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AL East Notes: Story, Bogaerts, LeMahieu, Quinn, Schneider

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Red Sox infielder Trevor Story has only played 94 games this season due to various injuries and doesn’t have much time left to add to that total. Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports that the earliest Story could come back from the IL is the club’s final series against the Rays, which begins October 3.

Story’s health won’t impact the 2022 season at this point as the club is eliminated from postseason contention, but it will be significant for the 2023 club. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts can opt out of his contract this offseason and is widely expected to do so. Boston will then have to decide on what their middle infield plan is for next year. Extension talks in the spring reportedly didn’t make any progress and Rob Bradford of WEEI relays word from Bogaerts that talks haven’t picked back up as of yet.

The club could theoretically move Story back to shortstop, where he played for years while with the Rockies, and then give second base to Christian Arroyo, Enrique Hernandez, Yu Chang or someone else. However, that plan will come with some uncertainty. Story dealt with shoulder issues in 2021, making 11 throwing errors that year. Some in the industry felt he was better suited to second base, which is where the Sox have had him this year. He seems to have taken well to the position change, racking up five Defensive Runs Saved and 10 Outs Above Average despite barely playing half a season. If the club decides that Story has found a good home at the keystone, they would then have to figure out who’s taking over at short.

Some other tidbits from the AL Beast…

  • The Yankees could activate DJ LeMahieu from the IL tomorrow, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “We’re about at that point of, let’s go give this thing a go,” manager Aaron Boone tells Hoch. LeMahieu has been out of action for more than three weeks due to a toe injury, which put a halt to another fine season at the plate for the 34-year-old. He’s hit .262/.358/.381 for a wRC+ of 117 while providing quality defense at first, second and third base. All told, he’s produced three wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs, making this the eighth straight season of him getting to 1.9 fWAR or higher. The Yankees have already clinched a spot in the playoffs and are virtually guaranteed to finish atop the AL East and earn a bye past the first round. If LeMahieu is indeed able to rejoin the team tomorrow, he will have a week to get some at-bats and get back into game shape before the regular season concludes.
  • Rays outfielder Roman Quinn has joined the Triple-A Durham Bulls to begin a rehab assignment, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Quinn played well in 21 games for the Rays, hitting .262/.340/.305 for a wRC+ of 121 before landing on the IL due to a knee contusion. He hasn’t hit for much in the majority of his time in the big leagues but has always been useful due to his speed and defense. The Rays are likely headed for the postseason as they currently hold the second AL Wild Card spot and could potentially find Quinn’s skillset to be useful off the bench.
  • The Blue Jays fired Charlie Montoyo from his manager role earlier this year and gave John Schneider the position on an interim basis. The Jays have generally fared well since the move, going 41-25 since he was pushed up to the top job in the dugout. That might be enough for the club to simply remove the “interim” tag for next season, though a final decision is not being made public just yet. “He’s certainly a long-term fit,” general manager Ross Atkins tells Keegan Matheson of MLB.com, though also indicating they will make a formal decision at a later date. Matheson opines that Schneider will be sticking around, though it seems official proclamations will have to wait.

Pitching Notes: Berrios, Giolito, Eovaldi, Minor

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The Toronto Blue Jays may have some difficulty carving out a role for José Berríos in their postseason rotation. Gregor Chisholm of the Toronto Star pointed out in a Thursday opinion piece that in a scenario that sees the Jays go to a third game in the AL Wild Card Series, Berríos could find himself coming out of the bullpen.

Berríos has not been the pitcher Toronto had hoped he would be since the club gave him the second largest contract in franchise history in terms of total value last offseason. Nearly a season into his seven-year, $131 million extension, the twenty-eight year old right-hander has struggled to turn out quality outings with any consistency. Excluding a rough rookie season, Berríos is posting career worsts in ERA, WHIP, K/9, HR/9, BABIP, and HardHit%. He is also not trending in the right direction, accumulating a 6.92 ERA in the month of August and conceding six earned runs in just two innings to the Rays on Thursday night.

