The Red Sox have outrighted right-handers Isaiah Campbell and José De León to Triple-A Worcester, according to their transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates both players cleared waivers in recent days.
There was no previous indication that either player had been designated for assignment but these kinds of moves are common at this time of year, as most clubs are facing upcoming roster crunches. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series, meaning several players need to retake 40-man spots. Some will also become free agents but many clubs often end up with more than 40 players in the mix. RosterResource estimates the Sox at 43 players, even with the assumption that Alex Bregman will opt out while Lucas Giolito and Liam Hendriks will have their mutual options declined. These two outrights drop them to 41, meaning another move will still be required at some point in the coming weeks, unless Trevor Story also opts out.
De Leon’s removal isn’t surprising. He spent 2025 with the Sox on a minor league deal. He was added to the 40-man roster on the last day of the regular season. The Sox had already clinched a playoff spot and had nothing on the line. De León was given the ball to soak up some innings, allowing Boston to save some of their other arms for the playoffs. He tossed 6 2/3, allowing three earned runs on eight hits and three walks while striking out eight.
A former top prospect, his career has been severely sidelined by injuries, including two Tommy John surgeries. He debuted way back in 2016 but has just 72 big league innings under his belt. He logged 75 1/3 innings for Worcester in 2025 with a 6.93 earned run average, 24.6% strikeout rate and 14.4% walk rate. Players can reject an outright assignment and elect free agency if they have three years of big league service or a previous outright. De Leon qualifies on both accounts and should hit the open market soon.
This is Campbell’s first career outright and he doesn’t have three years of big league service. However, he was non-tendered after 2024, which should make him eligible for minor league free agency. The righty has 43 innings of big league experience. Most of that came with the 2023 Mariners. He was traded to the Red Sox going into 2024 for Luis Urías. The Sox have used him sparingly in the two seasons since, with fewer than ten appearances in each campaign. As mentioned, he was non-tendered after 2024 but then was re-signed via a minor league deal. He was added back to the 40-man in July.
His minor league track record is good but his results backed up this year. From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 105 2/3 innings on the farm with a 2.04 ERA, 29.6% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate. This year, it was 57 2/3 innings with a 3.90 ERA, 18.1% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate.
Photo courtesy of Bob DeChiara, Imagn Images
For a sec i thought it said Kristian campbell
Im like, the f ?
Young stud like that
bing – Kristian is already in Woosta, he’s been there for several months.
What does that have to do with the 40 man roster?
Molly – I was simply responding to Bing thinking it was Kristian. I pointed out Kristian can’t possibly be outrighted to Woosta because he’s already been there, he hasn’t been with the Red Sox in several months.
You can be on the 40 man while in the minors.
But he’s still in the 40 man roster
gauthier – You can be on the 40 man while in the minors.
You would know if a transaction was made with Kristian Campbell as it would be much bigger news. I think they still have high hopes for him to be a significant component of the major league club. Certainly hope he develops into a star in the majors when he is ready (they rushed him a bit too quickly). Still seems to be a bit strikeout prone.
Time to let Isaiah Campbell move on and see if another club can help him find his way back to the majors.
@pedro
Brought kcamp up way too soon
Hopefully he bounces back
So much potential
He was clearly rushed but his glove remains an issue unless he progresses. He was described as one who could play multiple positions yet in Boston he didn’t show he could play even one at an MLB quality level. Duran is a recent example of a player who looked lost originally in both left and center but worked himself into a respected outfielder. Hopefully, Campbell can improve enough to shine in Boston or elsewhere. He got his money, now he has to earn his playing time.
He didn’t distinguish himself at all this year. Even his AAA stats were weak.
IMO, he needs to be traded. With Ceddanne, Abreu & Anthony, we already run out of room for Duran. Yoshi at DH for two years.
