The Red Sox are poised to select the contract of infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton ahead of their game against Atlanta tomorrow, according to a report from Chris Henrique of Boston Sports Journal. MassLive’s Chris Cotillo adds that the Red Sox are expected to recall right-hander Luis Guerrero tomorrow. The club’s 40-man and active rosters are both at capacity, meaning additional corresponding moves will be necessary to complete those transactions before tomorrow’s game.
Eaton, 28, made his big league debut with the Royals back in 2022 and posted solid numbers for the club across 44 games with a .264/.331/.387 slash line in 122 trips to the plate. The performance was enough to earn him a role on the 2023 club, but unfortunately he wasn’t able to maintain the previous year’s league average production in year two. His slash line collapsed to just .075/.125/.075 in 56 plate appearances, and that was all she wrote for Eaton’s big league career until now. He spent all of last year at Triple-A Omaha with the Royals but didn’t get called up to the majors, and this past offseason he signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox. He’s hitting a solid but unspectacular .277/.364/.446 (117 wRC+) in 225 plate appearances for Triple-A Worcester so far this year.
It’s not the most exciting profile, and it certainly won’t sate Red Sox fans who have been calling for the promotion of star outfield prospect Roman Anthony since Opening Day. With that said, Cotillo made the observation in the aftermath of today’s reporting regarding Eaton that Boston is likely to face a number of left-handed starting pitchers in the near future during series against the Angels and Yankees; given that the Red Sox have previously cited Anthony’s work against left-handed pitching as one area where they hope to see growth from the budding star, it’s not hard to see why the club might prefer an extra right-handed bat in the mix rather than bringing another lefty bat like Anthony into the fold, at least in the short term.
Turning back to Eaton, the 28-year-old offers another right-handed bat for a heavily left-handed Red Sox lineup and can bring versatility to the table. He’s played all three outfield spots and third base in the majors, with additional cameos at both second base and shortstop during his time with the WooSox. He’s also a threat on the basepaths, having swiped 27 bags in 31 attempts for Triple-A Omaha last year. It’s unclear what the corresponding move for Eaton’s addition to the roster will wind up being, and as such it’s hard to predict where exactly the Red Sox plan to use him in the coming days. If an outfielder like Rob Refsnyder or Ceddanne Rafaela is headed for the injured list, it would make sense for Eaton to get most of his reps on the grass. Meanwhile, if he subs in for a player like Nick Sogard or Abraham Toro, perhaps he’ll see most of his time bouncing around the infield.
As for Guerrero, Cotillo notes that the right-hander is not yet eligible to be recalled back to the big league roster unless it’s to replace an injured player, which suggests at least one member of Boston’s pitching staff is headed to the injured list. Whoever he may end up replacing, Guerrero has long looked ready for an extended opportunity in the majors. Since making his big league debut in 2024, the right-hander has pitched to a 0.59 ERA with a 2.42 FIP and a 22.8% strikeout rate. Those are excellent numbers, but they’ve come in just a 15 1/3 inning sample size in the majors with less encouraging results at Triple-A. Even so, given his success in short bursts at the big league level there’s little harm in giving Guerrero a longer look given the recent struggles of more established arms like the recently-injured Liam Hendriks.
Meet me at the Chopper…
Or the Chop House!
Brilliant! Yet Anthony still can’t get up here. The team needs help and it isn’t Nate Eaton. Anybody catch Breslow’s interview today on the state of the Red Sox? He just dances around every answer and gives the same bland answers. “We’re not where we want to be” “it’s getting late” “we don’t want to hurt Anthony’s development” – The Red Sox are barely treading water and in need of desperate help and all we get are these peasant transactions.
“We need to be mindful of the environment that Roman would be coming into, and the pressure that we’d be putting on a 21-year-old in the midst of a losing streak — to come up and save the team,” Breslow said. “Roman’s time is coming, and I don’t think there’s any question about that. So we have to figure out what is best for the organization and what is best for him.”
masslive.com/redsox/2025/05/red-sox-cbo-explains-w…
Breslow: “It’s too late in the season and I think the the evidence is too strong to just say, ‘We’re gonna be OK tomorrow when we wake up.’”
masslive.com/redsox/2025/05/craig-breslow-says-red…
It sounds like Breslow may be thinking this season is not salvagable. Not sure if his reasoning is good about Anthony, but if he thinks the season is not salvagable, there is no reason to rush Anthony.
I’m inclined to agree with the thought that it isn’t. The pitching is a disgrace (outside of Crochet), the lineup as a whole isn’t good enough. Even if Anthony came up and hit really well the guys below him are a pair of shoes at the plate. Without massive acquisitions this team isn’t going anywhere. And there’s no reason to make any acquisitions.
