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Red Sox Designate Joely Rodriguez For Assignment

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The Red Sox announced Monday that they’ve designated left-handed reliever Joely Rodriguez for assignment and selected the contract of righty Brad Keller from Triple-A Worcester in his place.

Rodriguez was selected to the 40-man roster himself on Friday, and the Sox used him heavily over the weekend. The 32-year-old southpaw pitched in three straight games from Friday through Sunday, logging 2 2/3 innings and allowing a run on four hits and no walks with one strikeout. Rodriguez was surely unavailable today for what’s effectively a doubleheader — the Sox will finish their suspended game against the Blue Jays and then play a second game versus the Jays this evening — and will be jettisoned from the roster for a fresh arm in Keller.

This weekend’s stretch of three solid appearances from Rodriguez helped to pare down a rough earned run average that now sits at a still-unsightly 5.93 on the season — albeit in just 13 2/3 innings. Rodriguez’s under-the-hood numbers are far, far better. He’s fanned a below-average 18.8% of his opponents but also sports a pristine 3.1% walk rate and a massive 59.2% ground-ball rate in this season’s 14 appearances. Metrics like xFIP (3.07) and SIERA (2.87) are much more bullish on his performance than his ERA.

That’s nothing new for Rodriguez, who sports a roughly average 22.5% strikeout rate in his career, a higher-than-average 10% walk rate and a terrific 56% ground-ball rate. In 170 2/3 innings, he’s posted a 4.80 ERA, but his respectable ability to miss bats and huge ground-ball tendencies have long led ERA alternatives to forecast better bottom-line results. Rodriguez has at times had success in the majors, but his whiffs and grounders have been undercut by persistent struggles with men on base; his career 64% strand rate is about eight percentage points worse than average.

Now that Rodriguez has been designated for assignment, he’ll be placed on waivers and made available to the other 29 clubs. A new team would owe him a prorated $2MM base salary for any time spent on the big league roster or injured list (about $344K for the remainder of the season). If he goes unclaimed, he can reject his outright assignment, become a free agent, and hope to latch on with a new club as a depth option prior to the Aug. 31 postseason eligibility deadline.

Today’s move is a swap of one veteran for another. Keller will rejoin the team after being previously designated for assignment himself, electing free agency, and returning on a minor league deal. He’s appeared in 15 games for Boston this season and pitched 37 2/3 innings of 5.30 ERA ball with a 17.8% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 49.3% ground-ball rate. He’s been working primarily as a starter in Worcester and is stretched out for long relief if needed. In 30 innings with the WooSox this season, Keller has a 3.00 ERA.

Keller is in his first season with the Red Sox organization but spent six years as a fixture on the Royals’ pitching staff. From 2018-20, he was a regular in the rotation and a steady source of quality innings. His results dipped in 2021, and by 2023 his command had deteriorated to the point where he walked a stunning 45 batters in 45 1/3 innings. Keller eventually hit the injured list and was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, which required season-ending surgery. He’s yet to rediscover his 2018-20 form (360 1/3 innings, 3.50 ERA, 16.8% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate, 52.1% grounder rate), but he’s still relatively young at 29 and has been outstanding in the minors recently. Over his past 22 innings in Triple-A, Keller sports a 0.82 ERA and 15-to-1 K/BB ratio.

Red Sox Select Joely Rodríguez

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The Red Sox announced that they have selected the contract of left-hander Joely Rodríguez. Right-hander Greg Weissert was optioned to Triple-A Worcester in a corresponding active roster move. To open a 40-man roster spot, lefty James Paxton was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic was among those to relay the moves on X.

Rodríguez, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox in the offseason. He cracked their Opening Day roster but didn’t post strong results initially. He made 11 appearances for the club with a 6.55 earned run average, the same numbers he had in limited time with them last year.

He was designated for assignment at the end of April and accepted an outright assignment after clearing waivers. He then spent about six weeks on the minor league injured list from the middle of May until late June. That has left him with just 14 1/3 Triple-A innings pitched this year, but with a strong 1.88 ERA. There’s likely a good deal of fortune in there, based on his .175 batting average on balls in play in that small sample. His 20.6% strikeout rate and 12.7% walk rate in that time were subpar, though he did get grounders at a strong 52.6% clip.

