The Red Sox are in agreement with free agent backstop Jorge Alfaro on a minor league contract, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive (Twitter link). He’ll receive a $2MM base salary if he cracks the MLB roster and would have the ability to opt out and return to free agency on both June 1 and July 1 if he hasn’t yet been called up.
Alfaro, 29, has played in each of the last seven big league campaigns. A top prospect in the Rangers’ and Phillies’ farm systems, he went from Texas to Philadelphia in the Cole Hamels deadline blockbuster in 2015. Alfaro debuted with Philadelphia in 2016 and would spend parts of the following two seasons as their primary catcher. He flashed the massive power and arm strength that had made him such a highly-regarded minor league talent but struck out in 35.2% of his plate appearances as a Phillie.
After the 2018 season, Philadelphia packaged him with Sixto Sánchez to the division-rival Marlins for J.T. Realmuto. Miami had hoped Alfaro would step in as a big league ready replacement for their outgoing star catcher. Alfaro was their primary catcher for the next three seasons but continued to perform at an inconsistent level, largely thanks to his strikeout issues.
The Padres took a shot on the Colombian-born player in a minor trade last offseason. Alfaro cracked the Opening Day roster after a massive Spring Training and went on to appear in just over half the team’s games. He tallied 274 plate appearances, hitting .246/.285/.383 with seven home runs and a 35.8% strikeout percentage. At season’s end, San Diego non-tendered him rather than retain him for a projected $3.6MM arbitration salary.
In a little under 500 MLB games, Alfaro is a .256/.305/.396 hitter. He’s picked up 47 homers and made plenty of hard contact. His on-base numbers have been muted by his subpar strikeout and walk profile, though, as he’s drawn free passes 4.2% of the time while fanning in over 34% of his trips. It’s been a somewhat similar boom or bust profile defensively. Alfaro has a top-tier throwing arm and has cut down a solid 27.5% of attempted basestealers throughout his career. Yet he’s also rated as a below-average pitch framer and overall receiver, per the metrics at Statcast and Baseball Prospectus.
While Alfaro’s overall body of work has been up and down, he represents a low-risk upside play for a Boston club that has an uncertain catching mix. Reese McGuire and Connor Wong currently look set for a loose platoon arrangement behind the dish. They’re the only backstops on the Red Sox’s 40-man roster, and neither has an extended track record as an MLB regular. Alfaro’s an experienced depth option who can battle for a job in Spring Training and/or start the season at Triple-A Worcester as injury insurance.
Alfaro has over five years of major league service time, meaning he can’t be optioned to the minor leagues. If he cracks the MLB roster at any point, Boston will either have to keep him in the majors or make him available to other clubs via trade or waivers. If Alfaro spends 89 days on the MLB active roster or injured list next season, he’d surpass the six-year service threshold and qualify for free agency next offseason. If he’s on the roster for 88 days or fewer overall but on the 40-man at season’s end, he’d be eligible for arbitration for the 2024 campaign.
Whipee. Still a last place team
The Red Sox aren’t going to be better then the Orioles in 2023?
No, they’re not.
While it seems that way, the season hasn’t even started. Give me a break
Nope I doubt it
Too many question marks and paying top money for many players that were top tier back in 2018. News flash for Bloom…it’s 2023 now.
They went to the ALCS two years ago and were a roughly .500 level team in anything but as loaded a division as baseball ever sees last year. It’s incredibly lazy to summarize that as “last place team”, which puts arbitrary divisional ranking ahead of, well, any measure of actual team quality.
They finished 22 in last place with a better team. They’ll most likely finish 23 with a worse record still in last place. Soooo lazy
In 13, there was little expectation so you never know. That said, to believe in the current team is to believe in Santa, in the Easter bunny, in miracles. I see with my eyes and 23 is looking pretty…pretty ugly.
Right? No one expected 13. I’m not saying anything until the season starts. Lots of changes, things can click, you just don’t know.
My reply has been flagged for moderation. LOL where’s the sense of humor?
Chance I see is NOT bringing with the opening day team many retread veterans they have signed over the winter.. People such as Mills and Rodriquez, even going so far as perhaps cutting ties and eating the Barnes contract and just starting the year with kids.
Some of us remember the ’88-90 Sox, with multiple youngsters which played with fire. This team is going nowhere as is.. Give German, Kelly spots on the MLB roster as relievers. That’s 2 right there easily replaced with no effort, nor loss.
