The Red Sox have designated catcher Jorge Alfaro for assignment, according to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo. The move makes room for catcher Reese McGuire on the active roster after he was activated from the 10-day injured list this evening.
Alfaro, 30, joined the Red Sox in early July on a major-league deal after previously signing a minor league pact with the club this past offseason. Alfaro opted out of that minors deal and tested the open market, where he landed with the Rockies for a ten-game stint. He was then DFA’d and returned to the Red Sox organization for an eight-game stint.
Once a key piece in the deal that sent J.T. Realmuto to Philadelphia, Alfaro is now enduring his fourth consecutive season of significant struggles. Since the start of the shortened 2020 campaign, Alfaro has slashed just .236/.278/.354 in 737 plate appearances, good for a wRC+ of just 75. While that would be a manageable figure for a quality defensive catcher, Alfaro is generally regarded as a well below-average receiver behind the plate.
Now DFA’d for the second time this summer, Alfaro figures to test the open market for the fourth time in the past calendar year unless he is claimed on waivers. With the trade deadline in the rear-view, Alfaro could be an attractive depth option at catcher given his previous prospect pedigree, years of major league experience, and presumably risk-free acquisition cost of a minor league deal. As for the Red Sox, they’ll return to their typical catching tandem of Connor Wong and McGuire going forward, with Ronaldo Hernandez, Stephen Scott, and Caleb Hamilton available as depth options at the Triple-A level.
Major moves by Boston, too deep for me to comprehend…
Are they serious?
This dude was hitting about .100 below his weight, wow
It used to be an insult when a player couldn’t hit his weight…
Curly – Don’t be surprised if we see him batting in the bottom of the 9th with the bases loaded in a tie game against the Yankees or Jays.
That’s what inevitably happens here, Bloom picks up another team’s reject and the Bloom suckups say “he’s just minor league depth, don’t worry” and sure enough they find their way into high leverage situations in crucial Red Sox games … just like Llovera did Sunday.
Unlikely to happen.
Past that, it would be stupid to invest a lot into a minor league 3rd string catcher. The NYY lost Trevino, so they promoted minor league catcher Rortvedt. Sometimes a team will have a prospect developing that they can promote, but most teams do not have a quality #3 catcher.
And the reason for this is that most teams do not have a quality #2 catcher.
Joe – I messed up, I meant to post that under the Urias article.
Sadly, I wasn’t even drinking when I posted it. LOL
“he’s just minor league depth, don’t worry”
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For the record, I consider Urias much more than minor league depth. Story and Arroyo are ML players, though I don’t think Arroyo is starting material. Chang & Reyes are more like decent minor league depth.
A guy like Urias can change that dynamic by a fair amount. If Urias can revert to his 22/23 hitting stats, and I see no reason why he cannot do so at age 26, he could force Arroyo back into the UIF role that I feel he is better suited to, and occasionally spell Story at SS when Story rests his arm.
I’d go so far as to make a (very modest) wager that he out-performs Ki ki, Reyes & Chang on a bWAR/PA basis. Or he could flame out, but his remaining cost for 2023 wouldn’t deter me from the gamble.
Joe – Urias already has a -.009 bWAR per PA.
Chang and Reyes both have a positive bWAR, in fact .8 bWAR combined.
Kike doesn’t belong in the conversation.
Every team in baseball grab available stop-gap players to cover for injuries. Red Sox arent doing anything EVERY other team does. Red Sox are over .500, 1.5 games out of playoffs. Theyre doing fine.
Didnt all you crybabies say they’d be in dead last and one of the worst teams in baseball? Wrong
Didnt you crybabies say that the Rule V draft was terrible? Wrong.
Didnt you crybabies say that this team cant hit with the loss of Bogaerts and Martinez? Wrong
Didnt you crybabies say that Martinez was better than Turner? Wrong.
STFU and enjoy the ride for a change, rather than crying all the time about the most simplest of transactions. It says much more about you than it does the Red Sox.
Enjoy 4th place ya bozo
Your the one that needs to STFU and get your head outta Blooms ASS
Understandable.. this guy made Sandy Leon look like Bench…
Pobres fans, rejoice!!!!
Time for AJ to ‘Rockstar’ this opportunity into a winning player acquisition. You know. Like he always does.
Yea, lame take! This joke got old the 2nd time he was released.
Try again champ!
No new jokes sorry
Not you, the joker who made the comment.
Alfaro and Jacob Nottingham should hang out
Reese was disappointed the Sox missed out on Brad Hand
Let it go.
@miltpappas: “Let it go.”
says the cop to the man sitting in his SUV in a dollar tree parking lot
Crap, what gave me away? I thought I was at the dollar store…
Curly – They need to change the store name, everything they sell is way over a dollar now.
Yep. Now it costs tree.
You should just beat it with that joke because Reese will whack one out of the park. He could always pull one down the line or jerk one out. Reese is a handy guy
Jorge, Señor Cherington esta en Linea Uno…
Another great Bloom pickup ! They need a real GM not this clown
Bloom will get busy now that the trade deadline has passed. He will be scouring the bargain bins.
He was picked up to be the AAA insurance catcher.. And he was the AAA insurance catcher.
Talking BB strategy to the yokels is a waste of time.
No plan.
MLBTR team, thanks for the great Hot Stove coverage. Cheers
If you’re looking for a guy who hits well in Spring Training and loves to throw it into the outfield on steal attempts he’s your man.
Another waiver wire stellar Bloom pickup. The “Rube Goldberg” system of putting something together with chewing gum and bailing wire
Better take Spanish to Korean language lessons.