Alek Manoah and Kevin Gausman are the presumptive choices for the Jays’ first two games of the best-of-three Wild Card Series. If that series goes to a decisive third game, barring injury, manager John Schneider will likely face a choice between starting Ross Stripling, who has had an excellent 2022, or Berríos.

More on other pitching situations from around the league…

  • White Sox righty Lucas Giolito is another tenured AL ace that has not pitched to his potential in 2022. His 5.05 ERA, 1.477 WHIP, and 9.9 H/9 are his worst since he broke out in 2019. After a September 16th start in which he gutted out 4 2/3 innings of one run ball, Giolito told James Fagan of The Athletic that his stuff was “obviously just like, not really there,” as it has been for most of the season. He continued on to cite a lack of fastball velocity as a chief contributor to his 2022 struggles. Giolito’s four-seam velocity has averaged 92.9 mph this season, a full 1.5 mph slower than his 2019 peak. The Sox can retain him for one more season via arbitration before he is scheduled to reach free agency as a 29-year-old, with Giolito surely hoping to find a way to have a better campaign in his platform year.
  • Nathan Eovaldi, who will be a free agent this offseason, alluded to his desire to re-sign with the Red Sox in an interview with Chad Jennings of The Athletic. “I love being here,” Eovaldi said. “It’s the front office, it’s the coaching staff, the training staff. Here, they all want to win.” It is unclear whether the 32-year old fits into Boston’s future plans. The Red Sox are on the precipice of a potentially turbulent offseason in which Eovaldi and DH J.D. Martinez are free agents and the contracts of superstars Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts have yet to be resolved. Boston’s uncertain future, in addition to the fact that Eovaldi spent so much of his 2018 pact with the Red Sox on the IL, casts some doubt on the notion that Red Sox will share Eovaldi’s interest in a reunion. However, with Rich Hill and Michael Wacha both headed into free agency as well, the club will certainly be looking to fill some rotation holes for 2023.
  • Reds lefty Mike Minor told Bobby Nightengale of the Cincinnati Enquirer that he is considering retirement at the conclusion of the 2022 season. “I’d have to feel good, and I’d have to want to play and want to be away from my family again,” Minor said. Three years removed from an All-Star nod with the Rangers, Minor battled injuries for the first two months of 2022. In total, he has thrown 98 innings to the tune of a 6.06 ERA for a non-competitive Reds team. Minor will face free agency this offseason should he elect to return to the big-leagues for a 12th year.

Garrett Whitlock To Undergo Season-Ending Hip Surgery

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Sep. 21: The Red Sox announced that they have officially placed Whitlock on the 15-day IL, with righty Connor Seabold recalled to take his place on the roster. Since Whitlock won’t be returning this year, the club can transfer him to the 60-day IL as soon as they need his spot on the 40-man roster.

Sep. 20: Red Sox right-hander Garrett Whitlock will undergo surgery and won’t return for the rest of the season, reports Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe (Twitter links). Whitlock is expected to be ready for Spring Training. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports that the procedure will be arthroscopic hip surgery for a right hip impingement.

Whitlock, 26, went on the injured list due to hip inflammation in June and ended up missing just over a month. The issue never really went away though, with Abraham reporting a few weeks ago on Whitlock’s ongoing struggles to continue. The Red Sox were in the Wild Card race for the first few months of the season but have faded recently and are now 10 games behind the Mariners for the final spot, with three clubs in between. Given that there’s just over two weeks remaining on the schedule, their chances of climbing back into the race have evaporated, making it fairly logical to stop pushing Whitlock and start worrying about next season.

Despite the ongoing injury and unfortunate ending, it’s been another successful season for Whitlock. After being selected from the Yankees in the 2020 Rule 5 draft, he stuck with Boston through all of last year, registering a 1.96 ERA over 73 1/3 innings, along with a 27.2% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 49.7% ground ball rate.

Just as the 2022 campaign was ramping up in April, he and the Sox agreed to a four-year, $18.75MM extension that also comes with a pair of club options, cementing him as a key piece of the team’s pitching staff. This year, Whitlock eventually earned himself a spot in the rotation, making nine starts. However, since going on the IL with the hip issue, he has only appeared as a reliever. Perhaps Whitlock could be considered for a rotation spot again next year, if the surgery goes well and he’s able to return to full strength. While pitching around the issue for most of the season, he still registered a 3.45 ERA over 78 1/3 innings along with a 26.4% strikeout rate, 4.8% walk rate and 40.8% ground ball rate.

