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Carson Smith

Red Sox Release Carson Smith

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The Red Sox have released reliever Carson Smith, according to Chris Hatfield of SoxProspects.com (Twitter link). Smith had been working through a rehab program after re-signing with the organization on a minors deal.

Smith owns a shiny 2.21 career ERA over 102 MLB innings, but he hasn’t thrown even 25 of those frames since the start of the 2016 season. Elbow and shoulder woes put a halt to his promising career; he was outrighted off of the Boston 40-man at the end of the ’18 campaign.

When the Sox brought back Smith, the hope was that he’d be able to get back on track on the mound after building up to full health. Given that he has not yet been activated for competitive duties, it seems the first step is not yet completed.

Red Sox To Sign Carson Smith To Minors Deal

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The Red Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Carson Smith, as per Zone Coverage’s Brandon Warne (Twitter link).  Smith elected free agency after being outrighted off Boston’s 40-man roster following the season, but will now return to the organization in the hopes of finally making a significant impact in the Sox bullpen.

Originally acquired by the Red Sox as part of a four-player trade with the Mariners in December 2015, Smith was tabbed as a potential closer of the future in Boston following his breakout rookie season.  Smith posted a 2.31 ERA, 4.18 K/BB rate, 64.8% ground ball rate, and an 11.8 K/9 over 70 innings out of Seattle’s bullpen in 2015, looking like a star reliever in the making.

Unfortunately for Smith and the Red Sox, his tenure in Boston has thus far been marred by injuries.  Smith pitched just 9 1/3 total innings in 2016-17 due to Tommy John surgery, and he then managed just 14 1/3 innings in 2018 before suffering a shoulder injury that required season-ending surgery.  The latter injury was caused when Smith tossed his glove in the Boston dugout out of frustration over a rough outing, and it led to some controversy when Smith suggested that overuse might have contributed to his issues (unsurprisingly, manager Alex Cora didn’t agree with this assessment).

That difference of opinion notwithstanding, Smith will now look to get healthy and get his career back on track in Spring Training.  From Boston’s perspective, there isn’t much risk in bringing Smith back, and he still some intriguing upside given his stuff and the fact that he is under team control (via arbitration) through the 2020 season.  With Joe Kelly now a Dodger and Craig Kimbrel perhaps too expensive for Boston’s liking, the Red Sox have been on the hunt for bullpen help at an affordable price.  Smith can hardly be considered a candidate to replace Kimbrel or Kelly at the end of games, of course, though he does give the Sox yet another depth option to consider as they look at augmenting their current bullpen corps (Matt Barnes, Ryan Brasier, Heath Hembree and company) with a more established ninth-inning arm.

Red Sox Outright Carson Smith, Tony Renda, Justin Haley

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The Red Sox have outrighted Carson Smith off of the 40-man roster, per a club announcement. He has elected free agency. Boston also announced that infielder Tony Renda and right-hander Justin Haley have been outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket. Meanwhile, Dustin Pedroia, Austin Maddox and Marco Hernandez were reinstated from the 60-day disabled list and added back to the 40-man roster.

Smith’s time with the Sox was disappointing, to put things mildly. Acquired in the 2015-16 offseason in the trade that sent Wade Miley and Jonathan Aro to the Mariners, Smith was one of the first major acquisitions for president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. At the time, Boston looked to have secured a long-term, high-leverage weapon for the back of the ’pen. That, of course, was far from the case.

It’s easy to forget just how dominant Smith was as a rookie in Seattle, given the three injury-ruined seasons that have since elapsed, but the righty was legitimately overpowering with the 2015 Mariners. In 70 innings of work, he pitched to a minuscule 2.31 ERA with 11.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 0.26 HR/9 and a whopping 64.8 percent ground-ball rate. That combination of whiffs, strong control and elite ground-ball tendencies is exceedingly rare, so it’s easy to see why Smith was viewed as an attractive option.

