The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves today. Catcher Connor Wong was placed on the injured list with Blake Sabol recalled, a pair of moves that were reported last night. They also made a move on the pitching side, recalling right-hander Josh Winckowski with fellow righty Robert Stock designated for assignment.
Stock, 35, was just added to Boston’s roster yesterday. The club had played a doubleheader on Sunday, with one of the two games going to extra innings. With the pitching staff fairly taxed, Stock was brought up to give them a fresh arm in case they needed someone to cover multiple relief innings.
That’s exactly what ended up happening, as the Sox were down 5-1 to the Blue Jays after seven innings last night. Stock mopped up the final two frames, allowing one earned run on a walk and three hits, with the Sox eventually losing 6-2. Perhaps Stock was not going to be available for tonight or tomorrow, so the Sox have bumped him off the roster and replaced him with Winckowski.
They will now have a maximum of one week of DFA limbo to see what’s next for Stock. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so Boston could potentially take five days to assess any trade interest. Last night’s performance was his first big league action since 2021. He spent 2022 pitching in Korea, 2023 in the minors and Indy Ball, then spent 2024 in Mexico.
Including last night’s game, he now has a 4.70 earned run average in 74 2/3 major league innings. For what it’s worth, he was quite good in Mexico over the past year. He posted a 3.38 ERA in 98 2/3 innings over 19 starts for Tecos de los Dos Laredos last year. He then stayed in Mexico for some winter ball, logging 84 1/3 innings over 14 starts for Naranjeros de Hermosillo with a 1.60 ERA. That led to a minor league deal with the Red Sox and yesterday’s return to the majors after a long absence.
Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images
Well that didn’t take long ….. looks like the Red Sox are day traders ;O)
And his stock went back down again… Damn tariffs!
Wait – Pump and dump!!!!
the Stock market has crashed!
smk – Not today! My stocks are up around 15-20% today alone …. manipulation at it’s finest. LOL
Saw the huge bump midday then after taking a breath, later it kept climbing. Great day fever !!
Gary – At least I had some pleasure during the day, until the game.
I mean come on …… I know you’re a big Cora fan, but he had nobody else to bring in for the 11th other than Winck? Chapman is EASILY their best strikeout reliever, he should NEVER have been used in the 9th with the score tied. I know Vlad was up first, so bring in someone else and walk him if you have to. In tie games Chapman should ALWAYS be saved for the 10th when his strikeouts are needed the most.
That’s not the worst of it though. Why didn’t Cora pinch hit for Hamilton in the 8th and 11th, who is batting .056 with a .161 OPS? In the 8th he had the go-ahead run at first base with nobody out ….. move him over with a bunt! Same thing in the 11th, ghost runner on second base with nobody out …. bunt him over for God’s sake!!! The announcers were practically pleading for him to bunt both times. And with his blazing speed and the Jays shaky defense, he probably could have reached base safely with a bunt.
That’s the sort of thing that really bugs me, Cora doesn’t give a damn about winning games in April.
At least Houck pitched great which was very encouraging to see. But it’s still the same old Red Sox, leading MLB with 126 Strikeouts and leading MLB with 12 errors. Nothing has changed.
I know I care too much, but after 50 years that’s not something I can change. LOL
I feel you brother.
Gary – I am so happy they finally signed Chapman, I just wish he had a manager that knew how to use him :O(
Looks like his Stock is dropping.
His stock never left the bottom. It never rose enough to drop. This is called buying a loss for tax purposes.., a 6-2 loss and it was beneficial for all. Ate a couple of innings for the team, he made some cash, everything reset the next day,
Gary – I respectfully disagree.
Lots of hype about how he greatly improved by transitioning to a side-arm slinger and had a 1.60 ERA in 84 innings over the winter in Mexico.
You don’t believe me? Read this:
mlb.com/news/robert-stock-journey-to-red-sox-sprin…
Like I said, this was another clear Red Sox pump-and-dump …. and the usuals bought it hook, line and sinker. LOL
I see what you’re saying fever, and yes, I believe you. You don’t have to provide back up with me.
I guess I wasn’t buying into the “pump” and didn’t think anyone else would be given his previous track record?
I thought it was just buying into a loser just to get through the game and not burn an in house reliever. Take the “loss for tax purposes,” to carry on my poor piggy back analogy above.
Gary – I spend too much time here reading too many comments, that’s my problem. LOL! That’s why I knew many here bought into the hype. At least Stock didn’t contribute to a loss in his one appearance, but the fact he was let go after just one game in favor of Winck is telling. I expect him to end up back in Woosta.
