The Red Sox designated right-hander Cooper Criswell for assignment. They needed to open a spot on the 40-man roster to finalize this evening’s five-player trade with Pittsburgh.
Criswell and the Sox worked out an $800K contract last month. While the righty locked in a fully guaranteed salary a little above the MLB minimum, that also pointed to a likely offseason DFA. It has become increasingly common for teams to work out slightly above minimum deals with players whom they’re considering dropping from the 40-man roster. The salary could serve as a minor deterrent for another team to place a waiver claim. Perhaps more importantly, it gives the player incentive to accept a minor league assignment if they clear.
The 29-year-old Criswell was outrighted by the Rays during the 2022 season. That gives him the right to decline future outrights in his career. Criswell might have elected free agency had the Sox ran him through waivers earlier in the winter. It’s less likely that he’d walk away from guaranteed money, so the Sox could stash him in Triple-A if no other team places a claim.
Criswell had a decent season in a swing role in 2024. He logged a career-high 99 1/3 innings with a 4.08 earned run average. He doesn’t have huge velocity or swing-and-miss potential, but he threw strikes and got a decent number of ground-balls. He didn’t get nearly as much big league work this past season. Criswell logged 17 2/3 frames with a 3.57 ERA over seven appearances. He spent the rest of the season at Triple-A Worcester, pitching to a 3.70 ERA with an above-average 24.5% strikeout rate across 65 2/3 frames.
Alex Speier of The Boston Globe reported the move before the club announcement.
I think he’ll get claimed off waiver but somebody. If he passes waivers, he might get a MLB deal somewhere and a minor league deal for sure.
Me too. I just posted in the trade article that I don’t understand removing him from the 40.
They needed a spot on the 40man roster and Criswell is like 12th on the depth chart for starting pitching at this point. He’s had some nice isolated moments but he’s a replacement level arm. Decent minor league depth since he can throw innings but guys like him are a dime a dozen.
That’s not a nice start for a Criswell Christmas Vacation.
There is no reason for me to laugh as much as I did at that, but, here we are!
No doubt he gets picked up.
I’m actually surprised and disappointed. He’s solid and did everything we needed him to. There were other names I would dfa first.
Would’ve rather DFAd Hamilton. He’s redundant with Gray/Sogard/Eaton. Criswell will latch on somewhere quickly. Very decent SP
Swan – i agree 100%!!! If Sogard, Eaton, Hamilton and Gray are all on the 40 Man after the winter meetings I’m gonna lose my mind.
I imagine the trade may have come together a little quicker than the Sox wanted, so Criswell dfa’d. I think he’s the logical choice because he will be easy to trade
D. Hamilton can’t hit, is a below average 2B, and for a guy with wheels, he’s not the best baserunner. I think he and Cora have some sort of “bromance” going?
Monster- Yup, as you know Cora is infatuated with guys who can “play” more than one position.
Well, he can’t hit, but “below average 2B” and “not the best baserunner” couldn’t be further from the truth. He has +16 DRS and +6 OAA in 679 career innings at 2B. That translates to 32 DRS, 12 OAA over a full defensive season, which puts him in the upper echelon of elite at 2B (although the results at SS haven’t been as good).
On the bases, he’s posted an 84.6% success rate and an 8.5 BsR (FanGraphs) the past two seasons. That BsR ranks in the top 20 in all of baseball (despite having less than half the playing the time of every one else in the top 20). StatCast says the same, +6 baserunning run value last year, good for 7th in baseball (again, in half the playing time of the guys around him). In other words, the upper echelon of elite baserunners.
3.6 War over the past 2 years. What do you expect from a low cost utility infielder? Speed, Good Middle Infield Defense. Criswell is 6th or 7th on the depth chart in Worcester.
Hamilton is much more valuable than Criswell.
Yeah, looking at his stats, it looked like he was a versatile arm willing to do whatever was asked of him, and seemed to do it pretty well.
Maybe his advanced stats aren’t all that great? Idk, but it does seem a bit puzzling why you would get rid of a versatile and seemingly pretty reliable arm that can at least eat up innings or come in for mop-up duty and keep your team in the game…
I mean, every team needs a last guy in their bullpen like this. I would be pretty shocked if he goes unclaimed…
Is there something I am missing?
He’ll get claimed. 800k salary and I would argue he belongs in a major league rotation
He did throw 7 vs. the Astros.
Ugh… Think Red Sox will regret dropping Criswell. He has value for depth. I rather keep Criswell than Vaughn Grissom.
Yep, but Criswell wasn’t the return for Chris Sale! They tend to hang onto those guys to pray and hope they save face…..
