The Red Sox have designated right-hander Connor Seabold for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for right-hander Corey Kluber, per a team announcement.
Seabold’s DFA registers as something of a surprise, as the 26-year-old (27 later this month) is generally regarded as one of the better pitchers in Boston’s system. While he’s certainly older than most “prospects” at this juncture, each of Baseball America (No. 23), MLB.com (No. 21) and FanGraphs (No. 7) ranked Seabold favorably within the Red Sox’ farm as recently as midway through the 2022 season.
Granted, Seabold has been rocked for 25 runs in just 21 1/3 big league innings to this point in his career. However, the right-hander also turned in a strong 3.32 ERA with a 24.7% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.3% walk rate in 86 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball in 2022. That marked the second straight Triple-A season in which he’s pitched to an ERA in the mid-3.00s with average or better strikeout and walk rates.
Seabold, however, has battled injuries throughout his career — including some elbow troubles in 2021 and a forearm strain in 2022. Those recent arm troubles surely played into this decision, even if Seabold finished out the 2022 season in what appeared to be good health. Durability has been a concern that’s been cited on multiple scouting reports for the 6’2″, 190-pound righty. The fact that he’s tossed just 364 innings, between the big leagues and the minors combined, since being drafted in 2017 speaks to those concerns. Even accounting for a half season in his draft year and he lack of minor league games in 2020, that’s a fairly light innings total for a pitcher who’s worked as a starter over the course of four full professional seasons.
Durability concerns notwithstanding, Seabold is a more or less MLB-ready arm with a solid track record in Double-A/Triple-A and with one more minor league option year remaining. That seems likely to generate interest from another club, be it via a trade or waiver claim. The Red Sox will have a week to trade Seabold, pass him through outright waivers or release him.
I thought they designated Darwinzon Hernandez for Kluber’s spot?
Not sure what Bloom is doing here. Is this guy really more expendable than Ryan Brasier?
Hernandez was DFAd to make room for Turner
He was DFA’d for Justin Turner
Pedey – Dar was designated for JT.
Seabold didn’t impress me one bit last year. If the choice is between Seabold and Brasier, I would choose Brasier. Neither one was great, but Brasier’s FIP was 3.61 last year and I think he is closer to contributing than Seabold.
Seabold had an ERA in the 3’s in AAA over 80 innings. He’s young and cheap, hasn’t had a fair chance in the Majors yet. Brasier had several meltdowns in games we should have won.
Brasier had a better ERA and FIP than Seabold last year and has had some MLB success. I think Brasier can get his act together like Barnes did after his melt downs.
Seabold had an ERA in the 3’s in AAA over 80 innings.
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At the age of 25 & 26. Almonte had an OPS of 1.006 and Franchy had an OPS of .987. Mieses had a .924 and I never heard of the guy.
Past a certain age, AAA are less meaningful.
My point is he has some upside. Why get rid of a guy who has upside?
I think most prospects, almost by definition, have some upside. It is simply a matter of future upside vs current need. And once you have your ‘future upside’ basket, determining who has the best future upside.
Start off with 26 on the roster, leaving 14 in the minors. Seabold wasn’t going to be saved (imo) over Kelly, Walter, Crawford, Mata, Murphy, German, Abreu, Ceddanne, Hamilton or Valdez.
That leaves only Ort, Kelly, Mills, and Winckowski. And 1-2 will be DFAd if/when we acquire someone to replace Story.
Seabold had better numbers in the Minors than Winckowski, aside from his injury history. Just saying, though I would’ve kept Winckowski at all costs.
You know, what if the Orioles or Rays pick up Seabold and he flat out dominates us and Kluber ends up to the DL? Then what are you going to think?
It won’t matter to me. Even though one is being dropped for the other, they have nothing to do with each other. One is part of our rotation and one is a minor leaguer If Kluber gets hurt, Seabold will still be a minor leaguer
Is Braiser less expendable than Ward, Song & the other pitcher we lost in the rule 5 draft?, a 24 yr old Jeter Downs, Darwinzon & sure Seabold too…IDK what incriminating evidence Brasier must have on Bloome or Cora or Henry…but it’s insane who we have left unprotected &/or DFA’d or traded in the 7 days afterwindow
I thought it was time for Brasier
Unlikely for Brasier to DFAd. Seabold will be like Darwinzon and sold to the highest bidder. He’s not without talent, but I see very little chance of him out-performing Brasier this year.