Six Teams Set To Pay Luxury Tax In 2022

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Six teams are set to pay penalties under the newly restructured competitive balance/luxury tax for their 2022 payrolls, per a report from the Associated Press. Each of the Mets, Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, Padres and Red Sox is currently over the threshold. That marks just the second time since the luxury tax’s inception that six teams will pay the tax.

This will be the second straight year paying the tax for both Los Angeles and San Diego. Each of the other four clubs was under the threshold in 2021 and thus counts as a first-time luxury tax offender.

The 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement not only saw the tax thresholds increase by a relatively significant margin — it also implemented a newly created fourth tier of penalization. For a reminder, the new thresholds are as follows:

  • Tier One: $230-250MM (teams pay a 20% overage)
  • Tier Two: $250-270MM (32%)
  • Tier Three: $270-290MM (62.5% for first-time payors; 65% thereafter)
  • Tier Four: $290MM+ (80%)

For second-time payors (i.e. Dodgers, Padres), those rates jump to 30%, 42%, 75% and 90%, respectively.

While those sound like substantial penalties at first glance, the actual amounts to be paid by most teams in excess of the luxury tax is relatively minimal. Those clubs are only taxed on dollars over the threshold, leading to often trivial sums of money (by the standards of a Major League franchise, anyhow). The Padres, for instance, are less than $3MM over the threshold, per the AP, so even with an increased 30% tax rate they’re only set to pay a bit more than $800K. The Red Sox are roughly $4.5MM over the threshold, putting them in line to pay about $900K in fees. The Phillies ($2.6MM) and even the Yankees ($9.4MM) are also looking at generally small sums, relative to their annual payroll marks.

The only two teams set to pay substantial sums are the Dodgers, who fall just shy of the fourth tier of penalization, and the Mets, who exceeded that tier by nearly $9MM. The Mets are in line to pay as much as $29.9MM in taxes, per the AP, while the Dodgers check in just slightly behind that sum at $29.4MM.

What the AP’s report does not delve into, however, are the other penalties associated with the luxury tax — which some teams view as more detrimental than the fiscal penalizations. Any club that exceeds the first tax threshold by $40MM or more will see its top pick in the following year’s draft pushed back 10 slots, for instance. With regard to the 2023 draft, that applies to both the Mets and the Dodgers.

Tax payors are also subject to stiffer slaps on the wrist when signing free agents who have rejected a qualifying offer and to diminished returns when losing such free agents. CBT payors who sign a “qualified” free agent stand to lose their second- and fifth-highest selections in the draft as well as $1MM from their league-allotted bonus pool for international free agency (which typically represents anywhere from roughly one-sixth to one-quarter of the total pool). That’s in contrast to revenue-sharing recipients, who forfeit only their third-highest pick, and to non-revenue sharing recipients/non-CBT-paying teams, who lose their second pick and $500K from that international pool.

More interesting with respect to this year’s group of luxury payors is the fact that a CBT-paying club who extends a qualifying offer to a free agent only stands to gain a compensatory pick after the fourth round of the 2023 draft. For a team that does not receive revenue sharing and does not pay the CBT, that pick would fall after Competitive Balance Round B — roughly 60 picks higher.

For a team like the Red Sox, who exceeded the tax by just $4.5MM, that means they’ll see their potential compensation for Xander Bogaerts — a lock to receive and reject a qualifying offer — shrink considerably. It also lessens the incentive to extend a qualifying offer to a more borderline candidate like Nathan Eovaldi, who’s been shelved for more than a month due to shoulder inflammation.