Those rate stats aren’t too far off of his major league track record. In 168 innings dating back to his 2016 debut, he has a 4.82 ERA, 22.8% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 55.7% ground ball rate. He’ll give the club a second lefty in the bullpen alongside Brennan Bernardino. He is out of options but can be retained beyond this season via arbitration if he holds onto his roster spot through the end of the year.

As for Paxton, it’s not a surprise to see him moved to the 60-day IL. He suffered a partially torn right calf muscle last week and manager Alex Cora said it was unlikely that the lefty would be able to return this year. He’s now officially ineligible to be reinstated until the second week of October. Unless the Sox make a deep playoff run and he heals up in the next two months, his season is over.

Red Sox Release Dominic Smith

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The Red Sox announced Tuesday that they’ve released first baseman Dominic Smith, whom they designated for assignment earlier in the week when reinstating fellow first baseman Triston Casas from the injured list.

Smith, 29, joined the Sox back in May after Casas went down with a rib fracture. He wound up appearing in 83 games and tallying 278 plate appearances with a .237/.317/.390 batting line. Smith smacked six homers and 20 doubles along the way while walking at a solid 9% clip and fanning at a 23.4% rate that’s a bit higher than the league average. By measure of wRC+, Smith was about 5% worse than a league-average bat at the plate during his time with the BoSox.

From a defensive standpoint, Smith is something of a mixed bag. Defensive Runs Saved had him as a positive last year but pegs him at -2 in 2024. Statcast’s Outs Above Average has had him slightly above-average in each of the past three seasons but below-average in his career overall. It’s fair to suggest Smith has improved his glovework over the years, but he’s still not a standout defensive player at his position.

Drafted 11th overall by the 2013 Mets, Smith was a longtime top prospect and looked to be making good on that billing in 2019-20, when he slashed .299/.366/.571 with 21 homers in a combined 139 games and 396 plate appearances.

After that strong showing, however, Smith’s offense has cratered. He admitted after the fact that he tried to play through a small tear in the labrum of his right shoulder during the 2021 season, which surely impacted his performance at the dish. An ankle injury in 2022 also hampered him. Overall, Smith carries a feeble .242/.312/.361 batting line in 1509 plate appearances since that 2019-20 showing, with this year’s stint in Boston standing as his most productive stretch in the four years since.

Red Sox, Rich Hill In Agreement On Minor League Deal

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Today: The Red Sox and Rich Hill have formally agreed on a minor league deal, reports Ian Browne of MLB.com. The veteran will report to Triple-A Worcester on Tuesday.

August 15: The Red Sox and Rich Hill are close to finalizing a minor league contract, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI (X link). It’d be his fourth separate stint in Boston if he gets to the big leagues by the end of the season. Including minor league deals, it’ll be his eighth contract with the organization.

Those have spanned multiple front offices going as far back as 2010. Hill is a Boston-area native who is clearly comfortable with the organization. Staying close to home is appealing. Hill waited to sign until this late in the season in large part so he could coach his son’s Little League team in Milton, Massachusetts this spring.

While he won’t step directly onto the Sox roster, Hill could make a few appearances with Triple-A Worcester to get into game shape. It’d be a surprise if the Red Sox don’t call him up at some point before season’s end. Hill reportedly drew attention from the Yankees, Dodgers and Twins, among others, during his recent throwing sessions.

Boston is a sensible fit beyond the geographical connection. The Red Sox went into deadline season with questions about their rotation depth. They brought in James Paxton in a trade with the Dodgers. He only made it through three starts before suffering a partially torn right calf that’ll probably end his season. That temporarily left the Sox with a four-man rotation of Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Nick Pivetta and Tanner Houck. The Sox are planning to reinstate Cooper Criswell from the virus-related injured list to start tomorrow against the Orioles. He’s likely to step into the fifth starter role, but he’d been working in relief for a couple weeks before going on the shelf. The Red Sox may want to keep a close eye on his pitch counts.

From the start of the season, the Sox’s rotation depth has been one of their biggest questions. They lost Lucas Giolito before the year started. Garrett Whitlock went down in April with an oblique issue. He hurt his elbow while building back up and underwent season-ending surgery. Houck, Crawford, Pivetta and Criswell all stepped up as the Sox had a surprisingly strong rotation for the first few months. They’ve had a much tougher time of late.

Red Sox starters have a 5.28 earned run average since the All-Star Break, a better mark only than that of the Angels, White Sox, Rockies and Rangers. Crawford and Pivetta have gotten battered by the home run ball. Houck’s strikeout rate has fallen off a cliff as he’s gotten to a career-high workload. Only Bello has maintained or improved upon his early-season production.