Not unsold on Rafaela being the opening day CF should he have a strong spring.
Pedey: Agreed. Let’s see what happens.
I should start quoting these guys if the team ends up doing well. You guys would be so wrong and get laughed at like nothing.
I’m not against what you’re saying but when people tell others they’re in a coma for making a prediction thats against the Sox losing, you better be right or you’re the one who looks bad.
The season hasn’t even started yet. Has anyone actually realized that or y’all still gonna troll about how bad this team is when we haven’t hit the field yet?
@johnsilver no offense bud, but tough read. That was all facts jumbled together in incomprehensive sentences and not one clear argument. Still have no clue what you are saying in terms of your prediction of this team moving forward. I’m assuming you’re saying they’ll do bad but I feel like I have to put my glasses on to navigate through your cloudy post. It might help to invest in Grammarly.
Everyone makes predictions this time of year. But looking at the extremely competitive AL east if you don’t improve you’re getting left behind. When talking about a team that was in last place last season and is actually a worse team coming into the future season it’s a easy call to make.
@Jimbo_James I disagree. There’s several factors: career years, injury history, even minor changes can bend the record. Our bullpen was so bad in April and we have improved it. We were competitive in June but basically had one bad month and were done after that.
And the truth is, our team is not the same going into next year. So many factors not even considering the other teams. Yankees aren’t going to have 60 homeruns from Judge either (doubtful), with a team where they live and die by homeruns, so it’s not the same. Not even close.
New season, we will see. On paper we aren’t great but everyone had career years in 2013 and got us a championship then. So many factors.
@ pwndroia The only choice is to see. Key word here is “prediction”. And a lot of analysis are predicting the red sox to finish in last place in the mighty AL East. But of course I can foretell the future and me says they’re right jk
Got it, I’m just pointing it out. At least you’re not saying those who think differently have a coma. I just think it’s premature to make any kind of call. I really don’t know the East this year and think we could at least rebound.
The way I look at it is, everyone is allowed to make their predictions. Calling for anyone who thinks nothing of the 2023 sox to get raked over coals means we should ostracize anyone who talks up the 2023 team should they fall on their collective faces… or, you know, we should be raking over the coals every cheerleader from last offseason who said the 2022 sox were going to still be just fine without renfroe.
I truly believe Boston can reach the playoffs this year if their team (especially their starting pitching) can stay healthy. There’s one certainty this year and it’s that the Sox bullpen will be greatly improved in 2023. I believe Boston finished in the top 2 or 3 in blown saves last year. That will not happen this season. Also, Chris Sale should finally be healthy this year and lead the rotation. Brayan Bello is the real deal; he could even get some ROY votes this season if all goes according to plan. Then if they can get one more ‘kid’ from the minors (Mata, Walter or Murphy) into the rotation, their starting pitching could be above average.
Losing Bogey & JDM will certainly hurt them at the plate from a power perspective, but bringing in Justin Turner & Yoshida should help mitigate some of the loss there at least from an OBP standpoint. Also, Casas will be here for a full season and should hit 25+ HRs & 20+ doubles as well. Kiké should be fully healthy too and put up his standard numbers at the plate. Arroyo was excellent last year at the plate and should continue where he left off. With Story out, the Sox still have a big hole in the middle IF, so I do expect Boston to add another player there, whether by trade or a cheap FA deal. Then Boston can hope that one of their rookies like Rafaela or Valdez comes out of the gates strong and earns a promotion to the big club in May or June.
I know there are a lot of big “if’s” here but there is a path for this team to return to relevancy this year and it should only continue to increase in 2024 & 2025 as their best prospects will be ready by then. All Sox fans, keep your heads high this year. We’re finally starting to some of the young prospects we’ve been waiting for and more are on the way soon. The glass is always half full in the offseason!
Who cares if we r wrong it’s an opinion guy stop telling people not to state their opinion because u think u r always right on paper the Sox stink 30+ year old has beens or neverwere isn’t a recipe for success. That is not a bad take if u r looking at this with logic
Shut up man acting like u r perfect
2 36+ year old Jansen declining and led the league in blown saves and Chris Martin who had 1 good year in his career is hardly better
It’s funny your take is on the other end of the spectrum but u bash people that don’t like any of the bloom signings u r a hypocrite
That 13 team had a bunch of star players and rallied around tragedy the division was weaker too not a good comparison
People don’t have comas look up the word
You’re the same kid ragging on others for being mean what a joke
That use to be what being a RS fan was all about. It was part of the fun seeing who would emerge.
