June 12: The trade is now official, with both teams formally announcing the move late last night.
June 11: The Red Sox are acquiring right-hander Jorge Alcala from the Twins, as first reported by Phil Miller of the Star Tribune. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that infield/outfield prospect Andy Lugo is headed to Minnesota in return for Alcala’s services. The Athletic’s Dan Hayes reports that no cash is being sent from the Twins to Boston in the deal. Both teams subsequently announced the deal officially, and Boston designated right-hander Brian Van Belle for assignment to create room for Alcala on the 40-man roster.
According to The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman, the Twins were planning to designate Alcala for assignment in the coming days, and after the club claimed southpaw Joey Wentz off waivers earlier today it’s fairly easy to surmise that the decision to part with Alcala was motivated by a desire to make room for Wentz on the active roster. By trading for Alcala preemptively, the Red Sox were able to bypass the waiver process in order and add the right-hander to their bullpen more directly. Even if the Twins were planning to part ways with Alcala prior to this trade, it’s clear that the Red Sox were very interested in the 29-year-old righty given that they gave up a low-level prospect to acquire him and took on the remainder of Alcala’s $1.5MM salary for this year despite the fact that most trades of DFA candidates wind up being cash deals.
Looking just at Alcala’s surface-level numbers, it may be hard to see why the Red Sox would be enamored with him. Across 22 appearances with Minnesota this year, he’s pitched to an 8.88 ERA with a 5.42 FIP and an elevated 13.2% walk rate. Those numbers are certainly concerning, but Alcala’s 24.6% strikeout rate has remained quite good even in this down season and he entered the year with a career 3.64 ERA and 4.33 FIP. His 2024 campaign was even better, as he posted a 3.24 ERA and 4.14 FIP in 58 1/3 innings of work during a season where his walk rate sat at a much more manageable 8.5%. Alcala’s .369 BABIP allowed and 52.6% strand rate are both certain to improve over a larger sample size, and if the Red Sox can help restore his command it’s not at all difficult to see them making him into a viable option for the middle innings of even a setup role.
That would be a fantastic development for Boston if it were to come to fruition, as they’re without Justin Slaten and Liam Hendriks while both are on the injured list. That’s left them a bit weak from the right side, with Garrett Whitlock and Greg Weissert forced to step into high leverage roles. Zack Kelly is currently in the club’s bullpen despite a 6.61 ERA, and the club has zero full-time relievers who throw from the right-hand side on the 40-man roster in the minors at the moment. The depth Alcala could provide to the bullpen if he manages to get right is considerable, and it was enough of an upgrade that the Red Sox opted to DFA Van Belle just one day after adding him to the roster. The Red Sox will have one week to either trade Van Belle, who has still not yet made his big league debut despite his brief call-up, or put him through waivers.
Heading to Minnesota in return for Alcala’s services is Lugo. The 21-year-old has been in the Red Sox organization since 2022 and is currently hitting .265/.327/.430 across 44 games at the High-A level. He’s split time between first base, third base, and left field throughout his pro career to this point, but is unranked on MLB.com’s Top 30 Red Sox Prospects list. That’s not necessarily a shock given his age and the fact that he’s not yet reached to the Double-A level, but it’s not impossible to imagine him getting called up to Double-A by the end of the year now that he’s in the Twins organization, so long as he can continue hitting fairly well in his new organization.
Thank. God. If Alcala entered one more game for the Twins I was going to lose it.
Hope – He was good last year, what do you think has been his issue this year?
Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s hiding an injury.
If he’s hurt, why acquire him?
YBC – They’re the Red Sox, they think every pitcher is “fixable”.
And “8” is considered very lucky in China, therefore 8.88 is triple-lucky.
Once again, FPG knows more than the Red Sox front office
Alcala-n just about anyone else from the bullpen before I call on Jorge again.
Given the Red Sox ruined two decent relievers at last year’s trade deadline, I don’t have much hope here. But at least they are doing something.
Low bar but better than previous years.
Who did they ruin, can’t remember?
Luis Garcia (there’s two, one is the Astros SP, other is this RP) and Lucas Sims
How can you just assume the team RUINED them? Most pitchers arriving on non-waiver deals don’t change their pitching methods. Fenway and the AL East have ruined many pitchers better than Garcia and Sims.