So after tonight’s game, which do you think is the Sox biggest concern right now? The empty park, Crochet’s pitching, or the shoddy infield defense?
I’m not too worried about the offense, the Jays pitchers are just too good and the weather did obviously favor the pitchers.
You bring up great points. I think the biggest concern is to not let a little two game slumpish get to into their heads.
They should let the few previous games resonate in their psyche.
And I guess that would be up to Cora and the coaches and the rah rah teammates in the clubhouse.
We’ll see how the next two games go.., if they can split it’s all good again and onto the next opponent.
If they lose the next two, then we have some serious psychological hurdles to overcome.
And you know where those usually manifest? Yup, At the plate and in the field, lol.
Gary – Well on paper it’s gonna be tough to split the series.
Gausman vs Houck
Bassitt vs Buehler
Shutting down Springer is a priority.
You’re right !! But fingers crossed.
FPG: I knew many here bought into the hype
=================
People were buying hype for Robert Stock???
They need to give Winckowski more of a chance
Send story to atlanta for sean murphy If the braves would be willing to do it. that would fix the catching problem and also open a spot for mayer.
The Braves won’t make this trade. Story has negative value on that contract and Murphy is signed cheaply through 2030.
They took Stock and made their decision. Let’s see if Winck can recapture some of his long relief form of ‘23.
Winckowski has been so bad that when the next 40-man spot is needed, I would be shocked if he is not the next DFA. Winckowski has been terrible, and he has been headed the wrong direction for the last year-and-a-half.
He has been bad is AAA also, not just the MLB.
He’s pitched only 6 innings this year in AAA. That’s too small a sample to make any judgement.
Winckowski
Year Innings WHIP HRs
2022 70.1 1.59 10
2023 84.1 1.42 9
2024 76.0 1.41 10
Too many base runners and too much hard contact. He was lucky in 2022 that more of his $hit ton of base runners did not score. In 2023 and 2024 he was just plain bad.
“If you have any information that could lead to the arrest of the person or persons who demoted Robert Stock, call us here at Unsolved Mysteries”
What does Adam Ottavino think about this?
Depth move, lighting in a bottle, innings eater, whatever tags people were putting on this move to bring in Stock back in March this was always going to be the outcome. Seems like a waste of time. Maybe Breslow wanted to get him a few paychecks before sending him off.
I don’t want to be the “I told you so guy”, but there is no upside to bringing in someone who is 35yo.
I would rather have wasted a month figuring out some 25yo can’t pitch in the mlb anymore.
Not making a big deal out of this because all teams do it…..
What can you say, it’s a volatile market for stock these days
After he clears waivers, it’s time for fun headlines.
“Stock Optioned”
“Stock Back Down”
“Stock on the Market”
“Sox See No Value in Stock”
He found out what it’s like to fall in the mud and get kicked in the head with an iron boot.
Returning to being King in the North.
He’ll never bend the knee to Queen Cercei. He’ll need a complete “Red Wedding” bloodbath to ever be the King of the North again.
“With the pitching staff fairly taxed”
A comment synonymous with the managerial talents of Alex Cora , a former utility infielder with no concept of managing a ML pitching staff.
Cora really hasn’t been given a good pitching staff since the WS run. Due to how taxed the SP were in the 2018 playoffs, 2019 doesn’t really count.
And now they have Crochet and… That’s pretty much it? Houck has decided to give up HRs like Lance Lynn or Kutter Crawford. Buehler is (shockingly) pitching much more like 2024 regular season Buehler instead of the playoffs. Newcomb is lol. Fitts has given 2 QS and for that I’m grateful.
The rotation just isn’t full of guys built to go deep in games, so we will probably see similar results to the last few seasons. BP gets taxed around the trade deadline, and blows games when they need it.
I didn’t think that he pitched that badly. I am reasonably sure some team will pick him up. If not,traded, I think the RS should park him in Worcester and consider another promotion to Boston.when the need arises. Great personal story of persistence..
He’s meeting Ottavino at Dunkin’.
Winckowski has to be running out of chances. That guy is always in a jam. Weissert too.
When Henry accidentally called the wrong person. He thought he was talking to his broker not the Red Sox.
Lol DFA’d in 5 hrs
Dad jokes aside, Stock looked pretty good when he pitched overseas as a starter. I hope you gets a bit more of a chance this year than a half cup of coffee.
A 6.80 SIERA? Guy can go back to Mexico with his 1.60 ERA.