I’d be open to something like Duran + Campbell for Greene or Burns. I don’t think the Reds can say no, and maybe we ask for a decent lottery ticket
@brady
the kid went from AA to the majors
and played 6 different positions this yr
thats alot of pressure for a 22 yr old
he needs stability and some kinda permanent role
first they told him he’s a ss, then no you’re a 2b, then no we need you at 1b, then no play some cf, then no play some lf, then no you’re dh, yea no for sure you’re 2b, sorry we meant for sure 1b. he had a different role every single day. with more experience, maturity, and a clearer sense of his position on the field, i think he’ll make the impact in 2026 we all hoped for in 2025
I’m not bashing him, but he didn’t hit well in AAA after we demoted him, and even if he does recover, where does he play? Including Jh Garcia, we have 5 OFs that could lay a claim to starting in 2026.
Im assuming kcamp will be 1b
chandlerbing, if only you can, you know, use your brain before commenting…
Try it again next time, alright? You can do it!
Some people here thought DeLeon should have started a WC game against the Yankees. LOL!!!
This is a good start. I propose a trade of Harper & Castellanos for Yoshida, Hicks, & Casas.
Harper at 1st base (he will address one of the Red Sox’s poorest performing positions in 2025) and Castellanos at DH (another poor performing position in 2025, but not as bad as 1st base).
Casas is an intriguing young player that has yet to live up to his potential and is controllable for 3 more years. It could be a huge win for the Philly’s if he turns out to be a 30/100 guy even if he plays marginal defense at 1st base. And they move on from Harper’s and Castellanos’ salaries.
So…….you’re trolling Phils fans…..right? Either that or you’re auditioning for your local comedy club. Hey, you’ve got a chance. I laughed, and I’m not a Philly or BoSox fan.
Lol. Sounds like the Phillies want to move on without Harper. The Red Sox need a 1st baseman and have some extra cash since they traded Devers.
Could be a win-win.
Red Sox dont have “hudrrds of millions in extra cash” from moving devers, that’s a huge misconception that some writer misused and now floats around like fact.
First off, devers was making 29.5m/season on paper, but had deferrals bringing it down to 27m. Then devers got an assignment bonus from Boston by virtue of being traded, costing a million out of thr ‘savings’…
The club gave out deals to the likes of Roman Anthony which are a couple million this year but rapidly escalates, and took on almost 13m a season to Jordan hicks, then gave Chapman an extension with about 3m raise.
Other chunks of those savings are destined to arb raises for that speedy young outfield.
So of the.27m not paid to devers, about 20m is already spoken for.
Then you have *REAL* needs in the #2SP spot, and, a questionmark about keeping or moving on from Giolito. Mutual option is 19M, QO is 22M, and declining the mutual option without issuing a QO costs 1.5M itself.
Moving yoshida to make an opening at DH is a solid 10m a year in dead money for 2 seasons. He’s owed 2/36 so you probably have to eat half that or more to move him, unless your selling young talented prospects to move the deal which is worse.
BTW the team was a lux tax payer this season, so, consider that when you muse a deal for king, cease, or any QO free agent arm.
Have to wait and see on bregman, story, and giolito. That’s both a lot of payroll and a lot of production to replace.
GASoxFan – Lol. Did you say something? What’s your point?
Let’s look at it another way Bryce Harper has a full no trade clause he seems to like Philly your trade proposal is DOA.
Baseball – point is, Red sox have no money to be sniffing after harper, nor should they. Now Schwarber’s Power may be worth the cost to the sox.
But hard pass on Harper and castellanos.
GaSox – As always I thoroughly enjoy your posts. I didn’t even know about the assignment bonus, you’ve enlightened me once again!
I think trying to calculate how money saved from the Raffy salary dump is being spent is kinda pointless though, it’s not like that money is set aside as a separate fund.
For instance the Red Sox would have given Roman that extension regardless of whether or not Raffy got traded.
