The Red Sox have acquired catcher Tyler Heineman from the Mets, per announcements from both teams. The latter club, who designated Heineman for assignment earlier this week, receive cash considerations in return. The Sox designated right-hander Max Castillo for assignment in a corresponding move.
Heineman, 33, is a switch-hitting catcher with part-time exposure in the big leagues since his 2019 debut. He has appeared in 104 games over four campaigns combined, walking in just 7.1% of his plate appearances but striking out at just a 12.4% clip. He has just one home run in that time, leading to a batting line of .218/.297/.282.
He finished the 2023 season on the Blue Jays’ roster but was claimed off waivers by the Mets in December. He lasted almost two months with that club before being nudged off the roster when they signed Adam Ottavino.
His major league track record is limited but he’s generally produced intriguing Triple-A results in a low-power, strikeout-dodging fashion. He’s stepped up to the plate 1,328 times at the Triple-A level and only has 23 homers in that time. But his 9.3% walk rate is fairly solid while his 15.1% strikeout rate is quite low. For reference, last year’s major league averages were 8.6% for walks and 22.7% for strikeouts. All of that has led to a line of .276/.350/.402.
Defensively, his track record is quite solid. Statcast considers him to be above average both in terms of throwing and blocking. Baseball Prospectus agrees and both outlets consider him to be a good pitch framer as well. The Sox have Connor Wong and Reese McGuire lined up to be their catching tandem in 2024, but Heineman still has one minor league option. That means he can be kept in Triple-A as depth until an injury creates a need at the big league level.
Castillo, 25 in May, has 59 2/3 innings of major league experience. He got those innings over the past two years, split between the Jays and the Royals. He has a 5.43 earned run average in that time, along with an 18.1% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 44.7% ground ball rate. He spent most of last year at Triple-A, posting an ERA of 4.58 in 116 innings at that level.
The Sox claimed him off waivers from the Royals a month ago but he’s now lost his roster spot a month later. Boston will have one week to work out a trade or try to pass him through waivers. He still has one option year remaining and could appeal to clubs looking for extra pitching depth.
tree2436
World Series. Queue the Duck Boats
deweybelongsinthehall
Max, we hardly knew you!
I.M. Insane
We didn’t want to know him.
Occams_hairbrush
Hahaha. What an original joke.
Fenway 1
Oh yeah!!! What a move!
Thec’s
I knew Theo would start shaking things up!
Baseball’s Topics on Baseball Today
It’s funny how Cash Considerations keeps getting traded, but never is a free agent. You’d think he’d have enough service time at this point to test the open market. Has he just been signing extensions we never hear about?
acoss13
He’s in the same boat as Player to be named later.
Salvi
PBNL is the Goat!
ibuititnoonecame
Thank god we got ourselves a Bull Pen catcher
Occams_hairbrush
yeah, because catcher depth isn’t important at all. We all know this,
ibuititnoonecame
You can have the CF catch when your 25 games back in July.
Boxscore
Best off season evah! Stop! Too many big upgrades coming too fast!! OMG do we have the best GM evah!!!!!!
bjhaas1977
So the Mets have claimed everything on the waiver wire and then traded them all for cash considerations. I’m going to add up the numbers for all of this when they are available.
Murphy NFLD
Yea im sure there are guys that get bought in the million plus range and then guys like tyler here that get sold for 10k-50k
mlb fan
There’s high class, $2500 night hookers and then there’s $50 specials.
BoJuBi
No a** worth 2500 a night lol
Jack Hoffman
What happened to blue baron and trumbo redux? They were my favs on here. Miss you guys.
olmtiant
But he needs someone to pitch to him… hmmm anyone know if ……
Liberalsteve
I just put 10,000 on the under for Red Sox wins. Even money at 79.5 wins
Occams_hairbrush
That’s fascinating.
What else have you done today?
C Yards Jeff
Hmm. Might have wanted to check in with your alter ego Conservativesteve before plunking down that cold hard cashhhh. Bold.
nonchalanto
Conservativesteve is cool with it because it’s somebody else’s “cold hard cashhhh”
soaktherich
You must really be hoping they don’t sign Montgomery…
Angry Disgruntled Sox Fan
Don’t we already have enough catchers? I said that last time and was told no, but now? Not sure I see why this is relevant unless it’s a Minor League deal. The last catcher we got I was told was Minor League depth.
Dorothy_Mantooth
He’ll start in AAA but he’s also taking up a spot on the 40-man roster. They have plenty of catching depth already and with Teel moving so fast, he could potentially see Fenway later this season. I don’t understand this move unless one of Wong or McGuire won’t be ready for opening day. If someone better is put on waivers, don’t be surprised in Heineman gets waived before opening day.
NewYorkSoxFan
Wong and McGuire aren’t too inspiring, average at best – not the type to make you leave that position group as is. That being said, when they were out last year we trotted out liabilities such as Caleb Hamilton and Jorge Alfaro. Heineman had the fastest pop time of any catcher last year and Roberto Perez is exceptional as well with the glove. If Wong and/or McGuire start slow or get hurt we now have options that can add a defensive element to our team rather than the options we trotted out last which added absolutely nothing.
Bobby smac9
Solid depth for Worcester, and they need bodies to catch during ST>
I.M. Insane
Can we call him Ty-Hei?
Jaa1968
Don’t we have enough catchers that can’t hit?
philsark94
FULL THROTTLE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Occams_hairbrush
Ahahaha, I was wondering who would write that this time.
Oh, how funny.
Mike Agogliati
Full throttle!!!!
Occams_hairbrush
Ahahaha, I was wondering who would write that this time.
Oh, how funny.
soxshortstop
Well it sure is going to be a battle for the “ultimate loser supremacy” award with these magnificent trades. whoop-de-doo!
its_happening
Someone might want to wake up the Jays front office because they currently sit with only 2 catchers on the 40-man. They’ll need to add to that at some point.
I.M. Insane
Orioles have Boo-Urns. But Sox have Heinie. Let the season begin!
baseballteam
Whew much needed. Now they have catching depth – Wong, McGuire, Heineman, Perez, Scott, Gasper, Koloscvary and a few more.
baseballteam
Flip Heineman for Cease.
darkhorses2010
Hey, another catcher for Worcester. But that’s OK – Theo’s back involved. Excellent.
dantheman1997
I’m convinced that Castillo is this years lewin Diaz
AardsmatoZupcic
Sox fan since 1975. Can’t remember looking forward to a season less than this one. Trying hard to summon a healthy level of indifference and apathy.
baseballguru
BOYCOTT REDSOX NATION ALL THINGS REDSOX until they spend we don’t…no games, no Mech, streaming, zip
Salvi
Lol, youre posting this at MLBTR. I doubt 10 tickets are sold to the “fans” here in a season. And no way they stop watching NESN, thats how they get their nightly rage on.