Unfortunately for the Sox, Smith’s arm simply couldn’t hold up. He underwent Tommy John surgery early in the 2016 season and was only able to make it back to the field for 6 2/3 innings in 2017. The 2018 season brought an embarrassing end to his Red Sox tenure. Smith hit the disabled list with a subluxation in his right shoulder back in May — an injury which he appeared to incur after throwing his glove in the dugout out of frustration. After the fact, he told reporters that he believed fatigue from being overworked might’ve contributed to the status of his balky shoulder — a suggestion which manager Alex Cora characterized as “surprising” and with which he flatly stated he “[didn’t] agree.” Smith ultimately went under the knife in June and didn’t return to the field after the fact.

Renda, 28 in January, appeared in one game as a pinch-runner for the Sox this season and split the remainder of the season between Double-A Portland and Triple-A Pawtucket. In a combined 292 minor league plate appearances, the former Reds and Nationals prospect posted a quality .318/.373/.453 slash — adding five homers, 19 doubles, a triple and 10 steals along the way.

Haley, meanwhile, was Boston’s sixth-round pick back in 2012. The 27-year-old made his Red Sox debut this season, though it wasn’t his Major League debut, as Haley logged 18 innings as a Rule 5 pick of the Twins back in 2017. In four games and a total of 7 2/3 innings with Boston this season, he allowed four runs on 10 hits and three walks without a strikeout. Overall, he has a 5.61 ERA in 25 2/3 big league innings, though he’s worked to a considerably better 3.53 ERA with 7.6 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 260 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level in his career to date.

Red Sox Select William Cuevas

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The Red Sox announced Monday that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander William Cuevas from Triple-A Pawtucket. In a pair of corresponding roster moves, right-hander Justin Haley was optioned to Pawtucket, while righty Carson Smith was moved from the 10-day DL to the 60-day DL. Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston first reported that Cuevas was having his contract selected (Twitter link), while MassLive’s Chris Cotillo tweeted that Haley would be optioned out.

Cuevas, 27, will be headed to the Majors for his second stint with the Sox. He originally debuted with Boston back in 2016, tossing five innings in a trio of relief appearances, and he pitched a third of an inning in 2017 with the Tigers. In all, Cuevas’ extremely minimal big league results haven’t been pretty, as he’s been tagged for six runs on eight hits and six walks with four strikeouts in his 5 1/3 frames of work.

That said, he comes with a respectable Triple-A track record and has pitched fairly well in Pawtucket so far in 2018. Through 86 1/3 innings, all coming out of the rotation, Cuevas has a 3.65 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 2.6 BB/9 and 1.04 HR/9. He’ll give the Sox some length in the bullpen after a raucous weekend series against the Yankees in which the two contenders for the AL East division title traded blowout victories. The Red Sox came out on the losing end of that series and relied heavily on Haley, who tossed 4 2/3 innings of relief between Boston’s two losses, totaling 42 pitches in each appearance.

Carson Smith To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

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Red Sox reliever Carson Smith is set to undergo shoulder surgery tomorrow, the team announced to reporters (Twitter link via Rob Bradford of WEEI.com). The operation will likely put an end to the 28-year-old’s season.

It’s the latest setback in what is becoming an increasingly injury-plagued career for Smith, who missed the majority of the 2016 and 2017 seasons while recovering from Tommy John surgery. Tomorrow’s surgery will repair a subluxation in his throwing shoulder, which the right-hander reportedly incurred after angrily tossing his glove out of frustration following a poor outing last month. However, there’s additional damage in his shoulder, it seems, as head athletic trainer Brad Pearson tells reporters that Smith also has some tearing in the labrum (Twitter link via the Boston Globe’s Alex Speier).

Originally acquired by the Red Sox in the Dec. 2015 trade that sent Wade Miley and Jonathan Aro to the Mariners, Smith has spent three seasons in the organization but pitched just 20 innings at the Major League level. Obviously, the Sox had higher hopes when trading for him, as he was coming off a dominant rookie campaign in Seattle that saw him pitch 70 innings of 2.31 ERA ball with 11.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a hefty 64.8 percent ground-ball rate.