Mr Bloom.? Jed Hoyer is on line 2.
There will be multiple teams on lines 3 – 10 probably.
Totally agree Joe! 1) Seabold has not been the same since the injuries. 2) The Red Sox have a hand full of starters better than Seabold. 3) The Red Sox still have 23 pitchers on the 40-man, and they need to add a 2B/SS or two, so Ort may be the next to go.
For those complaining about the loss of Ward, Politi, Darwinzon, Seabold, Downs…., 1) it is a 40-man roster not 50-man roster, 2) the Red Sox have access to the medical files on these players that we do NOT, 3) some fans assume the Red Sox could trade the DFA players for lower level ‘talent’ or ‘a lottery ticket’ player which is either not the case the way teams value their farm systems or that those teams simply do not have the room on their 40-man rosters.
That’s the crux of the issue. Most teams probably have someone like this or Darwinzon or Ort on the 40-man squad. A team can pick up our #40, but they will have to release their #40.
I know Seabold should have just been AFTER Brasier. He’s not worth 2 million dollars on anyteam
Wadda ya mean?? Wasn’t this one of Bloom’s prized acquisitions? Winkowski will be next out the door. Bloom is a buffoon !!
Winckowski was even MORE prized. I would rather have seen Kaleb Ort even be designated even though he has options.
Not just a Buffoon but legit has no idea about baseball zero knowledge of players and their talents they don’t know how too run a major league roster let alone their minors . Bloom ruined this team and management sits back and let’s it happen
Seabold was now behind Mata, Walter, Winckowski, and Murphy on the depth chart in AAA. That made him VERY, VERY expendable.
That kind of player needs to be a DFA to make room for MLB players like STARTING ROTATION or a SS/2B.
he is still resting on his Whitlock acquisition
winkowski stinks too but Bloom needs to stockpile guys like this for depth because our projected rotation is clock full of question marks.
I think the Red Sox have much deeper 40-man than most team. One of the deepest. They lack the A Tier players on it, but are loaded with B and C Tier. — This is based on the logic that the Red Sox had 3 players claimed in Rule V and almost every player since then has been claimed.
The one thing Im surprised about, is that he hasn’t been able to trade any of them for a low level prospect. Seabold is a serviceable pitcher, some mid-range team (in the draft order) should throw a low prospect to the Red Sox, just to nab him. Or maybe it will come in the next day or two.
Randy:
“prized”? Who said that? No one but the haters. Pivetta and Seabold for 1/2 seasons of Workman and Hembree was a steal based on Pivetta being an innings eater, alone. Seabold would’ve been a bonus, but if you had watched Seabold pitch, you’d know he wasn’t very good.
But, sure spin it your way. It was a terrible deal.
Randy:
“prized”? Who said that?
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That’s fairly common. People define prospects to suit the needs of their post. There is no justification to call Seabold one of the Phillies “prized prospects”.
I agree, Brasier should’ve been gone long ago.
Hopefully he clears waivers but that’s probably unlikely. Sox need depth but it seems Seabold has fallen lower on the depth chart
BOS tossing SP’s like stale bread to the pigeons.
Well, isn’t pigeon & duck food among the options one would utilize for “stale bread”?
Unfortunately Sawx waited until these guys they are dumping are moldy as well…….or something?.
Bloom has not one single sure thing in his rotation to thrive in 2023
Future Pirate?
My first thought too then remembered they have Priester Buirrows, Oviedo, and Ortiz next up in Indy. Not a huge need now.
There’s no such thing as too much pitching depth. I like all of Priester, Burrows, Ortiz, Oviedo, and Nicolas, But one guy gets hurt, another falls into a slump, and the pitching depth takes a significant hit. If the Pirates have an opportunity to pick him up, I don’t see why not.
True, but there are only 40 roster spots.
I would think a swap of Swaggerty for Seabold.
