The Red Sox have placed right-hander Kaleb Ort on outright waivers, reports Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). The team will presumably wait until the waiver process is resolved before announcing the move.
Ort finished the regular season on the 60-day injured list, as he didn’t pitch after July 4 because of elbow inflammation. There is no IL over the offseason. The Sox would’ve needed to reinstate Ort onto the 40-man roster within five days of the conclusion of the World Series. They’ve decided against doing so.
There’ll likely be an indication within a day or two whether another team placed a claim. In either case, his time in the organization is likely coming to a close. Ort would have the requisite service time to declare minor league free agency at the start of the offseason even if he goes unclaimed.
Boston acquired Ort from the Yankees over the 2020-21 offseason in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft. The Aquinas College product pitched in parts of three seasons for the Sox, tallying 51 2/3 innings through 47 MLB appearances. He worked to a 6.27 ERA with slightly worse than average strikeout (20.9%) and walk (10.2%) rates. He consistently fared better in the minors, posting a sub-3.00 ERA in parts of three years at Triple-A Worcester. That included a 2.88 mark across 40 2/3 frames for the WooSox in 2022, when Ort punched out an impressive 31.5% of opposing hitters.
Bout time
Pool – Wouldn’t be surprised if Ort signs with Tampa or the Dodgers and they immediately turn him around like they did with my man Brasier.
FPG if dodgers sign Ort it will be the second coming of whettland and Mo!!!…. Wait Brais is a Fa after this year!!! Powerball or Brais back to Sox…. About the same odds….
For every player who turns it around after leaving a club, there’s usually a similar player who was lost before but shines with that same club that lost the other player. Most of the time it’s only short spurts. Brazier will be lost again in my view.
Way past time. Every time he was handed the ball out of the bullpen you knew something bad was going to happen
It finally happened. I never thought I’d actually see the day.
The team needs spots to protect young players from the Rule V draft. I don’t know how many will be eligible but I’m guessing more releases will follow. It happens every year with clubs that have a deep farm, which Boston now has.
Why is Kennedy making moves like this rather than hiring a replacement for Bloom. Sure it’s highly likely this would have happened when the new GM is hired but why not get the new GM and let them shape the roster?
Kennedy is more of a problem and a solution. Do CEO things not GM things. Let the new GM do his job and recommend changes to the roster.
I guess you never were able to make Assistant Manager at Arbys. The reason? You really think that the Red Sox President and CEO is spending his time making decisions involving the 40-man roster.
PKCasimir – Tell me Mr. Assistant Manager at Arby’s, do you not comprehend that this was a decision made by CEO since the spot below him that normally does this is vacant?
There has always been a process in place for making transactions.
1 – Somebody suggests a transaction to the GM
2 – The GM discusses it with his team
3 – If agreed upon the transaction is passed to the POBO if they are not one in the same person.
4 – The POBO presents it to board if the amount of money involved is over a pre-determined decision making level. IF not, then the POBO decides. In this case the CEO.
So
1 – Who suggested the transaction
2 – Who processed the transaction and got consensus
3 – Who submitted to Kennedy – the acting POBO?
4 – Why didn’t Kennedy turn it down and put a halt on all proposed transactions while the executive committee searches for the new POBO.
I can understand why you think Arby’s works like the Red Sox organization!!
That makes perfect sense!! hahaha
Yes, in the absence of a GM/POBO I do believe it’s up to the CEO to manage the transactions. If he assigned someone to handle transactions then I think he should explain why he’s not waiting until the new POBO is selected.
im assuming there’s enough voices left in the FO to determine Bloom’s guy has to go. Ort stinks
They have interim positions filled for a reason or collective heads make the call. This happened to be an easy one. He’ll end up in someone’s minor league system the trouble with a guy like that is you don’t know if you can trust their minor league success enough to call him up to the show when his splits between the two are so drastic. Maybe a rebuilding team picks him up and eventually brings him up in hopes they can fix him to flip him. Otherwise he’s a hard pass for me
seth – Who did it is an easy question. Why they did it prior to hiring the POBO is the one that shows things are still out of control. Much like when the 3 worthless interim GMs tried to run the ship after DD was fired, this move just shows things haven’t changed. It’s total chaos in the Front Office and ownership is busy with more important matters or are they?