If the Sox get a new GM,They should bring back Cherington.He knows talent.Teams pick the prospects and palyers off the Pirates all the time.
Cherington 2.0 would be a riot. Haters would freak out.
Cherington was bad. In his 4 (?) US drafts, the only player he got was Benni, and with a 16.6 career bWAR, that’s no more than a solid starter. And he signed Devers. That’s a pretty weak showing for four years.
And I am not sure his PT job is going much better.
His drafts were lousy, but his International signing were good. You left out a few players:
Raphael Devers
Andrew Benintendi
Manuel Margot
Yoan Moncada
Bryan Mata
Jalen Beeks
Michael Kopech
Darwinson Hernandez
(Check me if Im wrong, made list quick)
Cherington did some of the best team building for the 2013 season ever (Victorino, Napoli, Uehara, Gomes, Drew, Carp, Peavy). Only to follow that up with some of the worst signings ever (Panda, Hanley, Rusney).
He was a mixed bag for sure, but at least he netted a WS, which is more than most GMs can say.
Margot was good. Moncada was more of a FA signing than a draft, and his production for that price (13 bWAR) was hardly worth it. The remaining four haven’t done much.
Moncada was an international signing, and due to his number 1 prospect ranking brought Sale, which brought a World Series.
He was definitely a good draft pick, due to his value. The fact that he somewhat flamed out is irrelevant since the Red Sox had already cashed those chips in.
Jalen Beeks brought us Eovoldi. Moncada and Kopech brought us Sale. Margot and others brought us Kimbrell. Without those high ranking prospects available to trade, that team probably doesnt win WS.
Its like buying a stock at $100 and selling at $200, the fact that the stock is now sitting at $80 doesnt mean you was a bad investment.
RSmith
I think that B.Mata was signed Dombrowski because Dave became GM in August 2015, Mata signed in January 2016.
In other, I will agree with you.
Joe – I agree with your overall point that Ben’s drafts were not very good.
But he also drafted Kopech and Beeks, who turned into Sale and Eovaldi.
Lol, half the comments in spring training about Alfaro were about his ‘great hair’. It takes more than hair to make it in the MLB.
Dude needs a haircut to change his luck.
This stupid comment Bloom made about being underdogs was really bad. If this team misses the playoffs because of his inaction at the trade deadline, it will cost him his job. The Boston Red Sox are a major market team not like the Tampa Bay Rays who do not draw fans. You cannot keep finishing in the bottom part of the division and not have the fans and media not notice. The stuff he does at the trade deadline mesmerizes me. Hell, two years ago if he had picked up a better relief pitcher at the trade deadline instead of Austin Davis and Hansel Robles we could have beaten Houston. Last year he hung onto JD Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, and Boggaerts. He got nothing for them when they “walked” at the end of the season via free agency. He traded a popular player (Vazquez) to a team we were actually playing that night. If this team misses the playoffs this year, he will be fired and they will get a better GM.
two years ago
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Was that when he made the best trade of deadline when he picked up Schwarber, despite the haters bashing him?
But you can calm down now-he ain’t going anywhere. He is on pace for the 86.5 wins I predicted, while moving more and more kids into important roles.
Joseph – You know I really like Schwarber and praised that trade … but best trade of the deadline?
Surely you understand teams didn’t offer much for him because he was on the IL and would end up missing half a month before his first game with his new team, right? It was a high risk gamble as there was no certainty when he would be able to play, so of course he didn’t require much in return. It’s unheard of for contending teams to acquire injured players at the trade deadline.
And considering how phenomenal Scherzer and Trea were for the Dodgers in 2021, you certainly can’t call the Schwarber trade “better” unless any of the Nats players turn out to be good longterm.
AL34
How many it would be yammering from fans if Bloom exchanged Martinez, Bogaerts and Eovaldi in a deadline.
Impresses me, that does Chaim now.
He saved all veterans, didn’t give prospects that will begin to have influence in a next season.
Now we have a SP : of Paxton, Bello, Crawford, Pivetta and mid Murphy we not bad passed a difficult segment from 2.5 persons of SP.
Story goes back into a club already tomorrow, will go back into a line-up Sale, Houck and Whitlock.
I had a hope, that Bloom will go after Giolito, but this lease would cost a minimum of York to us.
And Giolito doesn’t look now reliable.
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Last year he hung onto JD Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, and Boggaerts. He got nothing for them when they “walked” at the end of the season via free agency
Chaim got of K.Teel under a draft 1st (14) in catcher for abandonment from qualifying suggestion of Bogaerts.
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If did Bloom go after Verlander, you would to give of Rafaela (№2) that tears triple ААА and will be ready to the opening day 2024 and Walter (№8) AAA/MLB plus to add 20 million to СВТ and cross the first threshold barrier?
IMO, the amount you give up has to be consistent with your standing. For HOU and TX, finishing 1st is a huge deal. It means skipping a series. I’d like to make the playoffs, and would be will to give something up for it.
But there was a cost to adding Scherzer and Verlander, and neither one would’ve guaranteed anything for us.
JoeBrady
I agree with you.
We are not in that position to sacrifice Rafaela and by someone from top – 5 to fight for the last place of WC.
Many fans of Red Sox unfortunately don’t understand that it not 2018 a year and our window are only approached.
I already the third season in succession, I watch after our prospects and I’m impressed by progress of Rafaela that 2022 a year began in A+ and ААА tears this year, Anthony tears A+ (19 Y.o ), Hickey and York is good in double АА, W.Gonzalez prevails in double АА, Perales in A+, Murphy well made debut in MLB.
Casas, Bello, Duran, Crawford, Wong, Winckowski very well blended in this command.