It also further welcomes scrutiny of Boston’s decision to hang onto veterans such as Eovaldi, Rich Hill and J.D. Martinez at the trade deadline. It’s certainly commendable that the club sought to remain in the Wild Card mix, but the Sox sent some mixed signals by trading Christian Vazquez (and to a much lesser extent, Jake Diekman) while simultaneously acquiring Tommy Pham and a paid-down-to-league-minimum Eric Hosmer. The Red Sox didn’t really commit to shattering the threshold in the name of an all-out postseason push in 2022 but also didn’t take the necessary steps to maximize their return in the event that Bogaerts departs in free agency. The result could be that their compensation for losing Bogaerts, a four-time All-Star who’s received MVP votes in four different seasons, will be a single draft pick somewhere in the 135 to 140 vicinity next summer. That’s not necessarily a franchise-altering outcome, but it’s also far from ideal.

At one point, the Padres might have faced similar considerations with regard to their own free agents, although they’ve sorted themselves out more organically. Joe Musgrove’s extension keeps him in San Diego and renders moot any considerations regarding a qualifying offer, though. Meanwhile, fellow starters Mike Clevinger and Sean Manaea looked like potential QO candidates at the time of the trade deadline but have struggled considerably in the second half, lessening the likelihood they’d receive a QO in the first place.

That diminished draft compensation, while not a deterrent for the Mets with regard to their roster construction, will be a reality they face this winter. With as many as four potential QO recipients — Jacob deGrom, Edwin Diaz, Chris Bassitt and Brandon Nimmo — they stand to see the return for those potential departures undercut in a meaningful way. Ditto the Dodgers, who’ll assuredly make a QO to Trea Turner and could at least ponder one for Tyler Anderson. The Yankees, too, have a slam-dunk QO recipient in their lineup (Aaron Judge) and borderline call in their rotation (Jameson Taillon). The Phillies don’t have much to consider with regard to potential qualifying offers.

All told, the six teams in question will pay a combined total of about $73MM in luxury fees, with the Mets and Dodgers accounting for the vast majority of that sum. The luxury tax will hit the Mets the hardest both in terms of actual dollars paid and in terms of return for recipients of the qualifying offer. Both the Padres and Dodgers were content to pay the tax in consecutive seasons, and given the extent by which the Mets exceeded the threshold this year, that’ll likely be the case for them in 2023 as well. Time will tell whether San Diego and Los Angeles are willing to incur an even steeper set of tax penalties as a third-time offender, and it’s certainly plausible that any of the Red Sox, Yankees and/or Phillies could look to dip back under the first tier of penalization next season, when the first-tier threshold increases to $233MM.

Rangers Interested In Signing Kevin Plawecki After Release From Red Sox

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5:45pm: Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News confirms the Rangers’ interest while relaying that the corresponding move would be placing infielder/outfielder Nick Solak on the injured list. Solak was recently diagnosed with a season-ending foot fracture. However, the transaction won’t happen right away, as Rob Bradford of WEEI relays that Plawecki can’t officially sign until 1:00pm on Wednesday.

5:30pm: The Red Sox have released catcher Kevin Plawecki, per Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe. Plawecki had been designated for assignment on Friday. Chris Cotillo of MassLive reports on Twitter that the backstop will be signing with a new team “imminently.” Robert Murray of FanSided reports that the Rangers are expressing “serious interest” in signing Plawecki.

Plawecki, 31, has been with the Red Sox since signing with them in January of 2020. He spent much of the past few years serving as the backup behind Christian Vazquez, getting into 24 games in the 60-game 2020 season, followed by 64 last year and 61 here this year. He had a decent showing at the plate in the first two of those years but has slumped here in 2022, hitting just .217/.287/.287, wRC+ of 62.

With the Sox sliding out of contention and Plawecki heading into free agency at season’s end, it made logical sense to give more playing time to Reese McGuire and Connor Wong, since both of them come with years of control beyond the current campaign. However, it was reported yesterday that certain players on the team didn’t see it quite so simply, lamenting the loss of Plawecki as a veteran clubhouse leader.

Regardless of Plawecki’s reputation among his fellow players, he wasn’t likely to be claimed off waivers given his tepid performance and $2.25MM salary for this year. It seems that he has indeed cleared waivers and become a free agent, leaving Boston on the hook for the remainder of that contract. For whoever ends up grabbing Plawecki, they would only have to pay him the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount being subtracted from what the Sox pay.