Too bad the last CBA didn’t increase the number of protected players. There seems to be much more DFA turnover in recent years.
I agree Dewey. I would like to see this raised, but even if it’s raised to, say 45, then the 46th spot would generate similar discussions.
It is a mixed bag dewey = the MLBPA is looking for players to have the ability to move, and not be held in check by deep organizations (Rule 5 for example). The 40 man itself is the same thing…the rules are there so that after a certain amount of control, if a player does not find his way to the roster, they have to allow him the ability to move on. Making it a 45 man roster simply captures 5 more players and benefits the org more than the player but does not speak to the rest of the issue.
The flip side is that some of these guys become vagabonds for a few year with the DFA dance happening again and again. Tough on them with no perfect solution.
I’m curious how those affected players feel. Thanks to those who responded.
Actually, one of the affected AAAA types wrote about this a while back. Don’t remember who or where but he was talking about hauling the family around the country.
I assume they feel great. There is no certainly that Whitlock would be in the pros right now, let alone own an $18M contract. The entire process is designed at giving players a chance. Not only do you need to be kept on the roster the entire season, you are probably going to a team that requires your particular skill set.
Joe, I wasn’t talking about the Rule 5 because most don’t stick and get returned. I was thinking about what Carver wrote when I posted. The uncertainty: having to relocate especially if you have a family, etc.
Good question. I still assume that getting cut means that your current team places no value on you. And that another team picking you up sees something in you.
Well said Carver.
Saw him in A+ and AA a few times and was kinda’ mehh on his prospects. Figured that he would top out as a middle relief type, so was surprised at some of the late development that made him appear to have a chance for more than that. Hope that he catches on with a team that can give him a shot.
came here to see all the comments about how it should’ve been Brasier instead. was not disappointed!
although, in fairness to Brasier, the numbers under the hood suggest he wasn’t bad so much as he was frustrating. i’d rather see the Sox move on from him than give up on young guys with talent, but Bloom’s M.O. very much seems to be “finding bargains based on the numbers under the hood,” so i guess it’s in keeping with his broader strategy.
Another Klentak bust.
Eh, we thought the same about Irvin after even more IP. Clearly Seabold his hittable in the Majors but the K rate is still high. Might just need a tweak and a BP move.
This should put an end to some of the hyperbole involving that trade. It was a poor trade with regard to the Phillies return, but it also wasn’t the haul RedSox fans envisioned.
It will always be a win in Boston based on Pavetta’s late 21 performance.
Bart:
Pivetta led the league in starts last year. It was a major win. Phillies got negative value in return.
Maybe if some of the haters would mention the trade, when they say “Bloom sucks at trades”, we wouldnt have to bring it up in response. Haters remember the Betts and Benintendi trades really well (all though they avoid the Price contract dump part), yet always forget the Pivetta and McGuire trades.
Pivetta was the Sox best pitcher last year and will be again this season. A haul for sure.
Pivetta absolutely stunk in Philly. He was given ample opportunity. He needed out. Glad he found himself in Boston, but even with his improved performance, he wouldn’t make the Phillies rotation with Painter’s debut on the horizon.
Von, agree on a scenery change.
Wacha was far better than Pivetta last year.
A haul in Boston, but a (sink) hole in Philadelphia.
mike – I like Pivetta a lot as a #4 or #5 starter, but to say he was the best last year and will be this year is quite a stretch. Wacha was easily their best pitcher last year, and there’s no chance Pivetta will be better than a healthy Sale, Paxton or Whitlock this year.
4.56 ERA and 1.38 WHIP is nothing to write home about.
Absolutely but Wacha wasn’t part of the Phillies trade.
Von Purple
Painter is only in Double A, I doubt he’s in the majors before July (at best) and Sanchez is lousy. So off the bat Pivetta is a starter until Painter arrives.
Then you are assuming that both Falter and Painter who have a combined 117 innings pitched in Majors in their careers, wont have any hiccups. And that every one of the starting 5 pitchers will stay healthy throughout the season.
Unlikely, theres always room for an innings eater like Pivetta. He would easily be one of the Top 5 in games started this year.
Wacha was better than Pivetta, but only pitched 127 innings all year. Your point?
