The Phillies announced that Noah Song has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, and the right-hander has now been designated for assignment. As a Rule 5 Draft pick, a team that claims Song must keep him on their active roster for the remainder of the season, or else Song’s rights will revert to the Red Sox (his original team) unless a proper trade is worked out. The Red Sox will also have Song’s rights automatically offered back if he clears DFA waivers.
Song was a fourth-round pick for the Sox in the 2019 draft, and after making his pro debut with 17 innings for Boston’s low-A affiliate that season, he then entered the Navy to fulfill his duty requirements as a member of the Naval Academy. This military service covered three years, and Song then restarted his baseball career after being transferred to the selective reserves. Some part-time active duty was still required, leading to some questions about how this status might work within the context of a minor league season after the Phillies selected him in the R5, though it became something of a moot point due to Song’s lengthy stint on the IL.
A back strain sidelined Song during Spring Training, and eventually led to his placement on the 60-day IL. During his rehab assignments, Song posted a 7.36 ERA over 11 combined innings at A-ball, Double-A, and Triple-A, with 11 walks and 16 strikeouts. It wasn’t enough for the Phillies to keep a roster spot for Song, and he’ll now hit the DFA wire for either a new stop in his career. Song’s past status as a highly-touted prospect might draw another team’s interest, though between his back injury and the issue of his military duty, it also seems possible that he’ll just end up back in Boston’s organization.
Thank you! So happy he is coming back to Boston (barring a trade of some sort of course). He’s not major league ready now, but a good offseason program and some
AAA work next year should get him back to a mid-rotation prospect by the end of 2024.
I think he’s going to start at a lower level than AAA. The Phil’s moved him up because they had no choice. Had to see if he could kick it at that level before giving him a ML shot. Boston can be patient and give him a shot to develop.
AA would be as aggressive as I see Boston being. Realistically it wouldn’t hurt him to spend time at high A either.
Rockies ought to put in a claim, strictly limit his use the next few weeks, and put him on strictly mop-ip duty after September 1.
Hard to attract and develop top pitching talent at altitude. Colorado has to be creative.
Exactly. If not CO, the A’s, KC or any other team that is playing for next year with a 40 man spot available. Why not take a chance? The Phillies and the IL carried him two thirds of the way.
The Phil’s didn’t do anything. He still needs 90 days active on the roster. Even those bottom feeders need a guy they can pitch
Don’t count your chickens.
The Song Remains the Same.
same ole song and dance. There was a reason Boston left him unprotected.
He wasn’t major league ready and I’m sure they didn’t think anybody would take him
It’s the (Bill) Singer, not the (Noah) Song. – Mick Jagger
The Red Sox will not get Song back. He will be claimed of waivers….stashed in AAA, and he will be called up when and if he is ever ready. The Red Sox will only see him on the mound of an opponent.
He has to be in the major leagues so that makes absolutely no sense, JC.
It does if you’re the nationals, A’s, royals, white sox, or any other bottom of the barrel team right now.
He’s saying another team can’t just stash him in AAA “until he’s ready”. He was reinstated off the 60-day IL so that means his rehab stint is over. Any claiming team would need to put him on their active roster right away. I do agree the teams out of the playoff race should be putting in a claim for him though. I mean worst case scenario is that he looks really out of his depth and the team waives him again. Honestly might be worth a claim even for some playoff contenders if they think they have a spot in their bullpen that they can use just for mop up duty.
Any team that claims him has to keep him on the major league roster for the remainder of the season.
Song is right on par with the staffs the Rockies and Royals currently have, so I’d expect one of them to claim him and keep him in the majors the rest of the year. What do either have to lose?
Development? At one time Song was among the best pitching prospects in all of baseball, he had a commitment to the Navy and hadn’t touched a baseball in over 3 and 1/2 years. He needs to be developed in the minor leagues, he has less than 40 innings in his ENTIRE minor league career so far. How does getting shelled at the major league level help him?
He can’t be “stashed in AAA”, he is a Rule V player.
He needs to be on a mlb roster for 2 months.
Then you can option him back to the minors next season, and bring him along more slowly.
Easy decision.
He cant be stashed
To the Cardinals we need pitching.
Oakland will take him no question
Has to clear waivers 1st…seems as though selling teams would scoop him up to me…what does a selling team have to lose keeping him on the MLB Roster the remainder of the year this year? But I definitely want him back!
I really though Dombrowski was gonna find a way to swindle this guy for the entire year, without throwing a pitch
obviously he’s not as smart as you think
Hopefully no one claims him and we can get him back
Tigers should grab him. Chris Fetter will make him a number 2 or 3 starter!
Actually, the White Sox could use an arm or two. Good fit for the rebuilding A’s as well.
dang
Still waiting for the first Phillies move.