For the Rangers, they currently have Jonah Heim as their primary catcher with Sam Huff as the backup. Huff has options and can thus be sent down to the minors if the club prefers to have Plawecki on the roster, or they could also carry three catchers given the expanded September rosters.

AL Notes: Rodriguez, Cabrera, Story, Eovaldi, Red Sox

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Julio Rodriguez has missed the Mariners’ last two games due to lower back soreness, and the rookie star told The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish and other reporters that “I feel a few days of rest will be the best thing for it.”  There’s a chance Rodriguez could be back as early as Monday’s game with the Angels, though manager Scott Servais noted that the situation is “day to day,” especially since Monday’s contest is an afternoon start.

As much as Seattle needs all hands on deck for its playoff chase, nobody wants to risk a longer-term injury to Rodriguez, who has already emerged as one of baseball’s brightest stars.  After a brief slump in August, Rodriguez has a whopping 1.259 OPS over 59 plate appearances in September, even though he said is still getting used to the physical toll of a full Major League season.  “I’m not familiar with playing for such a long time,” Rodriguez said.  “It’s been teaching me a few things and I’m learning about my body and how to keep it healthy.”

While the Mariners hope Rodriguez’s rookie year will be extending deep into October, here are some more items from around the American League…

  • The Tigers will activate Miguel Cabrera from the 10-day injured list on Monday, and infielder Kody Clemens has already been optioned to Triple-A to make room for Cabrera on the active roster.  A left biceps strain has kept Cabrera on the shelf since September 2, but he’ll return for some more action in his 20th Major League season.  Over 393 PA this year, Cabrera is hitting .256/.305/.317 with four home runs.  Since a milestone watch is inevitably attached to Cabrera, the veteran slugger’s 506 career homers is three back of Gary Sheffield for 26th place on the all-time list, and Cabrera’s 3079 career hits put him 10 behind Ichiro Suzuki for 24th all-time.
  • Trevor Story has missed five games due to left heel soreness, but he is tentatively slated to return to the Red Sox lineup on Tuesday, manager Alex Cora told reporters (including The Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams).  In other injury news, Nathan Eovaldi threw 65 pitches during a four-inning simulated game today, and the next step could be a minor league rehab game on Friday.  Eovaldi has missed almost a full month due to right shoulder inflammation, but is hoping to get back to the mound at least one more start with the Sox before the season is over.
  • The Red Sox designated Kevin Plawecki for assignment after Friday night’s game, and both the late timing of the transaction and the transaction itself didn’t sit well within the clubhouse.  Both Eovaldi and Rich Hill spoke to WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford about Plawecki’s popularity and the importance of veteran leaders in general on a team, with Eovaldi saying “I think sometimes that goes a little further than productivity or whatever on the field.”  After today’s 13-3 victory over the Royals, McWilliams and other reporters noted that the Sox were playing Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” within the clubhouse, a song adopted by Plawecki as both a walkup song and as a team anthem in 2021.

David Price To Decide On Future After 2022 Season

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3:27PM: Price hasn’t yet made a decision about retirement, telling reporters (including Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times) that he’ll make the call after the season.  For now, he is focused on recovering from his wrist injury and getting back to the Dodgers before the season is over.

12:16PM: Former Cy Young winner, and two-time runner-up, David Price plans to retire after the 2022 season, announced by Bob Nightengale of USA Today. Price stated that “It’s just time,” and that “Everything on my body hurts.”

Price, now 37, was originally drafted in the 19th round of the 2004 MLB draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, but chose to attend the baseball factory Vanderbilt University. As a junior, he recorded an 11-1 record with a 2.63 ERA in 133 1/3 innings, striking out 194 batters in the process and earning college baseball’s top honor, the Dick Howser Trophy.

After his dominant college career, he was drafted first overall in 2007 by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now known as the Tampa Bay Rays) and given a six-year, $11.25MM contract, with a then second-largest signing bonus in MLB history of $5.6MM. Price quickly rose through the minor league ranks, and made his Major League debut in September of 2008, helping the Rays make the postseason and, interesting trivia alert, earning a postseason win before a regular-season win.