The organization appears to be on auto pilot and the plane has no direction.
Just a couple of things.
I’m not sure what Kennedy does, but nothing he ever says sounds insightful.
But in regard to the new GM making this decision, almost definitely, but maybe they decided that they won’t have a GM hired by the end of the WS+5.
And is this one of those things where no one will claim him and we can add him back to our AAA team? He’s a lot Darwinzon, where he has talent, but can’t control it.
Joe – This is the sort of decision Bloom would have had final say on. He was the POBO. Therefore it will be the new POBO, not the new GM, making these types of decisions going forward.
And the POBO position will be filled before the GM position, but no announcements can be made until after the WS at the earliest.
That’s what I said. If no one is hired until after the WS, then the Ort decision will not be handled by the new person. So they can make the decision now. They aren’t waiting on anyone.
Joe – I completely agree. My earlier post I was just disagreeing with your belief the GM will make final decisions such as this.
Someone had to. Basically the question was, would you have a PBO/GM in place within 5 days after the world series?
If you expect no, then you’ve got to put the roster in order vis a vis making room to reinstate Ort or putting things in motion for him to elect FA.
They elected the latter.
GASox – Agreed, business must still carry on until the new POBO is in place.
Little known fact, the Mota/Beckett/Lowell trade was made without a GM because it was after Theo had departed and before he came back 80 days later.
It was actually Bill Lajoie who spearheaded the trade that brought another championship to the Red Sox in 2007. But of course some people mistakenly give Theo credit for the trade, even though he had absolutely nothing to do with it.
No chance Theo makes that trade. I loved the trade when it was made, but in retrospect, I wouldn’t make it again. Beckett was a disappointment to me.
Loved Lowell though.
Joe – Beckett won them a WS in 2007, that alone made the trade worthwhile. Yes longterm he was disappointing, but I’d still make the trade. And Lowell wasn’t even wanted, he was just a throw-in salary dump. His performance in Boston was far better than anyone anticipated.
I dont see Kennedy mentioned in this artcle…are you assuming again troll?
Pool – I have no idea why you are being a dick but here is your answer.
There is a corporate structure. You can look it up if you don’t believe me. The positions of GM & POBO are vacant. The POBO reports to the CEO/President who is Kennedy. There is an approval process for all transactions and that is owned by the missing POBO. Is it an assumption that in the absence of the person responsible for the transactions the person above them becomes responsible? You tell me. Does the Red Sox organization work differently than all other companies? I assumed it didn’t. Not much of a leap to think the responsibility matrix is like other companies. If Kennedy allocated the task to someone else then it’s still his decision to be accountable for but someone else is doing the legwork.
Is that clear enough?
It appears the reporter was focused on the transaction and not so much on the why it’s happening when there is no POBO or GM. If Kennedy has assigned one of the hundred a fifty executive vice presidents to do the job of handling all transactions that’s great except it undermines the new POBO.
Lol thanks you made my day…”troll” lololol
Some moves are obvious. My blind Great Aunt would cut Ort. He sucks.
@everyone, this would have been O’Halloran. He is the asst POBO, which is just a title right now. In reality, he and the 3 amigos are making the calls until a replacement is hired.
It is how they operated when the other gms/popbos left.
Btw, I say 3 amigos because I don’t know what you call 3 assistant gm who aren’t called assistant gm anymore, but are still assistant gms. Just like O’Halloran is still the gm who isn’t called a gm, but he is still doing the effing gm job.
god’s i hate corporate structure
DHB = So you are saying this was done without Kennedy’s approval? My point is that Kennedy is ultimately responsible for the POBO so if he chose 1 or all the clowns with the incorrect titles to discuss the situation and decide that’s great but accountability is still on the CEO and owners.
We keep talking like transactions don’t need to be approved by the ownership team or the President but I’m pretty sure they do. If O[Halloran was assigned the task or simply stepped forward and declared it his he still must get permission to make the transaction. The purse strings have the final say.
@Troll, I think the day to day decisions are being made by the AGMs with approval from the APoBO, O’Halloran. I don’t think Kennedy clearing waivers. He will need to okay money, though. Kennedy has trusted these 4 for years. Perhaps Bllom is gone because he didn’t listen to them. He is fired, the other 4 promoted.
