The Red Sox announced Tuesday that they’ve designated right-handed reliever Jorge Alcala for assignment. Fellow righty reliever Isaiah Campbell was recalled from Triple-A Worcester to take his spot on the roster.
Boston acquired Alcala in a mid-June trade with the Twins — a deal sending minor league infielder Andy Lugo back to Minnesota. Alcala was an obvious change-of-scenery candidate at the time. The hard-throwing righty had run out of opportunities in Minnesota after allowing 24 runs in 24 1/3 innings (8.88 ERA). That marked Alcala’s second ERA north of 6.00 in a span of three seasons with the Twins. He posted solid run-prevention numbers in 2024 but was far too prone to both walks and homers.
Alcala’s time with the Red Sox looked better, at least on the surface. His 3.31 ERA is a clearly solid mark, but there were plenty of troubling trends under the hood. As was the case throughout his time in Minnesota, Alcala proved susceptible to free passes and the long ball. He walked 10.5% of the batters he faced with Boston and tossed three wild pitches. He was also tagged for four homers in just 16 1/3 frames (2.20 HR/9).
The recent results for Alcala, who turned 30 late last month, were too rough for Sox brass to overlook. He’s lasted a combined 3 1/3 innings over his past five appearances and been shelled for six runs (five earned) on eight hits (four homers) and four walks in that time. He allowed three runs, including a pair of home runs, in one-third of an inning yesterday in what proved to be his final appearance with the Sox.
Alcala will now head to either outright or release waivers within the next five days. He’s very likely to clear in either case. He’s earning $1.5MM this year and still has about $435K of that sum yet to be paid out. He’s out of minor league options, so an acquiring team would need to plug him right into the big league bullpen. Between that lack of options, his remaining salary and his recent struggles, it’s doubtful any team would claim him. Alcala has more than five years of big league service time, so even if the Red Sox outright him to Worcester, he can reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency while retaining the remainder of that guaranteed money.
Yay…… But why Campbell
Yeah, how is Campbell an improvement over Alcala? Gas can for a gas can.
swan – Fresh arm, and want to give him one more look before Slaten replaces him.
Yeah, he’s been an effective reliever in the past and he’ll be the 7th guy out of the ‘pen, can’t hurt to give him a look for a week or two.
maine – Just curious, who do you see as the 8th man out of the pen? I’m guessing Hicks? All of the 6 other relievers are good to great.
Hicks isn’t going anywhere Fever
Coop – Oh I know that, I just wanted to confirm if Hicks is his #8 reliever.
As of today…
Chapman
Whitlock
Weissert
Wilson
Bernie/Matz
Murphy
Hicks
Campbell (revolving door)
Slaten’s return really solidifies the BP as a whole. Stinks that Murphy will get squeezed out when Bernie is recalled. He’s been good. I know they’ll get hammered if they send Hicks down, but he looks like a real problem to me. All over the place.
Fever – Campbell requires no more ‘looks’. He’s crap. He should be released.
Swan – honestly, they would probably be better off keeping Bernardino instead of Campbell, and they keep Matz as well. Bernardino is fine when he’s not completely overworked.
I would be totally on board w keeping Bernadino over Campbell. Do they need 3 LHPs though? Four w Chapman….?
Slaten’s return will force Campbell off the roster. Bernie will push Murphy back down.
Fever – Actually, I’m just bad at math…
Swan – They absolutely would not have 5 LHP in the pen at the same time, which is what you’d have if Bernie replaced Campbell.
Maine – No worries, I agree with you Campbell would be the worst guy in the BP.
Its the glasses. Both get racked, but Campbell does it with style.
dondan – It’s probably gonna be brief for Soup, as Slaten is expected to return soon.
Because he’s a warm body?
Bill Campbell yes. Any other Campbell no.
Angry – I heard Kristian Campbell is being forced to learn how to pitch, so when he’s back with the Red Sox he can field all 9 positions like Bugs Bunny.
You’d be against Kristian pitching?
isn’t that what Raffy tried to warn us about?
