The Red Sox have signed right-hander Austin Adams to a minor league deal, KPRC’s Ari Alexander reports. Adams will receive an invite to Boston’s big league spring camp, and his contract contains over $1.5MM in bonuses based on appearances at the MLB level.
Should Adams indeed cash in on those bonuses, it should bring his salary fairly close to the $1.7MM that MLBTR projected as his arbitration salary in 2025, though the Athletics outrighted him at season’s end in what was essentially an early non-tender. Though $1.7MM isn’t a big sum even for the A’s, Adams’ 12% walk rate was on the high side, even though he had a 3.92 ERA and 27.7% strikeout rate over 41 1/3 innings out of the Athletics’ bullpen.
These numbers are pretty close to a match to the 4.10 ERA, 31.6% strikeout rate, and 13.9% walk rate Adams has posted in his 155 2/3 innings in the Show. His control problems also manifested themselves in a league-leading 24 batters hit by pitches in 2021.
Adams has appeared in each of the last eight Major League seasons, ranging from cups of coffee (two appearances in each of the 2018 and 2022) to larger workloads, like this past season in Oakland or his career high of 52 2/3 innings with the 2021 Padres. Adams has seen action with five different teams at the big league level, including a three-year stint in San Diego from 2020-22 that was shortened by a flexor tendon surgery that cost him almost all of the 2022 campaign.
The Sox will become the latest team to see if they can fix the 33-year-old’s control and get his slider-heavy arsenal to deliver more consistent results at the big league level. Adams’ strikeout potential is clearly evident, and even beyond the hidden-gem potential, he can bring some value to Boston’s bullpen even if he only replicates his overall decent 2024 results. At the cost of just a minor league contract, there’s no risk for the Red Sox in letting Adams compete for a job in spring camp.
Inb4 full throttle
Save it ..there is a ton of unsigned talent out there and a gm not signing minors depth options isnt doing his job
A lot of RS will not like an acquisition unless it is someone they have heard of, and a lot of the fans never hear of anyone not in the MLB-R top 50 FAs.
That was my point
While I really want to see some significant moves, this seems like a smart depth move. You can never have too many arms in the minors who can fill in when needed.
Uncle = So your opinion is that this guy might get in during 2025? Hmmmm
Can there be that many injuries?
Sag – It’s not about just injuries. When Cora uses up the pen, or when he wants the rotation to get an extra days rest (he wiĺl baby Crochet and Gio), or when rainouts in Tampa and elsewhere create doubleheaders, Adams will be needed. Cora doesn’t know how to manage a pitching staff.
Thank you; this is a common sense approach. 2026 is just as important as 2025, as is 2027, etc. As someone else wrote, any GM that is not pursuing present and future, is not doing their job.
KK – This isn’t news, it’s not worth commenting on.
What they should write about is the latest from Loomer, he showed a promo for the Mexico series and the top 4 Sox players (Abreu, Devers, Houck, Duran) plus Bello & Rafaela (Latinos) were featured ….. Casas was conspicuously missing. Loomer is positive it’s a message that Casas probably won’t be with the team in late March.
This is a major bummer, if Casas was surrounded by the proper structure and support he wouldn’t be alienating everyone. I blame Cora, Fatso and the Sox front office.
I’d rather keep Abreu than Casas though. They have to give to get.
Who Fatso? Hilarious either way.. hahaha
Serious – He is the hitting coach.
To be fair it could be just as likely that they just figured Casas would not have much name recognition to move the needle with Mexican fans. He’s played about a season and a half worth of ball spread over 3 calendar years and hasn’t been a fixture on the international circuit (he played the 2020 Olympics in Japan yes, but hasn’t been in a WBC, wasn’t a LIDOM regular as a prospect, etc.) and the Red Sox have not been very good during his tenure either. It’s not crazy to believe that he was left off because he is just too anonymous still to those who aren’t die hard Red Sox fans.
MLB also announced a month ago that both the Mexico and the Puerto Rico series planned for next year have been canceled, so it could also just be that they weren’t done doing all the marketing materials yet but just stopped working on them as the deal started to fall apart.
Dirty – The Mexico series is not canceled, look at the official schedule for March.