If the Phillies gave the Red Sox a couple of bags of peanuts, it would have been a steal for Boston. Workman and Hembree were that bad and actually made the Phillies bullpen markedly worse than it already was.
As for Pivetta, yeah, he needed a change of scenery. Pivetta showed some signs of possibly putting things together in 2018 but Chris Young (Phillies ill-fated pitching coach in 2019) broke him and Bryan Price (Phillies pitching coach in 2020) couldn’t fix him. See also Vince Velasquez.
Still not worse than Scott Kingery though….
Kingery was a failure in development more than anything else.
Poor management. When he was extended, he was a good prospect, but not a good player. He had a 58/13 K/W in AAA, and needed another season in AAA. The Phillies figured (I assume) that since they were paying him like a pro, then he should be in the pros.
The 58/13 AAA K/W predictably turned into 126/24 in the pros. This happens so often (Adell, Chavis, Robles, Garcia, Abrams), that you think they’d learn. Sometimes guys age out and have to be thrown into the fire. But if you have a young AAA player with a 3/1 K/W, they should never be promoted.
Lots of factors with Kingery. Covid hit him hard. He also developed eyesight issues. Lots of bad luck just ruined him.
The more that I have seen since they brought DD in and started to clean up the player development folks and approach, the more that I throw the blame on development under Klentak, and not quite as much with the talent acquisition part of it.
I mean, Klentak was bad at basically ALL of it, but the player development side was simply egregious. There is almost a clear uptick in some of the Klentak draftees that were appearing to become permanent org filler types that started to turn things around once they had a new team in place. Not that he turned them into gold and not that everyone got better, but it has been making a difference.
Maybe he has a previously unrecorded injury. Probably will be able to get a small prospect for him. Still would have rather it been Braiser.
Soxprospects (highly recommended website) refers to a spring 2021 elbow injury he had, after which the velocity lost a tick and his change up played down. He’s a back end starter candidate who maybe ends up as more of a shuttle arm/middle relief type. There’s actually quite a few of those on their AAA squad right now.
I think that’s about right. I divide them into future-looking guys like maybe Walter and Winc,, and guys that are likely to be strictly injury replacements. I don’t see how Seabold was going to help us this year, At best, he is our #9 SP, and maybe 13th on the RP list.
Tough to come up in the Sox System and be a productive innings eater – Seabold would likely fair better in a different org to gain the necessary big league skills w/o the constant big market media pressure like a Boston
Yes, it must be that Boston pressure. Good thing other cities don’t have fans or expectations for their teams. (Sounds like a New Yorker)
Yeah !!! Another one of Bloom’s great prospect pickups bites the dust. This was the guy who was supposed to be key in the trade for Hembre and Workman and Pivetta was not highly regarded. So far two key guys Jeter Downs the key in the Betts trade and Connor Seibold have been designated. Bloom is a bad evaluator of talent. Friedman fleeced Chaim Bloom in that trade. The Red Sox picked up the wrong guy as Baseball Operations, they should have picked up Andrew Friedman. Bloom is an incompetent clown and it shows more and more. He had to sign Devers because of what he did not do this offseason in keeping Bogaerts. He needed to distract from the news of Story’s surgery that was coming out. The Story signing was a complete blunder signing on his part. Maybe this elbow problem is the reason his batting average has dipped because it affects his swing. None of Bloom’s prospects brought up to the team last year looked earth shattering. This is some sad set of events that Bloom put on this team. The only positive is that after this disaster of an upcoming season they will fire Bloom and get a real GM.
AL34 – Possibly the most accurate, honest assessment / observation; & comment on Sawx obtuse uncoordinated roster strategy management I have read in a while..
I’m still a supporter of Cora as I believe he is working with a severely incompetent front office..
Thank you. I am not a Bloom Kool Aide Drinker but I agree with you on Cora. He has done the best he can with what Bloom has given him. I actually feel bad for him.
Al – I usually agree with you, but you are way off on Cora.
How did Cora do with the defending champion Sox in 2019, a team that Bloom had literally nothing to do with.
