The Red Sox have released outfielder John Andreoli in order to open a spot in their 60-man player pool for right-hander Seth Blair, per a team announcement. Blair will join the club’s alternate training site.
Andreoli, 30, is a Worcester native with 26 games and 67 plate appearance of big league experience under his belt. That all came back in 2018, when he hit .230/.284/.262 in a small sample with the Mariners and Orioles. Lack of big league experience aside, Andreoli is a solid depth piece for big league clubs given a career .262/.375/.416 slash in nearly 2500 Triple-A plate appearances. He’s also logged more than 2000 minor league innings at all three outfield positions and racked up 259 minor league stolen bases. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him latch on with a club hurting for outfield depth.
Blair, meanwhile, is something of a remarkable story. The 31-year-old was selected by the Cardinals with the No. 46 overall pick of the 2010 draft and looked to have washed out of baseball after an ugly season in 2014. Blair didn’t throw a professional pitch from 2015-18 but was given a chance at a comeback by the Padres organization in 2019. He spent the year with San Diego’s Class-A Advanced affiliate, and while his 4.11 ERA doesn’t stand out as a particularly impressive mark, Blair also notched an impressive 47-to-14 K/BB ratio in 35 frames. Now that he’s in Boston’s player pool, he’s closer to an improbable big league debut than he was at any point in 2019.
Now this is perseverance. Gotta root for Blair to make it this time.
Absolutely but there must be more than meets the eye. I look at a then 30 year old getting those 47 Ks in 35 innings by simply overpowering youngsters in Class A ball.
Speaking about OFers, you know what bothers me about this team?
No Rusney Castillo.
Because David price opted out of the season, and the opt in date as passed, that means his prorated contribution of 16m is off the books for 2020
Boston could afford to add rusney back in in his last year without hurting their cbt reset… If he shows well maybe even flip him at the trade deadline.
Instead he’s a sunk cost at a time he could be on the 28 man and maybe give some value.
But we already know what he is. We watched him for years at AAA. Why take away at-bats from another guy? Plus this is Castillo’s walk year, what are you going to do take a look at him & sign him again? LOL. And as you say flip him at the deadline? He’s a minor Leaguer his entire career. Who we going to flip him for?
I do hear what you’re saying and your points are valid but I’m just trusting the Sox know what they’re doing with him. The reasons I see are those above.
Gary, I too would like Rusney as it would be a validation if not lucky story if he were to contribute and magic happens. I think he actually could get called up if he can be fit in tax wise at the end of the month. Right now they might be saving that money to be able to add a pitcher should they be in the mix thee weeks from today.
I hope fir his sake he makes it bk, it would be a nice story. Gotta root for those guys!
LINDA Blair would make their rotation (she could really hurl).
Wow the story with Blair is really something else… I’m also not entirely sure I get why the Red Sox would think he’s ready to pitch in the majors BUT if he is and makes his debut this year after such a long and winding journey through the minors and then being out of baseball etc. it would really be quite cool. Maybe Bloom sees something in him that he can make an adjustment or something and wind up being effective — at this point the Sox aren’t exactly all that competitive so at the very least it would be a cool story and someone who would be easy to root for!
All I can figure is he’s a cheap, warm body. It’s not like most of the other guys they’re throwing out there are all that impressive.