a nice dynasty is when you spend opportunistically to maintain competitiveness and desirability as a FA landing zone. This marlins-style build a team for 3 years then fire-sale, rinse, repeat or the Rays style of keep a guy 4 years then trade him, that’s not great for the fans.
GA: I don’t think the Red Sox will spend on free agents like the Yankees or Dodgers. I also don’t think they will behave like the Marlins or Rays. I think the Red Sox will do something in between, probably something like the Braves where they lock up their young talent early.
alum – It’s not just soccer, it’s the Penguins and golf too. When LeBron retires they will buy an NBA team as well.
There is nothing worse than a corporation owning a professional sports team, they view teams as ATM’s with zero emotional attachment or desire to win.
John Henry was in England to see Jürgen Klopp’s final game as Liverpool manager and participate in the post-match celebration. Klopp has only been the most successful skipper Liverpool have had in recent memory.
Can someone tell me how a player can be out of options before he’s ever been called up?
“Out of options before”…That sounds impossible doesn’t it?…Let us know if you find otherwise but I’ve never heard of this occurring.
I believe once they are on the 40man roster, they must be optioned at the end of spring training if they don’t make the team out of camp.
ALuepke12: Correct and prospects need to be added to the 40 man roster to be protected from the Rule 5 draft.
You dont have to have played on MLB team to exhaust an option. Mata was optioned in 2021, 22, 23. Zero options remaining.
soxprospects.com/players/mata-bryan.htm
“You don’t have to have played on MLB team”…That’s why I come to “Trade Rumors”; you learn something new every day, even when you’ve been watching the game for 50+ years.
Mata has pitched 116 largely ineffective innings since 2019. As he is out of options, no team is going to claim him just because when every franchise has similar borderline talents who have pitched much more in the past 5 seasons. In fact, with reduced minor league rosters, Mata might not possess as much appeal as he would have even a year ago after clearing waivers. It’s a perfect storm of ill-timing that likely leads to pretty much nothing.
Yes, pitching is so plentiful now that no one will take a chance on another teams top prospect coming off injury.
Mata isn’t just a prospect coming of an injury. He’s a former prospect coming off an injury who has barely pitched and been ineffective on the rare occasion he has, and has no options left. Deivi Garcia was more intriguing former prospect and he cleared waivers and went unclaimed.
The health of Coby Mayo and his potential promotion has absolutely nothing to do with whatever is happening with Jackson Holliday. Mayo is limited to 3B or possibly 1B and Holliday is clearly being penciled in as a middle infielder. Just because Mayo’s bat appears MLB-ready does not mean he would in any way block Holliday and vice-versa. Suggesting that Mayo could push Holliday aside on his way to the Majors is not a mistake that somebody who follows the Orioles would make.
All I am going to say to this is… Henderson, Westburg, Mountcastle/O’Hearn, Holliday, Mayo. You got all 5 playing infield spots or you think they’re moving someone to OF? Genuinely curious what your thought process is here
Don’t forget Mateo who is presenting rather nicely as the primary 2BB for now. I’m simply pointing out that if the O’s make a move with Mayo and he finds himself in a Major League dugout it will have nothing to do with what’s going on with Holliday. The writer suggests that Mayo could rise because of Holliday’s early season setback. The situations of Mayo and Holliday are not dependent upon each other.
Mayo being healthy puts him at 3B and moves Westberg to 2B. Yeah, first productive player wins one of the limited spots. The other sits bench or becomes trade fodder.
I wonder if the o’s will trade their older starting big leaguers to open up space, Mateo has Holliday behind him, Santander has Heston behind, the Ryan’s have Samuel
Who trades MLB veterans who are actually performing while in the hunt for the playoffs?
We have never had a team like the o’s
I predict Hays will be traded at deadline and some other vets will leave during the off-season
I think Santander signs elsewhere in 2025 sure. But you can’t trade him away. Hays is looking bad he will be benched or perhaps traded.
There are reasons why teams trade away young talent when trying to compete.
Hays is looking better at the plate since he came off the IL, plus the Os will find it harder to replace his defense now that McKenna is gone.
Mayo has not proven to be a good third baseman yet. Right now he looks more like a 1B/DH
O’s have to put him at 3rd because they have to have Samuel at 1st
Basallo is at least a year away from getting a taste of the Majors, maybe longer. As the prospects have been rising through the system the O’s have shown they won’t make moves at the Major League level to accommodate or plan for somebody down in the minors. If Mayo makes it to the Majors and finds himself playing 1B then they’ll figure out what to do with Basallo later. They didn’t hesitate to play Westburg at 2B when they knew Holliday was on the way and they won’t worry that much about where Mayo or Basallo might end up in a year or more.
Exactly, and there’s perhaps a possibility Mayo gets tried out in the outfield too.
Boston should trade Devers to the Tigers. Grab Jace Jung, a good bullpen arm or minor league hitter and a handful of their pitching prospects not named Jobe.
