- Red Sox manager Alex Cora indicated two weeks ago that he didn’t have interest in moving into the front office, possibly as the team’s new head of baseball operations. Cora reiterated this stance more directly today with reporters (including WEEI’s Rob Bradford), and said “I was very honest with the front office…and said, I’m not ready to do that. I’m not ready. If I felt that I think I can do that job I would probably tell them hey, I would like to be part of the process — or not the process of but one of the candidates. But I’m not ready for that.” However, Cora did say that he’ll have some level of influence in the eventual decision to find Chaim Bloom’s replacement.
Red Sox Rumors
Tim Wakefield Passes Away
Former Red Sox and Pirates knuckleballer Tim Wakefield passed away today at age 57. Wakefield pitched in 19 MLB seasons from 1992-2011, beginning his career in the Pittsburgh organization before moving onto a 17-year run with the Sox.
In an official statement from the Red Sox, club president/CEO Sam Kennedy said “It’s a rare occurrence for a two-time World Series Champion’s extraordinary personality to shine even brighter than their illustrious career. Tim was undeniably an exceptional pitcher, but what truly set him apart was the ease with which he connected with people. He was an extraordinary pitcher, an incredible broadcaster, and someone who exemplified every humanitarian quality in the dictionary. I will miss my friend more than anything and can only aspire to live as genuinely and honorably as he did.”
The Pirates also paid tribute, saying “Tim began his Major League career with the Pirates and was a part of our baseball family for six years. He made his big league debut in 1992 and was a key addition to the pitching staff that helped propel the team to its third consecutive Postseason appearance. Off the field, Tim always devoted his time to make an impact on others within the Pittsburgh community. He was a great man who will be dearly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time.”
Many more testimonials have poured in from across social media from Wakefield’s many former teammates, colleagues, friends, and fans, in a sign of just how beloved a figure Wakefield was to an entire baseball generation, particularly in Boston. Wakefield was closely involved with numerous charities and non-profit groups, and was recognized for these off-the-field endeavors by Major League Baseball as the 2010 winner of the Roberto Clemente Award.
Fans are already very familiar with Wakefield’s work on the mound, as his use of the knuckleball made him stand out from the moment he made his MLB debut with the Pirates in 1992. In fact, Wakefield’s entire rookie year was a triumph, as he posted a 2.15 ERA over 92 innings in the regular season, and then threw a pair of complete-game wins for Pittsburgh in the NLCS.
However, the vagaries of the knuckleball didn’t lead to consistent success, as Wakefield struggled in 1993 and didn’t pitch at all in the majors in 1994. Released by the Pirates in April 1995, it looked like Wakefield might’ve been a flash in pan, until he caught on with the Red Sox and rediscovered his form. Wakefield finished third in AL Cy Young Award voting in 1995, which kicked off his 17-year run in Boston with a bang.
No pitcher in Red Sox history threw more innings (3006) or started more games (430) than Wakefield, who became a fixture of the team’s rotation. Never the ace of the staff, Wakefield sometimes wasn’t even a starter at all, moving into a swingman or long relief role at times, and he even had a stretch as Boston’s closer in 1999. Again owing to the difficulties of fully harnessing a knuckleball, Wakefield’s numbers had plenty of ebbs and flows, though he capably filled in whenever the Red Sox had a need to fill in the rotation or bullpen.
As such, Wakefield took part in some of the most memorable moments in Red Sox history, both for good and bad. He allowed Aaron Boone’s walkoff home run in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, yet got some revenge on the Yankees the very next year, tossing three shutout innings and earning the win in Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS. Wakefield won World Series rings for helping the curse-breaking 2004 Red Sox and 2007 Sox win championships.
Wakefield posted a 4.41 ERA and a 200-180 record over his 3226 1/3 career innings, along with 2156 strikeouts. The icon of durability pitched until he was 45 years old, facing (who else) the Yankees in his final game on September 25, 2011.
We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Wakefield’s family and many loved ones.
Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta Open To Extensions With Red Sox
The Red Sox are facing an uncertain offseason, with the first order of business surely being replacing chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who the club fired earlier this month. Once a new head of baseball operations is in place, however, it seems extension negotiations could be on their offseason list of tasks.
Alex Speier of the Boston Globe indicates that it is “likely” that the organization will open talks with young hurler Brayan Bello regarding a potential long-term deal this offseason. Speier also relays right-hander Nick Pivetta’s thoughts on a possible long-term deal with Boston, with the 30-year-old speaking positively of the organization and saying, “You don’t leave any doors closed. Leave them all open and see where it goes.”
