The Red Sox announced Tuesday that they’ve released first baseman Dominic Smith, whom they designated for assignment earlier in the week when reinstating fellow first baseman Triston Casas from the injured list.
Smith, 29, joined the Sox back in May after Casas went down with a rib fracture. He wound up appearing in 83 games and tallying 278 plate appearances with a .237/.317/.390 batting line. Smith smacked six homers and 20 doubles along the way while walking at a solid 9% clip and fanning at a 23.4% rate that’s a bit higher than the league average. By measure of wRC+, Smith was about 5% worse than a league-average bat at the plate during his time with the BoSox.
From a defensive standpoint, Smith is something of a mixed bag. Defensive Runs Saved had him as a positive last year but pegs him at -2 in 2024. Statcast’s Outs Above Average has had him slightly above-average in each of the past three seasons but below-average in his career overall. It’s fair to suggest Smith has improved his glovework over the years, but he’s still not a standout defensive player at his position.
Drafted 11th overall by the 2013 Mets, Smith was a longtime top prospect and looked to be making good on that billing in 2019-20, when he slashed .299/.366/.571 with 21 homers in a combined 139 games and 396 plate appearances.
After that strong showing, however, Smith’s offense has cratered. He admitted after the fact that he tried to play through a small tear in the labrum of his right shoulder during the 2021 season, which surely impacted his performance at the dish. An ankle injury in 2022 also hampered him. Overall, Smith carries a feeble .242/.312/.361 batting line in 1509 plate appearances since that 2019-20 showing, with this year’s stint in Boston standing as his most productive stretch in the four years since.
Why him and not dalbac? Old Boston coming alive?
Among other considerations, most importantly they needed a 26-man roster spot which dalbec did not hold.
GASox – Dom was offered a minor league contract with the Woosox, but turned it down.
FPG….Dom is probably salty they kept Dalbec. Dom did his job and shown he’s a backup 1st baseman and could start on some teams. He’s probably on the phone with the Mariners as we speak
He would be an improvement for the Mariners. They can move Raley back to the OF as part of a strong side platoon and part-time DH.
Dom will be at 6+ yrs of mlb service clock in his age 29/30 season by the time the year is up.
It’s not really a stretch to say he can reach 10.001 years of mlb service time by the time he hangs them up, which, for a guy of his profile and career earnings is a BIG get as far as vesting pension.
I can’t fault him for not taking a minor league pact yet and making that 10 year target harder to hit.
GASox – I was expecting him to do the same as Keller, explore free agency and then accept a minor league contract with the Red Sox after not receiving any MLB offers.
Never say never, but 5 teams in less than 2 years leads me to believe he is unlikely to reach that pension eligibility.
I’m not sure why people think this move had anything to do with Dalbec. Smith had no spot remaining on the active roster once Casas was ready, had no shot at any playing time, and couldn’t be optioned to AAA. This was the only move the team could make with him, DFAing him. Then he chose to become a free agent instead of accepting a spot in Worcester, most likely because he’s smart enough to see there’s no spot for him in Boston now or in the future.
Probably because Dalbec can play more positions.
All in – agreed, Dalbec is RH (which the Red Sox are short on), and he plays 1B, 3B, LF, RF, but most of all he has an option left. Dalbec can be sent to AAA. Smith is LH, which the Red Sox are very heavy on, and has no options.
All of the above but I still say anyone who watched Smith play the field has to appreciate his ABOVE AVERAGE glove in Boston. He was very good picking hotshots and poorly thrown balls. I would have kept him as insurance even though he’s a lefty. Not that it matters. This team is teetering on soon being under .500 by months end.
The crazy thing is the Red Sox are 4.5 games out of a Wild Card, but only 7.5 games behind the best record in the AL.
Yes but they can’t consistently win at home which makes the next two games in Houston must wins.
Dewey- Not winning at home is a classic trait of a young team in need of leadership in any sport. I’ve heard NBA players say when they are young players playing at home they be spending too much time in clubs and at parties the night before. Kobe Bryant once challenged the young players on the Lakers, he went out and partied hard with them til like 2am….Kobe went knocked on the doors of each one of them that wasn’t at the gym at 5am and asked them where were they? When they said hungover he said I was at that gym, you gonna get out worked by me? I might have more talent but that doesn’t mean you can’t out work me.
Chris Sale would of been the perfect man for this job on Boston. He cares about winning and doesn’t mind getting into a rookie for not being professional. That’s just another reason that trade looks hideous in hindsight
Excellent points.
But Chris Sale would HAVE been… There is no such thing as “would of been.” Ok, rant over.
Good post with good points.
He can come play 1B/DH for the White Sox. Sadly, a 94 OPS+ would be an improvement, not over Vaughn, but over their secondary option for those roles.
