Despite strong play in the majors and Triple-A this season, Darnell McDonald's Red Sox future is in limbo, writes Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal. With Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury set to return soon, the club will have to open up two roster spots.
Fellow outfielder Jonathan Van Every will almost certainly be the first casualty upon Cameron's return, though he still has options remaining. McDonald, 31, is out of options. With his strong play in the last three weeks, MacPherson writes that it is not hard to imagine another team snapping him up.
In 62 major league plate appearances, McDonald has a slash line of .264/.350/.491 with 3 homers. For Triple-A Pawtucket, he hit .341/.372/.683 with 2 HRs in 43 plate appearances.
Bill Hall would be a candidate to get the axe before McDonald if not for the fact that the club needs their fifth outfielder to be able to play the infield as well. Hall's career UZR/150 scores at second base, shortstop, and third base are 0.7, 1.8, and 3.1, respectively.
ive seen more to like in McDonald then I have in Cameron to date, ill be upset to see him released. im ready for the red sox to shock baseball and release Ortiz instead
Wouldn’t be much of a shock to see the Sox release Ortiz honestly.
even given all the recent struggle ortiz has had, i think it would still have some shock value if he is released to keep a nobody on the team over him, a living legend in Boston
McDonald may be a nobody, but he’s actually contributing to the team. Besides, they got rid of Nomar so there’s precedent for them getting rid of a popular player.
If McDonald is on the trading block, I could see the Mets being interested. Matthews Jr. has no business being on the team and who knows when Beltran will be back.
I really would like to see Hall or Ortiz get moved before McDonald. I just have seen Francona fall in love with older players and refuse to ever give up on them. I just hope that Theo is done indulging him.
I really would like to see Hall or Ortiz get moved before McDonald. I just have seen Francona fall in love with older players and refuse to ever give up on them. I just hope that Theo is done indulging him.
McDonald may be a nobody, but he’s actually contributing to the team. Besides, they got rid of Nomar so there’s precedent for them getting rid of a popular player.
If McDonald is on the trading block, I could see the Mets being interested. Matthews Jr. has no business being on the team and who knows when Beltran will be back.
Saw Ortiz pull the ball well today. I don’t know if he’s going to get released, at least not yet. The Sox are still trying to see if he can start up a rhythm. I thought for a while he just looked old out there, but he looked like himself today (except for the first popout). I think if he continues to pull the ball well in the next couple days, he won’t be released. Otherwise, yeah. I think for the Sox, they want to be sure it’s a struggle due to age before they release him.
However, if not releasing him means releasing mcdonald, I would be sorely disappointed. I love that guy, I hope he never leaves.
Saw Ortiz pull the ball well today. I don’t know if he’s going to get released, at least not yet. The Sox are still trying to see if he can start up a rhythm. I thought for a while he just looked old out there, but he looked like himself today (except for the first popout). I think if he continues to pull the ball well in the next couple days, he won’t be released. Otherwise, yeah. I think for the Sox, they want to be sure it’s a struggle due to age before they release him.
However, if not releasing him means releasing mcdonald, I would be sorely disappointed. I love that guy, I hope he never leaves.
I think this would be the prudent move. Unless they can convince Minny to take Lowell.
Minny doesn’t want Lowell.
Minny doesn’t want Lowell.
I think this would be the prudent move. Unless they can convince Minny to take Lowell.
It’ll be interesting to see what type of maneuvering that Theo does to keep Darnell and get a small return for him.
DMac might not be a proven vet like Cameron or a young star that hasn’t hit his potential like Jacoby, but I want the Sox to keep him around. His play reminds me of Trot Nixon and everyone in Boston loves Trot Nixon
What’s Ellsbury’s potential?
He hit .301 last year with 70 stolen bases and he has a ring.
He’s not living up to your expectations or what
I wasn’t saying anything bad about Ells, just that he’s young and has improved each year and he probably hasn’t had his best season yet.
I wasn’t saying anything bad about Ells, just that he’s young and has improved each year and he probably hasn’t had his best season yet.
What’s Ellsbury’s potential?
He hit .301 last year with 70 stolen bases and he has a ring.
He’s not living up to your expectations or what
Bill Hall is also a possibility…. although he’s here for infield depth as well.
Without Bill Hall there are no backup MIs. He’s not going anywhere
I am sure when push comes to shove, Ortiz will stay until his proper replacement is found. The excuse they will use is that is hitting home runs now, although not frequent enough to make up for the strikeouts and batters LOB in my opinion
I would think a proper replacement would be a Mike Lowell, who is hitting and a jeremy hermida if the team wants some power from the LH side to face tough righties in some games as a DH to play instead of Lowell and give him a rest. there is no reason to entertain ortiz and his late bat any longer. freeing up that spot would allow the sox to also get a decent backup middle infielder on the 25 man roster, thereby dumpling Hall as well. It’s a win-win situation for the team that just can’t afford to fall any further behind Tampa and NY.
I’m not a Sox fan, but I’ve enjoyed watching McDonald have a belated breakthrough month. Yes, it’s a month. He’s been a good to great minor league player, and I’d rather see the Sox waive him so someone else would give him a shot while he’s going good.
Darnell is one of those guys who kept working, then working more, hoping someone, somewhere, would give him a chance. The Sox are going to have a roster problem soon and I hope they do the right thing here.
I’m not a Sox fan, but I’ve enjoyed watching McDonald have a belated breakthrough month. Yes, it’s a month. He’s been a good to great minor league player, and I’d rather see the Sox waive him so someone else would give him a shot while he’s going good.
Darnell is one of those guys who kept working, then working more, hoping someone, somewhere, would give him a chance. The Sox are going to have a roster problem soon and I hope they do the right thing here.