1. Devers is expensive and a poor fielder.
2. Devers just signed a huge extension, has no excess value, and is already a regret to Boston.
3. Chris Illitch is cheap.
4. Jung is as cheap as possible, has six years of control, and can’t possibly be a worse fielder at 3B.
5. Jung currently has more value than Devers, so the additional players would be coming from Boston’s side.
Devers is not worthless, he has one of the best lefty bats in the league, he is still pretty young, and about every team (payroll above $100 mil) would welcome him to the roster
They are saying Devers may move to 1B. The Tigers are talking about shifting Tork to full time DH…he is the worst fielding 1B in the league right now. Devers brings offense that the Tigers badly need, lots of offense and they can afford him. Jung is a prospect and has proved nothing yet (although I like him and think he will be good). Jung is NOT worth more than Devers.
There are other potential targets for offensive upgrades the Tigers could look at depending who is still in the playoff chase: TB has Paredes and Arozarena; Marlins have Jazz Chisholm; Toronto has Bichette and Vlad; LAD have Vargas and their young catchers who are blocked; Cincy has 8 million young infielders.
I think Chris Illitch is gun shy after the Baez fiasco but you are right eventually he will have to shell out some cash.
Devers is not going to be first base the Red Sox already have a first baseman. It would be nice if they could move him to DH where he belongs and move Masa. They don’t seem to be ready to move him off third yet I also don’t see any team trading for him Boston would want a lot to move him and other teams probably don’t value him to the level that Boston does.
Bruin – Doesn’t it make more sense to move the worse defender, Casas, to DH instead of Devers? Assuming Devers can master first base, which I’d love to find out if he can.
One thing is certain, Devers can hit …. he’s now homered in 5 straight games, a team record that was last accomplished by ….. Bobby Dalbec!!!
I don’t think Casas is the wirst defender at first base. You can’t just move a guy from 3rd to 1st. I don’t think Devers would be a good first baseman but he’d be a good DH. Casas has been much better at first this year and he was pretty good at first in the minors. Casas is really pretty good at scooping errant throws. No I think you keep Casas at first and move Devers to DH.
Bruin – I hear what you’re saying, but from a team perspective Devers’ contract would look worse as a DH than a 1B.
And if Casas gets moved to DH, he would command a lower contract than if he stayed at 1B. So I’m thinking of the business end of it too.
Fever – Seriously? Casas is one tenth as bad as Devers and I think I am being generous..
Nobody gives a damn how Bloom’s mistake looks. You can’t undo it so live with it by reducing damage.
Not sure where ANYONE can justify Devers at 3B. It’s simply BAD BAD BAD baseball and has been since 2017.
Also, when the season ends and he has yet another slightly above average year you have to ask your self can we take a one time hit and pay a team like we wasted the money on moving Sale. It’ll need to be 10 times as much but it will be worth a win per dollar of the buy in.
Stop picking on Casas. He’s fine. screw the metric fabrications. They are meaning less. He’s league average and will improve with experience. He’s the most valuable player on the team for the money he’s being paid.
Fever – DEVERS IS A MASSIVE REGRET. Where is this coming from? The guy sucks as a defender, as a human being, and he’s a baseball moron. He’s selfish, self center and only cares about himself. He’s been babied his whole career and needs to grow up and be a man not a child. He may look like a man but he’s had a ridiculous support group helping him since he was 16. Name another player that is so spoiling in the Red Sox organization!!! Big Papi had to prove himself, Devers never did and never will. He’s given everything and earns NOTHING. He’s a bum, a chump and a loser. Yes, I detest the treatment he gets and how many years it’s hurt the Red Sox.
Personally, I’d give him away and write off the loss. I’d rather have David Price on my team than Devers. You want extreme comments about Casas having minor fielding issues, here is some extreme comments about the worst 3B fielder in the history of the game. 50 misplays a year for 8 seasons is 400 plays that could have been outs and should have been but the pitchers had to absorb the stress of his bad play. He’s a bum. PERIOD.
TF – Great post as always, I like your passion!!
Yes of course nobody wants Devers playing 3B, we have no choice but to accept it. All we can do is enjoy his greatness as a hitter. So do you think he will break the team consecutive game homerun record tonight?
It’s great to see him hitting so well now that he’s finally healthy!
Fever – NO. But he will swing out of control in an attempt to do it. I don’t believe health has anything to do with his many slumps each year. Immaturity is the main cause. He pouts when he doesn’t get the spotlight. It’s that simple.
At least there are times now when Cora bats him 3rd where he’s belonged since JD and Bogey left. Duran, Rafaela, Devers and O’Neill need to be at the top of the order to maximize scoring and if they plan on winning more than 68 games this year they need to stick with those four at the top of the order.
My series by series predictions have taken the original 66 win target up to 68 but the last 8 series have ended up just as predicted. Now they got to TB where they are predicted to be swept, then home versus MIL where they should win 1 game, then to BAL where they win 1 game, then home to go 2-2 with DET and 0-2 with ATL. Yes, the expectation is 4-11 over their next 15 games. That should be enough to move them behind the floundering Blue Jays.
