Outfielder Raimel Tapia, who was recently released by the Red Sox, has signed with the Brewers, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Brewers will need to make corresponding moves to get Tapia onto their 40-man and active rosters for tonight’s game.
Tapia, 29, has spent many years as a contact-oriented hitter with a bit of speed. He was non-tendered by the Blue Jays after last season and signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox. Tapia made Boston’s Opening Day roster and spent a bit over two months with the club, performing at expected rates, give or take.
His 9.6% walk rate and 19.6% strikeout rate this year were both a bit better than league average, but he hit just one home run. That led to a .264/.333/.368 batting line and 92 wRC+, indicating he was 8% below league average overall. That wasn’t far off from his .265/.292/.380 line and 90 wRC+ with the Jays last year. Meanwhile, his outfield defense was considered around average while he stole six bases.
Despite that generally solid performance, Tapia was nudged out in Boston by some crowding in the outfield picture. Adam Duvall’s injury paved the way for Jarren Duran to get himself some more big league playing time, which he has done well with, hitting .282/.337/.435 on the year for a 107 wRC+. Rob Refsnyder has also been playing well in a reserve role behind regulars Alex Verdugo and Masataka Yoshida. With Duvall’s return from the IL imminent, Tapia was designated for assignment just over a week ago.
Tapia’s deal with the Sox paid him a $2MM salary. Since he has over five years of major league service time, he would have had the right to reject an outright assignment while retaining all of that, so the club simply released him. That leaves them on the hook for the remainder of that cash, allowing the Brewers to now pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox will pay.
The Brewers have dealt with a few hits to their outfield mix this season, as each of Garrett Mitchell, Jesse Winker and Tyrone Taylor is currently on the injured list. That has left them with Joey Wiemer, Christian Yelich and Brian Anderson getting most of the reps lately, with Blake Perkins backing them up. Perkins is in his first major league season and is hitting just .200/.250/.333 through 34 plate appearances thus far. It’s possible that Tapia nudges Perkins back to the minors, though Anderson is also capable of playing third base and joining the rotating infield picture alongside Luis Urías, Owen Miller, Andruw Monasterio and Abraham Toro.
Why not? Pretty decent 4th of’er…
The guy can play
Tilapia is an inexpensive, mild-flavored fish.
That also summarizes Tapia pretty well.
Except that Tilapia eats their own feces and tastes like garbage?
123 – He’s a great clubhouse guy too, really wish Bloom had kept him.
better than Perkins
100%
Good luck Raimel. You did well for us.
No reason why the Yankees couldn’t put a claim on him. Maybe he wouldn’t of cut his hair? Not sure. Nice little player with a little bit of pop. I was thinking like a Dion James type player.
Sox didn’t make him available on waivers they cut him outright. Yankees might have offered him a spot and he liked the opportunity in Milwaukee more, but it is hard to say when the player is available to all 30 teams why a player picks one team or another. Probably thought he’d have a better chance to stick with the brewers for longer but who knows maybe he just wanted to come and and drink beer.
Actually the Sox did place him on waivers. That’s part of the whole process and not something they could avoid. No one claimed him off of waivers and instead every other team simply waited for him to clear and then be released.
From a depth standpoint this was a curious move for bloom to make. Tapia would be a better cog to ride the bench as a pinch runner or backup and to send Duran down so he gets regular ABs. He doesn’t have much to prove in AAA per se, but, he’s got a need for regular playing time. Sending him down also helps extend control by reducing mlb service time – not the most laudable approach, but, you work the system you’ve got, and, the system says less time on the mlb roster is a valid approach. Also especially now that his bat cooled off and he’s bumped down the depth chart, who makes more sense to be a 4th/5th OF pair – Ref/Tapia, or, Ref/Duran?
Oh well, academic at this point.
Perkins should be DFA
Unfair. He’s never played in the majors before. 34 PAs is far too early for a once highly touted Yankee’s prospect.
He deserves the 150 ABs we need to know who he is.
Blake still has options. No reason to DFA a cheap depth option, especially with the injuries we’ve had this year.
