The Red Sox activated Vaughn Grissom from the 10-day injured list today and optioned the infielder to Triple-A, a move that The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey reported the team was considering last week. Grissom hasn’t played in the majors since June 1 due to a right hamstring strain, adding to his troubled first season in Boston. Between this injury and a left hamstring strain in Spring Training, Grissom has been limited to 23 Major League games, and a dismal .148/.207/.160 slash line in 87 plate appearances.
Some kind of decision was required since Grissom’s 20-day minor league rehab assignment was up tomorrow, but his .604 OPS in 58 Triple-A PA during that assignment didn’t exactly force Boston’s hand for a promotion. Even as the Sox continue to look for answers at second base, Grissom will need to perform better to earn another call-up, and it remains to be seen when (or even if) he might be back in the majors before 2024 is over.
More from both the AL and NL East…
- Ranger Suarez has been on the Phillies’ 15-day injured list since July 24, and manager Rob Thomson told Lochlahn March of the Philadelphia Inquirer and other reporters that Suarez isn’t expected back until after the end of the Phils’ next homestand (August 13-18). Suarez does appear to be making decent progress in his recovery from lower-back soreness, as he threw a 36-pitch bullpen session today. Perhaps another bullpen session and at least one live batting-practice session will be in order, and Suarez’s return could be delayed a bit longer if the Phillies opt to send him on a minor league rehab assignment. The left-hander was arguably the best pitcher in baseball over the first three months of the season before his back problems started to surface, and Suarez struggled to a 7.71 ERA in his last 21 innings prior to his IL placement.
- Anthony Volpe fouled a ball off his left foot during a plate appearance in the second inning of tonight’s 9-4 Yankees loss to the Angels, and the shortstop was eventually forced out of the game in the eighth inning. Manager Aaron Boone told the New York Post’s Greg Joyce and other reporters that x-rays were negative and Volpe just received a contusion, though more will be known in the coming days if Volpe will need to miss any time. Volpe has an exactly average 100 wRC+ over 516 PA this season, with a lot of streakiness baked into a .257/.304/.410 slash line. The second-year player has been hot at the plate recently and is still delivering standout defense at shortstop, so the Yankees can only hope the injury isn’t serious.
- It was a similar story for Rays outfielder Josh Lowe, as x-rays were also negative on Lowe’s right knee after he fouled a ball off himself in the first inning of tonight’s game. Lowe was in enough discomfort that he couldn’t take the field for the bottom of the first, but his injury was also deemed a contusion. A pair of oblique strains have already sent Lowe to the IL twice this season, and he has hit .236/.296/.410 over 213 plate appearances thus far in 2024, playing almost exclusively against right-handed pitchers.
- The Marlins made several trades during their pre-deadline selloff, and the deal that sent Bryan De La Cruz to the Pirates drew some “disagreement and discussion internally,” according to The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson and Craig Mish. De La Cruz isn’t arbitration-eligible until this coming offseason and is now under the Pirates’ control through 2027, but the Marlins’ analytics department wasn’t impressed by his long-term potential, “and a belief that De La Cruz wasn’t going to be a starter [in Miami] when the team is ready to contend.” The Fish also had a particular interest in prying right-hander Jun-Seok Shim away from Pittsburgh, as Shim’s spin rates and pitching arsenal impressed Miami evaluators. A Marlins source told Jackson/Mish that the team isn’t concerned about the shoulder issue that has thus far kept Shim from pitching in 2024.
Grissom had no spring training and has only had 22 AAA games so far. It is not surprising he needs some more time in AAA to get back into shape.
They need to let him play out the season at Worcester and then maybe some winter ball to make up for all of the lost playing time and come back to spring training with a fresh start.
Grissom has at least one hit in 10 of the 13 AAA games he has played in since the June 1st injury which is pretty good. The hits have mostly been singles.