And what if the Sox sign Suarez, Naylor or Skubal (after acquiring him)? How do we know if it’s Raffy money that is used, or if it’s Bregman/Giolito/Liam/Buehler etc money that is used?
We wouldn’t even know if the Sox lowered their 2026 payroll budget because of the Raffy trade.
Even if they sign Schwarber (not likely) or Naylor, we can’t assume those signings happened because of the Raffy trade because we don’t even know if Raffy would have become a fulltime first baseman or remain a fulltime DH.
One thing I do wonder about ….. the Dodgers obviously spend a ton on player payroll because of the increase in revenue (filling one of the biggest stadiums in MLB).
Are the Red Sox limited in their ability to increase revenue in proportion to a payroll increase, particularly because Fenway is relatively small? Even if the Red Sox had a team of star players like the Dodgers do, I can’t see people spending $200 for one upper bleacher ticket in Fenway during April & May or for weekday games against boring teams.
Fever – market size comes into play too. There’s a lot more butts within quick travel distance in LA than there are in BOS, never-ending hotel requirements for a lot of BOS folks, in a city just ranked most expensive hotel rates in the nation.
I think a bigger stadium would go largely unfilled for most non-premier matchups to where increased costs- construction, maintenance, taxes, cleaning, etc diminished returns to where its not a good ROI to pursue, especially.after revenue sharing. Maybe you’d bunp it to 40k or 42k if you had to rebuild, but, not much more than that and a bunch of said seats would go unsold.
We.know 2025s CBT number was around 248m. And I haven’t done a post mortem on churn moved during the season to see if the 7 or 8 mil net they saved on Raffy was reinvested anyways (Dustin May?)
But the point is, pundits act like theres nearly 300m off the books hot to spend, and, really there isn’t. The team had a bunch of cheap youngsters that needed arb raises in the coming years. And, I dlnt see Henry running a 350m payroll.
Fever, Sox ownership has plenty of money. We know though they use it elsewhere if they see a higher return on investment. Obviously, such is a good business model, it’s just not what Sox fans deserve considering it’s us fans that started it all.
FPG
Dave Dombrowski tells you what he is thinking. I always enjoyed his interviews and press conferences. Very honest. Let you know what the team needs ,then goes out and gets it.
Suarez did step up yesterday, but still don’t fully understand why you like this soon to be DH.
Was Ohtanis game yesterday one of the greatest playoff performances in the history of the game or what. Unbelievable.
dewey – Absolutely! Sox ownership is just very, very greedy …. we all know that. They value profits over championships.
While I can appreciate John Henry not giving a damn about winning because he’s got 8 rings already and the Red Sox aren’t even his favorite team, he’s an idiot to believe Red Sox Nation would tolerate year after year without winning more than one postseason game (notice I said GAME, not series)
And if he doesn’t understand what it takes to land elite free agents (often overpaying the player in their later years) then he’s an even bigger moron for forgetting the longterm contracts such as Manny and Pedro that inevitably got the Red Sox multiple world championships.
On top of that, as time goes on there will be fewer and fewer Sox fans who have experienced a championship. Many people here didn’t witness 2004 or 2007, before you know it the same can be said for 2013 and 2018. The years tend to pass a whole lot faster than we realize, especially as we get older.
@GASoxfan I agree generally with the point of your post but you have Devers’ numbers off by a bit.
The CBT number the Red Sox were paying was 29.1mil AAV instead of 31.35mil AAV. His current CBT number after the trade was re-adjusted downward, in large party because the Red Sox paid him 15mil in bonuses.
Phillies owe Harper about $166 million over the next 6 seasons. While the Devers trade proved it’s possible to move a big money contract you have to be willing to take a middling return back in the deal
Tbh. Turner is the cornerstone of the Phillies and Schwarber should also be considered another cornerstone. They must resign him.