Thinking exactly the same thing. Thank goodness they finally said goodbye to Alcala, he was never going to find the strike zone. I would not have chosen Campbell as a replacement, thought Burdi had better numbers but not sure what he has as far as options left.
“Don’t Alcala us, we’ll Alcala you.”
Back 2 the twins with Pressly full circle moment!
Claim Alcala & DFA Noah Davis. Wipe clean the two pre-deadline trades we made.
Alcala presents “not fantastic finishes”
Figured Alcala had to be on the way out after last night.
Meow – I’m very glad the Sox finally saw what I saw in Alcalá going back several weeks.
So many people here bashed me for my unhappiness with his performance, they pointed to his 1.69 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 16 innings as some sort of twisted justification for them praising the guy. But I watched his performance very closely, I saw how poorly he was pitching, I told them ERA is not a great barometer for a reliever.
Thank you Craig for finally listening to me on this!!!
I am sure the Sox front office is happy to have you. lol
fba – I’ve also been pressuring them to put Duran back at leadoff ….. and guess who is back at leadoff tonight? ;O)
Can you please explain your methods of “pressuring” Cora and the Red Sox front office?
GM – Haha …… in all reality yesterday was probably only because Roman didn’t play. I wouldn’t be surprised if Roman is back at leadoff today, assuming he returns as expected.
BTW – I like your handle! You know there’s a GM vacancy with the Red Sox right now ;O)
ERA does not always tell the complete story, especially when the runs you give up are charged to the previous pitcher. Neither does MPH, which is the only reason I can see for Cora rolling him out there.
GM – You are 100% correct on both points!
Not only because they give up a lot of inherited runners, but also Ghost Runners.
And I never agreed with the scoring when errors are committed.
1) If the error is on the pitcher and that same baserunner scores, it should go against that pitcher’s ERA.
2) If a pitcher gives up a bunch of hits & walks after a 2-out error, the runners he allowed after the error who end up scoring should be counted as Earned Runs, not Unearned.
Fever- I did not realize he had such a low ERA. Did he have better control at some point and lost his feel for the ball? I guess if he was initially getting swings and misses based on the speed of his pitches that could have made him look better than he was until batters figured him out.
Uncle – That Red Sox ERA I gave was prior to his last game.
In his first 14 games with the Sox from June 17 – July 24 he pitched 13 innings and gave up only one earned run. But like Steve correctly said in the above article, he also gave up 11 hits and 4 walks and 2 wild pitches and committed a balk. So he was a mess, even though his ERA didn’t show it.
If someone can teach Alcala to really pitch rather than just throw hard, he has a chance. Not sure if anyone can help him with the control he needs to be a real pitcher. The Sox took a chance, but it clearly didn’t work out.
Any team can only have one Jordan Hicks, a Wild man who throws 100.
With Alcala, the Red Sox had two of them.
Good velocity.
Sounded like it.
Gary – I often wonder if the Sox would have signed Chapman even if the Pirates hadn’t fixed his control issues last year.
Can you imagine having a bullpen with Alcala, Hicks, and the 2021-2023 version of Chapman? There’d be a whole lot of really nervous opposing hitters!
Yes, exactly. What did Goose Gossage Say a few years after he retired?
“When I threw the ball, I just threw it as hard as I could, but I had no idea where it was going !!”
Sounds like the exact same game plan of Acala and Hicks lol
My hope is Hicks has more upside and will figure out his mechanics to get better accuracy. Alcala needs much more work.
Uncle – Me too, but it concerns me that Hicks is now on his 4th team in just 2 years. If 3 other teams couldn’t unlock his full potential, I would imagine the odds of the Sox being able are slim.
Fever- Based on his performance last night, it looks like you are right about Hicks. May was even worse than I expected in his debut, can’t even get through 4 innings. Campbell was at least better than Hicks. Hicks definitely looks like the weak link in the bullpen.