A .604 OPS in AAA is not very good, and his exit velocities have been below what Sogard was doing. Sogard is also considered the better defender
Grissom had a .900+ OPS in AAA in 2023, so he has more ability than this. When he gets back to that level (maybe next year) then he should get another chance.
tff17: In 22 games at AAA this year, Grissom has a line of .259/.362/.333 which is an OPS of .695, but had a stretch of .604 OPS during his recent 13 game rehab assignment. This rehab assignment came after not playing for a month and a half, so it was basically like spring training for him. He had a .921 OPS last year in 102 AAA games. So, agreed he should return to a much higher level.
Rsox, the Red Sox already stated last week or the week before that they were going to do that. Stick him in AAA and leave him there rather than bring him up into the hot fire of a pennant race.
i think he needs to spend the off season with Pedy and Story and become a good defender. Baring that they should trade him and get something in return.
“De La Cruz wasn’t going to be a starter [in Miami] when the team is ready to contend.” What alternate Marvel universe is this? The Marlins are never ready to contend.
They were “ready” until a slew of bad decision making, which started right after their season ended last year torpedoed the whole thing. The injuries to the starting rotation didn’t help…
They were “ready” until a slew of bad decision making,
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They weren’t really ‘ready’. They had a Py W/L of 75-87, and their top 5 WAR SPs, primarily due to injuries, have combined for 7 wins and a 0.9 bWAR this year.
And I am not seeing any bad moves.
Rsox – That is what’s so frustrating about this season, they decided to punt on it before it even began …. and they did it merely for financial gain.
If they had just gotten the SP help they knew they needed, or better yet kept their Cy Young HOF SP instead of trading him, they’d be firmly in the postseason right now. Imagine if they didn’t go cheap on Imanaga and Lugo, and Teoscar too who actually revealed the insulting offer made to him by the Red Sox!
As for injuries to the starting rotation, they’ve had one significant injury …. Whitlock. It pales in comparison to the list of excellent SP on other teams that have been injured for an extended period of time.
Just look at this weekend’s opponent ….. Verlander, McCullers, Javier, Urquidy …. that’s nearly their entire starting rotation!!!! Not to mention star reliever Graveman and superstar Tucker.
We cannot complain about injuries when other teams have experienced far worse.
In this particular thread we were talking about the Marlins. However, i agree and things could be drastically better than they are. But would they be as fun to watch if it wasn’t the “Youth Sox” show right now?
Rsox – My apologies. As for the Marlins, I do think forcing out Ng was a factor in their downward spiral this season.
That’s because he’ll be retired by then.
Well the Pirates are never ready to contend either so he should fit right in
De La Cruz is just not that good. Not much defense value and he has one plus tool and that’s his pop. That’s not even plus plus. I think they made a great move getting an interesting P prospect for him.
Ranger is left handed…..
Hopefully these guys aren’t on the Kyle Tucker timeline of only needing a week off due to a foul ball contusion.
Yeah, where did Tucker go? The Shadow Realm?
He was banished by the evil Pegasus into the shadow realm indeed. He just didn’t trust in the heart of the cards enough 🙁
If only Tucker had his trusted Dark Magician to bail him out of a tough spot
If only he drew Pot of Greed, which would have allowed him to draw two additional cards from his deck
LMAO at the Marlins dealing for spin rate.
They seem to really miss Ng…
Hard to believe (if the rumors are true) that she turned down an interview for the RS GM job.
Perhaps they pre-paid for unlimited UCL surgeries and want to get their money’s worth.
I think Marlins moving De La Cruz was the right move. He a replacement level player that isn’t a very good outfielder regardless of having a strong arm. Plus he’s not a good baserunner
De la cruz will be non tendered well before 2027
De la Cruz already fits in perfectly with the Buc’s lackluster offense going 3 for his first 29 plate appearances with 9 strikeouts
Sale for Grissom. Yorke for Priester. Breslow is gonna have some splainin’ to do, Lucy.
If Grissom never plays for the Red Sox again, it has to go down as one of the worst trades in MLB history. Sale leads the league in ERA and Wins, 2nd in K’s, had a $20M team option for next season, and the Red Sox are paying $17M of his salary. Horrendous trade.