Someone will grab him. He has Oakland written all over him.
or traded
If they claim him they need to pay him new contract he signed..this was a crafty move by bres most likely he goes unclaimed
Teams just added a lot of players to their 40 man roster ahead of the Rule 5 draft and may be saving open spots for the draft. I think he may clear waivers.
Suit – maybe its me, but i think Criswell is just a useful mlb piece at the league minimum (+$20k).
When you look at the Sox 40 man and see Grissom and Hamilton, those guys no one would make a trade offer for, they leave for nothing
I’m hoping that maybe a team jumps out and offers a low end prospect simply so he doesn’t walk for nothing….maybe that’s the thought process?
At random checked a few team’s 40 man that need pitching help there’s capacity out there to absorb him. He’s getting claimed for sure
Pool – another brilliant move by Bres……it took all of 18 hours for another team to spend league minimum plus $20k
They spent 800k not league min..per mob rules if you claim a player on waivers you assume the contract..which he recently signed
Pool – they added $20k to the league minimum and expected that to deter other teams from taking a flyer on a guy who is only 29 and can pitch as a starter or a reliever and be useful? C’mon
Look at the crap that other teams are signing……Bres had three utility men on the 40 Man and went and traded for another, but lost Criswell for nothing. It’s just not smart
Sad: Criswell should pitch in AAA, agreed? The Red Sox AAA rotation is pretty full with Dobbins, Tolle, Early, Uberstine, Perales, Drohan and Sandlin. I can see giving them 40 man roster spots ahead of Criswell. If you really want to keep Criswell, who from that group would you DFA?
Suit – i don’t think Criswell would have gotten starts. Nor, do I think he would be a high leverage guy. What i think is Criswell has gotten mlb hitters out, and would’ve been a useful guy to have in the pen breaking camp out of spring training.
Or, at 29yo, he would’ve been of interest to teams with injuries. Instead we get to see more of Grissom and Hamilton.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no affinity for Criswell, I think this was a Breslow misstep. Luckily, David Stearns and the Mets proved that theory correct.
Sad: In addition, Criswell has no options left. So, unless the Red Sox are certain he will be on the Red Sox right out of spring training, it was the right move to DFA him and see if he could get through waivers which would allow him to go to the minors and not be on the 40 man roster. Given the extra $20K they gave him, this was likely the plan all along. It is not guaranteed to work, but worth a shot for $20K. Do you really want to commit a bullpen spot to Criswell in December? I think it’s too early to do that.
Suit – you could certainly be right about not committing anything to Criswell at this point.
I have no love for Criswell. My only point in all of these posts is pointing out that a useful pitcher needs to be on the 40 Man more than rushing out to acquire Gray three weeks ago, or not dfa’ing one of the four utility infielders we have.
I have contended for two offseasons now that Breslow hasn’t been able to view the 40 Man as a single entity rather than 40 silos. He hasn’t yet been able to master roster construction. Not saying he never will, but, these “cute” little moves (like adding $20k to the contract) are costly.
Sad: Not sure what you mean by entity vs silos. Looking at the 40 man roster, they have 23 pitchers on it. That may be the max they want to carry on the 40 man.
Either way ..do you really believe the sox red sox hopes rely on criswell?..what team do you root for..im guessing Yankees
I count Criswell as the 13th best starter for the Red Sox.
1) Crochet
2) Gray
3) Bello
4) Oviedo
5) Dobbins
6) Crawford
7) Sandoval
8) Harrison
9) Early
10) Tolle
11) Drohan
12) Uberstine
13) Criswell
All he wouldve needed was the Red Sox team plane to crash twice, and he wouldve had a job.
Pool – I have a million postings for the Sox, my fandom goes back to the ’70s. No, the Sox hopes don’t really on a productive season from Criswell, nor does it depend on Hamilton or Grissom, but this is the guy that Breslow chose to lose for nothing
Reggie – terrible take. You think its excusable to lose a useful swing man reliever but keep four utility infielders?
1) Criswell was a little useful in 2024, but thats it. Last year with a slew of injuries he got 17 innings. With many players developing and new additions, he would NEVER see the Red Sox roster again. The pitching talent this team has, has long surpassed him.
2) Four utility infielders? They have one. Dave Hamilton. Romy and Eaton are super utilities and Sogard will start in the minors.
Reggie – that’s supposed to be a serious comment? Hamilton is the only utility player because Romy and Eaton are super utility players? What about Gray, does he count as utility, or super utility?
Eaton has NEVER played 2B or SS in 268 games. But you consider him a “utility infielder” Lol. He’s not playing the middle infield unless there are multiple injuries. So he is absolutely not a utility infielder.
I guess you havent heard the news, Romy is taking over Refsnyder’s job. He’s going to platoon in the outfield, spelling Abreu when lefties pitch. Where have you been? He has played 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, LF, CF, RF in the majors = Super Utility.
