The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves Tuesday as they get closer to solidifying their Opening Day squad. Boston reinstated outfielder Franchy Cordero from the Covid-19 injured list and designated right-hander John Schreiber for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster. The Sox also optioned infielder Michael Chavis and right-hander Colten Brewer to their alternate training site in Worcester.
Schreiber, 27, was claimed off waivers out of the Tigers organization back in February. He didn’t get a long look this spring, allowing a pair of runs on five hits and a walk in 1 1/3 innings through two appearances before being optioned two weeks ago. He’s spent time with the Tigers over the past two seasons as well, logging a 6.28 ERA in 28 2/3 frames at the big league level.
Obviously, those results aren’t much to look at, but Schreiber has a career 1.99 ERA in the minors — including a 2.28 mark in 59 1/3 innings of work at Triple-A. The sidearmer punched out 25.6 percent of opponents in the Majors against a tidy 6.2 percent walk rate, and right-handed batters managed only a lowly .192/.270/.311 output against him during the 2019 season. The Sox surely hope he’ll clear waivers and give them a depth candidate.
The 25-year-old Chavis is a former first-round pick who opened some eyes early in his debut campaign with the Sox but has struggled since. He hit .212/.259/.377 in 158 trips to the plate last year, and while he did belt six long balls this spring, his overall offensive game wasn’t without red flags. Chavis batted .250/.292/.600 in 65 plate appearances, striking out 20 times (30.7 percent) against just two walks (3.1 percent). High strikeout and marginal walk rates have persisted throughout Chavis’ career to date, so the Sox will send him down to continue to work on his approach.
With Chavis being sent down to begin the season, that likely means fellow infielder Christian Arroyo will make the club. The former top prospect is out of minor league options, which may have given him a leg up in the race, but he’s turned in a respectable .269/.309/.462 batting line with a trio of homers himself in 55 plate appearances.
The 28-year-old Brewer, meanwhile, has tallied 80 1/3 innings of relief for the Sox over the past two seasons, but he struggled in 2020 and saw his troubles continue in Spring Training. Brewer notched a respectable 4.12 ERA in 54 1/3 innings back in 2019, but he was tagged for 16 earned runs in 25 2/3 frames last year (5.61 ERA) and served up seven runs in 6 1/3 innings this spring.
The Sox also received some concerning news on righty Ryan Braiser, who is headed for an MRI after straining his left calf while working in a “B” game yesterday (via Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com). Brasier has been slowed in camp by a fractured pinkie but looked to be trending toward a return early in the season. The MRI will tell how substantial a setback this will be, but Brasier was on crutches this morning, and manager Alex Cora told reporters that the situation “doesn’t look too promising.”
Glad to see Chavis get sent down. He’s not without talent, but needs to make more consistent contact. Even after two seasons in the pros, his ST stats show a 20/2 K/W, and that includes appearances against guys that are likely minor leaguers.
He’s not terrible or anything, but I believe he can be better.
Just needs to improve his pitch recognition! He’s striking out WAY too much and barely ever walks
True, but Chavis’ hitting profile mirrors the Red Sox acquisitions this offseason.
He also doesn’t go oppo like someone like Dalbec. You can’t throw an outside FB close to the plate to Dalbec without getting punished. With Chavis, he will just try to pull it for a pop-up.
Still, the only reason he got demoted is because Arroyo has no options left. Sad that’s a consideration but it has to otherwise be negotiated with the PA. I thought Chavis looked better than in 20. Hopefully he carries himself well in AAA and he’ll be back.
The problem with Chavis he simply cannot catch up to the high fastball. All of his damage is done against breaking balls and fastballs down on the zone. Once the league saw that he was doomed until he can make an adjustment and I’m not convinced he can. Belt high or above three fastballs with just a little bit of giddy up and he is gone. Yesterday’s game against Atlanta Anderson threw three belt high fastballs at 95 straight as can be right down the middle the result K.
I realize it’s spring training but he did still homer once every 11 ABs. Not too shabby…
The problem is what he has hit them on. I was listening to the broadcast and they went on and on how he got a hit off a high fastball. It’s not like every team in baseball doesn’t know this he needs to figure out how to lay off the fastball above the belt then I will be more bullish. The ball is now in his court figure it out Chavis.