1967 we went from 72 wins to 92 wins.
1975 we went from 84 wins to 95 wins.
1986 we went from 81 wins to 95 wins.
2013 we went from 69 wins to 97 wins.
It’s a little sad to see a generation of kids that don’t like having to fight for things.
everyone is allowed to make their predictions.
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While everyone is entitled to their opinion, most people prefer educated opinions. Some of these so-called “opinions” are simple whining.
Dorothy_Mantooth
I truly believe Boston can reach the playoffs this year
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We’re good on paper, but it obviously depends on what we do to replace SS & 2B.
Hey thats offensive, why you criticizing someone’s sentences man, I’m offended
pwndroia22 hours ago
I should start quoting these guys if the team ends up doing well. You guys would be so wrong and get laughed at like nothing.
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That’s why KD had to change his name. Good fun!
Jimbo_Jones21 hours ago
But looking at the extremely competitive AL east if you don’t improve you’re getting left behind.
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Tough division for sure, but a lot of people are looking at Bogaerts leaving, but overlooking the fact that we were injury-decimated last year. We had 58 GS by non-rotation SPs. Sale alone could be worth 5+ WAR, if healthy. We have a much better BP, Casas should be a big improvement, and we’ve hopefully replaced some pretty bad appearances in the OF by Franchy, JBJ & Pham.
time will tell if we are actually worse or not
Slice it anyway u want and word it anyway u want they will finish last in their division this team is dog water
another huge Bloom pick up
Yep. They are trying to become the Boston Rangers. Suspicion confirmed! What a disappointment of a prospect, though
Could be a lot worse though, could be a triple a flameout. Or cristian pache remember when he was a top 10 prospect? Lol
Oh FFS it’s a minor league depth signing. Every f-ing team does them.
If ya quit buying into the hype, that may spare ya some disappointment.
At least the guy has a track record, some seasoning under his cleats, and not some random noob.
Ya a track record of being below mediocre but the sad part is he’s better than the trash catching duo we got now
It’s a great signing considering it’s a minor league deal. I don’t think many teams want to be like the rangers.
It’s a joke. So many of these former Rangers do well, though, because they have real development staff. The Rangers turn top prospects into failures. Other teams try and occasionally succeed.
But bloom WANTS to be the rangers.
He’s jealous of their draft slot.
https://highlyclutch.com/padres-catcher-jorge-alfaro-nsfw-response/#:~:text=In%20the%20bottom%20of%20the%2010th%20inning%2C%20Jorge,pic.twitter.com%2FrhlLtbrrLp%20%E2%80%94%20Starting%209%20%28%40Starting9%29%20July%208%2C%202022
This guy is entertaining.!
“Let’s F***ing go San Diego!”
I thought he would have been signed sooner since catcher is a pretty weak position throughout the league. I don’t know a lot about him, but his battling line is decent for a catcher but his defense must be very bad since it took him so long to get a deal?
Bad pitch framing and defense is the last thing you want on a minor league team trying to develop pitchers
Really? You want to develop pitchers who rely on the catcher?
They both come hand-in-hand if a team is trying to develop players to feed confidence off one another.
Red Sox arent bringing him in to “develop pitchers”. They are loaded with young catchers all through the system and have 3 in Worcester (Cottam, Hernandez and Hamilton).
I doubt he plays more than a handful of games behind the plate.
He’s the best catcher on their roster.
He signed with someone before Gary Sanchez. Tells you everything you need to know about Gary Sanchez’ ability as a C.
Or Gary’s expectations. This is just a milb deal. Not a good pickup, just money being dumped on fringe aaaa players.
Or holding out for a guaranteed deal. Sanchez isn’t signing for an invite to make $2M.
Gary should be straight dh but now he can’t hit so not sure what he can do
He’s not good your intuition was correct
He’ll start against LHP.
Minor league deal? Sheesh. Seems way too talented for that. I know his numbers aren’t great, it is what it is. But he’s got a cannon back there, some good power and is a good all around athlete.
I was thinking the same
+1. It’s a good fit for him, because he can run away with the starting job with a strong spring, but I’m surprised his agent couldn’t get him a ML deal. I think we will be getting to roboumps strike zones by the 2024 season, so I see the pitch framing as an art that will be less valued. If he can hit and throw out runners, he’ll continue to find a home.
