The Red Sox have released left-hander Thomas Pannone and first baseman Roberto Ramos from their minor league contracts, as reflected on each player’s respective transactions tracker at MLB.com. It seems both players could explore opportunities in South Korea. Pannone told Joe McDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Twitter link) he was soon to sign with a KBO team, and McDonald suggests Ramos may do the same.
Pannone has 49 big league appearances under his belt, all of which came with the 2018-19 Blue Jays. He tallied 116 innings of 5.43 ERA ball in a swing role over that stretch, and he’s spent the past couple seasons in the upper minors. Pannone struggled mightily with the Angels’ top affiliate in 2021, but he’s had a strong showing in Worcester this season.
The 28-year-old’s 4.57 ERA across 63 innings with the WooSox doesn’t stand out, but he’s paired it with quality strikeout and walk numbers. Pannone has fanned 26.7% of batters faced while handing out free passes to a meager 3.1% of opponents. That quality work against upper minors hitters will get the former ninth-round pick a shot at the highest level in Korea, where he’ll no doubt earn a loftier guaranteed salary than he’d been as a depth arm in Worcester.
Ramos, 27, is no stranger to Korean baseball. A former Rockies prospect, he topped out at Triple-A in the Colorado system but signed on with the KBO’s LG Twins in advance of the 2020 season. The left-handed hitter blasted 38 home runs during his first season with the Twins, compiling a .278/.362/.592 showing through 494 plate appearances. He had an average first half with the Twins last year and was released in mid-June due to injuries.
This February, Ramos hooked on with the Sox on a non-roster pact. He’s struggled in his return to affiliated ball, hitting .158/.287/.342 with a huge 37.8% strikeout rate in Worcester. That’s obviously not the kind of showing for which he’d been hoping, but Ramos impressed during his first KBO season a couple years back and drew some attention from evaluators for his raw power during his time as a prospect.
I’m skeptical about any KBO team wanting Ramos who has done so poorly this year in AAA. Pannone could probably go to almost any team that’s snakebitten with injuries (Doosan, NC Dinos, KIA, Hanuwa) or is just getting bad pitching (SSG, KIA, Lotte)
m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20220628004000315?section=s… Kia Tigers sign Thomas Pannone
He crushed the ball in 2020 in Korea…perhaps he is still her which led to his kbo release in 2021
He could replace Puig on Kiwooms roster.
Too bad one of them wasn’t taking up a 40 man roster spot. Boston has a lot of young talent who deserve a look in the majors this year but a few of them aren’t on the 40 man roster yet. Boston faces some really tough decisions this offseason with their 40-man selections. Due to their new-found depth, they are going to be forced to leave some of their advance minor league talent unprotected. I can see Boston losing 3-4 players in the upcoming Rule V draft after the end of this season. Let’s just hope Chaim makes the right decisions on who to protect. They’ll probably lose one of my favorite minor league players (Fitzgerald) due to his age. I think he’d be an excellent utility player for most teams in MLB, but he’s hard to add to the 40-man roster at age 27 versus some of their younger players they signed via IFA who need to be protected this offseason. I’m also sick to my stomach that they will probably lose Xander at the end of the year too. Pay him & Raffy this offseason please!
Agree Dorothymantooth.. Can almost see writing on the wall Sox are going to lose at least a couple of people who should have been protected, while guys IMO should be removed (groome, Downs) are on the 40 man.
Watch out for recovering TJ guy, Thad Ward being snatched up also, who hasn’t pitched in a yr.
JohnSilver – Thad Ward is another great example. I hope they are smart enough to protect him. If they don’t, I could see him becoming 2023’s version of Garrett Whitlock. Could you imagine if the Yankees select him in the Rule V draft and he turns out to be that good? That would be extremely painful but Yankees fans would call it Karma.
Dorothy, a couple of thoughts. I have soured on Fitzgerald for a few reasons–the BA is low, the pop has diminished a lot, the K rate is 29% (the lowest it’s been this season), and he is unvaccinated and was quoted as saying that, if his status ruins his chance at the majors (in light of Houck and Juran being barred from Canada), then “it is what it is.” The Sox don’t need more of that attitude, given the current requirements for playing in the AL East. The good news about this year’s Rule 5, which will be as much of a crunch as you suggest, is that the following year will be almost the complete opposite (as far as adding new names, that is–some of the old ones will still be around). Of course, that doesn’t lessen the problem this December.
While I do agree they will lose a couple players, the Sox do have a lot of free agents at the end of the year, so that might open a few spots.
Agree with AverageCommenter. From the looks of it, there will be a lot of freed up roster spots.
Free Agents: Eovoldi, Hill, Robles, Strahm, Wacha, Plaweski, Vazquez, Refsnyder, Martinez, Hernandez (10)
Likely Release/Traded Candidates: Arroyo, Brasier, Groome, Downs, Sanchez, Cordero, Taylor, Dalbec (8)
Thats a lot of room for new additions. Sure there will be a roster crunch as players get signed, but every team will be in the same boat when that happens. If healthy, there’s no reason guys with big upside, like Ward won’t be protected.