I don’t care what pitch he hits them on. Certain pitchers will always own certain hitters. in today’s saberstat driven world, there should be an MLB job for someone who is not bad in the field and hits 50 homers on a full season basis. Obviously that’s a reach but he still did enough this spring to show me he’s more deserving than Arroyo who I just don’t see the appeal. Feels like a junior union worker who gets passed over because of seniority. I understand this way Boston doesn’t have to expose Arroyo to waivers but it just feels wrong. just my take.
Bruin1012 – Everything you said is right on. I read the same thing in multiple sources. Chavis multi home run game last year was on two bad breaking balls. He can pound the breaking ball, but how many will he see when he can not hit the high fastball.
I agree that Chavis has a hole in his approach; however, I also believe he was two or three slots too low in the order. If the Sox were hitting like they should, Chavis would see the breaking ball more often – for pitch-to-contact grounders. Why throw him his pitch? Because the odds favor 2 to 1 he’ll ground out or K out. All said, he’ll return when he stops looking for the fat (double-sized) ball.
It’s ok I’m willing to see what arroyo has got in him. He’s actually hit well since he put that Sox uniform on. Chavis swing has too big of a hole in it
I don’t see much in Arroyo and prefer Munoz. He made the roster mainly because he had no options left.
NOT a Munoz fan. Too free swinging. Prefer Arroyo
Boston’s busy rearranging the deck chairs this morning.
Deck chairs? No sir pitching is what makes this team go. We’re talking the engine baby. They’re fine tuning the engine and setting up the proper RPMs and fuel-air mixture on this super duper yacht. Get ready for a storm out of the gate 7 and 3 start in the first 10. I feel it.
That’s to say nothing of the offense. Now that JD Martinez can look at the film and see how the ball comes out of the pitcher’s hand, he’ll be slamming balls left and right. We’re ready to go baby.
First ten are four against the Orioles and three against the rays at home and then three in Baltimore. 7-3 in that ten is pretty meaningless
jrwhite21-
All wins count the same at the end of the year. None of them are meaningless. The Yankees get to play the Orioles the same number of times, as do the Rays and Jays. Should all of those wins be discounted as meaningless as well? Stupid comment.
I’m about as optimistic as I’ve been in a long time. JD is finally starting to hit a little, which is huge. The Houck outing was a very pleasant surprise. I was in favor of him going down, but that was a really good game for him. Now he gets a single start. If he stinks, then ERod comes back for the next game. If he looks good, then we have a very pleasant problem to deal with.
I think we have a very good team, albeit very thin.
Chavis is a one dimensional player with no particular defensive attributes.
Both Chavis and Arroyo are AAAA-types; Chavis has options, Arroyo doesn’t. Neither is significant.
Man.. ! I wonder how this will affect the value of Chavis’ baseball cards now…
About as much as Blake Swihart’s.
Or Andrew Benintendi.
Or Ted Cox.
Tiger fan here (thanks, yes, I know). John Schreiber has a lot of potential and I was disappointed the Tigers lost him on waivers. He’s a soft-tossing sidearmer who can be a groundball machine with a little more work. He’s also a local guy and it was cool watching his parents in the stands for his MLB debut. I hope he gets another chance either with Boston or somewhere.
Off-topic, but watching parents in the stands, when their son finally breaks into the pros, is beautiful to watch. Just imagine being able to go down to the local pub on a Friday nigh and being to to say ‘yup, that’s my son up there’.
He’s the heir to the Chavis Rent A Car money.
man they’re really going to start Franchy…
If Chavis made the 26 man, then he would have been a bench player, and not received the amount of rep’s he needs to improve his game. Best thing for him. Did wonders for Mantle.
I think Franchy will have a good start during his honeymoon phase. You can’t help the Sox to see if the change off venue novelty will turn into lightning-in-a-bottle…at least for a short time..
How the heck does Boston put Phillips Valdez on their Major League roster after the spring he just had? It makes no sense to me. Maybe he’s just holding down a spot until Brasier is healthy, but I’d much rather see Brewer in that spot than Valdez. He’s going to cost them games!
I would prefer Walden or McCarthy over Brewer or Valdez.
McCarthy should be in, no? I think that’s a given right now.
If it was judged based on Spring games, McCarthy makes the team– but I suppose the team judges based on the back fields, history, stuff and other considerations. But regardless, McCarthy will start the season off the 40-man roster.
Dick – If McCarthy were to make the 26-man roster he would first need to be added to the 40-man. That in turn would cause someone (probably Brewer) to be DFAed, and the Red Sox want to preserve as much pitching depth as possible. I actually think the RS brass does not want to do that. I think we will see McCarthy as soon as someone in the bullpen goes on the DL.