He’d be a great pickup for the Orioles. I’d love to have him. I woudn’t mind giving someone up for him either.
He’d be a great pickup for the Orioles. I’d love to have him. I woudn’t mind giving someone up for him either.
Yeah, they already had him …. when they drafted him.
1. Release ortiz
2. move hermida to dh and use lowell with him as well considering hermida does strikeout a considerable amount its good to have some one like lowell in there.
3. use McDonald as your backup cf with Hermida playing LF or RF when need be.
look at the Hermida splits,using Hermida/Lowell at DH makes perfect sense and I’ve been saying it for most of the season.
Dumping Ortiz and keeping McD would give the team a lot more flexibility AND more production at DH.
look at the Hermida splits,using Hermida/Lowell at DH makes perfect sense and I’ve been saying it for most of the season.
Dumping Ortiz and keeping McD would give the team a lot more flexibility AND more production at DH.
1. Release ortiz
2. move hermida to dh and use lowell with him as well considering hermida does strikeout a considerable amount its good to have some one like lowell in there.
3. use McDonald as your backup cf with Hermida playing LF or RF when need be.
‘the club will have to open up two spots on their 40-man roster.’
Why?
Ellsbury and Cameron are coming back from the DL
Yes, but originally, the article said–as batthepitcher8th pointed out–that two spots on the 40-man roster would have to be opened up, which was incorrect.
Ellsbury and Cameron are on the 15-day DL, so they’re still on the 40-man roster. The Red Sox only need to find room on the 25-man roster for them, not on the 40-man roster.
In all likelihood, Van Every will be optioned to AAA, and I could Scott Schoenweis being DFA’ed to clear up the other spot. McDonald has probably earned a spot–at least for now–as the 4th/5th OF and Hall, as already pointed out, is both the 5th/6th OF and reserve IF as well(with Lowell also being important, since he’s filling in for Ortiz at DH periodically). But with 2 of your 3 starting OF back, that gives you Ellsbury, Cameron, Drew, Hermida, McDonald, and sometimes Hall–a heckuva lot of OF depth. But they can’t really DFA Hall, since Mike Lowell can’t back up at SS and 2B at all, can he? I suppose there’s a chance it could be McDonald then, too, sadly.
Also, I’m not saying that a release of David Ortiz won’t come at all this season, but I think it’s early yet, and he’s shown at least a few signs of life of late and has probably bought himself another month on the roster for now. 😉
That would give us only 11 pitchers. With how this staff has been, I am thinking they need that extra arm out there. BUT, it may give them a little bit of time to play with things. Schoenweis isn’t here for the long haul, that is for sure.
Ellsbury and Cameron are coming back from the DL
‘the club will have to open up two spots on their 40-man roster.’
Why?
“Despite strong play in the majors and Triple-A this season, Darnell McDonald’s Red Sox future is in limbo, writes Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal. With Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury set to return soon, the club will have to open up two spots on their 40-man roster.”
The Sox do NOT need to open up 2 spots on their 40-man roster, they need to open up 2 spots on their active roster (25-man) to accomodate Ellsbury’s & Cameron’s return from the DL.
Jonathan Van Every still has an option year remaining so he is easily optioned down to Pawtucket.
The issue with Darnell McDonald is that he’s out of options and would need to clear waivers (be DFA’ed) in order for the Red Sox to keep him in the organization.
Whoops, I just said much the same thing in my reply above–guess I should’ve scrolled down a little futher to see this. Sorry! 🙂
Right now McDonald has been the best move the Sox made during the offseason. About half the team would have to get released first.
Adrian Beltre?
As an outside observer all i can think of seeing the talk about releasing ortiz is the yanks. can anyone else see them picking him up for the league minimum (seeing how terrible and injured nick johnson has been) to see if he can start hitting for them? If i were a sox fan that possibility would kill me.
David Ortiz has been twice as terrible as Nick Johnson so far this season.
If the Sox release Ortiz within the next couple of weeks, the Yankees will have Johnson back, who is a better hitter.
So, no, it would make no sense for the Yankees to pick up Ortiz, who has quickly become one of the most worthless players in all of baseball.
At ortiz’s best, he was obviously much better than johnson. Thank you in stating the obvious that ortiz has had a crap year. But did you forget last year? Ortiz started out terrible and did very good in the last few months of the season. I’m not saying he will do that again, but it is certainly possible. And at the league minimum he would be worth a shot for any team that doesnt have a solid DH.
And btw, Johnson 2010 stats .167/.388/.306
Ortiz 2010 .182/.264/.416
Ortiz is not “twice as terrible,” it depends on what you value. Look at stats before using them as the crux of your argument.
As an outside observer all i can think of seeing the talk about releasing ortiz is the yanks. can anyone else see them picking him up for the league minimum (seeing how terrible and injured nick johnson has been) to see if he can start hitting for them? If i were a sox fan that possibility would kill me.
Beltre should go. that would open up potential space for a slugger at the break and they have guys to replace him such as Lowell and Youkilis. Martinez can play a bit of first and that way he could play everyday and you could get Varitek some AB’s too
Beltre? The same guy leading the team in BA and 2nd in RBI? Yes, he’s had a bunch of errors, but considering the fielding record he brought with him, I’d say it’s worth waiting for him to work out the kinks. But the way he’s hitting, worst case you can swap with him Lowell and let him DH. Releasing Ortiz makes a lot more sense.
that is probably the dumbest idea yet.
Beltre should go. that would open up potential space for a slugger at the break and they have guys to replace him such as Lowell and Youkilis. Martinez can play a bit of first and that way he could play everyday and you could get Varitek some AB’s too