Harper’s stats over the past 4 years:
22: 63 Rs, 18 HRs, 65 RBIs
23: 84 Rs, 21 HRs, 72 RBIs
24: 85 Rs, 30 HRs, 87 RBIs
25: 72 Rs, 27 HRs, 75 RBIs
Schwarber’s stats over the past 4 years:
22: 100 Rs, 46 HRs, 94 RBIs
23: 108 Rs, 47 HRs, 104 RBIs
24: 110 Rs, 38 HRs, 104 RBIs
25: 111 Rs, 56 HRs, 132 RBIs
Trade Harper and sign Schwarber.
Fan – I appreciate the use of legacy stats, but those 3 you’re using are not very valuable.
During those 4 seasons Harper averaged 3.5 WAR and an .880 OPS while Schwarber averaged 2.8 WAR and .856 OPS.
Harper is also a Gold Glove nominee while Schwarber can’t play defense.
Harper’s biggest problem is he hasn’t been able to stay healthy, averaging only 126 games a season.
Have you missed the part where Harper has a full no-trade clause?
Mango – I don’t even know how the topic of trading Harper got started, but either way it’s far far out there. He ain’t getting traded unless he demands a trade, which is unlikely.
Unlike the Red Sox, the Phillies value and appreciate their franchise players.
The Phillies are willing to give ridiculous contracts to players, “stupid money” as the owner called it. The Red Sox are not and that’s fine with me. The Harper and Trea Turner contracts will not age well.
FPG
Do you consider Bryce Harper as underachieving in his career? I remember hearing of him as a 15/16 year old as the chosen one. A catcher that manipulated the highschool requirements to attain draft eligibility. He has the hardware,R.o.Y. and a couple MVPs. Trout outperformed him early in career ,along with all the time missed has hurt his stature. The Nationals winning right after he departed. Now ,I don’t view him as a top ?? 30 ?? player… If there is a player that needs a championship to validate his immense early build up it’s Harper. This is why Dombrowski called him out.
CDC – Yes, for the simple reason he’s missed a lot of games because of injury and he was one of the most hyped players in MLB history (on the cover of SI at Age 16 I believe?)
Dave called him out? Wow I didn’t hear that!
I did hear Dave pushed back on Strahm’s accusations.
Harper is on pace for the HOF, if that helps.
FPG
In the end of season press conference, DD, speculated if Harper could return to an ‘elite level ‘ player. He said he is a good player. He is obviously sending a message to Harper. Just one of the reasons I truly respect DD. He tells you like it is. I do believe he is on a H o F. trajectory. He did not do much damage in the playoffs this year. He did sign a massive deal 7/8 years ago, doesn’t seem so bad now, but that’s the way contracts go .
JB.
Agree , Harper is definitely a H.o Fer. ,but to be a legend ,must get that ring .
Fever – Harper has NEVER played 160 games in a season. He will NEVER win a GG. Check out his metrics.
Old school numbers are an indicator of success no matter what the nerds claim. Check out the Rays. They predominantly rely on the metrics from the nerds and they’ve NEVER won a WS. Ehh
He is obviously sending a message to Harper.
========================
I read that as just being honest. There is nothing wrong with being 33 years old. He’s unlikely to return to his prime.
JB
With health I can see Harper contending for another MVP. He should have at least a couple great years left. DD will have that team contending again next season.
The topic started by Dombrowski seemingly calling out Harper at his season ending press conference by questioning whether or not Harper will ever be “elite” again. Since then people are running with the idea the Phillies want to trade him. Maybe they do, but they have to realize that that’s an even taller order than trading Castellanos and getting anything of value in return
Fan – OPS is an old school number and an excellent indisputable gauge of productivity (OPS+ has value too, but the inclusion of Park Factors is obviously a gray area).
Why are you hating on metrics in one paragraph, and then supporting defensive metrics in the other? LOL!
Harper wouldn’t have gotten the nomination if he didn’t have good defensive metrics. That’s how guys like Soto got nominations last year.
CDC – It is very cool to see another person (you) that appreciates how great Dombrowski is. He’s definitely Top 5 in MLB.