That Pivetta, who posted a brutal 6.30 ERA across the first six weeks of the season before being demoted to the bullpen, has finished his 2023 campaign as a potential extension candidate speaks volumes regarding his performance in recent months. Since his initial demotion to the bullpen, Pivetta has posted strong numbers over the course of 102 2/3 innings in a swing role that’s seen him make eight starts and 22 relief appearances. In that time, Pivetta posted a 3.16 ERA and 3.27 FIP with a massive 34.9% strikeout rate against a solid 7.7% walk rate. That’s good for a 27.2 K-BB% that’s outclassed only by Braves fireballer Spencer Strider among pitchers with at least 100 innings of work since May 21, the date of Pivetta’s first relief appearance.
Pivetta’s also managed to keep the excellent results up during the season’s final month, which saw him return to the club’s rotation on a regular basis. During the month of September, Pivetta has posted a 2.43 ERA with a 2.86 FIP and a 34.1% strikeout rate and a microscopic 4.0% walk rate. Pivetta’s fantastic finish to the 2023 campaign leaves him with overall numbers that give him the look of a solid mid-rotation starter. Among the 73 pitchers who have posted at least 140 innings of work this season, Pivetta’s 3.96 FIP ranks 32nd, his 4.04 ERA ranks 38th, and his 31.2% strikeout rate is bested only by Strider and Blake Snell.
Of course, with Pivetta already slated to hit free agency following the 2024 season, a potential extension would likely come at some sort of discount relative to full market value, though perhaps not a particularly steep one given the limited team control remaining. Last offseason’s free agent market saw mid-rotation arms like Jameson Taillon (4 years, $68MM) and Taijuan Walker (4 years, $72MM) both receive in the range of $70MM while sporting similar numbers to those Pivetta has posted the last two seasons, though both Taillon and Walker were younger than Pivetta will, who is set to hit free agency prior to his age-32 campaign.
As for Bello, the young right-hander posted solid numbers in his sophomore campaign, with a 4.24 ERA and 4.53 FIP across 157 innings of work. Those numbers are inflated by a brutal September that’s seen Bello allow 22 runs over 26 innings of work, resulting in a 7.62 ERA. Even so, Bello’s looked more like a fourth or fifth starter to this point in his career than anything else, with roughly league average results and peripherals. His most eye-catching stat is an impressive 56.2% ground ball rate, a figure topped by only Alex Cobb and Logan Webb among pitchers with at least 150 innings this year.
Between the mixed results to this point in his big league career, his youth, and his pre-arbitration status, recent comparisons are few and far between when considering what a Bello extension might look like. Freddy Peralta’s five-year, $15.5MM extension is perhaps the nearest comparison, though Bello’s been better than Peralta was in the first two seasons of his career. Peralta had yet to reach 100 innings pitched in a season and had a career ERA+ nearly 15% lower than Bello’s at the time of his extension.
Red Sox Place Chris Martin On 15-Day IL
- Prior to today’s game in Baltimore, the Red Sox placed veteran right-hander Chris Martin on the 15-day injured list with a viral infection. Right-hander Nick Robertson was recalled in a corresponding move. The move closes the book on what has been a sensational season for Martin after he signed with the Red Sox on a two-year, $17.5MM deal this past offseason. In 51 1/3 innings of work this year, Martin sports an astonishing 1.05 ERA that leads the majors among pitchers with at least 30 innings of work, just barely edging out Josh Hader’s 1.16 figure. Martin figures to be a key piece of the Boston bullpen headed into the 2024 campaign.
Alex Cora To Return As Red Sox Manager In 2024
- Red Sox manager Alex Cora ended any speculation regarding his future in conversation with reporters today. As relayed by Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, Cora twice told reporters this afternoon that he would be returning to the dugout for Boston in 2024. While not especially surprising, the confirmation is nonetheless noteworthy on the heels of the club firing chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom earlier this month. While speculation mounted that Cora could potentially be considered to replace Bloom in the front office, Cora recently indicated that he intends to stay in the dugout, at least for the time being. Cora took over the Red Sox as manager in 2018 and oversaw the club’s World Series championship that fall. In five seasons at the helm of Boston’s dugout, Cora sports a 438-367 record.
AL Injury Notes: Bautista, Mountcastle, Correa, McGuire, Sandoval
Félix Bautista is inching closer to his return, but his status for the postseason remains up in the air. Manager Brandon Hyde recently spoke to reporters (including Nathan Ruiz of The Baltimore Sun) about his star closer, suggesting that the right-hander is running out of time to get back on the mound. It’s not that Bautista has suffered a setback, but he just hasn’t progressed quickly enough to give Hyde much confidence that he can return for the playoffs.
It’s a disappointing development for the Orioles, who are set to embark on their first postseason run since 2016. The 28-year-old has emerged as one of the most dominant relief arms in the game, with a 1.85 ERA across his first two seasons in the majors.
In happier news, Ryan Mountcastle is nearing his return to Baltimore’s lineup. As Ruiz reports, the first baseman took batting practice before this evening’s game against the Nationals. Hyde suggested he could be reinstated tomorrow; if not, he should be back on the field sometime this week.