Price would then spend his next five and a half seasons tormenting the American League with the Rays, pitching to a dominant 3.19 ERA over 1129 2/3 innings with an 82-48 record and helping Tampa Bay reach the playoffs in 2010, 2011, and 2013. During this stretch Price was a three-time All-Star (2010, 2011, and 2012), finished second in 2010 for Cy Young against Félix Hernández, and edged out Justin Verlander in 2012 for the AL Cy Young award — pitching to a 2.56 ERA in 211 innings with a 20-5 record, garnering some MVP votes in the process.

However, at the 2014 trade deadline with the team below .500, the Rays opted to trade Price to the Detroit Tigers in a three-team deal that brought back Drew Smyly, Nick Franklin, and Willy Adames and sent Austin Jackson to the Seattle Mariners. This Tigers team, headlined by three current Cy Young winners in Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, and Price, and accompanied by future Cy Young winner in Rick Porcello, barely took the AL Central from the Royals and was swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2014 ALDS.

After the 2014 season, Price and the Tigers avoided arbitration and agreed on a $19.75MM salary for the 2015 season, setting a record for the largest one-year deal for an arbitration-eligible player. Price showed he was worth every penny, continuing his dominance in 2015 with a 2.53 ERA in 146 innings and earning a trip to his fifth All-Star Game in his seven-year career. Nevertheless, the Tigers fell flat in 2015 and decided to flip Price at the trade deadline to the Toronto Blue Jays for Daniel Norris, Matt Boyd, and Jairo Labourt. With the Blue Jays, Price continued to bully batters, pitching to a 9-1 record with a 2.30 ERA in 74 1/3 innings – ending the year making a combined 32 starts across both teams, with a 2.45 ERA in 220 1/3 innings and finishing runner up to Dallas Keuchel in that year’s Cy Young voting.

David PriceAlthough still without much playoff success, Price spun his great career and commanding contract-year performance into a massive seven-year, $217MM contract with the Boston Red Sox and bolding stating that he “was just saving all my postseason wins for the Red Sox.” His first year with Boston was rough, with Price posting a then-career worst ERA of 3.99 in 230 innings, a far cry from the 2.90 ERA he had posted during the 2012-2015 seasons. However, Price did make 35 starts, the highest market for a pitcher since Chris Carpenter in 2010. Price then battled with various elbow injuries in the 2017 season, starting the season on the injured list and returning to it in late July before returning in mid-September as a reliever to help the Red Sox’s playoff run. Nevertheless, Price returned relatively healthy in the 2018 season, posting a 16-7 record in 176 innings (30 starts) with roughly career average strikeout and walk rates, 24.5% and 6.9%, respectively, en route to his first World Series ring. Most notably, Price was able to shake off his substandard playoff performance moniker, pitching to a 3.46 ERA in 26 innings (5 starts), striking out 23 and only walking 12 as the Red Sox won the World Series for the fourth time in 15 seasons.

Price once again dealt with injuries in the 2019 season, first with left elbow tendonitis and later with a left wrist triangular fibrocartilage cyst that ended his season early. However, when healthy, Price provided solid back-of-the-rotation support, pitching to a career-high 4.28 ERA in 107 1/3 innings. Importantly, Price began to lose effectiveness against right-handed hitters, with righties slashing .257/.314/.460 for a .773 OPS in 2019 compared to a slash line of .234/.293/.402/.695 in 2019. After the 2019 season, new Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom shocked the baseball world by sending Price and former MVP Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers in what was largely considered a cost-cutting move. The trade brought Alex Verdugo, Connor Wong, and Jeter Downs to the Red Sox.

Finally a Dodger, Price opted out of the COVID-shortened 2020 season before returning in a primarily bullpen role for the first time since 2008. He pitched to a palatable 4.03 ERA in 73 2/3 innings, appearing in 39 games. However, he posted a career-low K% of 17.8% as well as a career-high BB% of 8.0% — seeing his average fastball velocity drop to 91.9 MPH. Additionally, while righties continued to square up the ball, posting a combined .270/.330/.432 slash line good for .762 OPS, lefties also began hitting Price, resulting in a .276/.353/.419 slash line with a .772 OPS – a far cry from the .210/.291/.381/.672 slash line Price gave up to lefties in the 2018 season (his last full season).