Bryan De La Cruz has always been a below average hitter and player, but I had no problem with the Pirates acquiring him for peanuts at the deadline. However, anyone with common sense would assume he was acquired to be a part-time/bench player and hit around 7th in the lineup. Shelton starts him every game and bats him cleanup or 5th. Someone make it make sense.
Until the Pirates fire Shelton and Haines, they’ll never compete. At least this last week’s disaster outed Shelton as a fraud to his last remaining supporters in the media. Every loss except one you can point the finger primarily at him. This mini-collapse is probably worth it in the long-run if it gets Shelton and Haines fired.
I’m a fan of both teams. Sale has been one of the few bright spots for Atlanta’s season. So far, that trade is looking lopsided, but I like Grissom’s bat, if he gets healthy.
slow – He’s got a career .643 OPS in just 87 games, he hasn’t exactly shown anything yet. And he’s trending downward, his second year with the Braves was a lot worse than his first.
Yeah I was mostly just trying to be nice. I did see some flashes of pop when he first got called up, but haven’t seen much from his since. His play at SS was atrocious. If Sale keeps pitching well, it’s a very lopsided trade.
Boston could have pushed themselves over the top…..had they only called Detroit and fleeced Harris.
Prospects are only prospects until they prove it.
Option 2 for Grissom (Braves used 1 in 2023). He’ll be out of options if he is sent down next year and his already diminishing value will further erode.
I saw him play 3 times in AAA last year. He will not make it as a middle infielder. I think Red Sox fans should lump him with Dalbec and have zero expectations.
Option 2 is not definite *YET*. The option is only spent if the player spends 20+ days in the minors. If they call him back up in the last week of August, then he will go into 2025 with two options remaining.
That said, he isn’t a player where I care deeply about the options. He doesn’t have enough defensive flexibility to be suitable as a bench player, unlike Meidroth or Sogard who can go up and down for a few years as the team needs. The Red Sox will surely know by the end of 2025 whether Grissom is the answer at 2B or not.
The trade of Sale was inevitable he just wasn’t working in Boston for whatever reason. It would have been interesting to see how he would have done under the new pitching coaches.
This idea that the Red Sox don’t have any pitching prospects is asinine and is just parroting the so called experts. While it might be true they don’t really have any help this year and the upper minors might not be flush especially after Perales going down but they do have Fitts in AAA he’s pitching pretty well especially lately. They have Sandlin in AA Portland he is really rounding into form. He has really good stuff he’s a legit starting pitching prospect. There’s also Dobbins in AA he’s probably more of an up and down option as a starter but he throws strike and he has a legit starters pitch mix. I will be really interested to see what the lab does with him this offseason. The real pitching talent is down in Greenville and below. In Greenville you have ERC, Paez, Monegro, and I also like Noah Deans stuff. In Salem I’m very intrigued with Juan Valera he just turned 18 he’s in Salem and he has yet to give up an earned run he throws mid 90’s with heavy sink, which is a theme with all the pitching prospects brought in by Bloom. He’s very young but he’s a good pitching prospect with a starters pitching mix as an 18 year old. Speaking of young another prospect I’m really exciting about is Dalvinson Reyes the first international pitcher that Breslow has signed he’s got huge upside he 6’5 200 pounds with huge fastball projection and three other quality pitches oh and even at 17 he’s a strike thrower.
There are other intriguing pitchers as well mostly in the lower minors but the point is the Red Sox have pitching coming and under the tutelage of Breslow’s team of Willard, Body etc I have never been more confident in the pitching this org has coming. That’s just the pitchers the position side is even more loaded this is a top 5 farm in baseball maybe higher and the experts are going to figure that out soon.
Bruin – I hope you’re right! I do think when people say the Sox have no pitching prospects, they mean pitchers who could help them now and in the near future.
The Red Sox are known for wasting a lot of time, effort, money and prospects acquiring pitchers from other organizations. It’s kind of ironic that John Henry forced out Dombrowski because John wanted to run the team like the Rays, and yet 5 years later the Sox still are doing the exact opposite of what the Rays do for pitching.