We know they’ve already tried to trade him, the only question is how motivated they are. Seems like the answer is highly.
Fpg…thats reading alot into omission..not saying you are incorrect in your assumptions casas and any perceived alienation but i dont see why there is a need to toss around blame and point fingers for something that to this point is all speculation, rumor and alledged trade offers that never came to fruition
Pool – Why are you attributing it to me? Like I said, Loomer is the one who pointed it out and said it’s a sign. He’s been talking about Casas a lot, pointing out that all of his teammates are not happy with how he approaches the game (we heard that already though).
I respect Loomer a lot, he’s knowledgeable and intelligent and straightforward. He’s also indirectly an FSG employee so it sure seems like FSG is using him to turn fans against Casas and therefore the fans will be happy if he’s traded. This is a tactic the front office has used many, many times such as with Mookie, Xander, etc.
Loomer is right all the time. Remember a week or two ago he said if the Sox don’t sign Burnes then they will have no leverage with trades? He was spot on, and with the Crochet trade the ChiSox took advantage of Boston’s desperation. Loomer knows all.
I think Casas rubbed the who team the wrong way with how he handled his rehab/coming back… And apostles also rubbed them the wrong way with the Netflix series (something about following the cameraman around and forcing his way into scenes, things like that). Maybe something to it all (and maybe not)
Serious – Not to get too deep into psychology … but when a child loses his mother the way Casas did, typically that child is given lots of extra attention and preferential treatment to try and compensate for their loss.
I think that’s why Casas is constantly craving attention and stubborn about doing things his way, because he’s accustomed to it. Hence his rubbing teammates the wrong way, and his earning the label of being difficult to coach/manage.
It’s a shame, because he really does have a lot of talent as a hitter.
If you block that crazy troll, things get better.
Oh yeah. I forgot how sophisticated some RS conversations can be once you eliminate 2 posters.
Fpg My mistake ..take out the word “you” insert loomer..the rest stands..its assumption. Opinion etc ..nothing more so might be best to wait on the post mortem till something happens in.my opinion but you are of course free to share in any assumptions you wish.
Pool = Don’t you wish players could be evaluated by their skills?
With the internet magnifying the ability to rumor a players future or public perception rather than his stats, players are on shaky ground until they establish a high level of skill, it seems like every day we get some cluster of messed up fans taking cheap shots at specific players.
Casas’ personality should have nothing to do with his skills because nobody holds it against Devers for being selfish. He’s hit long enough that his personality flaws are completely over looked. If Casas gets to hit another year or two, I believe he will change the perspective of the fans bad mouthing him today. Unless, the person behind the bad mouthing is an internal front office person or the manager, then it’s more likely he’ll be shipped to KC or Pittsburgh even if he’s an excellent player.
It’s just so exciting being a Red Sox fan these days. I can’t wait for the next signing. The hot stove is heating up! Ok! Ok! Ok! The season doesn’t start until the spring. Nobody has won the offseason yet. Not even the Mets. Hey Breslow! Please throw us a bone. Sheesh!
Just tune into NESN, everything will be fine.
-J.Henry
Red Sox are gonna be good this year.
wow,,after 6 years of mediocrity the red sox are all in
You should do stand up comedy…you have talent
Every team makes moves like this, this time of season. No big deal. Hopefully the Sox line up so much competition that the last roster spots are actually earned.
no money left for the redsox, lord henry will not spend money on the team, his liverpool team is first in england at the moment they will need some money to make some signings to win the league and make big profit, over there
The Red Sox have The Enforcer, Double A in the fold. Here we come!
Yes, depth pieces are needed we all agree. But can w agree Breslow is Bloom 2.0. He doesn’t have what successful GM’s have to go all out for anything.
Just traded 4 solid farm hands for top end pitcher. He’s letting the market play out a bit.
Says you to the rest of us we see another offseason of not spending money to compete
shoman- the “top end” portion of your comment remains to be seen. Yes, Crochet had a great season on one of the worst teams in MLB history- but it was his 1st as a starter, so his ceiling could be great- or he could break down and need another TJ surgery (hope not).
I hope Crochet succeeds, but the jury’s out.
I hope Crochet succeeds, but the jury’s out.