At the least, the ability to challenge calls in ’24 before full implementation. I think it’s helpful to allow players time to adjust to roboumps.
Even with roboumps you need gamecalling skills, something he sorely lacks.
The only saving grace for him is the lack of good young catching prospects in the game compared to positions open.
Desperate teams that aren’t contenders will continue to look for retreads not much more expensive than league minimum to roll out there and be a warm body at the position. That’s about all he is good for.
Problem is, plenty of guys have great power but monstrous strikeout rates, and, his pitch framing and game calling stink.
You could shove any poor 1B back there and get the same talent level.
Hahaha.
No, you definitely could not.
DFA’d Hosmer too soon!
I think his ceiling is still much higher than his numbers have shown. But, I am not keen to his reputation around the league as a game manager and framer; must be pretty bad to have a minor league deal with his obvious offensive potential. Didn’t they put him in left at times in SD?
Check that: SD played musical chairs with he and Nola. Alfaro only ever played LF for MIA
The Sox should have taken Vazquez up on his offer to return to the team. Looks from here like it would have saved the Sox a lot of maneuvering.
Here u r defending a guy and u never watched him play people r tellin u he stinks and obviously the mlb thought he wasn’t good enough for the majors and here u r still praising this mediocre player
@kmk1986, my man. I watch baseball every single day during the season. I have seen Alfaro play maybe close to a hundred or so times, just as a conservative, cynical estimate.
It is ok that you disagree with my surprise at his minor league deal. Just, you know, recognize that there are some of the biggest baseball fans in the world lurking here, man. We know our stuff
His ceiling what r u talking about u must be his agent the guy never had a ceiling
I would imagine Wong will start the year in Worcester.
I hope wong gets dfaed he’s trash
U can have him then obviously the league sees something in him your not seeing he’s not good
For a catcher his offensive is pretty decent. Where he struggles is his ability to run / call the game at a high level. Great guy tho and his hits when he gets them are clutch 5 walk offs last season
Kind of surprised it was a Minor League Deal.
He leaves behind the the chant, “Let’s F’n Go SD!” Good luck in Boston, Alfaro!
The Red Sox only have two catchers on the 40-man roster, and the is no catching depth in AAA with much of any MLB experience. This is AAA depth, and unless there is an injury to McGuire or Wong, he is AAA who will opt-out and be gone from the organization by June 1 or July 1.
(So save the ‘duck boat’ and ‘World Series’ comments as he is AAA depth which ALL organizations need).
From the picture it looks like a lot of hair and beard….must be damn hot under the catchers mask and protective gear….
I thought he was in witness protection when I saw the hair and beard.
Reese McGuire hits righties much better than lefties ( although his stats vs righties still aren’t great. Alfaro hits both L and R well. Seems to me like McGuire will play vs righties. Alfaro will play vs lefties. McGuire should not play DH at all. Alfaro will likely be a pretty good platoon. Connor Wong will move to bench bat.
Alfaro will need to be added to the 40-man roster! Who will the Red Sox DFA….maybe Brasier, lol, then many of you can jump for joy. Lol
It’s a minor league deal, which means he doesn’t need to be added to the 40 man roster.
Can’t believe people still dont know how ‘minor league FA signings’ work.
Whats a backstop? A shortstop who faces towards the Green Monsta?
I really liked alfaro in SD, dude had a ton of clutch hits, and was absolutely LOVED by the fans.
I hope he does well in Boston.
Alfaro was so damn good in SD and loved so much by the fans that the Padres decided to cut him.
Teams don’t make decisions based on who fans like. Alfaro is a fun personality who came up clutch in a couple spots, so SD fans like him. No one’s saying he was “so damn good”.
Or maybe he’s not good plz sandiego take him back since u guys love him so much
Doesn’t say that he received an invite to spring training but I would be surprised if that was the case. Jorge seems like a good pickup for the Sox but I hope that they platoon him like I talked about in my last comment. Health is always a concern as well.
Fan favorite good clubhouse guy
People are gonna snark because the Red Sox are an easy target, but this is a great pickup on a minor league deal.
U losers say that about every mediocre signing. “ o what a great signing I bet on every thread u guys say that about every Joe schmo
It’s a depth signing. You are on every comment just trashing him like he stole your lunch. Newsflash not everyone is a Allstar, 162 game season depth is important. Question…. who would you have liked them to sign since you seem to think you are so intelligent and know what every team should do from your couch?
kmk is a bit far afield. I get commenting that you like/dislike a move. But 20-30 comment on the same minor league depth move is a bit OCD-ish.