Well first Brais now Ort( glad I got to see his First and maybe only save ever)..
olmtiant – I hope you saved the ticket stub from that September 29, 2022 game against the O’s!!!
Fun fact think it was Nate’s last game for us… last home for sure!!!Jd’s 2 run bomb… last game I’ve seen… just sad you know who didn’t get in… the good Lord had other plans so I could tell the Ort story over and over…Lol!!! Was nearly castrated by foul ball by Mullins down left field line… was sitting with fam in section bar stools and table in front … Mullins hits slicing foul coming right towards me .. I try to get up .. catch my 15 in the foot rest fall back as ball hits UNDER table I’m on my rear against wall foot still tangled thinking God I hope I didn’t shred my knee up … wife and daughter concerned but lol … I’m thinking okay I’m fine but this is gonna be on Tv… recorded game before we left… no such luck as camera did not follow ball into stands…FPG I swear I can’t make this Crap up..
Olmtiant – You’re Kramer! Haha!
Now get rid of Llovera
The day I have always feared would come has now arrived. No more Ort jokes.
Kaleb Ort, a Blue Jays batter’s best friend.
Ort vs TOR, career: 28 PA, .462/.500/.539/1.039, 20.77 ERA
I just call them my daddy
Oh god. No. Please. No. Say it ain’t so.
I hope another team claims him!
I’m a big fan of Kaleb Ort’s ‘Angels and Archways’ clothing line.
I assumed that this was Brian O’Halloran’s doing. After all, he’s not going to be making personnel decisions once a new CBO or PoBo is hired, so I imagine he’s happy to do what he can now. As for Ort, he was a good minor league Rule 5 pickup–unfortunately, he seems to have been a Quad A player in the long run. He got a lot of leash (rope?) because he can hit 100 mph, alone among the Sox relievers, but it couldn’t be reined in to actually work against batters. As someone mentioned above, it wouldn’t at all be a surprise to see a team that fixes pitchers make something of Ort.
Ort was picked in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft, meaning his former team felt there were 80 players worth protecting ahead of him. Rule 5 players rare succeed in the MLB. Secondary phase Rule 5 players rarely even sniff the coffee at the MLB level. At 31 and 6+ career ERA, I would not expect anything from Ort other than a few more years in AAA as emergency depth on a bad team like Oakland.
Maybe Ort is an impostor and actually one of those guys in yellow vests who lays tar in the roadway…. And not a professional athlete..
He can hit 100 on the radar gun, albeit without much control. That’s pretty athletic.
He’ll get a shot someplace else.
Finally clearing house of all these Bloom clowns.
I get it… pretty brutal… but Nation get ready for Brasier 2.0 next year… hopefully to a team we don’t face often…. We’re the only team that could have an awesome pitcher and then turn him into a brutal outfielder and mess it all up for a long time…………..
Pretty fun to see the final four
Texas – A team that got a great GM and turned it around in 2 years
Houston – A quality team best known for it’s cheating but with lots of talent
Philly – DD does it again
Arizona – Knocking off the lame Dodgers is awesome.
It was so refreshing to hear people on the MLB channel finally questioning Friedman’s approach. He gets far more credit for their success than he deserves and if it wasn’t for a shortened season and stealing Mookie that team would have ZERO rings since 1989. Much like the Yankees who continue with the over-rated Cashman who hasn’t won in over a decade but still is considered like Friedman to be a top GM. I believe they both suck at their jobs but they please all the fans that don’t care about winning and just care that they are close every year. It’s like TB. Close but no cigar. Boston needs a GM who cares about winning not just being in the hunt every year. Participation trophies are for teams like LAD, NYY and TB. Lots of chest thumping but no trophies.
Phillies vs the Rangers is my hope. What a series that would be. Both cities in search of a Ring for the first time in decades and both teams with new top notch GMs and very talented rosters. Everything Boston needs.
youtu.be/GZQqLlkfRZU
Watch the master of control on his best pitches with the Sox. He may not have movement, or much of an idea where it is going, but these are his best moments, and he actually hits the mitt on nearly 50% of them.