You’re right Dewey. Garcia goes from essentially lights out with the Angels with a 1.04 ERA in July to a 10 ERA in August, and the only change is he goes to the Red Sox. But it’s just a coincidence.
Also a coincidence that the Sox traded Zeferjahn (and 3 others yikes) for him, and he was lights out with the Angels. But he couldn’t crack the Red Sox roster.
But it’s just a coincidence. Let’s just blame Fenway and the AL East even though Garcia pitched poorly against al East and non AL East opponents, at and away from Fenway.
But yeah, just a wild whack coincidence.
If pitchers don’t change their approach when changing teams, why do teams even have a pitching staff? The pitching staff which helps them prepare does absolutely nothing I guess.The same pitching staff that has the team woefully unprepared and has starters this year being awful in the first inning, and leading the league in blown saves.
But yeah coincidence.
Garcia’s xFIP with the Angels was 3.61. With the Red Sox it was 3.64.
Nothing changed about Garcia. Just got unlucky and gave up four home runs in a short stretch. But when you’re talking about a sample size of 15 innings it’s hard to draw concrete conclusions.
dewey – Both pitchers were damaged goods, but the Sox still insisted on trading for them because they wanted to give the impression they were in GFIN mode without actually giving up much (ie: Paxton, Jansen, Ramirez, etc)
BOTH pitchers went on the IL approx 3 weeks after being acquired.
Are you joking?
He pitched poorly for the Red Sox. That’s the entire story.
Mule – He was damaged goods at the time of the trade.
Fever, the other part of the equation is i get the feeling breslow looks ahead of time at the MILB rosters – bloom apparently didn’t.
If you think back, bloom would just non-tender and dfa guys getting nothing, or, cash considerations which are nominal and Henry doesn’t need.
Some of breslows trades feel like he looks ahead to who is a non-tender, who is out of options, identifies guys he wants to clear off the books for the next season and tried to get… whatever he can for them
He had a .370 BABIP with the Red Sox. The Red Sox had a terrible defense by every metric. I’m sure he was the same pitcher is always was and still is with LA today.
Garcia gave up runs in 6 of his first 7 appearances with the RS. What did they do to ruin him? Kick him in the arm? Voodoo? Both him and Sims pitched badly from Day 1.
Part of the reason many relievers are relievers is not consistent enough to start.
A starter gives up six runs in five innings and he’s had a bad day. A reliever gives up six runs in five innings and people call for his head.
Sims was terrible to begin with
Mule – Pretty sure that’s because a decent starting pitcher pitches more than three times the number of innings a decent reliever pitches.
Mule – sample size my friend. How many IP does a reliever pitch in a year? How many innings in an outing?
Now compare that to a starter.
A reliever giving up 6 runs in 5IP generally isn’t a bad day. That’s a bad week or two stretch.
I’m using the same sample size in both examples. That’s the point. A reliever who gives up the same number of runs in the same number of innings has the same ERA as a starter. Relievers give up bunches of runs just like starters do. A 5 ER blowout inning means you’re having a bad couple of weeks even if every other inning you pitch is scoreless. That’s just baseball. It happens to every single pitcher who’s ever played. It’s not an indicator of skill because we all know a two-week sample is too minuscule to draw any conclusions from.
Fever: But we know from years of data that relievers don’t have a lower ERAs than starters. So I don’t understand where this expectation comes from. I expect relievers to have basically the same ERA as starters as has been reflected in league stats for the last decade or so.
GaSox – I understand where you are coming from and I agree with you. That’s pretty much SOP with all teams though, as they have to keep track of who would be unprotected in the Rule V draft.
The Twins pitching is absolute crap right now though, they’ve given up 38 runs to the weak-hitting Rangers over the last 3 games including two of the games where they gave up 16 runs each!
How many innings does a reliever pitch in a season? How many does a starting pitcher?
Since a reliever pitches significantly less innings, they have significantly less margin for error. 5IP for a reliever is generally 5 outings. 5IP for a starter is one outing. It’s very different.
Yeah, we know. Which is why its’ dumb AF to blame pitching coaches for those 5 IP
Mule – I agree with you that ERA is not as indicative of performance for relievers as it is for starters.
For instance a reliever can come into 5 games with a runner on first base and two outs, the runner scores every time in the 5 games, but if the pitcher doesn’t allow any of his own runners to score then he has a zero ERA …. that’s just not right.
Same thing with extra innings, so many times the winning run doesn’t get charged to any pitcher.
