The Red Sox have claimed outfielder Tim Locastro off waivers from the Yankees, both teams announced. Locastro is eligible for arbitration this winter, and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him to receive a $700K salary if tendered a contract.
Locastro’s stint in New York proved brief. Acquired from the Diamondbacks last July, he unfortunately suffered an ACL tear in his ninth game in pinstripes. That ended his season and ultimately proved to conclude his tenure in the Bronx.
An ACL injury is particularly worrisome for Locastro, since his skillset is based around blazing speed. The 29-year-old is among the game’s fastest players, and he perennially rates as one of the better baserunners around. In 209 major league games, Locastro has swiped 31 bags on 34 attempts, a stellar 91.2% success rate. That athleticism also allows him to cover all three outfield positions.
Locastro doesn’t bring a ton of upside in the batter’s box, though. In 503 plate appearances over parts of five seasons, the right-handed hitter owns a .231/.333/.329 line with just five home runs. Locastro has very little power and rarely walks, but he’s shown a huge propensity for being hit by pitches. That willingness to absorb some body blows has enabled him to reach base at a decent clip in spite of a subpar batting average.
Robert Murray of FanSided first reported the move.
Why?
Speed
We already have Jarren Duran though. He’s also a quick outfielder with more pop in the bat
But Duran is not depth in that sense, imho. Duran is either starting, platooning, or getting traded.
Duran finna be traded bro. Hate to tell ya
Why is that. Who just trades their young rookies before they’ve had a cup of coffee. You’re a clown
Selling high on him on the back of his overranking on the top prospect lists. I know how Bloom operates, I live in the walls of his home. You’re a clown for not having my level of dedication
That’s not how that phrase works lol.
Haha good, you edited it.
Duran needs a 40 man spot tho, so could be an OF rotation player next season depending on how roster plays out. Roster spots right now, 40 man wise are going to be tough. Not like last 2-3y when MiLB system was barren. Multiple kids will require protecting with a chance. IMO, Feltman, even other rule 5 pick (minor variety) Kaleb Ort would be wise choices to protect. Think both would be snapped up this year and 2 future hard throwing relievers lost.
Or another year in the minors. Not urgent to trade him but he clearly wasn’t ready. my worry is with his arm. From what I saw, he could have the worst arm of any center fielder ever. Seemed worse than Mickey Rivers.
@fletcher, if you REALLY knew how bloom operated, you’d predict him trading Verdugo, not Duran.
Just like Benny he has control remaining and is coming off a worse performance of his young career where he lost his OPS.
That was blooms time to sell low on a guy who then put up a cheap above league average hitting performance while being a GG finalist in KC.
GA, you are hands down one of the dumbest commenters on this site. Easily up there with that one Braves fan who keeps changing his name and that one Cubs fan with the gruesome hairline. Begone from me, vile man
@Dewey That’s a product of him not being a natural CF. His routes were really awkward and bad too but he made up for it with his speed so it didn’t appear to be a big issue on TV
Duran isn’t young… He’s older than Devers…granted, it’s only by a month, but still…
FletcherFan69 – You live in the walls of his home? You are a termite?
Get over yourself, you don’t know crap. Duran got rushed to the majors and needs more time at AAA. He should have started 2021 in AA and mastered that level of pitching before moving to AAA but Bloom screwed up as usual. Instead, Bloom desperately jumped him to the majors which was too big a jump. Back at AAA in 2021 he gained some power, gained some walking ability and now needs to come back to AAA in 2022 and show he can hit .300 while maintaining his high walk rate and his new power. Duran’s biggest challenge is his age. He’ll be 25 in 2022 and that will dictate a make it or brake it year for him. I predict Bloom will be stupid again and put him in the majors where he won’t play full time or he might deal him due to his age but whatever he does there is one thing you can be certain of, it will be the wrong thing for Duran and the Red Sox!!.
Whatever the reason, he looked lost. might have been nerves. Anyway, am I exaggerating veith the arm I saw? I hope so because to me he can only play left if his arm strength is that bad.
On another front, let’s not get caught up in pick ups at least until after the Rule 5 draft. Someone picked up today can easily be released tomorrow as each team tries to set their 40 man roster.
Both Fevers and Duran are young. Players are considered young when they are not in their projected prime. Devers has the potential of being amongst the team’s greatest hitters ever should he remain in Boston and continue to improve. I would love to see a comparison with Jim Rice the first 600 or so games of their careers.
I hate autocorrect which is often auto wrong. Obviously I meant Devers.
I agree. Like every RS fan, I’d love to see a new Ellsbury out there, but the BA ranking of #37 seems really high to me. He’s never done a whole lot, outside of 3 good months in AAA, heavily colored by his home stats.
Honestly, I was surprised he cracked the top-100, let alone #37.