I would have thought Yankees but maybe he’ll get a better chance to stick with the Brewers
Is MKE starting to move away from the HR or nothing approach? This guy doesn’t hit for much power, or K at an alarmingly high rate.
Now waiting for that guy who asks why they don’t just call up (the injured) Hiura…
Frelick would have been up long ago but for being injured the same day as Mitchell.
So yes.
That was my first thought too. This team needs some contact hitters/table setters. It doesn’t help that the manager is completely clueless though. The Yelich & Miller 1-2 combo worked nice when he set it that way, but he’s refused to stick to it. Adames has done some nice things in his time here but he has no business batting 2-3 right now. No other manager in the league would have Miller batting cleanup with Adames (.289 OBP) and Tellez (.304 OBP) batting in front of him. Get those on base guys in front of the boppers! This team needs a new leader fast.
Bold take, only NL manager more successful in the past half decade is Roberts with the Dodgers.
@stevewpants
I believe World Series winning NL managers like Snitker & Martinez would disagree with your assessment.
Counsell is overrated. And overhyped like Stearns.
I can’t argue with the results you are right on that. What i will say is that given the talent level of the players Counsell was given to work with I think he has done well to get as much out of them as he can. The hitting has barely been league average since 2019 and they almost made it to the WS in 2018 with no pitching rotation.
Weirdly, I can’t reply to sharksfang1, an option I didn’t know existed (I thought one could only block, not block replies).. He must think he’s right all the time.
He’s wrong here, however. Couns has been the best manager in baseball for at least the last half dozen years. Like you, I base that on the talent level. When the hitting was good, the pitching hadn’t quite arrived yet (sad that I think it’s more than 6 years ago when we last had a good hitting team, but it’s probably true, even during Yeli’s MVP like years when he pretty much carried the team).
He gets more out of less than any manager in baseball, which is why I consider him the best.
It also seems like the team is in a weird cycle and that by the time some hitters finally develop again and are our own, that the super top shelf pitching will be gone and our youngsters won’t be ready yet.
You never know, but I know this team isn’t good at all and that if all the hitters pan out and the pitching arrives 3-4 years down the road, THEN we might have a chance at a WS.
I’ve applauded the line up changes he’s attempted. Even though they have never worked out this year. Everyone has been so bad that he’s trying to put the few guys who have a hot streak in more productive spots in the line up. Reps have been consistent for a lot of guys. The spot in the batting order is immaterial and not tied to the habits of the player, which should otherwise be the same the rest of the time (if you do your job right in that regard, you will be rewarded).
He lauds Ruiz, but that is a guy who proves that BA no longer matters much. He’s still just above average in the field and his OPS+ is bad. He’s a B or B+ player. The guy we just signed off the scrap heap is better (though worse defensively).
@OnWi
As you point out, this team is simply not that good. Mid to high 20’s overall for team OPS, BA, etc. in MLB.
Then throw in Counsell manages like he has ADHD when it comes to lineups. Players are generally creatures of habit. Somewhat difficult to perform on a consistent basis if the reps, role, and consistency aren’t there. The only consistency with Counsell is he’s inconsistent. He’s been fortunate to manage in the NL Central for his career.
Ruiz leads the majors in SB’s and sure looked good over the weekend!
You can have Alex Cora!
The Brewers need a bat!
Nuff said.
Apparently, Bloom County didn’t find Tapia as attractive as he did Ryan Brasier.
Brasier was dfad prior to tapia..whats your point?
Brasier got what seemed like 10,000 chances and STILL stuck on the roster while stinking it up.
Tapia did a servicable job, nearly average in most categories with speed while being a good clubhouse guy. He got kicked out of town even though the better depth move would be bump Jarren Duran back down to reduce service time and keep regular playing time.
Watched him as a Jay. Just meh. Underwhelming to watch.
@albundy
Let’s hope so!
I heard he’s LF-only at this point. So…DFA Singleton and make Yeli full-time DH? Ironically when he’s having his strongest year fielding.