Hill isn’t going to single-handedly salvage the group. The 44-year-old southpaw turned in solid back-of-the-results from 2021-22. He had a tougher time last year, allowing a 5.41 ERA through 146 1/3 innings. Much of that came in a dismal 10 outings for the Padres after they acquired him at the deadline. Hill had a more reasonable 4.76 ERA in 22 starts for the Pirates before the trade. The Sox will hope they get something closer to last year’s first half version without Hill needing to work a full season. If he gets to the majors, he could potentially work as a tandem starter with Criswell or push the righty back into a multi-inning relief capacity.

It has been an atypical situation. Hill has floated the possibility of a late-season signing for a few years but hadn’t committed to it until last offseason. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo writes that the 19-year veteran declined major league offers from Texas, Pittsburgh and Oakland over the winter. Beyond the family considerations, he pointed to the opportunity to ensure he was joining a team that had a chance to compete for a playoff position. Boston is 2.5 games behind the Royals for the American League’s final Wild Card spot with six weeks to play.

Hill would be eligible for postseason play if the Sox qualify (assuming the contract is finalized shortly). That’s true regardless of whether he’s on the MLB roster by the end of the month. A player only needs to be in the organization at the start of September — not on the 40-man roster — to be eligible for the playoffs. The league office routinely allows players who were on minor league deals at the start of September to qualify for the playoffs as substitutes for another injured player.

Image courtesy of USA Today.

Rob Refsnyder "Undecided" About Playing Beyond 2024

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Rob Refsnyder turns 34 next March, and the utilityman is considering calling it a career after the 2024 season comes to an end.  Speaking with Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe, Refsnyder said he is “undecided” about returning for what would be his tenth MLB season, and was even thinking about retirement even before he joined the Red Sox during the 2021-22 offseason.  Once this year is over, Refsnyder said he’ll “take it step by step from there and decide what I do….You can still make a big impact not being in a uniform and it’s a lot easier for your family and their schedule.”

As per the terms of the contract extension Refsnyder signed in June 2023, the Sox hold a $2MM club option ($150K) on his services for 2025.  This option looks like a lock to be exercised if Refsnyder wishes to keep playing, as he has an excellent .298/.384/.472 slash line over 251 plate appearances in part-time duty for the Red Sox this season.  Still, Refsnyder is eager to spend more time with his family, and is perhaps keen to start working towards his longer-term goal of working in a front office.

Red Sox Designate Dominic Smith For Assignment

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3:00pm: The Sox have formally announced Smith’s DFA and the reinstatement of Casas from the 60-day IL. Boston also reinstated Cooper Criswell from the injured list and optioned righty Chase Shugart to Triple-A Worcester.

2:10pm: The Red Sox will designate first baseman Dominic Smith for assignment today, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Smith’s DFA will presumably clear the way for Triston Casas to be reinstated from the 60-day IL — as has been previously reported — and reclaim the everyday first base job in Boston.

Smith opted out of a minor league deal with the Rays back on May 1 when a big league spot with the Red Sox became available in the wake of Casas’ injury. He’s hardly replaced the offensive contributions that Casas can offer, but Smith hasn’t been too far off a league-average bat in Boston, slashing .237/.317/.390 with six homers and 20 doubles in 278 plate appearances. By measure of wRC+, he’s only been about 5% worse than average at the dish.

Still, for an offensively inclined position like first base, that’s not much production — particularly since Smith also grades out as an average defender at best. Defensive Runs Saved had him as a positive last year but pegs him at -2 in 2024. Statcast’s Outs Above Average has had him slightly above-average in each of the past three seasons but below-average in his career overall. It’s fair to suggest Smith has improved his glovework over the years, but he’s still not a standout defensive player at his position.

Now that he’s been designated for assignment, Smith will be either outrighted or released. It’s unlikely he’ll be claimed by another club, but he could latch on elsewhere on a new deal once he clears waivers. The Red Sox would be responsible for the remainder of his contract, minus the prorated minimum for any time spent on his new club’s big league roster/injured list.