Sucks to lose the momentum because of pitchers who should not even be on the team. May was such a desperation move. It makes no sense to trade away prospects for someone who is no better than your options in the minors (Fitts and Criswell). I was hoping May would prove me wrong and maybe it was just the pressure of coming to a new team. We will see how he does next time around.
Uncle – I fully agree with you, May pitched worse than the numbers show. Not just the ridiculously high pitch count, he was saved by some great defense too. And let’s not forget … it’s the Royals, who have the WORST OFFENSE IN THE LEAGUE and the THIRD WORST OFFENSE IN MLB.
And you’re 100% correct, he was a desperation move. The Dodgers needed to get rid of him and no other team wanted him.
I have to ask, why didn’t the Sox acquire Civale? He’s pitched 17 shutout innings with just 7 hits and 3 walks to go with 20 strikeouts. And he’s a local kid.
It’s kind of ironic the Sox are facing consecutive starting pitchers who were with them recently but were let go.
What’s especially concerning is Hicks was thought to be a good pitcher in low leverage situations. Well, last night was a low leverage situation against THE WORST OFFENSE IN THE LEAGUE and the THIRD WORST OFFENSE IN MLB.
I don’t think momentum can be lost in one game though, they basically had their B-Squad on the field last night ….. #5 starting pitcher, backup catcher, and back end of the bullpen. But they are so thin at several positions, we need to have them in bubble wrap because a key injury could have a big impact.
BTW – It’s too bad Captain Carl didn’t attend any of the 3 games, Mike had a great series and that catch last night was amazing. Any other park in MLB and it would have been a homerun. A lot of visiting outfielders would have misplayed it into a homerun because they are intimidated by that corner with the fans right on top of them.
The next strike he throws will be the first one
Look it up in the 70’s and 80’s there was a Crazy dude from California that was a serial Killer with the Name of Alcala…. dude even was a contestant on the “Dating Game” and was selected, but after the show the girl was reluctant to go on the date because after meeting him she said he was too creepy….. good intuition on her part… saved her life.
I believe the Sox finally came to the conclusion that their Alcala was a little creepy too…. but he was only a Bullpen Killer and not a serial Killer……..
@Cooperdooper7: True Crime and Sox talk all in one place, what could be better?
Rodney Alcala, iirc
He killed baseballs. Right over the wall.
When to school with my best friends dad
Coop – About 20 years ago there was a crazy dude who would attack multiple people with a machete and then pour gasoline on them.
Ironically the Red Sox had a closer with the same name as the crazy dude, his last name was Urbina.
So many weird coincidences ;O)
Called it as a useless acquisition when it happened. Not entirely sure Campbell is the solution. 6+ ERA over the last month in AAA. Yikes.
Thank god. He’s been so bad that on 2 of 3 occasions in the last few games his home run derby style pitching with a large late lead forced Chapman have to come in when he should’ve been resting.
2 or* 3
When your biggest problem is one spot on the pitching staff …
Buehler still needs to answer some questions from Ben Stein.
Alcala’s last couple of outings were rough to say the least. There is decent stuff there if he could figure out how to use it
Rsox – The same could be said about hundreds of current pitchers in the majors and minors.
It’s about friggin time. He was awful.
Whyhayzee: The Ben Stein comment made me laugh out loud.
Good riddance
Maybe he can figure it out at Woooosta. It’s a live arm, but needs some work.
Red Sox didn’t have as much patience with this guy as the Twins did.
Once the Red Sox release Jorge Acala, the Minnesota Twins would do well to bring him back to finish out the 2025 season. With the current, post fire sale bullpen, Jorge Acala could be the Twins closer for the rest of 2025. We know how the Pohlads like to have players that they don’t have to pay more than pro-rated league minimum to have on their active roster.
Couldn’t take listening to NESN broadcast tonight…. had to switch to Royals Feed and watch the game…..
Coop – Yeah I hear ya, it was like a Red Sox broadcast for kindergartners.
I can deal with the monotone voices and lack of enthusiasm, but they were clearly unprepared and said so many things that didn’t make sense or were just plain wrong.