But here’s the thing, a reliever such as a closer usually comes into very high leverage situations needing to get just 3 outs or less. Their margin for error is much, much slimmer than a starting pitcher. So relievers leave nothing in the tank, they can go all out and perform their best as opposed to a starting pitcher staked to a 5-run lead.
GaSox – Now that news has broken of Civale requesting a trade, who would you rather have traded Lugo for …… Alcala or Civale?
There are some people here really into the minors who believed Lugo was a good prospect. I would MUCH rather have Civale as a rental even if it means including someone with Lugo, and Civale would probably give a nice discount to sign an extension since he grew up in CT as a huge Sox fan.
Somewhere off Lansdowne st an alarm went off because you labeled a player with the word discount. Henry is salivating…
But, my preference for civale comes in good m part as well be cause of the fact he is a SP arm… there’s multiple ways to use that with the ways turns through the rotation have gone all season
GaSox – So true! Well Civale is already traded but I wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes available again in about 5 weeks. Let’s hope the Red Sox are still clinging to postseason hopes by then, this weekend will be a huge indicator if they turned a corner or not.
So haven’t seen this anywhere here, the annual player poll came out the other day.
Of 121 players asked, Bochy got voted Best Manager and Tito was runnerup (Cora got only 6 votes)
Of 126 players asked which is the best organization, Dodgers came in first with 82 votes and the Red Sox got only 15 votes.
Toughest pitcher to face is Sale, followed by Skubal and Chapman.
BTw – Duran is not in tonight’s lineup, Anthony is in and Mayer is out.
Fever, the series of events mesh together worse than you think.
CHW – claimed noda off waivers from AAA Worcester after Boston designated him to make room for Anthony.
CHW – then trades Vaughn, whom, imo, had less results and potential than Noda, straight up for Civale.
Stands to reason, BOS should’ve been able to trade Noda for Civale, rather than try to slip him through waivers. Especially with the AAA numbers he’d put up lately…
GaSox – As usual you make excellent points. Brewers pretty much wanted a salary dump, Sox could have aommodated them.
What do you think of the belief the fix is in with MLB wanting to tighten up the AL East standings?
Refusing to make Thursday’s game in KC an afternoon getaway game does seem peculiar.
Overturning the 3B stolen base call without clear evidence does seem peculiar.
Not overturning the foul ball call was ridiculous. NESN had a replay that clearly showed it hit the line, even Loumer emphatically said fair ball.
Fuel for the fire.
Brewers didn’t get a salary dump.
They paid the difference between Vaughn and civale making it a conpletely salary neutral trade.
My guess is they were afraid of clubhouse poison and had to do.. something.
I’m not reading into much for conspiracy theories at the moment, vis-a-vis tightening the east up. But, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m going to have to look for that foul call incident. It was an early night for me so unfortunately, I missed a gem of a game. I’d been up since Wednesday morning, so, fell asleep before gametime
I like Garcias stuff but he’s never established himself in MLB and was not ruined. Sims has always sucked and the Reds hid it pretty well before trading him.
Those two guys were having good seasons before the Red Sox traded for them. They immediately pitched quite poorly for the Sox.
Yes, they did.
and it was their fault they pitched poorly.
Are you ok?
Alcala’s already ruined. He stinks. Like buying a case of spoiled milk. But I’m sure Cora is thrilled.
More dumpster diving by Breslow.
so no other team but the red sox make this type of move?
If the Yankees made this move, some sarcastic fan would be complaining again on Cashman. If it doesn’t work out those fans will continue to voice their frustrations but if it becomes a solid move, we won’t hear/read crap out of them herein. When I’m wrong, I’ll admit it except when it’s to the spouse…
Well Jake Cousins was pulled from a rehab start due to re-injuring his elbow. Your wish may come true very soon.
Bodies on a hill for Fenway faithful
He’s on the 40 man and you’re like “bodies on a hill” Ya big drama queen.
It’s just a play on words, why are you so serious?
Maybe a change of scenery will do Alcala some good. It is concerning though, that he’s already given up more earned runs than all of last season and walked almost as many hitters in half the innings pitched
It’s… possible, but Alcala has looked cooked this season. He struggles to throw pretty much any of his pitches for strikes so he has to overcompensate and leave balls hanging in the zone too much. This is the same type of problem Alcala has exhibited over and over again for stretches.
