1:57pm: The Sox have now officially signed Lowe and designated Sanchez for assignment. They also placed outfielder Rob Refsnyder on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 15th, due to a left oblique strain and recalled infielder/outfielder Nate Eaton.
1:26pm: The Red Sox will designate catcher Ali Sánchez for assignment today, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com. The team has yet to announce the move, but they’ll need roster space for their reported agreement with veteran first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.
Sánchez, 28, appeared in only one game with the Red Sox and was hitless in his lone plate appearance. He was 5-for-21 with a couple doubles as a member of the Blue Jays before landing in Boston via waivers after being designated for assignment. Sánchez has appeared in parts of four major league seasons and suited up for five teams but has just 132 plate appearances in 47 games overall. He’s a .185/.222/.235 hitter in that tiny sample of scattershot playing time.
Unsurprisingly, Sánchez’s work in the upper minors has been far better. He’s played in parts of six Triple-A seasons and carries a .269/.340/.399 slash in 1266 trips to the plate. He’s a better-than-average defender who excels at blocking balls in the dirt and boasts a superlative 39% caught-stealing rate in his 12-year professional career.
Sánchez is out of minor league options, so any team that claims him off waivers will have to plug him right onto the big league roster. Waivers are the Red Sox’ only possible course of action with Sánchez, now that the trade deadline has passed. He’ll be placed on outright or release waivers within the next five days (very likely the former). He’s been outrighted multiple times in his career, so if Sánchez clears waivers, he’d be able to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency
Cool. Dump Isaiah Campbell next
He has been God awful. Bring Berny back up to take his spot.
Slaten and Winck can’t come back from the DL soon enough.
Absolutely co-sign this
Not sure I want to ever see Winck again
Rather him than Campbell or Hicks.
Hicks at least has the stuff to be a difference-maker if they can ever figure out his control issues. Winck, to put it mildly, does not. For the life of me I don’t know why they’ve kept Berny down for so long though.
re: Hicks, the obsession with turning elite starters into relievers and elite relievers into starters across the league is a little bewildering to me, though I suppose when it works it really works (hello Garrett Crochet)
Neither Isaiah nor Ali belong on an MLB roster.
Yep
Toro has been a fine fill-in at 1B, but ultimately he’s shown that he’s a bench player at best in MLB. His efforts are surely appreciated by his teammates and coaches.
That said, wouldn’t Campbell be a better option as a role player on the current roster? Or is Eaton the guy? I suppose they want Campbell getting regular starts every day and he wouldn’t get those in Boston.
I just struggle with them keeping Toro. He’s not fast. Not great on defense. And his poor hitting is the reason they “need” Lowe. Seems like they could improve by using someone else.
Toro can play 3B, that’s why he’s still around. Eaton is roster filler as another RH hitter on the bench. Could be they don’t want Campbell riding the bench in Boston when he can get regular AB’s in Worcester
Toro “can play” 3B only in the loosest sense
Campbell is best suited to be playing every day, as you said. He was struggling to hit big league pitching, so he needs to be getting regular AB’s and keeping his focus on learning how ML pitchers are going to attack him so that he’ll be ready to adjust and counter-adjust. He showed flashes so we know he can hit up here, it’s just working on his consistency. Putting him into a utility/supersub role with limited AB’s is one of the worst things they could do for him right now. Just have to wait it out until he hits that level of progress where he’s ready to come back up for good.
DirtyWater – at this point I think I prefer Campbell to play out the remainder of the season in AAA and come back to a clean slate next year.
I think I’m with you, unless he really gets on an otherworldly tear that can’t be ignored. Best to leave the pressure off him and just let him do his thing, barring him forcing the issue.
Eaton has been on fire this past month. Plus if you bring him up, make him play all over the field, move him up and down the lineup, and totally screw his head up… like Cora is bound to do… then its still just Nate Eaton (and not Kristian Campbell)
Didn’t the sox bring Eaton back yesterday?
Yeah he’s here. I was justifying the decision to bring Eaton up over KC.
Eaton also fills the role of late game Pinch Runner if they need a base stolen…. while Hamilton is not on the roster.
I see the giants on the phone for anyone with a catchers glove…
So…. Why even bother claiming a third catcher? The move raises more questions now that they’re dumping him so quickly.
Because they knee-jerk (pun intended) reacted to Narvaez having knee soreness and claimed Sanchez but since Narvaez didn’t need an IL stint they were stuck with 3 Catchers. Narvaez is clearly ok now and Wong’s bat has sporadically shown signs of life so Sanchez on the roster was redundant
I will say that I personally might have preferred to give Sanchez a little leash and send Wong to AAA to figure it out, since their total lack of offensive prowess and Wong’s down defensive year make them more or less a wash. But I guess it does make sense to stick with the guy who knows the staff (and vice versa).
He is cute
Sweeney is just one of the rights call girls
I don’t get it
Ali G In Da House!
Respect
What’s the point in keeping Toro around now that they have Lowe. Seems like the waste of a roster spot.