Here’s some more news from around the American League…
- The Twins expect Carlos Correa will be ready to play in the AL Wild Card series, and indeed, it’s possible he could be back by the final series of the regular season. Manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters (including Bobby Nightengale of the Star Tribune) that the star shortstop could rejoin the team this weekend in Colorado. Correa has been playing through plantar fasciitis for most of the year, and the question is not whether his injury has healed, but simply if he has rested enough to be able to manage the pain throughout the playoffs. The Gold Glove winner has been taking groundballs in recent days, and he claims to be feeling better.
- Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire left tonight’s game against the Rays with a left thumb contusion. It’s not a particularly serious diagnosis, but still, it’s not impossible this marks the end of McGuire’s season. The lefty batter hit .271/.314/.365 in 69 games as a backup catcher for Boston. He will be arbitration-eligible for the second time this winter.
- The Angels have placed starting pitcher Patrick Sandoval on the 15-day IL. To replace him on the active roster, they have recalled Kolton Ingram from Triple-A Salt Lake. Sandoval exited his start last night against the Rangers with tightness in his right oblique, and the injury has proven to be serious enough to end his season six days early. This marks Ingram’s third fleeting call-up of the 2023 season; in 4 1/3 innings for the big league club, he has given up five runs on seven hits. However, his numbers are much better in the minors, where the 26-year-old boasts a 2.95 ERA in 61 innings pitched.
Red Sox Outright Kyle Barraclough To Triple-A
Right-hander Kyle Barraclough has cleared waivers, and the Red Sox have sent the veteran pitcher outright to Triple-A Worcester. Barraclough has enough service time to reject the outright assignment, although it’s unclear if he plans to do so; the Triple-A season is already finished, and he’ll have the option to elect free agency in the offseason either way.
After parts of ten seasons spent with the Cardinals, Marlins, Nationals, Giants, Padres, Yankees, Twins, and Angels organizations, the righty began his 2023 campaign with the High Point Rockers of the independent Atlantic League. However, he pitched well enough in seven games with the Rockers to earn a minor league deal from the Red Sox in June.
Across 14 games (13 starts) with Worcester, Barraclough pitched to a 3.65 ERA, although his 14.8% walk rate was cause for concern. He earned a couple of brief call-ups to the MLB squad in August, pitching in a total of three games. Things went perfectly fine in his first two appearances, but he struggled tremendously in his third and final big league outing of the season, giving up 10 runs in 4 1/3 innings of work.
Unfortunately, Barraclough carried his struggles with him to the minors after that, giving up 15 runs in four September starts. He was designated for assignment on Sunday when the Red Sox reinstated Zack Kelly from the 60-day IL. The 33-year-old will presumably look for another minor league contract this winter.
Red Sox Designate Kyle Barraclough For Assignment
The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves this morning. The club activated right-hander Zack Kelly from the 60-day injured list, and in corresponding moves optioned righty Nick Robertson to Triple-A while designating fellow right-hander Kyle Barraclough for assignment.
Kelly’s return, while not necessarily unexpected, is surely a major relief for both the Red Sox and Kelly himself. The 28-year-old righty has been on the 60-day injured list for most of the season to this point thanks to an ulnar nerve transposition revision in his throwing elbow he underwent at the beginning of May. Despite battling injuries to this point in his big league career, Kelly has been effective on the mound when healthy, with a career 3.86 ERA in 21 innings of work that includes a 3.68 ERA across six appearances this season. In returning for the final games of the season, Kelly should have the opportunity to test his arm ahead of the offseason and prepare himself for a typical offseason regimen with an eye on returning to the club’s bullpen in 2024.
The move spells the end of Barraclough’s tenure with the Red Sox. Once a quality reliever with the Marlins who posted a 3.21 ERA (122 ERA+) and 3.45 FIP to go with a 29.8% strikeout rate from 2015-18, Barraclough has struggled in limited big league opportunities ever since. In 63 1/3 innings of work since the start of the 2019 season, Barraclough has seen his strikeout rate dip to 23.1% despite an elevated 12.7% walk rate. As a result, his ERA has ballooned to 6.11 with a 6.45 FIP during that time. To make matters worse, Barraclough’s strikeouts have all but evaporated this year: he’s punched out just four of the 46 batters he’s faced with Boston.
While Barraclough’s results at the big league level have been rough for several seasons at this point, he figures to look ahead to the offseason with a solid chance of landing a minor league deal somewhere, should he choose to do so. After all, the veteran righty has a track record of past success in Miami and has never stopped performing at the Triple-A level, with a career 3.44 ERA in 170 innings of work at the level. Robertson also figures to look toward translating success in the minors to big league production headed into 2024, as the 24-year-old hurler sports a brutal 6.33 ERA in 21 1/3 career innings as a major leaguer despite a sterling 2.98 ERA in 51 games at the Triple-A level.