Smith drew some ire from Boston skipper Alex Cora last month after suggesting that heavy usage may have contributed to the wear and tear on his shoulder. Cora bluntly said that he “doesn’t agree” with Smith’s comments and spoke at length about the frequency with which the Red Sox staff checks in on its relievers to see who is and isn’t available to take the hill on a given night.

Given Smith’s ongoing injury woes and the fact that he’s arbitration-eligible for a second time this offseason, it’s possible that the Sox could move on from Smith via non-tender this offseason. But, he won’t be in line for much of a raise on this season’s $850K salary after pitching just 14 1/3 innings, so they may also opt to hang onto the affordable depth even with the health concerns.

Injury Updates: Hill, Faria, Ramos, Smith, Bumgarner, Candelario, Boyd

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Rich Hill’s latest blister problem was originally estimated by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to require a four-week DL stint, though the southpaw threw a full bullpen session today.  As Roberts explained to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick and other media, Hill was keeping his arm in shape while wearing protective tape over the injured middle finger of his pitching hand.  Hill told reporters yesterday (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) that is hopeful of a quicker return from this injury, though he is still looking for a more long-term answer to the blister problems that have plagued his career in recent years.  Hill even raised the idea of petitioning the league to allow him to wear the tape on his finger during a game — MLB rules prohibit a pitcher from wearing an “attachment to his hand, finger or wrist,” though Hill argues that it wouldn’t be any different than a hitter wearing a batting glove.

Here’s some more on some other injured players from around baseball…

  • The Rays suffered through a tough third inning tonight, as starter Jake Faria left the game with a strained left oblique and catcher Wilson Ramos departed later in the frame with a left hand contusion after an Austin Pruitt pitch deflected off the ground and hit Ramos in the top of the hand.  The Faria injury seems like the more immediately serious injury of the two, as oblique strains usually require at least a few weeks to recuperate; manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin) that Faria will “miss some time” with the injury.  Faria has struggled to a 5.48 ERA over 47 2/3 frames this season, though his absence would further tax a Rays pitching staff that is already putting a heavy load on its relievers due to the team’s unique usage of relievers.  As for Ramos, he tells Topkin that he doesn’t believe he’ll require a DL stint, though his hand is still swollen.
  • Carson Smith will seek out a third opinion on his injured shoulder to see if he can avoid surgery, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports (Twitter link).  The Red Sox reliever suffered a subluxation in his right shoulder last week after angrily tossing his glove in frustration over a poor outing.  This would be another brutal injury setback for Smith, who missed most of the 2016 and 2017 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.
  • Madison Bumgarner threw 30 pitches in a simulated game today, and is on track to make his first rehab start on Saturday.  (MLB.com’s Richard Dean was one of several reporters with the info.)  The Giants ace will likely make three rehab outings before returning to the 25-man roster in June to make his season debut, after fracturing a finger in Spring Training.
  • Tigers third baseman Jeimer Candelario is slated to begin a minor league rehab assignment tomorrow, manager Ron Gardenhire told the Detroit Free Press’ Anthony Fenech (Twitter link) and other reporters.  The young third baseman was posting some big numbers (five homers, .272/.359/.497 in 167 PA) before being sidelined with tendinitis in his left wrist.  Candelario’s was placed on the DL on May 14, so it seems like he won’t miss much or maybe even any time beyond the 10-day minimum absence.
  • In more troubling injury news for the Tigers, southpaw Matthew Boyd was forced to leave his start after four innings tonight due to what the club described as an oblique spasm.  This is a lesser injury than a strain, though obviously Detroit wasn’t taking any chances with the young left-hander.  Boyd has delivered some good results with a 3.12 ERA over 52 innings, though advanced metrics indicate some batted-ball luck (.248 BABIP) and Boyd isn’t generating many grounders (32.9% ground ball rate) or strikeouts (7.1 K/9).