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Most fans would say having versatility like this on the bench is a good thing. But, not you its terrible.
Pool hall- i don’t really believe that “smartest guy in the room” crap for one second.
They signed Criswell for $20k over minimum. I don’t see that from stopping multiple teams from wanting to claim him. Maybe if they tacked and extra $20k onto Grissom’s contract nobody would want him (lol) but we’re talking about a useful mlb pitcher
When did best tout himself as the smartest guy in the room? .
Not very impressed with the Red Sox moves today…
Hope they re-sign him to a new deal but I’ll be surprised if he makes it thru waivers
“…had the Sox ran him through…” Really? Don’t editors exist anymore? So much for the loss of jobs. It’s sad…
Nobody else read that sentence and thought what you thought.
Criswell is a solid rotation depth piece, he did well in the few spots he was used last season. I hope he goes unclaimed. Supposedly the Sox paid him a hefty sum to deter teams from claiming him…..we shall see.
I wonder if the Angels would have instead given the money they gave manoah to criswell instead
Frank – $20k, that’s what the brillant Yale mafia in the front office decided is enough to scare away teams from claiming a guy who starts, relieves and is serviceable.
Hope a team jumps out and makes a trade offer, because I don’t think he’s passing through waivers
How is it that people here don’t understand transaction rules? It was explained fairly clearly in the article – with the exception detected by the grammar police.
If Criswell was in any serious demand they’d have traded him for something. They just cut his MLB contract value by $200 K so they don’t think he’s so special either. But by signing him when he’s out of options but short of 5 years service it’s his choice to accept the $ in the minors as depth or give it up and declare FA. Or another team could claim him and be in the same position. Golden handcuffs for him and both hope he makes it to the bigs and contributes something again.
Nyyfan – yes, youre right. But when you have 4 (four) utility infielders already on the roster perhaps a swing man is more useful, even if he’s out of options.
The hope here is that some team jumps out and offers a low end prospect so he doesn’t just get claimed for nothing
I swear Breslow is trying to destroy that team.
Lowey- hahahaha, nah, he’s just sooooo much smarter than the rest of us
2022: 78-84
2023: 78-84
Breslow takes over
2024: 81-81
2025: 89-73, made playoffs
2026: Odds are already better than last year to win division
People dont understand progress.
Please Sad Sox respond to this one.
Reggie – Breslow traded for Crochet, and deserves all the credit. Another good move was signing Chapman. That’s the simple difference.
He did very little otherwise to make “progress” as you claim he did. He did nothing at the deadline last year, the most crucial juncture for the Red Sox in the last five years. Had he gotten a real SP at the deadline we’re playing in the ALCS. Instead we overpaid for May who “replaced” Walker Buehler, who pitched better down the stretch than May did. We haven’t had a starting 2B in his tenure here.
Is this the progress you want to take a victory lap for?
“he did very little otherwise”
So bringing in Bregman and his 3.5 War was a negative.
So getting a catcher who produced 2.6 War with some of the best defense in the league is a negative?
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All combined Breslow brought in 15.4 War last offseason. Most in the majors. But, that wasnt enough. Will it ever be enough for you?
I already said that Breslow traded for Crochet and signed Chapman. Great job!
Bregman played the Sox and Breslow like a fiddle. Used Cora to facilitate that. Because of his 3.5 WAR we lost Devers. Moreover, his second half was mediocre:
Batting Average: .250
On-Base % (OBP): .338
Slugging % (SLG): .386
Home Runs (HR): 7
Runs Batted In (RBI): 27
Extra-Base Hits (2B): 11
So, would i have rather spent money on Pete Alonso LAST year than Bregman? Definitely
1) Nothing about Narvaez, whom they stole from the Yankees for next to nothing. You dont think he was an upgrade over Wong.
2) So, in this case, we’re only looking at the 2nd half when Bregman was injured. So selective. Arent wins in the first half worth just as much as the 2nd half? Its not Jeopardy when dollar values are doubled in the 2nd round. — Thats why I like War, its the full body of one’s work, there’s no selective games being played. The trade was made BECAUSE Devers didnt rehab during the offseason and looked terrible during ST. The overpay for Bregman was 100% Dever’s fault.
3) Alonso, Last Year??? We had a First Baseman. We did not have a Third Baseman. But sure, Red Sox shouldve, somehow, known Casas was going to get injured, and they’d leave 3b to the guys miscellaneous unproven guys you just ripped on for being too versatile.
4) Thank god San Fran took Devers. What fools. It will go down as one of the worst trades of Buster Posey’s career. You do know they were in the playoffs on the day they acquired Devers and did NOT make it, while the Red Sox were not in the playoffs and DID make the playoffs. But, sure he such a valuable player. For the first 2 months after the trade the Giants had the worst record in baseball. — $220M through 2033 and he’s only getting older and fatter.