The 2022 season has been a strong rebound bullpen year for Price, with the southpaw posting a 2.58 ERA in 38 1/3 innings with a 23.3 K% and 5.0 BB%. With the Dodgers recently securing a postseason berth, Price can look to chase one more coveted ring before walking off into the sunset on his terms.

Price retires as a 5-time All-Star, Cy Young winner, and World Series Champion. For a five-to-six-year period, he was among the best pitchers in the sport. MLBTR congratulates him on his excellent run and successes, and wishes him the best in retirement.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

The Upcoming 40-Man Red Sox Roster Crunch

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  • The Red Sox are facing a 40-man roster crunch this winter, and The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier takes a look at some of the names (some a lot more certain than others) to be added to the roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.  For some of these players on the borderline, the remaining two-plus weeks of the regular season will serve as a chance to catch the eye of Red Sox brass.

Red Sox To Select Frank German

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The Red Sox are going to select the contract of right-handed pitcher Frank German today, according to Christopher Smith of MassLive.com. He will take the roster spot of catcher Kevin Plawecki, whose designation for assignment was reported last night.

German, 24, came over to the Red Sox from the Yankees in a January 2021 trade. The Yanks were looking to offload Adam Ottavino and the last year of his contract, including German in the deal as payment for Boston helping them out in that regard. The Yanks had selected him in the fourth round of the 2018 draft.

Though German was mostly a starter in his first few years in the minors, he has worked exclusively in relief this season, with very encouraging results. Between Double-A and Triple-A, he’s thrown 49 2/3 innings on the year with a 2.72 ERA and excellent 32.5% strikeout rate. His 9.6% walk rate is a bit on the high side, but those are still very encouraging results. As noted in Smith’s report, German has an upper-90s fastball that he combines with a splitter and a slider. He’ll now get a chance to try out that repertoire at the big league level, making his MLB debut as soon as he gets into a game.

For the Red Sox, they are 10 games back of a playoff spot with just over two weeks remaining in the season. With their hopes of a postseason appearance gone, they can use their remaining games to audition players for next season and beyond. Since Plawecki was headed for free agency, the club has decided to use his roster spot on a young hurler who could factor into their future bullpen mix.

Red Sox Designate Kevin Plawecki For Assignment

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The Red Sox are designating catcher Kevin Plawecki for assignment, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive (Twitter link). Boston has yet to formally announce the move, but their 40-man roster tally is slated to drop to 38.

Plawecki has spent the past three seasons in Boston, with much of that time backing up Christian Vázquez. The right-handed hitting backstop performed well in a limited role between 2020-21, but he’s had a rough go of things in 2022. Through 173 plate appearances, Plawecki carries a .219/.291/.290 line with one home run. He’s made plenty of contact, but he hasn’t made a huge impact from a power perspective.

Boston dealt Vázquez to the Astros at the trade deadline, but they also brought in the lefty-hitting Reese McGuire in a subsequent trade with the White Sox. McGuire and the right-handed Connor Wong have joined Plawecki on the active roster since the rosters expanded in September. Both McGuire and Wong are controllable for multiple seasons beyond this year, while Plawecki was headed for free agency. With the Red Sox playing out the final few weeks of what’s likely to be a last place campaign, they’ll devote more playing time to their controllable options while cutting Plawecki loose a bit early.

Plawecki will land on outright or release waivers in the next few days. In either event, he’ll hit the open market is he goes unclaimed. That seems likely, as any claiming team wouldn’t be able to carry Plawecki on a postseason roster since he wasn’t in the organization prior to September 1. Plawecki’s also making $2.25MM this season, and while the final few hundred thousand dollars of that deal aren’t onerous, it decreases the chance of another team adding him as a strictly a regular season depth option for the final two and a half weeks. In all likelihood, Plawecki will head to the open market a bit early and turn his attention to next offseason.

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