Yep, and bloom lost Ward and Song when he shouldn’t have, really hard figuring these moves out
Another one of Bloom’s great prospect pickups bites the dust.
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Not really. Generally, teams trade value for value. Sometimes teams get lucky, and prospects out-perform, but you generally get what you pay for. In Seabold’s case, he didn’t make it to AAA with the Phillies, and had under 100 innings in AA. He was never rated by any agency.
AL 34-I agree with much of what you write here but remember it is Henry making the big calls not Bloom and any new GM will just be another puppet. There is no relief until Henry sells the team.
Pivetta was basically a reclamation project when the Red Sox got him and, surprisingly, is the one who worked out.
As I always say it is a long way from Triple AAA to the major leagues.
Bloom is so good he can sell off his past projects
Brewers will give you Chris Singleton for Seabold.
I’m running out of candles at church Brais…. Seabold younger yes but he was brutal while Brais was only horrible… pictures stay sealed
olmtiant – Agreed, Seabold was the right move. At least Bra has his good stretches each year.
At this point, may as well allow guys to crack the line up out of spring training. See what you have, and deal veterans at the deadline.
He was supposed to be good, has been injured and been lit up like a Xmas tree? Future Red
lets hope this isn’t ANOTHER guy we lose for nothing, IE Darwinzon, J.Downs…..like “cash considerations”
while cash isn’t nothing, at least we could get a piece that MIGHT help somewhere.. some minor league depth etc..
we have seen what type of ML depth Bloom is capable of adding.
Cards will give up Dejong and cash for Seabold.
Or seaweed for that matter.
I’m at odds with Bloom right now.
Don’t overlook the fact he had a 3.32 era in AAA over 80 innings or so.
If a team picks him up and he produces better than Kluber or anyone else in the rotation, then Bloom made a bad call.
pedey – You’re too hard on Bloom. Sure he makes many blunders, but he does make some good decisions and this was one of them.
@Fever I’m hard? I didn’t call him arrogant like you did.
I don’t think we are fully doomed, so don’t think me one of those. Bloom hasn’t set us up for failure but I think getting rid of Seabold over someone like Brasier is just not a spectacular move if Seabold pays off.
By the way, I still approve of Bloom overall until I see the result of 2023. I just see several minor moves he makes that I can’t honestly tell what he’s doing.
But like I said, I didn’t call him cocky or arrogant over a simple thing like Bogaerts. I didn’t even see how your “proof” of that even made sense. He missed out on Bogey, move on. Lowballing him is not arrogant, just not good enough to sign him.
If Bogaerts ends up getting injured and is out for awhile, then what are you going to say next?
At the end of the day, only a couple of things can happen.
Similarly to Darwinzon, if any of the other 29 teams like him, they will send us a non-40 prospect, even if it is just a lottery ticket. If they don’t, it means no one else thinks enough of him
That’s really a separate process from whether he develops or not. Guys like Whitlock & Schreiber & Arroyo were picked up for nothing and developed into legitimate players. Others did not. This is the same for all players and all teams.
He’ll get claimed. If he somehow makes it through the teams ahead if them, Scott Harris won’t let him get past the Tigers and he can be the next guy up on their DFA carousel. Edwin Uceta will be off to another team or the minors after a few days on the 40 man.
I’d designate that mullet-mustache combo for assignment too. It ain’t 1983 anymore guys.
I was not aware that the Red Sox were paying Chaim Bloom this much money. The Red Sox signed the 29-year-old to a five-year, $90 million deal that also required a $15.4 million posting fee. Bit I wish they had that money back to hire a real GM, not this amateur for that kind of money
Al – What? I hope you meant Yoshida, not Bloom! LOL!!
And yes it was the biggest contract for an Asian position player in MLB history. But the guy can rake, almost as good as Boggs in his prime. Sure it’s a gamble, but I think it’s a good one.
Yeah I was goofing. That was the Yoshida Contract LOL
Not sure he will be worth the entire amount, but we needed an outfielder and desperately needed someone that knows the strike zone and get on base.
Our patience is about as bad as I have ever seen it.
MLB should designate the entire Red Sox franchise for assignment.
No doubt they will pass through waivers and the entire team sent down to the minors where it belongs.