The Red Sox are going to select the contract of infielder Enmanuel Valdez today, according to Christopher Smith of MassLive. Acquired in the Christian Vázquez trade, Valdez was set to reach minor league free agency but will instead get a spot on Boston’s 40-man roster.
Valdez, who turns 24 next month, spent six and a half seasons in the minors of the Astros’ system. For the purposes of seven-year minor league free agency, 2020 counts as a year even though no official games were played due to the pandemic. In that time, he never got a huge amount of attention from prospect evaluators, having never appeared on a Baseball America list of top Houston farmhands coming into this year. FanGraphs gave him an honorable mention on their lists going into 2019, 2020 and 2021.
2022 was a big breakout for Valdez, however, with his bat taking a big step forward. Prior to the trade, he split his time between Double-A and Triple-A and produced a combined batting line of .327/.410/.606 for a wRC+ of 151. He slumped a bit after the deal, hitting .237/.309/.422 for a wRC+ of 92. But nonetheless, the Boston brass are intrigued enough that they have given Valdez a roster spot.
He doesn’t appear to have a set position at the moment, having spent time at first, second and third base in 2022, as well as the outfield corners. The Sox have an uncertain position player mix at the moment, with Xander Bogaerts now a free agent. They could look to have Trevor Story or Enrique Hernández cover short, but that would then create a vacancy at second base or center field. Of course, there’s also the possibility of the club re-signing Bogaerts, though it remains to be seen if that’s in the cards. Regardless, Valdez will join Christian Arroyo, Yu Chang and Jeter Downs as depth/utility types battling for playing time next season.
So the Sox traded their catcher and jettisoned their season for 2 minor leaguers which probably have no future with the team? Am I missing something?
Valdez has good minor league numbers. Plus they can always resign Vazquez if they want him back.
Their season was over by the trade deadline. It’s more shocking they didn’t trade Bogaerts, Wacha and Martinez, too.
In hindsight I unfortunately agree unless they thought they could re-sign them. While they can still get Vasquez back, it could have been awkward. That said, I wish they had at least traded to have reset the tax threshold.
I think they tried to get under the threshold. Eovoldi and Martinez were both injured right at the deadline. There was no interest from other teams in paying a decent chunk of their salary and hoping they get healthy. That leaves Bogaerts, and they were/are still trying to keep him. Not to mention the fan backlash, if they had traded Boggie.
Youre right it wouldve been nice to get under the cap, get a couple more minor pieces back and get better value back on the QOs. — It just wasn’t in the cards.
Eovaldi came back from injury before the deadline then he got injured after the deadline. He could have been a trade piece because he wasn’t specifically injured at the time but who knows what Bloom was thinking.
That’s why I give Bloom this off-season. If he doesn’t figure it out this off-season then he’s really duped us by not selling at the deadline. As others acknowledged, it was pretty evident that we weren’t going anywhere.
Bingo someone that’s gets it!
Yeah because who needs prospects? They should have traded Vazquez for Verlander and Alvarez!
They jettisoned a season that had little substance. They probably should have moved more veterans at the trade deadline, potentially ducking under the CBT in 22, and not having to do so in 23. Hindsight is 20/20, but as a fan, it would have made sense to punt last year. We’ll see just how much of John Henry’s $ goes out the door in due time.
The Sox season hit it’s peak in June and was downhill from there. Injuries, an ineffective bullpen, bad defense and an ice-cold offense for long stretches doomed this team for much of the season
Red Sox finished 27M over threshold. They wouldve had to move Boggie, Martinez and Eovoldi to get under. And even then Im not sure that wouldve done it. There was only 59 games left on July 31st. Their salaries remaining on the season, at that point, add up to about 24M combined. I hope someone more numbers savy will weigh in.
They were 4.5m over CBT in 2022
4.5m over the threshold
Bobby – Punt last year? They came within two wins of the World Series, and you wanted them to punt last year? Must be a Rays fan. LOL
FPG. I was refering to this last completed season.
“Jettisoned their season”….sir, did you see the team play in July?
They went 7-20, which is not only abysmal, but they weren’t even competitive in their games.
By the time of the trade deadline the Red Sox were 5 games out of the playoffs and needing to surpass 4 teams to get in.