*Please don’t single out 1 or 2 players on my list and say its wrong. I made this list in 10mins, I could easily have made a mistake or two. The point is there is a lot of room.
What’s really needed is a list of guys that need to be added to the 40. Like you said, a lot of this will work itself out via attrition. It’s too early to tell, but I think 7 of those FAs aren’t returning.
There’s an online list of players that the Cardinals can add to their 2023 roster. Its 60 players long. You want the Red Sox list, you make it.
Here’s my first whack at this year’s protected group for the Rule 5, and the surprise is the crunch goes away upon inspection. For instance, position players like Gilberto Jimenez, Dearden, Decker, Granberg, Howlett, and Northcut all have their days, but no team could keep them with their overall spotty performance on a big league roster for a year. The only position player who needs to be added is TRISTON CASAS. As for pitchers, there are a lot of good performers, but the must-haves are BRANDON WALTER, CHRIS MURPHY, and NOAH SONG if he makes it back to some kind of baseball activity this year. Thaddeus Ward would make five, but frankly he has been passed by Bello, Winck, Mata, Seabold, Murphy and even Crawford, the scouts never loved his slight size, and I can see the Sox chancing his loss, depending on what he can show (just threw a sim game today). That leaves AJ Politi, Jacob Wallace, and Wikelman Gonzalez as the final considerations (for me, of course), and we haven’t seen the Sox protect relievers that I can remember. (Wikelman is a starter but he’s way down the ladder.) So that’s my shot. As author’s say in the beginning of a book after thanking contributors, “my mistakes are my own.”
“my mistakes are my own” Your post is complete option. How do you make a mistake? Are you the Knight from Monty Python, “My favorite colour is Blue, no Green, Ahhh”.
I should have said that this was my prediction of what the Sox would do about the Rule 5. Therefore, I can in fact be mistaken, because, as Niels Bohr once said (although it has also been attributed to others), “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.”
“You want the Red Sox list, you make it.”
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Do my own work? Seriously? Fortunately, I stumbled across the Soxprospects list, so I don’t have to worry about getting someone else to do my homework for me.
soxprospects.com/rule5.htm
I haven’t gone over it in detail, but the list is less compelling than I anticipated. Casas, Hamilton, Winkelman, Walter, Ward, Song, Jimenez, & Murphy caught my eye. This is similar to Mr. Fury’s well thought-out response below (which preceded my lazy efforts). And this is in addition to the prospects already on the 40.
I had a “Oh, no what have I done?” moment a few hours later when I realized that my eye had just skipped right over Cedanne Rafaela in the SoxProspects list. Rafaela is a Must-Protect for me. I see him as the Sox CF from (I hope) late 2023 on. Evaluators say he is GG defense anywhere around the diamond–for me, that makes him center field, where the Sox have no one coming up, the scarcity around the league right now is pretty amazing, and Duran could go to a corner where he sees the ball better and would get better reads.
I hope they can protect Frank German.
Fitzgerald has a 72/19 K/W at age 28 in AAA. It’s hard to imagine him being successful against major league pitching.
After watching Seabold continue to struggle to get outs at the ML level tonight the Sox probably should have given Pannone a look instead
Absolutely not. Seabold still did get 7 strikeouts and he is the one with a future as an MLB player.
I’m not a Seabold fan, but the 7/1 K/W is worth noting. And if the RS turn the DP in the 5th, then those 3 runs don’t score. Then it looks like a decent outing. Seabold, Wink & Crawford are all similar in that they are works in process. They will have as many stinkers as good games in their first year.
If we want to develop guys, which we have to, we need some patience.
Seabold got 21 whiffs last night–which, according to another Sox site today–is the most any Sox starter has gotten this season. That is significant. As for a FB that doesn’t get past 93, however, that is cause for concern. Seabold himself said that he was gassed by the fifth inning, so nobody should really have been expecting a standout performance. In that light, the 21 whiffs is really notable. I still remember last year when Sale was on his rehab tour of the minors and he saw Seabold in action–Sale said he was “filthy.” Then came the injury, which knocked Seabold out of himself for a long time. He is just getting it back as of the last month or so in Worcester.
It was kind of funny to watch. I could see him deep-breathing the entire game. It isn’t always physical. Sometimes the emotional component of an athletic event can drain you as quickly as the physical exertion. First game this year and playing at Toronto is a lot of pressure.
“Seabold continue to stuggle to get outs at the ML level”
He has pitched in 2 games for a total of 7 innings at ML level. I’m guessing you were calling for Jarren Duran to be released last year too.
Seabold’s “spinner” went out faster than it came in. But his faster balls were good. He needs to get command of at least a second pitch to succeed. Give him a chance.
KIA tigers of KBO announced that they made contract with Pannone 파노니 today with 300k salary and little additonal money to redsox organization(maybe nearly 100K or so?)
However, candidates of teams who would want batter denied the contract of Ramos so he s new team is not yet revealed
Replacing Sean Nolin I’d imagine. But cool to see him join former teammate Socrates Brito.