With a team this bad I guess I get why you cling to any positive Devers can provide on offense. 400 misplays on defense and you continue to say nothing can be done about it. How about fire the guy who won’t do the right thing for the team and move him to DH!!!! That’s a no brainer and that’s precisely what we’ve had in the front office since AUG of 2019!!!
TF – Devers did it, 6 games in a row … a new franchise record!!
Motor – Devers is now 3rd in the league in OPS … Sox aren’t trading him this year.
stymee – Just because some fans here don’t like Devers, it doesn’t mean he’s a “regret” to the Red Sox.
In fact he’s been carrying the team recently.
Sure his contract was an overpay, but nobody in the front office regrets him being on the team.
And if you think the Sox would have signed a big name free agent if Devers wasn’t on the payroll, you are sadly mistaken. They would have just pocketed the money instead.
Bruin1012 = Great sanity in your comments. I have no idea where Fever is coming from on this rant. Casas is a stud and Devers is a dud that is full of himself and has ruined the Red Sox chances for winning since 2017. His crap performance in 2018 confirms just how unnecessary his presence has been since he got prematurely promoted to the MLB.
This team could have a great new start if Cora gets fired and Devers gets move to another team or incarcerated in the DH position.
Once devers is old and his speed declines (30 or so) is when Boston moves him off 3rd, just like miggy
sad – Fun fact, Miggy moved to 1B at age 31 and had 3 good years hitting while playing 1B. After that, he sucked in comparison to his years prior to 2017.
I think Devers craps out long before his 33 year old season as a hitter. Also, if he plays 3B though his 30 year old season he will have made 550 misplays at 3B. The score keepers will have him at approximately 200 official errors.
Fun Fact: Devers came up in 2017 and played just 56 games and made 14 errors that were recorded by the biased score keepers. Had he played 150 games he was on a pace to have 37. errors!!!! The most in the majors in 2017 was 28 by Tim Anderson.
Devers History of errors
2017 partial year (56 games) 14 projected to 37 in a full year
2018 finished 2nd with 24 (Profar had 25)
2019 finished 2nd with 22 (Anderson had 26)
2020 finished 1st with 14
NOT CONCEIVABLE HOW THiS ALONE DIDN”T GET HIM MOVED TO DH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2021 finished 5th because 4 tied with 24 and he had 22
2022 Only played in 138 games so 14 was 2 short of top 10
2023 finished 3rd with 19 (behind TTurner and Abrams)
That’s 7 embarrassing seasons at the top of the errors list for all positions not just 3B. Most of the other positions have far more total chances so their fielding percentages are MUCH, MUCH higher.
In 2024 the score keepers have successfully surpressed 14 errors so far so he only has 3 and the top 10 lists only goes to 6 errors though today. His butchery continues and it hurts the great pitching staff. The ERA and WHIPS are the best since 2018 and yet they are still being impacted by the biggest embarrassment the baseball organization has ever known on defense. It’s sickening. It’s completely inappropriate to show this level of favoritism and it’s a shame nobody has the balls to fix it.
You must watch a lot of Red Sox games and see his errors
In the Baltimore game the other day I almost punched my tv because of Luis “worthless” urias turning a maybe double play into a horrible error
Sad – Are you making fun of the major acquisition Bloom made at last year’s trade deadline??
Kevin Gausman’s performance metrics are raising some red flags this season. His strikeout rate (K%) has decreased by 8.5 percentage points, accompanied by a decline in both his fastball and off-speed velocities. This combination often signals underlying issues, potentially pointing to a looming injury.
Last year, Gausman posted a Forecasted Run Average (FRA) of 3.88, setting expectations for this season’s FRA in the 3.80 to 4.00 range. However, his current FRA sits at 4.31, slightly above the anticipated target. While his pitching has been better than his ERA suggests, the discrepancies in his performance metrics are concerning and merit closer scrutiny.
His FIP is still lower and his BABIP is pretty high to his standards, most of it is bad luck but he is getting up there in age
This is the new stage of his career, 3.5-4.5 era until he crashes
Gausman is having a rough start to his season. The REAL PROBLEM is shapiro and useless atkins are still here and must be fired for our team to go forward ….Get REAL baseball people to run the Blue Jays !!
Would you rather keep Shapiro and atkins or would you rather have old Alex Anthopoulos
Gausman pitched to a 3.10 ERA last year. Please explain how the performance that actually produced that ERA provides a FRA higher than that, and I will explain how its a flawed theory. What his metrics were last year effects last years production. What his metrics are this year will effect this years production. Will those metrics be the same? Probably not. Will age catch him? Will he pitch thru more minor injuries, or fewer this year? Will his team provide him a lead more or less often? Will he pitch in more good weather days, or more with inclement weather? There are so many factors that aren’t considered in these formulas, yet so many spew them forth as gospel.
With optionable arms in the pen, they might recall him at the end of his rehab assignment. It’s not like the Sox are contending this year. They have little to lose by adding him to the 26 man. He’s definitely a lotto ticket.
A 3.10 ERA is not utter dominance. Especially in this era of Mendoza line hitters.
“Alright, give me ham on five and hold the mayo.”