Phillies FO is always secretive. You don’t get a lot of leaks and rumors which is actually annoying from an anxious fan perspective haha.
Well said Von. Not many fingernails left
Rumors have Philly looking at Erod. I’d be very happy to have Song as part of the return, along with others like Muzziotti who has the hitter profile that Scott Harris is looking for. Tigers could keep him on the roster like they did with Mason Englert.
Maybe go back and fulfill the terms of your taxpayer funded education?
He completed flight school. He will fulfill his 5 years of active duty once his baseball career is over, but he was never going to be in combat so it doesn’t really matter when he does it.
Nah. Honoring your commitment to defending the Constitution and the people of the US doesn’t really matter because you can throw a baseball.
Oh relax.
What important wars is Song needed for right now anyway?
Certainly not as righteous as the battle these keyboard warriors are engaged in.
There are upcoming wars with Russia and China so Song shouldn’t get too comfortable playing baseball.
@rmullig2- he already got told he was too tall for combat so not sure why a hypothetical upcoming war would matter.
Ted Williams. Any questions?
Because we are not at war currently its ok to not honor your commitment? I will remember that about you. No honor. Enough said.
It’s called a deferred commitment. Look it up. Also spare me the “honor” garbage. Those without honor are our leaders sending these kids into meaningless wars.
If they need you, you’re in. Non-negotiable.
The service branches are missing recruitment goals left and right, with what will be nearing a severe shortage in manpower because America’s youth are both out of shape and unfit to serve. Those who could often don’t buy into the ‘culture’ change that is being crammed down the throats of recruits.
Makes it much tougher to get things deferred out than it used to when not enough people are being trained to be called upon if needed than ever. Something happens, I’d fully expect to see the first draft in about 50 years.
@BaseballIsLife- Reading comprehension is important. He WILL honor his commitment. He owes them 5 years of active duty, which will occur after his big league career. Why do you care if that happens in 2023 or 2033? He’s not going into combat. Such a weird thing to get worked up about.
Also, I sincerely doubt you will remember whatever judgment you’re making about someone on the internet lol and if you do, it will certainly affect you more than me because I won’t be losing sleep over being judged on the internet.
He’s a reservist dummy, if he is the one “defending the Constitution” then we are in trouble!
They are especially unfit in the southern states. Mississippi is the most obese state. Don’t know how recruiters take these overweight kids and hope that a couple months will whip them into shape. It just doesn’t happen. Some could even die. But the various branches are desperate for recruits. I guess the recruiters need to fill a quota.
You’re kinda nuts.
How do you figure? Are teenagers in good shape in the southern states or more specifically in Mississippi?
Why do you say Noah Song is a reservist dummy? If he went to the Naval Academy, he has to be very smart. Or did you just not insert a comma? I wouldn’t be calling anyone a dummy if I were you.
I was replying to Baseballislife, not you. It’s an awkward format.
Zoinks!
its ok to not honor your commitment?
==============
You’ve been told before about the deferred commitment. It is perfectly okay. In fact, I’ve always argued that the academies should use athletes as recruiters. We already have a couple of million in the military. reserves, etc. One more Robinson or Song makes little difference. Having these same guys going around to HS’s is a great recruiting tool.
Gonna replace Verlander.
Seems like a no-brainer waiver claim for Rick Hahn.
Rockies should absolutely claim him.
High A at best. Cardinals should take a chance. Probably won’t.
All of the Bloom hate for the R5 roster choices—haven’t amounted to much. Thad Ward looked throughly overmatched and is probably the only arm he’ll lose.
People hated because they wanted to hate, not because the specific hate was sensible. That’s why all off-season people harped on “last place” rather than the more accurate (but not as hate-juicy) “nearly .500 in one of the toughest divisions in a long time”.
I thought excluding Ward was an odd choice but the others made perfect sense. I thought he’d move Ward for a lower level pitcher that didn’t need to be protected. But bloom knows his pitchers better than any of us.
I thought he’d move Ward for a lower level pitcher that didn’t need to be protected.
==========================
The issue is that all 30 teams have fringy R5 players.
People hated because they wanted to hate
=========================
It’s always the same. The haters were chiming in on players that might have been our 50th or 60th best prospects.. They were unranked. None of the haters ever saw the players, and know almost nothing about them.
It was always the same response every time the RS picked up some AAA depth piece.
The bottom line is that the haters are generally low-IQ monkeys.
White Sox have a few openings, claim him and have him pitch mop up for the rest of the year
He’s probably a High-A pitcher at this point
But but but true Sox shouldn’t have left him exposed! Lol, there was such an uproar about this. Funny to see how it’s worked out. The Sox may just end up with him anyway
A sad song indeed!