Like when she said “Duran goes as the Red Sox go” which was clearly the exact opposite of what she meant to say. LOL
I don’t really get why they brought in Rizzo this season, so far she hasn’t impressed me. In one of her first pregame appearances they were talking about Kristian Campbell and she mentioned his contract, Middlebrooks didn’t acknowledge the comment so she mentioned it again within a couple minutes. How could she not know you don’t talk about Red Sox player contracts in that setting?
FPG
The TBS game featured Don Orsillo as the play by play guy. He , simply, is the best. I did not enjoy the broadcast team last night. I was actually switching back and forth from the Sox,TBS,and ESPN,the little league games. Maybe it did not affect the team on the field,but getting rid of Orsillo was right up there with getting rid of Mookie. IMHO. This is entertainment.. and the product in the booth has not been the same since they basically fired Orsillo.
cdc – I totally agree, I liked Orsillo too. When it was Don together with Eck on TV and Castig on the radio I was very, very happy. Not a fan of DOB, he reminds me way too much of John Sterling. LOL
BTW – I realized now what you meant yesterday about Cora/Breslow trying to manipulate Gio’s innings. He’s got 96 innings right now with 9 more starts remaining, estimating a conservative 6 innings per start he will end up with 150 which would be 10 innings over the magic 140.
I understand now why Gio was pissed about them wanting to push his last start back a few days, if he loses just one remaining start then he’d be very, very close to that 140 inning mark. We could end up seeing a lot of drama about it at the end of the season, especially if they decide to rest him for the postseason. Would the Sox do a Steve Avery again with Giolito? I’m confident you’ll get that reference ;O)
FPG
I do remember something about Avery’s contract tied in also with innings
For fun I just looked at Nate Eovaldis game logs. What he is accomplishing this season is historic. I guess he is a couple innings shy of qualifying for the era title ,as ESPN does not have him leading at 1.38 In 19 starts his high in earned runs is just 3 in only 2 starts. Only 2 earned runs in his last 6 starts including his 8 innings of 1 hit ,shutout gem over the Yankees yesterday. Incredible. Is there a better top 2 de Grom and Eovaldi Texas will be tough.
cdc – Every time I hear about The Great Nate, I think about certain people here who insisted Bloom made the right choice to let him walk because they thought Nate was supposedly done at Age 32!!! Too bad I have some of them muted so I can’t remind them. LOL!
I absolutely love Nate, one of my all-time favorites and who could forget his 2018 WS relief appearance or his 2021 WC start?
Just think, if only the Sox had held onto ….
Eovaldi
Wacha
Pivetta
Even if they held onto just one of those guys, they’d probably be pennant favorites right now.
FPG
Yeah, maybe if Pivetta had taken the Sox Qualifying Offer the Sox probably don’t sign Buehler OOF He is having a fine season. Just looked at the Padres starting staff splits all except Kolek have a significantly lower ERA at home. Pivettas is almost a run and 3 quarters higher on the road. 3.67 to a sparkling 1.99. It’s a similar situation to what is going on in Seattle.
cdc – Well sure, Petco is a pitcher-friendly park. But it’s not like 3.67 is a bad Road ERA, that’s quite good especially considering his divisional opponents. That’s why it’s important to look beyond the numbers sometimes.
For instance Nick’s worst road game was ….. yep, Colorado. Take away his 6 ER in 4 IP there and his road ERA is 2.92 ;O)
FPG
I agree with you . If Pivettas ERA was
3.67 as a starter with the Sox for his time here, he would have gotten a much larger contract and may still be here.
Also comment on my Bob Stanley reference ??? I pulled that out of my way back machine. I think Peter Gammons wrote that in his Diamond Notes column in the Sunday Globe. C’mon. That’s gold Pony
cdc – Loved the comment on Steamer! I remember him saying just that!!
I think all sinkerballers were more effective when they pitched a lot, otherwise they’d have too much energy.