Maybe the mental issues can be relieved through a change of the guys around him.
FPG….I think they got a philosophy issue in Boston. Team WHIP is the problem at 1.330….We need that at 1.2 or lower to play .600 ball the rest of the year and make the wild card at least. I don’t think scoring is going to be an issue…
Leading the league in errors is a far worse problem than anything going on with the pitching imo
King- exactly! John Henry hired Bloom and then Breslow to create a organizational pipeline of robots who are trained to buy into the systemic philosophies. Cut back on fast ball usage, and throw specific pitches under all circumstances, without regard for game situation.
It hasnt worked for the development of Bello’s career and (i’m going to say ruined) Houck. Professional athletes have special gifts, shoe-horning them all into a “one size fits all” doesnt allow them to get the best out of their skills and talents. What it does is create a set of “predictable outcomes” .Personality and character need to be suppressed.
The Red Sox have tripled-down on this approach. They fired innumerable professional scouts, only to hire more analysts.
This trade was made because some spreadsheet says he has an “underlying metric” than can be teased out and help him become successful, AND, he’s cheap. Maybe it will work, maybe it wont. But, i will say the remaining scouts didnt give this one a big thumbs up..
SS3
I heard Merloni talk about Bello’s lack of his swing and miss changeup. I won’t pretend to know all that goes into understanding all the numbers that makeup a pitchers repertoire. Has he been instructed not to throw it or lacks confidence in it? Merloni seemed to believe it was a pitch that he executed with success previously. I’m sure Bailey and Breslow are looking at Houcks 1st half last season to see what has happened. His fall off is just dreadful. There pitching philosophy must be questioned.
cdc- a main part of the Red Sox pitching philosophy is a move away from over reliance on fastballs. The changeup is a pitch typically thrown after fastballs as a change of speed and motion. If youre throwing less fastballs, there is less of an opportunity to use the changeup (even if its a good pitch for you.
Second, if youre throwing less fastballs, then you are throwing more spin pitches. SPin pitches put more pressure on the elbow and forearm. It would seem as if the amount of spn pitches ultimately made Houck less successful (no comment on whether it harmed his arm).
It’s helpful to look at the Red Sox’s pitching staff with multiple metrics.
ERA 4.08 = 21st
FIP 3.93 = 13th
xFIP 3.94 = 13th
BABIP .303 = 24th
WHIP 1.34 = 21st
Strand 70.6% = 23rd
K Rate 21.7% = 19th
In terms of defense, Boston ranks middle of the road.
Seems like the staff has been a little unlucky in terms of batted balls, but the lower than average K rate makes sense with the strand rate being below average.
The true biggest issues for Boston have been:
Tanner Houck’s struggles and injury.
Significant Gambles on Giolito and Buehler not paying off.
Boston’s bullpen has been very good, but having a weak rotation really showcases any flaws in the bullpen. The relievers are always on the mound to close the game, and if they need to put up 4+ innings of zeroes to win, it’s just not going to happen often.
Worth only cash consideration and will be dfa’d by end of July
As a Red Sox fan, I give this trade a very “enthusiastic” yay 🙄
Hey you never know..curious how many “enthusiastic yays” were handed out for the narvaez trade? Or the toro signing..imagine what this lineup would look like without what those two are currently providing and im positive people had similar reactions
Pool’s right:
Narvaez, Toro, — Now add Romy Gonzalez, Wilyer Abreu, Bernardino, Greg Weissert, Justin Wilson. None of them were obtained with any fanfare. And definitely not here at MLBTR comment section.
90% of minor trades, waiver wire claims and minor leaguers obtained in trades produce nothing, but the other 10% give them production at a low cost for several years.
Reggie and Pool – you guys are right, in that, you need these types of moves to plug holes and fill needs.
Narvaez and Abreu are BIG wins. Your 90%-10% formula is dead on, and so why would it generate kudos?, the other players you named are journeymen and AAAA players who are having a few good months. Every team needs that and it certainly helps over 162, but, these are not building a championship roster, these are keeping you afloat.
The Red Sox ownership and successive Front Offices do not display the tenacity it takes in “building” of a championship roster. If they did, there wouldnt be opt outs for Bregman and they wouldve locked in Buehler for at least two years, always with the hope to catch lightning in a bottle and win a wild card.