At this point, I think I would prefer it if Breslow had the gumption to more or less blow the whole thing up. There’s little sense in trying to ship out the underwater contracts like Story or Yoshida without attaching prospect capital to them; they might be better off cutting bait. Devers, Duran, Buehler, Chapman, perhaps Rafaela, Toro while he’s hot, and (once healthy) Bregman all ought to be traded for as much value—primarily starting pitching—as you can get out of them. Let the kids play out the remainder of the season and retool next year. They don’t have it this season and they badly need the help. Like, say you make all the aforementioned moves (unlikely, I’m aware). Your roster going into next season has this shape to it:
C Narvaez
1B Casas
2B Campbell
3B ?
SS Mayer
LF Anthony
CF Rafaela
RF Abreu
DH ?
That’s a perfectly exciting young offense to work with and augment, and by trading away the other guys for younger pitching depth you can build out a stronger rotation, because going into next year it looks like:
SP Crochet
SP Bello
SP … Houck?
SP … Crawford?
SP … Fitts?
SP … Dobbins?
And I think the string of games where the starter can’t make it through 5 makes clear that the offense is never going to be good enough to compensate for how awful that rotation is, which means the rotation is in urgent need of improvement even if it comes at the expense of MLB-caliber offensive talent like Duran or Bregman.
Yeah. I think we will likely see a youth movement before the season is over.
Agreed, the season isn’t salvageable. You especially don’t want to make any costly trades that don’t improve the club long term.
They may yet pull a fire sale in July…
Don’t forget about Cora’s “we have to be better” excuse.
Quinn – Today at the game behind 3B a guy was holding a “Free Roman” sign for a while. Red Sox Nation is not happy about the service time manipulation.
Sox should send Cora to AAA – confused franchise.
They should just write him a check and take his office keys. Then send Fatsy with him. And I’m not too keen on Breslow or Bailey, either. That team needs a complete overhaul.
Nate Eaton??
They need Roman Anthony up, not a AAAA guy!
I was hoping they would coax Adam Eaton out of retirement…
just bring up Anthony, and get ready to sell off Chapman and anyone else who can net them some young minor leaguers and/or shed payroll….
and fire Cora, as this team is going nowhere fast
Phantom injury coming to somebody. If it’s Refsnyder i wonder if it’s because he spoke out publicly about the team’s terrible offensive performance recently. Rafaela played all 8 innings in CF today. Sogard and Toro are the only First Base options so unless it’s Campbell or Story i don’t know who is getting detention
Maybe they send Hamilton to AAA, but not sure how they open a space on the 40 man for Eaton. Maybe put Henriks on the 60 day IL.
Eaton sort of profiles as right-handed Hamilton who can also play the outfield, which seems like a better roster fit right now. And, frankly, I would prefer not to watch David Hamilton hit ever again.
Kind of forgot about Hamilton. He does still have options so maybe thats the play
Agreed, Hamilton can go. I like Sogard better, a more complete player off the bench.
Oh, right. The solution to a struggling offense is to cut one of the very few professional hitters on the club. That will solve everything!!!
Confuses me that Refsnyder isn’t playing way, way more often against righties. Daily reminder that he has first base experience and has somehow been jumped by Sogard and Toro for regular playing time.
Ref should be playing. Rafaela should be in Worcester or Portland.
Just from his look and hitting profile, Roman Anthony is comparable to another prospect the Red Sox once had, Anthony Rizzo. Red Sox fans let me know if I’m wrong but Rizzo turned into a great player so I think it’s a good comparison!
Blatant service time manipulation not bringing up Roman Anthony. The small market Sox continue.
Exactly how much better than a 1.025 OPS against LHP would Breslow like to see from Anthony before he gets the call? Is the .507 OBP too low?
Enough with these lame excuses for service time manipulation
He’s producing quite well in AAA this year with a 117 wRC+. Worth seeing how he can help the team this year.
Roman Anthony will never sign a long term contract because of the way they are screwing him over. He will become a free agent at the first possible moment. Join the Mookie Betts and Xander Boeggarts fiascos.
Xander was more of a dodged bullet than a fiasco. Unless you think the key to winning this season is a guy hitting .250 with 4 hrs playing average defense.
Rather see Eaton convert back to a pitcher like college. Guy throws 95+, couldn’t be worse than a few of the relievers we’ve sent out.
Deeds, 117 wRC+ is 17% higher than league average. Its in top 20% of the league. That is much better than solid. Solid is a guy with a 100 wRC+.