2:58pm: Terry Francona announced that the Red Sox have purchased the left-handed reliever's contract, according to the Boston Herald's Scott Lauber (via Twitter). To make room on the 40-man roster, the club has moved right-hander Junichi Tazawa to the 60-day DL.
Francona added that Reyes will still be competing with Alfredo Aceves, Hideki Okajima, and Matt Albers for the final two bullpen spots, tweets Speier.
2:08pm: Boston left-hander Dennys Reyes can opt-out of his minor league deal in a matter of hours if he is not added to the club's major league roster. Reyes has been told that the BoSox have purchased his big league contract, tweets Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald. The deal is not yet finalized as the club has to find a way to fit him on the 40-man roster.
It should be noted, however, that the soon-to-be 34-year-old told the press that he's still waiting on word from the club, according to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe (via Twitter).
The veteran's opt-out date was originally set for today but the two sides agreed this week to push the deadline up to Sunday. Reyes hasn't ruled out extending his opt-out date once more, tweets Alex Speier of WEEI.com. If Reyes makes the big league roster, he will earn $900K with incentives that boost the deal's value to $1.4MM in total.
At least it means Okajima is not on the roster in most all likelihood. Francona, in a rare occurrence finally cutting ties with one of his vets for a better option. Possibly only because Reyes had the opt out, but at this point that opt out was a blessing in Oki’s case.
Okajima has minor league options remaining (less than five years of service). If he doesn’t make the team, in all likelihood, he’ll be sent to Pawtucket.
Was wondering if his contract though allows it? Have seen -0- so far on any site alluding to it.
Oki may be done but I liked watching him pitch. He lives off deception. Great performance from a guy who has almost nothing for “stuff”.
I think Okajima will be sent to AAA and gain some confidence back. He will learn to look at the plate when he throws, resulting in much improved command. He will come back up to the Sox late season and help us down the stretch.
Back to reality, thanks for ’07, see ya later Oki
He has a great looking wife, so he isn’t doing that bad.