==============================
The jury is always out. Prospects are suspects until they succeed. Any FA, especially an SP, is one year away from TJS, and will become old before his contract ends.
Everyone is a gamble.
He is bloom he is doing what Henry allows and told both to do
These takes are so predictable and inane. This is about as funny as telling the same “hysterical” joke to your brother four times a day. We get it, you’re here to read about big splash acquisitions; high end free agency signings, big trades.
In the meantime, the Red Sox have a AAA squad in Worcester that needs 28 players. Every team invites 20-30 non-roster players to spring training, on a tryout basis, and winter is the time of year when all MLB teams sign marginal talent, so they can get an exclusive look at a possible under-the-radar spare part.
Some of these marginal guys stick on the AAA roster, as prospective injury replacements for the major league squad, some troll in obscurity as the below average talent that fills the holes in every team’s minor leagues, and many of these guys are released, before the season, during the season, or get thrown into trades, to make the dollars work.
Unlike the GM candidates on this site, the GMs who actually get paid a salary make these spare parts deals all season long. The 25 man roster is just one of their many concerns.
It is long past time that “full throttle”, “all in” and all the other brainless comments were considered clever; now you’re just an unthinking troll who responds to every Red Sox piece that doesn’t describe a major acquisition with the most tiresome possible comment.
At least change the wording around, huh?
Thanks dad
You’re welcome, son. Mom says “come down for dinner”
How do you know, you are still living In gramas basement eating cheese puffs
Going to my room without dinner, sorry dad…
Kidding Right – You seem to have this complaining all wrong.
What do Red Sox fans want? To fix the problems with the roster. Is every move a big move? No but the first moves should be to show that there is an attempt to get better based on their current needs. Is there a place and a time to fix trivial minor league issues? Yes, it’s not right now.
Procrastination each of the last five years has led to avoidance and missed opportunities. For once, it would be nice to get the needed starting pitchers while there is a good supply of them. For once it would be nice to ignore the immature behavior of one player who can’t see how incredibly horrible he is on defense and put him in his only position of DH.
These aren’t unreasonable desires by the fans the last 5 years. They are exactly the type of actions that should be desired by loyal fans especially after going through 86 years of waiting and then 15 years of effort by the owners.
What’s despicable are the whiners who suggest the fans have no rights to want the holes in the roster fixed rather than the insignificant moves that help the front office procrastinate.
A certain Patriot’s Coach said it best “DO YOUR JOB”. Breslow, ownership, Cora and Devers don’t seem to want to do that for the good of the team.
It’s like the incessant ‘deferral’ jokes by the LAD haters. They were really only funny the first hundred times they told them.
I like that he hits a lot of batters. Put him in against the Yankees. Let’s go.
That’s mean-spirited, but still +1 worthy.
Start the Waaahmbulance.
Thank god we have an owner that cares and opens up his wallet….. John you are joke and we demand you sell this team before you make it any worse.
And we thought, corbin, burns was the target ace pitcher the sox were going after. I can see how austin adams will be a better choice. $$$.
Reading is fundamental.
THE RED SOX HAVE SIGNED AUSTIN ADAMS TO MINORS CONTRACT
In related news, Julius Noah has signed Mario Betoni to play Third Guy Who Enters Convenience Store in Captain America: Brave New World. Let’s react to that
Kidding- With all due respect, I could easily list several players the Sox signed to minor league contracts and ended up pitching for the Sox.
That’s what they do, cycle players in and out on a weekly basis. Hopefully MLB will implement a minimum games rule.
They’re too cheap to hire Tom Cruise for that vital role?
Before anyone starts, I know this guy is depth. I know that because very few teams would have this type of guy on an MLB pitching staff unless they had to. So, I understand why they sign depth pieces but……….
I am not sure why we constantly insist on adding science experiment fringe pitchers with poor control to our bullpen year after year.
The single worst thing a reliever can do is come in and walk hitters or run hitters counts over and over. Why acquire pitchers that you can be assured will give up free runners in most of their outings.
Then you also understand why MLB teams sign guys with fringe talent to the MINOR LEAGUES
Have you ever watched a baseball game in your life? If so you might be able to figure out what he’s saying is that he would prefer fringe/marginal guys who might have less impressive “stuff” but can throw strikes with what they have. They will get hit around at times, sure, but a lot more balls in play become outs than walks do, wouldn’t you agree?