When a pitcher is tired, their velocity usually drops slightly. This can actually be beneficial for a sinker, as it allows more time for the ball’s spin and seams to interact with the air, enhancing the downward movement or “sink”.
Also, tired pitchers might naturally shorten their arm path slightly and struggle with full follow-through. leading to an unintentional alteration in release point or arm angle that enhances the sinker’s downward movement.
FPG
I think I remember The Steamer saying exactly that.. Is he in the Red Sox H.o.F.??? I’m going to be look that up. Anyways
I am looking forward to watching May tonight. Kid has talent. Anthony will be back in there. Wacha is going to be tough, coming off one of his best games of the year and is on a quite a good run.
FPG
Crochet just keeps getting it done.. The last strikeout of Maile was tremendous. Crochet was pumped up!! If you want Abreu to play against all lefties,who do you want to sit. Abreu only 1homerun off a lefty so far ,only 51 atbats. You must admit Cora has been pushing all the right buttons …
cdc – I’d keep Rafaela at 2B, he’s doing a good job there and how much defense would they be losing in CF with Duran? Not much, if any.
Crochet looked good as I expected, but he definitely tired later in the game. I was watching the velo closely. You mention the last strikeout against Maile, yeah the last pitch was 97 but before that was 83, 85 and 86.
The batter before that (Loftin) the velo was 92, 90, 91, 85 and 85.
Before that the double to Grichuk was 91.
Speaking of Cora pushing buttons …. did you hear the controversy with Liam? Cora did the exact same thing to him that he did to him last year, announced he’s done for the season while Liam is still working hard to come back and still feels he will.
Liam was super pissed, at least Cora actually admitted he screwed up …. but then again, he had no choice when Liam himself was saying “What the hell is Cora talking about?”
FPG
Yeah, I seen that. Definitely a little strange. I feel for Liam and all he has gone through. Seems to be a top shelf person. I had some hope for him . Maybe Cora was just trying to take any pressure away from him trying to hard to return this season. I don’t know. It was also strange when he said he wanted more opportunities to pitch but was having trouble getting anyone out. I highly doubt he has a place on this roster moving forward. Unfortunately, he was nails for a couple seasons earlier in his career.
cdc – Some pitchers need regular work to be effective, that’s what Liam was talking about …. he is one of them.
FPG
Yeah, Bob Stanley said he was more effective when he was being used a lot. Said his sinker sank more. Tough spot for Cora or any manager. Hard to keep going to him when he is getting roughed up.
cdc – I think what made matters worse was Cora hyping Liam as the closer prior to the season, saying it was a “competition” (of course Cora also said 3B would be a “competition”).
I think most of us always knew Chapman would be the closer.
@FPG: Crochet’s velo seemed fine to me. It’s expected a guy will tire at the end of the game. Other than a change-up to Maile and a sinker to Perez, his velo remained quite consistent throughout the 7th inning. Even then, it was only a 2 and 1 mph drop, respectively.
Sweeper: 83-86
Changeup: 88-93
Cutter: 91-96
Sinker: 96-99
4Seam: 96-100
FPG
Damn
Roman Anthony just signed a nice contract!!!!!
cdc – Awesome!
FPG
8 years $130 million ,, may go up to $230 million. Wow. Very smart move by the Front Office. IMO
I think I listened to them for two batters…. when the girl called the Sox Pitcher Carret Grochet… I knew they were in way over their heads.
Shame on NESN……
If a woman is talking about what happens during a menstruation cycle…. it’s very informative and constructive. Not Baseball,….. It just sounds like some scratching the Chalkboard to people that actually played the game and it is insulting to me.
Cd7
Certainly don’t want to hear about that. But I know what you’re talking about. Not entertaining. This is the Red Sox . Be better.
CD?
The broadcast last night was not enjoyable. I was switching to TBS and the little league game on ESPN. Don Orsillo was doing his thing on TBS. Very entertaining. as I have said before losing him was akin to losing Mookie as far as entertainment is concerned. Not on the field but overall enjoyment bof the game.
Acala missed calling, he should of been pithing for the home run derby!