Dewey – Due to the 2020 season Devers has roughly 100 less games played than both Rice and Mookie after 5 seasons (4 plus a partial first year).
Devers – 548 games 2344 plate appearances 2142 at bats 598 hits 145 doubles 6 triples 112 home runs 355 runs scored 367 RBIs and 21 of 37 Sbs
BA .279 OBP .341 SLG .509 OPS .841
Rice – 644 games 2768 plate appearances 2533 at bats 775 hits 110 doubles 43 triples 133 home runs 398 runs scored 453 RBIs and 30 of 49 Sbs
BA .306 OBP .345 SLG 541 OPS .886
MOOKIE – 644 games 2933 plate appearances 2606 at bats 789 hits 189 doubles 21 triples 110 home runs 478 runs scored 390 RBIs and 110 of 132 Sbs
BA .303 OBP .364 .SLG .518 OPS .882
So if you rank the 3 Mookie was the best because of his numbers and his 4 out of 5 rankings at MVP voting 1, 2, 6 and 19 versus Rice’s 1, 3 and 4 finishes and Devers 12. Mookie was an all-star 3 times, Rice 2 times and Devers once. The cumulative numbers between Rice and Mookie are fair to compare but with 100 less games or so for Devers cumulative numbers leaves him short across the board BUT the AVG, OBP, SLG and OPS are fair to compare.
Boston gave up Mookie the best of the three who was also a gold glove fielder, they kept Rice 16 years and so far Devers despite his inability to field is still with Boston after 4+ seasons.
Devers is a good player but far from elite like Mookie and Rice at this point in their careers. Devers’ lack of fielding will never allow him to be anything more than a great hitter if he continues to improve. Mookie is an elite player with 5 tools. Rice was the same. Just glad Bloom wasn’t GM when Rice played in Boston. Rice is black and might have seen a very different career if he were playing in Boston now rather than 40 years ago when race was supposed to be a bigger issue but wasn’t based on recent ownership behavior!! It’s a travesty that Mookie got sent packing as the best of three excellent players, one of which is a Red Sox icon like Mookie should have been..
Why not? 5th OF depth, or send down to Worcester. Duran (hopefully) is a future starter. This guy is a 4th/5th OFer and PR. They can coexist. And, if they need the roster spot, they just waive him. —– Zero Cost Move.
I guess the answer to that question, is another question.
Who is our outfield depth?
“outfield depth?” — Asking in the first week of Nov? For that answer, you’d need a crystal ball.
Just a free asset, picked up because you have room for the time being. Better than letting him sneak thru to Yankees minors, like some OFers we shall not speak of.
@redsoxx_62, Why not?
I’m curious though if he sticks. This is the time of year when teams move players off their 40-man rosters, or the 60-game IL in Locastro’s case, to free up room for prospects that will need to be added in advance of the Rule 5. Locastro is a useful depth piece over the course of the season, but he’s not worth a 40-man spot for most teams at this time of the year. I suspect the Red Sox claimed him with the goal of passing him through waivers so they can stash him in AAA. Considering most teams had to pass on him to get to the Red Sox, they probably have a good chance of doing just that. No loss if some other team claims him. Some roster-depth upside if he goes unclaimed.
I think he is coming off leg injury. So depending how serious. But before that one of the fastest players. Worth a shot. Low cost
Locastro can play 2B and all 3 OF spots. Likely Yairo Munoz’ replacement at Worcester
Well, since you all took him I’m sure he will end up killing us in the playoffs next year. Seems to be how that works.
Maybe he will work out like Garrett Whitlock
impossible to hit the jackpot again
Just you watch
Took a couple hundred roster moves by bloom before a claim worked out in Whitlock. Needs a whole lot more roster churn before law of averages works out like it did for garrett.
Bloom got lucky again. When he fails with a move, the guy is a bad GM. When he does good, he’s lucky. Too funny.
Yet possible.
A good gm is characterized by making mostly good moves. You have to look at all the moves a guy makes. If 97% of moves are failures, and 3% work out, is that good? Or lucky?
You could take any commenter on the site, even metsfan22, and give him 100 transactions. My bet is, unless they’re purposely trying to fail they’re going to make 4 or 5 good moves. And it may not be possible to make 100 bad moves in a row as well. There’s bound to be a lucky hit or rebound mixed in there at some point.
They mock his moves at deadline and disappear when they ALL made a contribution during the team`s resurgence in August and Sept .and October and …..lost zero assets in the process .Patience is in short supply with the Chaim critics as usual. They probably still think Mookie is worth 40 mill/yr too!
That’s always been the MO for a lot of RS fans. Quick to criticize, and then quick to disappear when their criticisms come back to bite them.
The amount of criticism that Bloom got for picking up Schwarber, Robles, Iglesias and Shaw was deafening. I believe the RS gave up one prospect with a 40+ FV, and nothing else. The NYY gave up two 50s, a 45, and two 40s, and some of ‘fans’ thought Cashman was a genius.