Kidding – You are right. Bad teams do sign fringe talent to the MINOR LEAGUES. That doesn’t mean the Red Sox should, especially before they address their actual needs.
I am not sure why we constantly insist on adding science experiment fringe pitchers with poor control to our bullpen year after year.
===========================
Here’s my thinking:
1-In addition to having 1-8 RPs in the pros, you need 1-8 in the minors.
2-You aren’t going to get minor league 1-8 guys from any place else. You won’t trade for minor league depth, so waiver-bait guys is where you go.
3-For better or worse, the RS pursue guys with high-K rates. Just imho, I think it easier to teach decreased walks over increased strikeouts.
I would normally agree with the basics of your opinion, but I cannot with the Red Sox. Like I posted, I understand adding depth and why. However, you choose what kind of depth you want to add, and they nearly always bring in guys with obvious control issues.
Year after year we see the effect of this. Our guys “can” be shut down guys in sporadic outings, but for the most part they are walking a razors edge in most outings walking their way into trouble, or constantly running deep hitters counts.
My point, as always, is that there are always a few arms out there that DO NOT have extremely bad control issues. The goal is to get outs, minimize the total at bats and runners the other team gets during innings and the game. It is counter intuitive to recruit and horde pitchers that assure you they will help the other team get more at bats and base runners.
All hail the HBP king. The Sawx should give Adams a bonus every time he hits a batter. Double the bonus when he plunks a Yankee.
wow 42 hit batsmen in 113 ip, I would be terrified if i was hitting against adams
He should be banned from the mound if he’s hit that many. Really it’s irresponsible and dangerous.
Well, as Goose Gossage used to say,
“I have no idea where the ball is going after I let it go.”
Not Anthony Rizzo.
Oh Boy.!
Standings after the first game of the 2025 season
Team W L GB
Yankee 1 0 –
Orioles 1 0 –
Blue Jay 0 1 1
Tampa 0 1 1
Red Sox 0 1 2026
huh
2026 in the games back column, means their season is over after the first game of the 2025 season so they can already start looking ahead to 2026
ahhhhhhh, I get it. lol mb
What good is depth if the depth is no good. His numbers are awful. Can’t stand a pitcher that has poor command. Doesn’t make sense. Defeats the purpose. Walks & hit batters galore.
BostonDave
His numbers are awful.
================================
Nonsense! His FIP over the past two seasons is 4.25 with a 2.42 K/W. Not quite major league, but nowhere near “awful”.
erm he is awful
Grizzly Adams the slider master. Does he still hold the record for HBP?
Dog S**t and so is Redsox Nations money spend so far in 2025…we don’t want you saying we didn’t warn ya this time. We’re not spending if you don’t…get it?
Spend the Money on Aces and Closers until its gone or over the CBT. No more trades for BS
If there are $1.5M in incentives & we assume an MLB minimum salary, he’d be making over $2.2M. That’s a good percentage more than a $1.7M projection if he hits them all.
Low risk high reward signing. Adam’s has a career 12.9 SO9. That’s impressive.
The Red Sox should trade whatever it costs to get Paul Skenes.Then sign him to a 10 year contract.
Probably a -0- chance that PT trades him, but I’d to talk to Cherington about Jones or Chandler.
Yes this is a depth signing but that’s all we are getting. The Yankee signings are what I expected and with each passing day the only available quality players left will dwindle fast and we will be left with the John Henry AAAA and never will be dregs! I honestly believe the young promising pitching staff of last year is overdue for regression thus ensuring a less than 500 finish!
I would really prefer not to lose Casas. He’s what we claim we want, talented, young, home grown talent. And for ownership, cheap.
Of course you have to give to get, and with the recent first base carousel he probably more attractive now than a week ago.
Yes, he seems to be a little bit of a head case, but he’s been mashing since he was USA14. I’d like to see what he becomes because I believe in his talent.
That said, if it brings me Castillo and Alonso, so long Tristan
Another misfit toy. I don’t have faith in our relief pitchers until I see them consistently pitch well. It’s been a revolving door