East Notes: Yankees, Eickhoff, Smith, Garcia

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Aaron Boone recently offered some words of encouragement regarding the imminent return of first baseman Greg Bird to the lineup (h/t Marc Carig of The Athletic). But while Bird’s activation appears to be “around the corner”, news surrounding fellow Yankees hitter Jacoby Ellsbury is not as promising. Ellsbury is reportedly dealing with a minor back injury and as such is not participating in baseball activities at this time. The outfielder made just 406 plate appearances last season and has yet to make his 2018 debut. Unfortunately, Ellsbury’s absence is not the end of the bad news for the Yankees this week, as it turns out hard-hitting outfield prospect Estevan Florial will require surgery on a broken hamate bone (according to a tweet from George A. King III of the New York Post). The injury will keep him sidelined until at least August. Florial was off to somewhat of a slow start at the High-A level, posting a .246/.353/.343 slash line across 156 plate appearances.

More out of the East…

  • Phillies righty Jerad Eickhoff is set to begin a rehab assignment, according to Matt Breen of the Philly Enquirer. He’ll kick it off at Triple-A LeHigh Valley. Eickhoff has been sidelined since spring training due to a lat strain, and at this time it’s not clear how he’d fit into a suddenly crowded Phillies rotation that includes Aaron Nola, Nick Pivetta, Jake Arrieta, Vince Velasquez and Zach Eflin.
  • The Red Sox haven’t gotten any particularly good news about Carson Smith in recent days. According to Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, manager Alex Cora says the club can’t determine at this time whether or not the righty will pitch again this season. Smith was off to a serviceable start this season, posting a 3.77 ERA and 11.30 K/9 in his first 14 1/3 innings before going down with a shoulder subluxation.
  • The Blue Jays are describing left-hander Jaime Garcia’s injury as “left shoulder inflammation”. He’s been placed on the DL retroactive to May 16th. The Jays brought Garcia into the fold this past offseason on a one-year deal worth a guarantee of $10MM, but he’s disappointed thus far with a 6.28 ERA across his first 38 2/3 innings. In a related move, the club has recalled righty Deck McGuire from Triple-A Buffalo.

AL East Notes: Smith, Gomez, Arroyo, Orioles, Tulo

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Shortly after landing on the disabled list due to a subluxation in his shoulder that occurred upon throwing his glove out of frustration in the dugout, Red Sox reliever Carson Smith suggested that arm fatigue may have contributed to his injury (link via Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald). “I’ve thrown a lot lately and I think my arm was just tired,” said Smith, though his comments didn’t sit well with manager Alex Cora. Cora flatly told reporters that he “[doesn’t] agree” with Smith’s assessment, adding that Boston’s coaching staff checks in with its pitchers each day when determining who is or isn’t available in relief. Smith gave the team no indication that he was feeling overworked. “It caught me by surprise,” Cora said of Smith’s comment. “If he felt that way he should’ve told it to us or he should’ve mentioned it.” Smith, of course, has placed much of the blame for his injury on himself as well and expressed regret over the manner in which the injury occurred.

More from the division…

  • The Rays put Carlos Gomez on the 10-day DL with a groin strain and recalled infielder Christian Arroyo from Triple-A Durham, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Gomez’s injury doesn’t appear to be too severe, as Topkin notes that the organization is “playing it safe” and being careful in placing the struggling Gomez on the disabled list. The 32-year-old Gomez is hitting just .200/.252/.354 on the season, though his .264 BABIP is considerably south of his career .315 mark. Arroyo, the centerpiece in the offseason Evan Longoria swap, has had a similarly rough go of it in Durham, opening the year in a .200/.235/.308 slump. He’ll get some opportunities in the coming days against left-handed pitching, manager Kevin Cash said, though it appears that part of the thinking in bringing him to the big leagues was to give Cash an alternative to Matt Duffy, who is dealing with a sore hamstring but as of now won’t be placed on the DL.
  • Ben Badler of Baseball America profiles the Orioles’ baffling philosophy on the international prospect market. As Badler notes, Baltimore spent just $535K on prospects in the 2018-19 period and just $260K in the prior period, instead utilizing their pool to acquire fringe minor leaguers (one of whom was even lost in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft just months after being acquired). As Badler explains, the behavior can’t be pinned on the front office, as the neglect of the international market is an ownership-level decision from Peter Angelos that spans multiple iterations of baseball operations personnel. But, by not giving international scouts the resources they need, the O’s annually put themselves at a massive disadvantage in terms of building a farm system. That, as Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com examines, forces GM Dan Duquette to rely more heavily on tactics like the Rule 5 Draft, which can have its own detrimental effects on a roster when utilized too heavily — especially for a club with aspirations of contending. Connolly contends that Baltimore’s lack of international signings makes even role players hard to come by within the organization, pushing Duquette to seek options in the Rule 5 and thus creating roster flexibility issues each year.
  • Shi Davidi of Sportsnet provides some updates on a few injured Blue Jays, reporting that Troy Tulowitzki has begun fielding grounders and is doing some running on an antigravity treadmill. Tulowitzki is on the 60-day DL, though his absence seems likely to extend beyond that 60-day minimum window. The injury plagued former All-Star had surgery to remove bone spurs from both of his heels last month and has yet to play in 2018. Davidi also adds that Steve Pearce isn’t yet cleared for baseball activities as his oblique strain mends, while Aledmys Diaz is doing some light running after suffering an ankle injury earlier this month. With both Tulowitzki and Diaz on the shelf, the Jays have been using a combo of Lourdes Gurriel, Richard Urena and Gio Urshela at shortstop recently.