How about it? Any of the critics want to admit how wrong they were? Confession is good for the soul.
dennyd – Bloom did well picking up Whitlock and several others. I think the average fan, however, looks at the huge number of moves and the few that have turned out well and interpret it into a batting average type number. Many of us believe Bloom is batting below the Mendoza line and that’s where the problem lies.
I keep hoping for an impact player to be added like a Schwarber except a guy who fits a need and is both an offensive and defensive star. A guy like Mookie. Schwarber has a nice bat but a nice bat wasn’t what Boston needed at the deadline. The Red Sox need Bloom to start filling needs not just flipping coins in a fountain in hopes of a wish coming true. Locastro is just another coin flip that comes with a wish for him to be healthy and to improve significantly.
Bloom never acquired a stud when he was in TB. He traded for controllable players and then they developed into studs like Glasnow and Meadows. In two year, he has yet to repeat his unique form of trading for a prospect that develops into a star for Boston. Downs was the most highly touted and he was nothing more than smoke and mirrors. His numbers have reverted back two years since Boston stole him from LAD. (sorry for the sarcasm)
I will get behind Bloom when he does something that truly replaces the talent level he gave away to LAD and KC.
To be fair to some of the commenters you must realize it’s normal to consider a guy hitting below the Mendoza line lucky when he gets a hit. I think the analogy applies here. It’s not so much a dig as it is a normal reaction to someone failing and then being successful. If he gets lucky enough times nobody will consider it luck any more.
Great ability to get hit by pitches.. lol. Offers great speed at least!! Good for the Red Sox, guessing the Red Sox will probably get the most out of him with their coaching staff!
Locastro might be one of the most meh players I ever saw in Pinstripes, and he will not be missed trust me. By comparison, at least Andrew Velasquez had his “15 Minutes of fame.” Like the home run and the scenes with his family (especially his mom). I have no idea why Boston claimed him?
Locastro will be put back on waivers within two weeks (once the Rule 5 guys are added to the 40-man). Boston is just hoping to pass him through waivers.
With his ability to get hit by pitch he might become the next Ernie Pantusso.
Adding Locastro is just another Bloom being Bloom move. A career .231 hitter with speed. Why not just resign JBJ? He’s never played more than 91 games in a season in the majors and he’s coming off a severe knee injury and is a speedster. Anything wrong with this picture to you? As a Yankee in 9 games he got four more hits than I did. I love the fact that he can play all outfield positions. Funny thing about that comment, it didn’t say well!!
People, Bloom is a dumpster diver and by now you should expect it. What percentage of his pick-ups saw the door within months of being added? Weeks? Days? At this point, a move like this should draw no reaction just a “Bloom being Bloom” sigh and an expectation he’ll be cut sometime before Spring Training ends.
KD – thing about locastro is he ought to be passed through waivers by Boston.
He’s a former speed guy who tore his ACL and had a surgical repair with unknown lingering effects.
But worse is that his 64 game 2021 campaign amounted to a 180/.263/.252 slash good for a .515 ops BEFORE the injury.
He’s not currently worth a 40man roster spot, as even the speed tool is questionable going forwards.
GASoxFan – I’m with you on this one. He’s another revolving door pick-up by Bloom. That’s Bloom’s thing. No impact players just lots of 100-1 long shot guys and then the follow-up rhetoric about how he’s improving the farm system with crap like Locastro. Bloom should just contract track stars with no baseball experience so they could be considered really good at one thing. Locastro doesn’t make the low threshold of ONE thing.
@KD, read some of the other comments here so you understand what’s going on with these type of moves.
When you allow your heart to set the agenda, instead of your head, trying to understand things is useless. I agree with everyone else here. Pick him up, but don’t protect him. If someone else wants to claim him, we lost nothing. If no one claims him, he have a decent depth piece in AAA.
lordd99 – I read all the comments and I don’t understand what you were trying to say. Did you disagree with something I said? If so, what?
I understand these types of moves far better than you surmise. It’s an absolutely insignificant move, typical of Bloom. He’s not an impact player, he probably won’t make the roster in the spring unless Cora is somehow related to him or knew his parents and, best case, he gets sent to the minors to improve his game so that some day he’ll be a marginal MLB player.
Seems like no time should be devoted to this move. Two paragraphs is two paragraphs more than should be spent on a Bloom=like move with so little upside.
In 2018-19, Locastro hit a combined .260 with 300+ AB’s.in Arizona. Not too shabby considering his speed.
haskny11 – Just for fun compare Locastro and Benny in 2018 (3 full years ago) and tell me who has better numbers then realize that guy got shipped out a year ago so where do you think Locastro will end up? Remember, that was Locastro’s good year!!