Great signing. I was hoping for Zunino coming into the offseason, but that wasn’t happening unless he was pretty clearly going to be starting. They needed another RH option in the mix in case Wong isn’t working out. Unlike the failed Swihart experiments, Wong can actually help out in the infield, so you could also see scenarios where injuries or performance allow for carrying all three catchers.
Hard to believe that Cole Hamels trade was 5 years ago. Time flies.
Good lucky my Bear! We love you in SD
McGuire for defense and Alfaro for offense. Probably was a better move to be made but at least its something
take that Padres!
Bloom finally makes a big move!
Very clever.
Metamucil would also give bloom a big move in a way that didn’t tie up red sox resources if that was all he was after.
I thought he might end up in Detroit to split time with Haase. Best of luck to Alfaro.
Sad when the best catcher they got is on a minor league deal. At least offensively the best. He should win the job or at least most of the starts cuz he is a notoriously fast starter..He will mash in ST and Wong will be in AAA. IMO
He will mash in spring training??? What does that matter anyways and I doubt he will mash
Because he often does..by the way I was a huge ink fan and worked for the as a triple crown street steamer in indiana. Met them a cpl times..cool dudes.
With the guys the Red Sox are signing I am fully expecting my name to show up on MLB Trade Rumors in the next few weeks.
Why did they raise the ticket prices this year again?
To pay your salary! Bc they can and fans are willing to pay the increase. Admittedly, I’m one of them whenever I visit Boston – I like Fenway Park.
A couple of us have made observations based on a lifetime of experiences that sox ticket sales have figuratively fallen off a cliff compared to prior years, even after prior down campaigns.
In a ‘normal’ offseason, packages the sox offered in November, December, for the upcoming year would’ve long since been sold out or at least down to a handful of single stand-alone tickets. This year widespread availability remains.
So, I do think some sizeable portion of the fan base is fed up for the time being and refuses to waste money to watch the red sox mail it in with rehab buy-and-flip players to collect yet more fringe prospects in return, and, don’t find a lot of entertainment in watching a losing team
Was really hoping to land him.
Said no angels fans besides u
Four walk offs last year. Got some serious pop and good arm. Fun to watch. He’ll crack the opening day lineup for Boston. 2 million is a bargain
Oooooh 4 walk off then he must be guaranteed to do it again. What a selling point
Like others have mentioned, I’m surprised Alfaro couldn’t land a pro deal. I’m fine with McGuire & Wong, as a minimum wage gamble. But Alfaro is real good insurance if Wong stumbles.
Wong still has options while Alfaro can opt out.
I am thinking the other way around.
But the first opt out isn’t until June 1. They don’t have to make a decision on him in spring training. That’s a big advantage. He may break camp with the team anyway, but if it were an Apr 1 opt out, yeah, it’d be extremely difficult for Wong to win a roster spot.
That’s my thinking as well. I don’t have a lot of faith in Wong, but I’d like to give him the opportunity to win the short side of the platoon. At his age, we won’t learn much from additional AAA ABs.
Disgusting look.
Probably the most important depth signing the Sox have made all winter. I like it!
Really because starting pitching isn’t more important than a garbage catcher
Every comment someone’s makes you trash it. We all get it, you don’t like the signing. Also stop liking your own posts it’s pretty sad.
Just because a signing doesn’t fix every hole on a roster doesn’t automatically make it dumb, bad, and stupid. Besides, that’s not what I said; what I said was that, of the depth signings they’ve made, this one seems the most impactful. Which means we agree, actually, that they haven’t made any impactful depth signings on the pitching front. Reading comprehension! It’s fun!
He had a good number of walk offs last year
I don’t understand fans’ passion and zeal with which they hate other teams. What happened to cheering for teams you like instead of rooting against teams you dislike?
He’ll win the job and hit .280
He is tearing it up in Winter League Dominican baseball. This is a great signing for the Red Sox.
Small price to pay for a catcher with ML experience.
It will buy a little more time for Wong. Sounds like he did a good job for SD. The evaluators in the system need time to see who’s going to be in each minor league site post ST.
Hitting wise Alfaro is good hitting Catcher, so is his defense behind plate that bad?
Only a minor league deal? Seemed good enough to replace JT. Can’t have fallen off that fast. Angels what up