Well, it all sounds like another Song and Dance to me
So all the doom and gloom this winter about the Rule V Draft was a joke.
Politi Returned
Song About to be Returned
Ward pitching terrible.
STOP LISTENING TO TALK RADIO. It rots your brain.
It was all a song and dance for naught
Don’t see why the A’s or Royals wouldn’t give him a try even for week or two or 3 or 4 outings.
No team would want to tie up a roster spot, protect him on the 40-man thru the Rule V draft and all of next winter, then find innings to be able to keep him next season. Not gonna happen.
Besides, his top fastball speed has dropped from 96mph on July 4th, to 90mph 2 days ago. There may be arm problem.
Even better. Claim him, pitch him, put him in the IL. Call up an extra pitcher on Sept 1, then activate him so he gets 4 wks on the roster.
Since he spent a significant amount of time on the IL this season, Song will need to be on a major league roster for 90 consecutive days (healthy…not on the IL) in order for a team to officially own his rights. If another team does put in a claim for him, not only will he need to stay on their major league roster for the rest of this season, he’ll need to start next year on their major league roster too until that 90 day commitment is met. Otherwise, he’ll have to be offered back to Boston.
Given his inconsistency and drop in velocity from inning to inning this year for the Phillies farm system (while on rehab), I don’t foresee any team thinking it makes sense to do this at this point in his career. He won’t add any value to the major league team and might even result in other pitchers getting hurt because they’ll need to be overused to cover for Song’s presence on the 26 man roster. The kid missed nearly 4 years of baseball so of course his arm is not built up enough to handle the rigors of MLB pitching. He needs a full season + of minor league ball and a conditioning program as well before he’ll be remotely close to pitching in the majors. The best place for him to do this is in the Boston organization (minor league affiliates).
Thanks for the thorough explanation.
I’ve heard that the Phils are hotly inquiring about Adam Duvall. The Sox FO should make sure that DD gets squat from them in return for the mess he made of Noah Song’s prospects (not to mention the Curse of Sale). And, if Duvall is indeed traded, Atlanta would look good as a partner just to have Duvall in the division to stick it to the Phils.
Lol oh stop. So ridiculous.
When people say things like “ridiculous”, youre usually close to the truth.
DD had no business taking a kid 3.5 years removed from competitive pitching and trying to ramp him up for Major League competition this quickly. Now his top fastball is 90mph! Maybe its a dead arm or maybe something much more serious.
At the end of the day, DD didnt do this kid ANY favors.
He was also injured. Maybe that had something to do with it instead of a silly conspiracy.
Or did the Phillies ramp up Song too quickly, resulting in the injury? That is a valid question.
@RSmith – you are 100% correct. DD claimed him more as an FU to Boston than really thinking that he could stick on their major league roster after not pitching at all for nearly 4 years. The Song 3 month IL placement for a “back strain” was questionable at best. They tried to use that time to get him to build up his arm, but he couldn’t be put into game situations while on the IL so it didn’t work. It actually set Song’s career back rather than help him get closer to the majors.
My point or as you want to pretend it is “silly conspiracy ” assumes he’s injured (drop from 96mph to 90mph in 3 weeks) and questions the cause of the injury.
Are you intentionally being obtuse?
He’s been rehabbing an injury. It’s common to see velocity drops in that case. Neither the Red Sox nor Phillies ruined this kid. This wasn’t a spite pick up by DD. There’s so much nonsense being written about this kid, who may or may not amount to anything significant in the bigs.
“Hes been rehabbing an injury”
I agree, since he got hurt pitching for the Phillies. Theres no disagreement there, but your saying it like it clears something up.
“Neither the Red Sox nor Phillies ruined this kid”
Who said the Red Sox ruined this kid? He hasnt pitched for them 4 years. Lets add his High School didnt ruin the kid either.
You are intentionally being obtuse.
If ignoring ridiculous statements like a president of baseball operations was so spiteful from being fired from his last baseball job that ge intentionally hoarded Song on the IL makes me obtuse, then I’m as obtuse as they come.
Now youre just running with your own story line.
For you: A pitcher does too much too fast and gets hurt, and questioning who’s responsible — Is some how a “silly conspiracy”. Time to take off the tinfoil hat.
Trading Duval would be interesting but we literally would not have a back up CF. I guess it would have to be Refsnyder. No way should Yoshida play CF,and Verdugo should stay in RF. Other options are Rafaela or Dalbec. Or a bum off the street. Thoughts?
Duvall is starting to hit again, so if Boston truly wants to compete for a playoff berth, they need to hold on to Duvall. He can spell Duran in CF, Masa in LF and JT at DH, not to mention he’s one heck of a bat to come off the bench in the late innings to pinch hit. No reason at all to trade Duvall unless he somehow could bring back a major league starting pitcher, which is highly unlikely.