Rsox – Thank you for the explanation.
Did Dave give any indication if his questioning is due to injury concerns?
Just a thought here BaseballFan 2222 maybe it’s the payroll that is 1/2 to 1/4 the teams that Tampa competes against and not the “nerd” numbers. Maybe the “nerd” numbers have allowed Tampa to compete until the last few years when most teams have embraced them.
Dombrowski’s answers seemed to point at Harper basically saying “he’s the one that will dictate that more than anything else” when asked if Harper could rise to the next level again. And even went as far to say “i guess we only find out if he becomes elite or continues to be good”.
What i wonder is, is there perhaps an issue with Harper’s conditioning program that maybe the Phillies don’t like? Or maybe the issue is he’s not conditioning himself enough in the off-season?. Nothing in his words indicate a forthcoming trade but does seem to be backhanded enough to be some form of motivation tactic
Harper is J.D. Drew 2.0 not what was hyped
Rsox – Thanks, that definitely sounds like Dave is saying Harper can do better.
You could be onto something with regard to conditioning. I don’t follow him or the Phillies all that closely, so personally I have no opinion on that.
Isaiah Campbell…no soup for you!
Good moves, jose is good but hes like 80 yrs old
Man, Jose De Leon. I remember when he was supposed to go to the Twins as the headliner for Brian Dozier the year after he hit 42 home runs and had about 6 bWAR.
What’s the difference between “minor league free agency” and regular free agency? Is a minor league FA only eligible to receive a league minimum contract? Couldn’t a team sign them for a higher salary?
bc – The main thing is you don’t have to be on the 40-man with a minor league contract.
Probably your big difference is, as a minor league free agency player, you sign a deal, and, theres a possibility for 1 or more future seasons to be controlled via Arbitration after the deal expires – basically, under 6 years service time accumulated. The team.can unilaterally agree to keep you and tender a contract the next year (assuming you dont pass 6 years service time) and your only choice is play for them or retire, or under precise circumstances related to prior options used, outrights, and service time, 40-man roster status etc you elect minor league free agency again.
Major league free agency, a guy automatically becomes an unrestricted free agent after the terms of the deal is up.
Not to be confused with a minor league contract, where even players with 12 years service time can be signed to play on the minor league team, until called up, without needing to have an optional assignment year remaining.
Nathaniel Lowe is a pretty obvious candidate to open up the last spot on the 40-man. Nobody is paying him 11mil+ (expected arb number).
Winkowski, Criswell and Moran also may be gone as they’re out of options and aren’t clear 26-man choices.
Guerrero & Grissom are both injured and will need 40-man spots, but given Guerrero’s recent struggles and the clear lack of a path forward for Grissom, neither are likely keeping a place on the 40-man long term.
Wouldn’t surprise me to see either Bernardino or Wong depart, but I’m assuming the Red Sox would try to keep Wong as a 3rd catcher (if they upgrade at backup catcher) and they can likely get something for Bernardino.
We need at least one lefty in the BP besides Chapman and I doubt it will be Tolle, though I could see him getting one year in the BP for developmental purposes.
That’s true, but Matz/Wilson are candidates to be re-signed (I expect one of them to be back) and they still have Murphy and Drohan. Agree that Tolle is unlikely to start in the bullpen (likely starting at AAA) but with Sandoval, Harrison and Early (+Tolle) competing for likely 1 rotation spot (assuming they acquire a #2 type pitcher) there is plenty of lefty starting depth which will likely help the bullpen at some point.
It’s possible 1-2 of Criswell, Moran and Bernardino stick around depending on other moves. Lowe is the immediate fix, but they’ll have to clear space in December to open 40-man spots for rule 5 guys (like Drohan, Mullins, Uberstine and Sandlin) and then to sign/re-sign players. The ill-planned Tolle promotion when he clearly has nothing but a great fastball hurts a bit.