I think the fans want more, an moves like this perpetuate the thought that the owners, et al, arent willing to swing for the fences
Weissart is not a journeyman. And I never said these guys are long term solutions, But they serve a purpose especially when injuries pop up. And, at the cost, they are easily discarded when the their production isnt what need And ,will be replaced by next years Toro and Wilson.
As far as “building” a championship.. This is just a bullpen acquistion. Every team does this. — I guess that means the the Yankees (Tim Hill, Fernandez Cruz, Ryan Yarborough, Mark Leiter, Yerry De Los Santos, Ian Hamilton, Tyler Matze, Pablo Reyes) are not a championship contender. Somebody should tell them, before they win too many games.
Reg – no need to get angry, i was agreeing with your initial point 🙂
No one here, unless you have a job in the mlb, have the expertise or knowledge to argue the fine workings of a 30-40 appearance middle reliever.
And, YES, i hate to admit it, but the Yankees have shown repeatedly that they build championship rosters. The acquired Juan Soto, they traded for Jazz at the deadline, they brought in Fried, Bellinger, Goldschmidt, WIlliams. Thats how you build a championship roster,
I appreciate that Henry loosened the purse strings this year and brought in Bregman and Buehler. But, you also have to recognize that they both probably wont be here next year. Same old one step forward, two steps back……..
Whoa, take it down a notch.
Yankees didnt build their team with 5 players. What Soto, Fried etc., has to do with this conversation, I have no idea. It takes a whole team. And in this case, Its the 18th through 26th roster spots we’re talking about. Apples for apples. Its a back of the bullpen addition, which the Yankees have even more nobodies (What I mean is nobodies before they acquired them) than the Red Sox have. Yet, theres very few gripes about those acquisitions, because the Yankee fans generally understand baseball better than Boston fans.
RS- I’m not worked up…….in fact, i’m quite calm
I guess, inarticulately, the point i’m making is while the 18-26 roster spots are important, they become less so when 1-17 are high caliber players. And yes, fans have less to complain about under those circumstances
You cant look at the the Red Sox roster and say it screams World Series. To me, it say (politely), “perhaps wild card”.
Red Sox dont “scream World Series” because theyre a young team. They are still maturing, same as the Yankees looked ten years ago. Red Sox had to wait for the wave to get here, and its finally begun. Now going forward, they can add those key FA players to supplement the team. And I fully expect contention for the Red Sox to last for ten years when the team does finally mature.
Lol Yankee fans understand baseball better? Cute.
I liked the Narvaez trade, even when I didn’t expect him to hit. He is better than Wong on defense alone.
Have to admit, I didn’t see Toro doing this in a million years.
I liked taking a flyer on any catcher. Sox desperately needed one. Surprised the Yankees traded him. I don’t think Toro saw this. Great surprise.
too little, too late.
Alcala has all the stuff to be a stud. Add him to the long list of relievers the twins gave up on way too early.
Hard to see that – brutal this year, always walks too many batters. Twins are trying to make the play-offs and can’t hold onto pitcher they can’t trust in the hope he someday figures out how to throw strikes that aren’t meatballs
Not the relief help I was hoping for, maybe he turns it around with new scenery.
Who’s giving up decent relievers at this point in the season?
Bailey and Breslow must see something in Alcala. They will scourer his pitching charts to see what he does well and try to extenuate it. Anyone who has had past success is probably worth a low level prospect. Relief pitching is so inconsistent, good one year,bad for 2,ect ect. Sometimes you just need a New voice in your head.
His WHIP last year was outstanding
His WHIP this year is terrible
Why do we pick up trash now? Used to make moves that actually help. Now? Guys coming back from TJ, balloon ERA’s, below Mendoza line BA. Betting on super low risk, high reward does not work when you do it all the damn time. Sox leadership absolutely sucks.
Kboston- you are so right, i feel like i cant add anything
well, maybe just this, they also have to be super cheap, no picking up a guy on a well paying contract, but having a bad year…..theyre “unfixable” LOL
So there likely aren’t better options available now.
I’m not jumping for joy with this move, I don’t understand why they dfa’d BVB with the season he’s been having for this guy, but it’s at least an attempt to do something.
Teams with better players want more in return for them, especially now. The better players will get moved closer to the deadline.
i love trades bc then i get see there bbref page change. except when its a player i like. then trades are bad
Breslow, stop being cheap and trying to resurrect failures. Sign David Robertson as a reliever to add to the bullpen already.