The Red Sox have agreed to minor league deals with catcher Seby Zavala, per the team’s transaction log at MLB.com. Boston is also in agreement on a minor league deal with utilityman Nate Eaton, per Jon Morosi of MLB.com. Eaton would earn a $780K base salary if selected to the 40-man roster. Both players will be invited to major league spring training.
Zavala, a client of Headline Sports Group, spent the 2024 season in the Mariners organization. Seattle acquired him alongside flamethrowing relief prospect Carlos Vargas in the trade sending Eugenio Suarez to the D-backs. The hope was that Zavala, a terrific defender behind the plate, could hold down the backup job to workhorse catcher Cal Raleigh.
Things didn’t pan out that way, however. The 31-year-old Zavala has never hit much, but last year’s .154/.214/.282 slash (in a tiny sample of 43 plate appearances) was too anemic for the M’s to stomach. Zavala was designated for assignment three different times but opted to stick with the M’s via outright assignment each time. He became a minor league free agent at season’s end.
Zavala has appeared in 194 big league games. He’s a career .205/.271/.342 hitter in that time. He’s shown passable power for his position and also displayed some pop in the minors, but Zavala has punched out in a staggering 35.9% of his 557 big league plate appearances. That lack of contact leaves him with practically no hope of producing at even an average level.
Defensively, it’s another story. Zavala regularly posts elite framing marks and draws above-average grades for his ability to block pitches in the dirt, per Statcast. He posted a below-average caught stealing rate in 2023 but was within one percentage point of league-average in both 2024 and 2022. The Red Sox currently only have two catchers on the 40-man roster: Connor Wong and Mickey Gasper. Adding some experienced depth is a sensible endeavor.
Eaton, 28 next month, is a client of Gaeta Sports Management. He didn’t play in the big leagues this past season but logged 72 games and 178 plate appearances for the Royals from 2022-23. He batted only .201/.266/.283 in that time, but the versatile right-handed hitter has a far better track record in the upper minors. In parts of three seasons in Triple-A Omaha, he’s a .261/.320/.455 hitter with 40 homers and 60 steals in 255 games (1060 plate appearances).
Eaton has played primarily third base in his professional career but has at least 600 innings at each of the three outfield slots in addition to another 350 frames at second base and 60 at shortstop. Statcast credited him with 97th percentile sprint speed in his two big league seasons, measuring him at a blazing 29.6 feet per second.
Boston’s bench should have some spots up for grabs. Utilityman Rob Refsnyder, another right-handed bat, figures to have one spot locked down, and Gasper does as well for the time being, currently profiling as the backup to Wong. Romy Gonzalez, Nick Sogard, Enmanuel Valdez and Vaughn Grissom could all be in the mix for spots as well, but they all have minor league options remaining. Eaton’s versatility could earn him a look in the majors with a big spring or a strong early showing with the Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in Worcester.
Filling out the AAA roster.
Heard something interesting today…. Boston may have the best farm in the league? Is that correct?
Hey Clipper. Maybe. I haven’t looked at rankings recently. I think they are probably at least top 10. They probably have one of the best sets of position prospects. They were a bit light on pitching prospects, but they have been addressing that.
Yeah, I knew they were…decent. But, possibly tops? Wow, that’s great for the future, man.
top 5ish depending on who you ask. They’re thin on high upside pitching
Allin – Agreed. Here is the list of the Red Sox minor league free agents which were with mostly with Worcester.
Royman Blanco
Felix Cepeda
Mark Contreras
Bobby Dalbec
Nick Decker
Dalton Guthrie
Brad Keller
Mark Kolozsvary
Elih Marrero
Alex Speas
Jamie Westbrook
These are just a few of the AAA players who will need to be replaced. So commenters do not need to mention duck boats on every AAA player signed to fill out the Worcester roster…. Someone needs to pitch those innings and get those at bats. MLBtraderumors is not just reporting MLB signings. At least half of their posts identities minor league signings and movements.
Getting to the minor league invites early
Remember how every one of these Red Sox moves had the “full throttle” comment on it last year?
yes and many do this year. It continues to be insufferable when people do that.
It continues to be insufferable when our front office lies to us about their plans to add sufficient talent to field a competitive baseball team, too.
sure but sarcastically parroting the same thing over and over again doesn’t change that fact.
It’s all we’ve got right now, ace.
hey, they word vomit the same thing to you guys on the east coast as us on the west coast?
Dipoto told us he was going “spend” when the time was right which was like the 21 off-season, cant remember now with all the BS spewing from his mouth.
I think the winter meetings are just the meet up for all the FO’s so they can get their lies straight for the year and if a move is made, that’s just the extra topping on top.
Forget
Unrealistic
Lavish
Lines.
The
Hierarchy
Recognize
Overall
Team
Troubles
Lowering
Expectations.
Cool. I guess.
Redsox should trade from these 40 man roster spot holders. Yoshida, Refsnyder, Gonzales, Valdez, Sogard, Hamilton from the 40 man roster they no longer fit our team roster construction and we’re flush with all of their replacements. Trade from this pool.
Abreu, Valdez & ?? to ChiSox for Crochet & Quero…sounds good to me! Anthony is knocking on the door to be let in.
Then really go “raise the ceiling” & sign Fried
That sounds about right,
You make minor league deals when you play like a minor league team.
The Worcester Red Sox are a minor league team. I thought you knew that?