Smith hasn’t lived up to his former top prospect billing, but he did have an impressive 2019-20 run that saw him slash .299/.366/.571 with 21 homers in 396 plate appearances. His bat has cratered with a .242/.312/.361 output in the four seasons since that time — numbers that roughly align with his results during his 84-game stint with the Red Sox. Smith reached six years of big league service while with the Sox, so he’ll be a free agent again at season’s end regardless of who signs him for the season’s final few weeks.

Red Sox Expected To Activate Triston Casas

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The Red Sox are expected to reinstate first baseman Triston Casas from the 60-day injured list today, reports MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. The slugger should be back in the lineup for tonight’s matchup with the Orioles and ace Corbin Burnes.

Casas, 24, had a slow start in 2023 before finding his stride with a breakout five-month finish to last season. He largely picked up where he left off early in 2024, popping six homers in 90 plate appearances and slashing .244/.344/.513 before sustaining fractures on the left side of his ribcage and enduring a lengthy shutdown from baseball activities. The Sox have eased Casas back into action with an 11-game run in Triple-A Worcester, during which he’s turned in a hearty .300/.404/.550 slash in 47 trips to the plate.

The return of Casas should provide a thunderous boon to a Sox lineup that has received middling production from Dominic Smith in his absence. Smith hasn’t been an abject liability but has turned in a tepid .237/.317/.390 batting line that checks in 5% worse than league average, by measure of wRC+. Others like Romy Gonzalez, Garrett Cooper and Bobby Dalbec have filled in at times but have struggled to produce overall. (Cooper is no longer with the organization.)

While Casas’ return isn’t likely to turn the tides in the division race — at least not directly, though he could certainly impact the Orioles/Yankees battle for first place — he could very much be a difference-maker in Boston’s pursuit of a Wild Card berth. The Red Sox are eight games behind the Yankees and O’s, who are tied for the AL East lead, but they’re a more manageable 2.5 games back in the hunt for the third Wild Card slot. Getting a legitimate 30-homer bat back into the middle of the lineup — Casas has popped 30 homers while batting .260/.363/.493 in 154 games dating back to last season — has major ramifications for the remainder of the Red Sox’ schedule.

Casas is on the 60-day injured list, so Boston will need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move in order to reinstate their prized young slugger. They don’t have an obvious candidate to replace him on the 60-day IL, unless they’ve quickly determined that James Paxton’s partial calf tear is indeed a season-ender, so a DFA or waiver placement could be in the offing.

Red Sox Outright Jamie Westbrook

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Red Sox infielder Jamie Westbrook passed through waivers unclaimed after being designated for assignment earlier this week and has now been assigned outright to Triple-A Worcester, reports Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe. He’ll stick with the organization but is no longer on the 40-man roster.

Westbrook signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox back in December and made his big league debut as a 29-year-old rookie earlier this season. The former D-backs draftee, who’s also spent time with the Yankees and Brewers organizations, got into 21 games and tallied 48 plate appearances. He managed just a .150/.234/.350 slash in that time, however.

Prior to his call to the majors, Westbrook was quite productive in Triple-A — as has been the case throughout his pro career. He hit .291/.381/.475 in 291 plate appearances for the WooSox (23% better than average, per wRC+), bringing his lifetime batting line in parts of six Triple-A seasons to a healthy .284/.377/.462 in more than 1700 plate appearances. He’ll now head back to Worcester and look for another shot down the stretch. If he doesn’t get one and isn’t added back to the 40-man roster before the end of the season, Westbrook will once again be able to become a minor league free agent.

Red Sox Re-Sign Brad Keller To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox have re-signed right-hander Brad Keller to a minor league deal, per Chris Hatfield of SoxProspects.com on X. The veteran elected free agency earlier today but has quickly returned to Boston on a non-roster pact.

Keller, 29, is a veteran with more than five years of service time. That gives him the right to reject optional assignments to the minor leagues. Earlier in the year, he did consent to be optioned by Boston, getting recalled a few days ago. The Sox optioned him a second time but he decided to exercise his right to explore the open market. It seems he didn’t find much to his liking and quickly reunited with the Sox on this minor league deal.

The righty had a nice run with the Royals earlier in his career but he has hit a few bumps in more recent seasons. In the 2018-2020 seasons, Keller logged 360 1/3 innings with Kansas City, allowing 3.50 earned runs per nine in that stretch. His 16.8% strikeout rate was below par but his 9.1% walk rate was around average and his 52.1% ground ball rate was quite strong.