Red Sox Place Carson Smith On 10-Day DL

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The Red Sox announced that righty Carson Smith has been placed on the 10-day DL with a subluxation of his right shoulder. He’ll be replaced for the time being by lefty Bobby Poyner.

It’s obviously not terribly promising news to hear that the injury is to Smith’s throwing shoulder. It’s still unknown at this point just what kind of absence the team expects from the veteran reliever, but it seems that it could be a rather serious matter.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters, including Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston (via Twitter), that “it’s got the potential of being a major injury.” Smith, who hurt himself flinging his glove after a poor outing, will go for a second opinion.

The 28-year-old Smith had been playing a significant role in the Sox pen after missing most of the past two seasons. He carries a 3.77 ERA in 14 1/3 innings on the year, with 11.3 K/9 (on an 11.8% swinging-strike rate) against 3.8 BB/9 as well as a 52.5% groundball rate.

Red Sox, Carson Smith Avoid Arbitration

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The Red Sox announced that they’ve avoided arbitration with right-hander Carson Smith by agreeing to a one-year contract. The team did not announce financial terms, though Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston reports that Smith will earn $850K for the coming season (Twitter link). Boston also announced its previously reported one-year, $1.1MM deal with fellow arbitration-eligible righty Steven Wright.

The deadline for teams and players to exchange arbitration figures is this Friday, so it stands to reason that there’ll be a number of players agreeing to deals over the course of the next five days. MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes recently tweeted that all 30 teams are believed to be adopting a “file and trial” approach to arbitration, meaning they’ll no longer negotiate one-year contracts beyond this Friday’s deadline (though multi-year extensions are typically still negotiated by file-and-trial organizations).

Smith, 28, was acquired in the 2015-16 offseason in a trade that sent Wade Miley and Jonathan Aro to the Mariners. He pitched just 2 2/3 innings for the ’16 Red Sox before requiring Tommy John surgery, however, and he was able to make it back to the mound for just 6 2/3 frames in Boston last year. His $850K figure falls shy of the $1.1MM projected arbitration salary from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

Now healthy, Smith should play a considerably larger role in the Boston bullpen in 2018 and beyond. Prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery, he had a somewhat under-the-radar rookie breakout in 2015, tossing 70 innings of 2.31 ERA ball on the strength of 11.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 64.8 percent ground-ball rate in the Mariners’ bullpen.

This is the first of three trips through the arbitration process for Smith, who is controlled by the Red Sox through the 2020 season. The Sox still have a whopping 11 arb cases to resolve, including high-profile cases for Mookie Betts and Drew Pomeranz, both of whom project to earn more than $8MM. Other Red Sox that are up for arbitration include Jackie Bradley Jr., Joe Kelly, Tyler Thornburg, Xander Bogaerts, Brock Holt, Sandy Leon, Brandon Workman, Christian Vazquez and Eduardo Rodriguez.

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