Yeah, I mentioned Sandlin, ERC, and Valera above. Am really intrigued by those three. Plus Tolle is a big arm. And Perales. And Fitts has looked a lot sharper, as you mention, over the last three starts.
Add that to Houck, Crawford, and Bello, who are each around for 3+ more years, and I think you’ve got a rotation? Giolito already signed for next year. Priester ought to be taking his crack at the majors. Fitts is basically ready, when there is an opening for him. Plus Criswell, who isn’t half bad as a depth arm!
I’m thinking people haven’t been paying attention to what Breslow has done?
tff176 hours ago
I’m thinking people haven’t been paying attention to what Breslow has done?
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It’s real early for this, but I am loving the Fitts & Sandlin for Verdugo & Schreiber..
Troll, I base my educated guesses on what I see on the field and his stuff. The fact is no one knows for sure about a prospect and some of these prospects will flame out but some won’t it’s the nature of the game. I’m using ERC for an example when I first saw him he he stood as a skinny teenager he was 6’ 3 and couldn’t weigh more then a 160. He wasn’t very impressive physically but the first thing I noticed was the quality of the off speed pitches the swing and miss that was generated and the amount of sink that his fastball had. When I saw the kid the next season, last season his fastball had gained little velocity and he was still very thin. I saw an interview he did at the end of last season talking about how in the off-season he was going to add strength and velocity this off-season. We fast forward to this season now he’s weighing 185:pounds and he’s sitting at 95 and teaching 98 with heavy sink now he’s a prospect. Here’s the thing barring an injury he has more projection for velocity it would not surprise me at all if he ends up sitting at 97 and reaching triple digits with at least three other pitches he throws a good curveball, a decent change, and a slider that has improved. He has a starters pitch mix. Imo the key to ERC is changeup he has the loose arm action to develop a good change. If I’m Breslow I send him to the DR this off-season to work with Pedro on his changeup. If he develops that pitch sky is the limit for that kid.
Here’s another thing I do while watching a game in the minors regardless is he the best pitcher on the field and what do the announcers from the other team say about him. In ERC case he’s clearly almost always the better pitcher with better stuff and the others teams announcers typically talk about how it’s going to be rough day for there hitters. Does the kid standout? These are questions you have to ask when you watch a minor leaguer. How will the kid adjust as he climbs the ladder? No one really knows but you can scout the stuff in a pitcher and you can scout the demeanor on the mound the presence and the likelihood that he progresses. Is the kid maxed out does he have no more projection? Can he throw strikes? Can he reach back when he gets in trouble on the mound. These are all things that you can watch, if you watch the games , and see for yourself. How do the opposing batters react after they’re at bat so many things to watch.
I’m just using ERC as an example. When 18 year Juan Rivera toes the rubber in Salem he’s clearly the best pitcher on the mound. When Yordanny Monegro is throwing that 12-6 curve it’s clearly a big league caliber curve ball. When David Sandlin comes out and throws his 98 mph heat and his slider it’s clearly swing and miss stuff. There are things that just stand out when you watch. I will say this no one knows for sure about 99% of these prospects some will regress and never make it some will get injured and never make it. The point is all we can do is watch and take educated guesses. Of course there’s not any Paul Skenes but there’s only one of him he’s a generational pitcher he went #1 in a very deep draft for a reason.
I think you’re a smart baseball man but your vitriol for Bloom clearly clouds your judgement. It’s like anything that happened in the Bloom days is bad and was disaster. You clearly Don’t watch minor league baseball so you look at stats and scout a stat line. If you do that then you might come to conclusion that Anthony isn’t having a very good year and he is regressing. If you watch you can easily tell they are trying to get him to add loft and take advantage of his incredible power. He could go up and continue to hit 50 plus percent of his balks on the ground and continue to dazzle with a higher average but here’s the thing he’s not a burner and those ground balls turn into outs at a much higher rate in the bigs then in the minors so it’s fools gold. They need him to add loft and take advantage of his raw plus power. If you just scouted the stat line on Casas coming up you would come to the conclusion he’s overrated, if you actually watched him you would realize that’s not the case. My point don’t always scout the stat line you have to put eyes on these kids.