Or if your entire premise about there being any animosity between Dombrowski and the Red Sox over Song and the Rule V is false, perhaps the Red Sox could negotiate a better return on Duvall by letting the Phillies essentially keep Song in an expanded deal.
There seems to be pretty well-documented animosity between DD and Sox ownership over the way he was let go.
Rightly so.
Dombrowski should have been fired for signing Sale to a huge extension a year before he needed to. It was not clear Sale was healthy and Dombrowski could have waited to see how Sale pitched in 2019 before extending him. Dombrowski also gave Eovaldi a huge extension and he promptly got hurt. I think those two deals got him fired. Getting fired is part of being a FO executive. No need to take it personally.
Yes, I recall the animosity between DD and the Sox ownership over the way that Dombrowski was let go.
I was merely dismissing what seems to me a mostly fan-driven narrative about Song and his Rule V selection being a purely moustache-twirling, nefarious plan by Dombrowski to somehow get back at the Red Sox.
Boston leaving Song unprotected indiciates that they were willing to risk losing him. What would get the Red Sox so lathered up about Dombrowski taking him for this to even be worth Dombrowski pursuing?
Yes, I think the Noah Song part of the Dombrowski/Red Sox story is mostly a fan and media driven narrative at this point. They both like to speculate.
The biggest problem with another team claiming him is that he still has to have 90 days on the active roster before BOS loses their Rule 5 return rights. He’ll have to remain on the roster until sometime in May ’24. And that’s if he doesn’t require another IL stint.
True, Winfield. Your best bet as a claiming team is that you get a satisfactory August to October preview and maybe Song’s development kicks into a higher gear in the late fall or early winter.
Joakim Soria seemed to come out of nowhere with the AZ fall league performance that prompted the Royals to take him in the Rule V.
Not necessarily like Song could do the same the fall or winter *after* his Rule V selection, but maybe worth trying for a rebuilding team.
Let’s say for example Song had spent 30 days on PHIs MLB active roster this year. Does anyone know if an aquiring team would need to keep him up for another 60 days, or would the clock restart to 90 days?
60
Well he spent 0 days on the Phillies 26 man roster this year so that is a moot point. He’ll need to spend 90 consecutive days on a new team’s 26 man roster before that team officially owns his rights. If he were to go on the IL again, the 90 days pause until he comes back to the 26 man roster. He’ll need to spend the rest of this season on an active 26 man roster plus another 30+ days to start the 2024 season before a new team would own his rights.
Right, totally a hypothetical
Nationals should claim him. Should have no problem keeping him on the roster and so close to Annapolis.
Maybe. The Nats had no problem letting Thad Ward pitch to a 7.12 ERA.
Did Thad get his 90 days in before hitting the injured list a few weeks back? Not sure he would be protected on most 40 man rosters anyway but was wondering if he will stick with the nats?
I’m pretty sure Ward got his 90 days by being on the Nats for April, May and June. He last pitched on July 1st.
There is any number of teams that can claim him but I’m thinking DD has a trade up his sleeve already. Song will be part of the return or possibly the entire return. If the trade doesn’t materialize then some other bottom dweller will pick him up he isn’t going back to Boston.
@Bruin
Why do you think that? He got hit hard in AAA and 19 other teams passed up the opportunity to select him over the winter. I can’t imagine any team is in on him. He’s far away from being ready. Can’t see any big league club carrying a guy who can’t pitch at the level. I’d be shocked if he was claimed or traded.
I just think if you are a team that can carry him then you do it it. He’s also striking people out at about a 13 per 9 he’s been understandably shaky with his control. He’s someone a no contender would want to take a flyer on. I don’t think it matters though I’m guessing DD already has a trade worked out.
I don’t know. I mean the Rockies need a body who can throw a baseball but Song looks like a project.
He needs a full minor league season next year too. It’s possible but I think it’s more likely he’s back in the Sox Org.
doubtful on all accounts especially at this point in the season. Song couldn’t handle AAA and the same rules regarding rule 5 picks still apply
It’s the same old Song, but with a different team…
No one cares
Congrats, you’re the 100th comment.
No chance he goes back to BOS. Any team that claims him only needs to stash him for 2 more months and they’re getting a free mid rotation pitching prospect. A’s, Royals, Rockies, Tigers, etc. I’m sure someone will get him.
As RSmith, Dorothy, and a few others have mentioned, DD did a seriously disservice to Song.
1-The chances of Song pitching in the pros after 11 innings in A+ ball, and not having pitched since 2019 was about -0-.
2-The chances of DD using one of his BP slots for a A+ pitcher was about -0-.
DD used Song to try to strike back at the RS no matter the harm done to Song. Disgraceful!