But his ERA crept north of 5.00 in both 2021 and 2022. Last year, he was only able to make 11 appearances before requiring surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome. This year, he has split his time between the White Sox and the Red Sox, tossing 37 1/3 innings with a 5.30 ERA, 17.8% strikeout rate, 7.7% walk rate and 49.6% ground ball rate.

The Sox bolstered their rotation prior to the deadline by acquiring James Paxton from the Dodgers but he recently suffered a torn calf after just three appearances with Boston. Cooper Criswell is currently on the injured list with COVID but the club is planning on slotting him into the rotation when he’s healthy. Whenever that happens, he’ll join Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta and Kutter Crawford.

The club has Quinn Priester on the 40-man roster as depth but he has allowed 11 earned runs in 6 1/3 Triple-A innings since being acquired from the Pirates. Wikelman Gonzalez is also on the 40-man but he has a 5.93 ERA at Double-A this year and would have to skip Triple-A completely to help the big league club at this point. The club has Naoyuki Uwasawa and Jason Alexander on hand as non-roster depth but Keller has far more major league experience than those two and could be ahead of them in line to get the call whenever a fresh arm is needed next.

James Paxton Diagnosed With Partially Torn Calf

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3:10pm: Manager Alex Cora tells the Sox beat that Paxton is a “long shot” to return in 2024 (X link via MLB.com’s Ian Browne). The skipper added that Criswell, once healthy, will rejoin the rotation as the team’s fifth starter (X link via MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo).

2:30pm: Red Sox left-hander James Paxton tells reporters that he’s been diagnosed with a partial tear of his right calf muscle (X link via WEEI’s Rob Bradford). The veteran southpaw acknowledged that it could sideline him for the remainder of the year but will still try to rehab in an effort to make it back before the season concludes.

The Sox placed Paxton on the 15-day injured list with a calf strain yesterday. The term “strain” itself, by definition, indicates there is a degree of stretching or tearing, so today’s announcement isn’t a total surprise. That said, the fact that he’s possibly facing an absence of six-plus weeks indicates that it’s a tear of some note — the latest in a long line of injuries that have plagued the talented left-hander throughout his big league career.

Paxton, 35, spent the 2022-23 seasons in Boston. He missed the entire ’22 campaign due to Tommy John surgery but returned in 2023 to pitch 96 innings of 4.50 ERA ball with more promising strikeout and walk rates. The Dodgers signed him to a one-year, $7MM deal with incentives that could take the contract up to $13MM. He unlocked all of those incentives before being designated for assignment and traded to the Red Sox in return for minor league infielder Moises Bolivar.

The Sox hoped that Paxton would help shore up an injury-depleted starting rotation, but it’s now possible they’ll receive only three starts from him. Paxton notched a solid 4.09 ERA in his 11 innings following the trade but exited his third and potentially final start after recording just two outs. He was Boston’s lone veterean acquisition prior to the trade deadline, meaning the Sox will again be left to rely on the quartet of Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, Brayan Bello and Nick Pivetta, with scant depth behind the group. Righty Cooper Criswell has pitched well but has little track record and is currently out with Covid-19. Fellow righty Josh Winckowski has also made a handful of starts and could see further action down the stretch.

Paxton’s injury could open the door for young Quinn Priester, whom the Sox acquired from the Pirates in exchange for infield prospect Nick Yorke. Priester, a former first-round pick and top prospect, has yet to establish himself as a consistently viable big league starter. He’s logged a 6.46 ERA in 94 2/3 big league innings to this point in his young career, but the 23-year-old has generally fared well in the upper minors — an ugly two-game stint with the Sox’ Triple-A club in Worcester notwithstanding.

It’s a tenuous situation in Boston — one that would blow up in particularly bad fashion were one of Houck, Crawford or Pivetta to go down with an injury of note. Boston traded Chris Sale to the Braves in a regrettable offseason swap that netted infielder Vaughn Grissom. He was “replaced” by right-hander Lucas Giolito, who required season-ending internal brace surgery before the 2024 campaign began. Righty Garrett Whitlock had his own internal brace operation back in May. Depth arms like Chris Murphy and Bryan Mata have also been non-factors this season due to injury.

The Red Sox currently sit in third place in the AL East despite a strong 62-55 record. They’re only two games back in the American League Wild Card hunt, landing .001 percentage points ahead of the 63-56 Mariners but trailing the 65-54 Royals for the final Wild Card spot.

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