You can go back and look, as early as Dec 10th last year I was advocating for signing Alonso as a part time platoon on the field with Casas and everyday righty DH.
Youre mistaken, last year we already had an all-star third baseman on the roster and under contract. We didn’t have a righty power bat to hit 30+ hrs and drive in 100+ runs…..
So youre just ignore every point you have zero Argument for?
– The team has gotten better every year since Breslow took over.
– That Devers leaving made the Red Sox better and the Giants worse
– That Narvaez was a straight up STEAL, and from the Yankees no less.
– That Romy and Eaton arent just infielders. In fact, between them, they’ve played a combined 29 out of a combined 2280 innings at SS, a key position that a “utility infielder” needs to play.
– That you havent heard Romy is taking over the 4th OFer job from Ref.
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The team is STACKED for the future with major and minor league talent. And youre saying Breslow is running it into the ground. Lol.
Here’s a video from Baseball America on the Red Sox prospects. (A respected national website, based on the west coast, so not a fluff piece). Educate yourself.
youtube.com/watch?v=K_xEu6B33Vo
Winning three more games in 2024 doesnt scream progress to me, no. And, you do understand that having an 18 game winner as your Ace should make you 12 games better as a team from two years prior.
I never said Breslow was running the team into the ground. Read before you write. I said he deserves credit for making smart moves, but he has short comings in his decisions
My beef with Breslow is the inability to address glaring issues while continuing to nibble around the edges. And I can not forget that last year at the trade deadline, with the entire American League to be had, he brought in Dustin May and Steven Matz.
I will not argue with you regarding the definition of utility infielder, considering Eaton plays 3B among other positions and Romy started 73 games at either 1B or 2B.
Youre kidding yourself to say that today this team is “STACKED” (all caps yours) as we are still the third best team in the AL East.
1) Youre ignoring basic facts again (Like ignoring Narvaez’s contributions or Romy is moving to RF in 2026):
You mention the 4 game improvement in 2024, when Breslow only had 4 months to put his mark on the team. But, ignore the 8 game and playoff appearence improvement in 2025 or the expected improvement in 2026.
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2) I have no idea what the 18 games minus 6 thing is. Thats absolute nonsense. Skenes, the best pitcher in baseball, only had 10 wins with a 1.97 ERA and 0.948 Whip. Its a whole team effort. Wins and Losses to evaluate a pitcher or give him 100% credit for the wins is just wrong.
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3) You dont have to play SS to be a “utility infielder”? SMH.
Here’s the definition of ‘Utility Infielder’:
“Utility infielders typically play both second base and shortstop, sometimes also third base, and more rarely first base.” — Newsflash: Thats not what Romy or Eaton do.
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4) Red Sox didnt go for it at trade deadline. They had too many injuries. They got a few cheap fixes because anything of value wouldve cost serious capital. Its completely meaning less what Breslow did at trading deadline, because that team was not going to win a WS.
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Conclusion:
I see you just want 9 terrible fielders who are also slow runners. Imagine 1B and 3B locked up by Devers and Alonso for the next 8 years at ridiculous money. Yeesh, those teams would be bad. Its not 1977 anymore, people who run baseball teams are much smarter now.
Theres a lot of “he’ll get claimed” comments here.
Right now its roster crunch time. Every team has 40 guys they have or want in Rule V draft. He went unclaimed when he was 26yo, I doubt his value has improved that much.
I predict he doesnt get claimed with the guaranteed 800k.
Reggie – it took all of 18 hours for him to get claimed
18hr wow, it shows the Mets have a terrible 40-man roster. Thats what happens to your roster when the first 9 guys eat up $206M, youre left with the Red Sox scraps to fill out the roster.
You were convinced that there were no claims to be made on Criswell.
“convinced” or as I wrote “predicted”. Love the exaggeration.
Funny, you get so much wrong, yet never respond to them.
@Reggie Smith,
Do you really think the Mets aren’t going to make any more moves this offseason…that the current 40-man is the one they’re set for opening day?
Reggie – here are your words, “He went unclaimed when he was 26yo, I doubt his value has improved that much. I predict he doesnt get claimed with the guaranteed 800k”. So yes, you used the word “predict”, but those are pretty strong words. You want to argue semantics? The simple fact is you were wrong, why don’t you own it? You say i get so much wrong, maybe I do, difference is I always admit when I’m wrong. But then, you doubled down and blamed the Mets for “having a terrible roster”.
Well, the Rockies need pitching of any value and have a new PBO and GM, the 1st rights of refusal on waiver claims and the Rule 5 draft, plus a “few slots” on the 40 man roster filled by place-holders. We will know shortly if they take the bait.