Only the delusional believed that after July the Sox had a real chance of going to the postseason.
jtm – In all fairness to Bloom, they were expecting several good players to return from the IL and be healthy. If they had, they certainly could have made the postseason.
Am I missing something?
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Yeah, you missed the part where his replacement, McGuire, substantially out-performed Vazquez.
Joe – YES!!! So glad you’re finally coming around on Vaz. His ego was twice as big as his value. I fully supported his trade.
Puppy – Reese McGuire, the catcher the Red Sox acquired to replace Vazquez, hit better than Vazquez the last two month of 2022. The only question is why they did not trade Eovaldi and JD.
Their catcher was a free agent and their season was doomed. Sox had no chance without chris sale. And how you came to the conclusion that enmanuel valdez has no future with the team is beyond me. He destroyed upper minor league pitching last year. Not to mention wilyer abreu led double a with walks I believe and has pop to go with good cf defense. 2 excellent prospects for a catcher they could easily resign in free agency
Love everything about post except your sign name …
We didn’t have Sale for much of 2021 and still managed to get to the ALCs…
pwndroia – Right you are. We didn’t need Sale to make the postseason this year, what we needed was Houck and Whitlock and Hernandez and Hill and JD and Story and Wacha and Eovaldi to return healthy. It either never happened, or it happened too late.
Why is anybody still talking about Christian Vasquez coming back to Boston? BOSTON DOES NOT WANT HIM. They’d been trying to trade him for two years. I don’t know if that’s the right path, but it’s clearly the path Red Sox brass has chosen.
Yeah, i don’t see Vazquez coming back either. In a perfect world the Sox would trade for Murphy from Oakland, however in Bloom’s world they may role with McGuire/Wong/minor league invite to training camp
Better off rolling with that and saving money for things we actually need
28 HR’s and 107 RBI’s from a guy who can play multiple positions should definitely get a legitimate look in spring training as the Sox need a power bat in the OF and might need a 2B if Story shifts back to SS (not sold on Arroyo as an everyday player)
He’s 5 ft 9. 191 pounds
He has 2 seasons in which he’s hit for power, both in a league that everyone pops off in.
I hope they don’t expect 20-30 homer power with his slight size and they allow him to be a line drive hitter.
In other words, i hope they don’t mess him up the same way the Rangers messed up 5 ft 8 200 IB Willie Calhoun
In 2022 Valdez hit 10 HRs in 38 games for AAA Sugar Land in the Pacific Coast League. Then he hit 7 HRs in 44 games for AAA Worcester in the International League. Before that he hit 11 HRs in 44 games in AA Corpus Christi. In 2021 he hit 21 HRs in 75 games for A+ Asheville. Looks like he has decent power. With the shift going away next year, I think line drives will be more valuable.
agreed. he should be looking at tape of Dustin Pedroia and trying to replicate that.
I don’t know. I think Arroyo deserves a shot. There was a stretch where he was like the only viable hitter we had.
Biggest issue with Arroyo is his ability (or lack thereof) to stay on the field. Yeah, i remember that stretch when Arroyo would be the guy to constantly come through when they needed a big hit. I like Arroyo as a utility guy, because if Arroyo is the starting 2B it probably means Yu Chang is the utility Infielder…
Problem is if Arroyo isn’t playing everyday, he’s not going to produce. The reason he was successful was he was playing every day.
Rotation is filling up! Now the infield is filing up! Boggy out the door! Devers too at trade deadline! So again, how is the Sox going to stay competitive this season?
Make or Break year for Bloom.
Enmanuel Valdez is the first of a number of minor leaguers who need to be added to the 40-man roster before the Rule 5 draft. These players are sure to be added:
Brandon Walter
Ceddanne Rafaela
Thaddeus Ward
Enmanuel Valdez (done)
Chris Murphy
Wilyer Abreu
…and possibly others.
Rule 5 adds happen every year, (for poster Pipp as he obviously does not see the value in minor league players)!
There are more players that will need to be traded or waived. Darwinzon Hernandez can’t find the plate with both hands, Jake Reed, Ryan Brasier, Josh Taylor (can not stay healthy), and possibly a couple others.
Just got get Judge, deGrom extend Devers & go get Turner 1st choice Correa 2nd, fix the bullpen & call it a ring! Play Arroyo everyday as a 6 position rotating utility 5 x a week.