Red Sox Notes: Imanaga, Breslow, Turner, Jansen, Rafaela
NPB standout Shota Imanaga will be posted for Major League teams this offseason, and MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam reports that the Red Sox have “heavily scouted” the Japanese left-hander. Imanaga has a 3.17 ERA over eight seasons and 990 2/3 innings with the Yokohama DeNa Baystars, though North American fans might know him best from his work with Japan’s national team in this year’s World Baseball Classic. Imanaga had a 3.00 ERA over six innings and three appearances, and was the starting pitcher (earning the win) in Japan’s gold-medal game victory over the United States.
MLB Trade Rumors readers are also familiar with Imanaga from our NPB Players To Watch series, as Dai Takegami Podziewski has regularly written about the southpaw as Imanaga looks to be on the verge of heading to the majors. Imanaga will draw plenty of attention from pitching-needy teams, and the Sox certainly figure to make rotation upgrades a major part of their offseason plan under their next head of baseball operations. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the top name available among NPB pitchers this winter, but with at least ten MLB clubs (including the Red Sox) interested in Yamamoto’s services, it is possible Imanaga might be something of a solid backup plan for teams that either can’t land Yamamoto or can’t afford his big price tag.
More from Fenway Park…
- Cubs assistant general manager Craig Breslow might be joining the Red Sox front office as the head of pitching development, as per Peter Gammons (on X). The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma (also via X) has a contradictory report, saying there has been “zero contact” between the Cubs and Red Sox involving Breslow. A veteran of 12 MLB seasons, Breslow has been working in Chicago’s front office for the better part of five years, becoming the team’s director of pitching in October 2019 and then receiving the AGM title in 2020. Breslow spent parts of five seasons pitching for the Red Sox and he hails from Connecticut, plus Gammons notes that Breslow and his family live in nearby Newton, Massachusetts.
- Justin Turner told MassLive’s Chris Cotillo that he hasn’t yet decided about whether or not to exercise his $13.4MM player option for the 2024 season, as his focus is still on finishing the rest of the schedule. As to the possibility of staying with the Sox in general, “I love playing in Boston and I’ve had a great experience here so obviously, it would be fantastic if I was still here,” Turner said. Even at age 38, Turner is still a very solid bat, hitting .278/.348/.463 with 23 homers over 600 plate appearances in his first season with the Red Sox. It figures that the Sox would love to bring Turner back, though they might have to sign him to a new contract altogether — as Cotillo notes, the odds are high that Turner will take the $6.7MM buyout of his option and test free agency again in search of a bigger deal.
- Kenley Jansen is back on the active roster, as the Red Sox activated the closer from the seven-day COVID-related injured list today. (Righty Zack Weiss was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.) Like Turner, Jansen was also a productive signing from the 2022-23 offseason, joining the Sox on a two-year/$32MM deal and delivering 29 saves and a 3.63 ERA over 44 2/3 innings in his first season in Beantown.
- The Red Sox rank 27th of 30 teams in second base bWAR this season, as Boston’s second basemen have combined for a sub-replacement level -0.1 bWAR. The Athletic’s Chad Jennings looks at how the Sox might address the position next year, and how perhaps the easiest solution would be to give Ceddanne Rafaela some regular time at the keystone. The top prospect has played a few games at second base already, and while the Sox prefer to see what Rafaela’s glove can do in center field, using Rafaela at second base in at least a part-time capacity would open up center field to see if Jarren Duran can build on his promising 2023 campaign. As for Boston’s other in-house second base options, Jennings writes that the club hasn’t yet decided on whether or not to tender Luis Urias a contract this winter, as Urias is set for at least a minimal arbitration raise on his current $4.7MM salary. As Jennings notes, the next front office boss will probably be the one making the call on Urias, and it is possible the Sox might non-tender the infielder and then look to re-sign him at a lower price.
Red Sox’s David Hamilton Undergoes Thumb Surgery
Red Sox infielder David Hamilton underwent surgery to repair the UCL in his left thumb, the club announced this morning. The team didn’t provide any indication if the injury would affect his readiness for Spring Training.
Hamilton, 26 next week, made his major league debut this summer. The Texas product appeared in 15 games, hitting .121/.256/.182 over 39 trips to the plate. The left-handed hitting middle infielder put together a solid year in Triple-A Worcester. He posted a .247/.363/.438 line with 17 homers and a huge 15.1% walk rate across 469 trips to the dish.
One of two prospects acquired from the Brewers in the Hunter Renfroe/Jackie Bradley Jr. swap just before the lockout, Hamilton is a speedster with a chance to carve out a utility role. He stole 70 bases in Double-A a year ago and swiped 57 bags with Worcester, although he was also caught 14 times.