You say KD17 is a smart baseball man but if his vitriol for bloom clouds his judgement then how smart is he really? I think dombrowski is overrated but I’d never use that as a reason to trash on players on the Red Sox who or suggest that they are somehow not as good because of who drafted or signed them.
He said tollfree is smart because he is a lot smarter than the morons here who say the dumbest things like nobody wanted to keep sale and sale had no value its total crap and they say breslow wants to win and they say Keller is a good signing how pathetic in a game the convicted cheater Cora says is important he uses Keller in a 1 run game you need to stop and listen to tollfree he know baseball he probably a former manager
your analysis deserves being dismissed because it goes from downright wrong to bat poop crazy especially when it comes to players brought in by bloom. Also if your opinion is the outlier vs the experts then chances are you’re the one who’s wrong (and the condescending moron) not them.
no KD 17 isn’t smart and neither are you and neither his nor your opinions are rooted in any kind of fact or analysis. In fact you’re nothing more than a less articulate version of him and also lashing out at people smarter than you.
Troll you know what I thought about not replying to you but you have to know by now it’s not in my nature.
You Don’t watch minor league games that’s very clear to me. It’s also clear to me and anyone that reads your posts your vitriol against anything Bloom clouds your judgement. Mayer has the highest average in the Eastern League, a very difficult league to hit in I might add, he’s slashing .307/..370/.480 his k percentage is below 20% he makes hard contact, he’s controlling the strike zone well, there’s literally not one person that makes a living rating prospects who doesn’t rate him a top 20 prospect in baseball. Then there’s you who says he sucks why in this case it’s certainly not the stat line or is it because Bloom drafted him so he sucks.
You’re predictable and quite amusing to me if it’s a DD guy he’s great if it’s Bloom guy he’s terrible. I got news for you Bloom’s regime did a good job of stocking the farm and that will show itself over the next several years and willing to bet that. All we have is our opinions yours are based on solely on stats you think you can look at a stat page and say whether a guy sucks or not. I got news for you in the minors it doesn’t work that way but you continue with your simple minded approach it works for a simple mind.
Was I wrong about Downs yes I was there’s no guaranty in baseball but I als said Devers would hit when we’re crying about why Chavis wasn’t getting an opportunity when I was saying watch him he can’t hit the high fastball. I also said that Casas would hit anyone that actually watched him and didn’t just scout the stat line could see that but you just want to say he made adjustments well duh he did that every level in the minors he almost always started slowly I was that for years then he adjusted and when he started to rake they moved him up then the process started over. He did this throughout the minors but you would know that if you bothered to watch.
I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong but you aren’t it’s funny actually. I’m looking forward to your retort but I’m not going away I never will . I’ll refute your simple mindedness till you block me but I’m never going away. I do think you understand baseball decently when you actually watch the game but your biases limit your takes on baseball but if you want to go on I’m here let’s go.
Mi Casas es tu Casas
Trollfree was “so smart” that he offered to re-sign Vazquez, convulsed that Bloom let goChavis and Benintendi , that the Red Sox did not sign deGrom.
Bruin1012
You should get used to the idea that Trollfree considers himself the smartest on this site and when other users point out his mistakes, his butt burns.
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I enjoyed your post on the Red Sox pitching outlook, looks like minor league pitching will improve with Breslow and Bailey coming in.
I wouldn’t be surprised if in 2025 one of the pitchers you listed above makes it to the Major Leagues, be it Rodriguez, Monegro, Paez…
Start minors SP 2025
AAA:
Fitts, Dobbins, I.Coffey, Penrod, Gambrell
AA:
Sandlin, Monegro, Paez, Earley, Mullins
A+:
Rodriguez, Dean, Wehunt, Tolle, Neely
A:
Valera