There’s no reason for the White Sox to sign him. They can lose 120 games and finish last with him or without him.
Dominic Smith would be the Mariners best hitter, sign him up !
Well, he would be in the top tier as far as batting average. He would help their horrible offense.
He’ll be here faster than you can say Yo! MTV Raps
But they would get some big Dom Smith moments…
Not an unreasonable move for a team trying to get in the Wildcard! He is nearing H Remember the Superfan eqation: The more haam and Eggers play,the closer they come to their average of being average. I learned my word salads from the cuam And Egger minus rating!
Sorry for the poor typing. i tried to delete it when my corrections were not taken!
Held his own.
Bobby – So did Reese McGuire.
Fever, did you see what Ort is doing?
ignorant – Not since he mowed down my Sox, but with relievers being highly volatile it honestly doesn’t surprise me. Good for him, hopefully he can keep it up. I couldn’t stand how he pitched in Boston, but I’ve never had anything against him.
Fever, I’ve been against the McGuire jokes because of when it happened but you did make me laugh.
Fever, you hit the nail on the head with ‘volatile’ but I’d also add “sample size…”
He’s had 3 games vs the rays (2nd worse offense behind CWS) amd a game against the, you guessed it, CWS. Other than that he faces the slumping Sox, PIT, MIA, and then his first appearance of the year against MIN.
Now. Again, reliever, so it’s not like going through the heart of the li eups either.
Not to take away from providing useful innings, and, not to take away from HOU’s knack for unlocking stuff in throwers. But I’m going to reserve judgment somewhat before considering him as having really found something.
dewey – Good to hear, laughing is always a good thing!
I do try to stay away from them, but sometimes it’s difficult. LOL
GASox – Excellent points as always, thanks for the info! Taking into consideration the competition, whether it be player or team, is always a big factor IMO.
Speaking of, I recently looked at the Royals schedule and discovered they have a very tough stretch of games coming up …. 20 straight against the Phillies, Yankees, Twins, Guardians and Astros!! Gives me hope, at least for the next couple weeks.
Fever, this team is right about where I thought they’d be, unless they go on a crazy win streak to close the season. If they get to around 92 wins that would have exceeded my expectations by a bit.
How crazy is it that Sale acted as a plague carrier to Atlanta? He’s finally healthy and back to form, but, he’s infected the team with injuryitis and even gave it to grissom as they
Passed by eachother at the door!
GASox – And don’t forget Gelato! He melted under Sale’s injuryitis faster than a scoop of spumoni in Bahston Common on a hot summah day!
He could’ve started for the Tigers, this year.
Should read: Red Sox Release Luis Garcia.
let – Sox have to hold onto him as long as they have a shot at the postseason.
Cora must use him in the postseason, it’s a requirement (see Robles, Hansel).
Sox have as much a shot at the post-season as Denis Menke has for the Hall of Fame.
let – Good namedrop, I had to look that one up!
Decent HR hitter. Only reason I knew of Menke was from my old baseball game using a spinner where the HR size was fairly big for Menke (by the time he was on the A’s winning team in the early 70s, he was already past his prime. Does anyone remember that game? I think it was called All Star Baseball.
dewey, I had All Star Baseball! Got it as a birthday gift in 1968. Played it religiously until 1971 when I switched to APBA.
let – You guys are lucky, I grew up poor and so all I had was a lousy Mattel.
Whenever I swung and got a hit, it would beep based on how many bases I should take …. one beep for single, two for double, three for triple.
Sometimes I would have a fast runner like Jerry Remy and stretch a double into a triple, or a triple into a homerun.
But more often that not it would trick me, like two beeps but I’d get thrown out between first and second because I had a super slow Rich Gedman running.
And I was like Rafaela, I swung at everything. LOL
Never even heard of a game like that, Fever. All Star Baseball was fun but completely based on the hitter. You could have Bob Gibson on the mound or Larry Jaster and they’d have the same (lack of) effectiveness.
I liked Smith and appreciate the work he did for the Sox. However, I don’t think there was any reason to keep him, because he is limited to first base. I hope he catches on with another team.
Most overrated stadium in sports.
The man is a lights-out relief pitcher. Name the park after him!
Nate Lowe isn’t that much better than him.
He did a nice job for us. Hope he catches onto another team.
I would’ve kept him in the bullpen. Can’t be worse than Lucas Sims
Sims has surprised me. Not in a good way. I thought the Sox made a smart deal getting him. Guess not.
Look at his FIP the last three years. He was never good. Dumbest deal of the deadline
A poor man’s James Loney
Todd – Loney got traded for 12-time-AllStars Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford, and Adrian Gonzalez.
Dom probably wouldn’t have gotten even Cavan Biggio from the Dodgers. LOL
Haha true but it was a pure salary dump for the Sox