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Red Sox Sign Sean Newcomb To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox announced Friday that they’ve signed veteran lefty Sean Newcomb to a minor league deal and invited him to major league spring training. Newcomb is represented by Klutch Sports. Boston also confirmed previously reported minor league deals/non-roster invites for right-handers Austin Adams, Robert Stock and Noah Davis. (We’ve previously written on their deals for Adams, Davis and Stock.)

Newcomb, 31, is a former first-round pick (Angels, 2014) and top prospect. The Halos shipped him to the Braves as part of their trade to acquire Andrelton Simmons ahead of the 2016 season, and for a couple years, Newcomb looked as though he could be a fixture on Atlanta’s staff in spite of sub-par command. He started 49 games for the Braves in 2017-18, registering a solid 4.06 ERA with a 23.3% strikeout rate but an ugly 12% walk rate. Atlanta bumped him to the ’pen in 2019, and the results were even more intriguing: 68 1/3 innings, 3.16 ERA, 22.2% strikeout rate, 9.9% walk rate.

Over the next three seasons, Newcomb’s results tanked. He pitched just 73 2/3 innings in the majors and logged a brutal 7.45 ERA. His strikeout rate held at 22.9%, but Newcomb’s walk rate jumped to 14.7%. After plunking only 10 hitters and tossing 11 wild pitches in 332 1/3 frames from 2017-19, Newcomb hit five batters and tossed eight wild pitches over those 73 2/3 frames from 2020-22. He not only saw his ability to throw strikes diminish — he saw his precision within the zone erode as well; after yielding an average of 0.97 homers per nine innings in ’17-’19, Newcomb averaged 1.59 long balls per nine frames in 2020-22.

Newcomb has spent the past two seasons with the A’s, pitching well in 2023 before undergoing season-ending knee surgery and struggling in 2024 on the heels of that procedure. He’s pitched 25 MLB innings over the past two seasons and allowed a dozen runs (4.32 ERA) on 17 hits, 17 walks, three hit batters and 24 strikeouts. He’s been far better in the minors, notching a 3.12 ERA in Triple-A between the Giants and A’s in 2023-24. He’s punched out 30.1% of opponents but again shown poor command (14.2%) in those two Triple-A seasons (totaling 40 1/3 innings).

Boston already has Aroldis Chapman, Brennan Bernardino and Justin Wilson as left-handed options locked into manager Alex Cora’s bullpen. Southpaw Zach Penrod is also on the 40-man roster. He worked more as a starter in the minors last year, but his path to the majors in 2025 would likely be in the bullpen, with Lucas Giolito returning and new acquisitions Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler in the rotation.

Alex Bregman Not Considering Short-Term Deals

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As several of the top free agents of the offseason linger on the market with spring training now under a month away, some have reportedly pivoted to consider short-term/opt-out laden contracts. Pete Alonso and the Mets are reportedly discussing a three-year arrangements with at least one opt-out. Both Anthony Santander and Jack Flaherty have recently signaled willingness to consider similar structures. As for third baseman Alex Bregman, however, agent Scott Boras tells Bob Nightengale of USA Today that his client remains focused on a longer-term pact and suggests that there’s ample interest to make that happen.

“Bregman’s a championship player, teams know it,” Boras tells Nightengale. “It’s really a matter of his decision-making and theirs, about how you can close up that gap. There’s substantial interest (in long-term) deals.”

Nightengale adds that the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Tigers are among the teams still “engaged” with Bregman. The Cubs showed some cursory interest as well, per a recent report from Bruce Levine of 670 The Score, but that was more a matter of due diligence to see if Bregman is open to the precise type of short-term arrangement against which Boras is pushing back.

One element of the slower-than-expected market for Bregman (and perhaps for Alonso, Flaherty and Santander) posited by Boras is a simple decrease in the number of teams willing to spend. For a second straight offseason, there’s a group of clubs that is looking to reduce payroll or at least not add to the budget in a meaningful way — largely due to concerns regarding the in-flux status of their television broadcast rights.

While there are some clubs this offseason who’ve spent after a quiet winter in free agency last time around, there are indeed quite a few whose ownership groups have handcuffed the baseball operations staff. The Padres, Twins, Cardinals, Braves, Brewers and Marlins have yet to sign a free agent to a fully guaranteed big league deal. (Atlanta, Milwaukee and Miami have given a handful of split major league deals to players with minor league options remaining.)

Each of those clubs other than Miami has been a notable buyer, to varying extents, in the free-agent market as recently as one or two years ago. Several others — Mariners ($3.5MM), Rockies ($9.75MM), Rays ($8.5MM), Pirates ($8MM) — have spent under $10MM in total. That’s one full third of the teams in MLB whose combined free agent expenditures total $29.75MM — or just barely more than Max Fried will earn annually with the Yankees.

Not all of those clubs would’ve been players for Bregman, Alonso and others with a normal offseason of spending permission from ownership, of course. But their lack of activity has lessened the demand for mid-tier and lower-tier free agents, leaving a larger supply of options for the offseason’s actual spenders to peruse.

Bregman has received at least one long-term offer, as the incumbent Astros put forth a reported six-year, $156MM deal early in the offseason. That pact is surely no longer on the table, as Houston pivoted first to an effort to acquire Nolan Arenado — a deal that Arenado blocked with his no-trade clause — and then to sign Christian Walker at first base. Having already acquired infielder Isaac Paredes from the Cubs as part of their return for star outfielder Kyle Tucker, Houston now has Paredes at the hot corner, Jeremy Peña at shortstop, Jose Altuve at second base and Walker at first base. They’re also just north of the luxury tax threshold, and there’s been talk of potential trades to dip back under that number. Suffice it to say, $26MM per year for Bregman no longer feels plausible in Houston.

Giants Trade Blake Sabol To Red Sox

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2:04pm: The teams have announced the moves.

1:48pm: The Red Sox have a deal in place to acquire catcher/outfielder Blake Sabol from the Giants, as first reported by Hunter Noll of Beyond the Monster. Boston will send international bonus pool space back to the Giants. Right-hander Chase Shugart is being designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the Sox’ 40-man roster, Noll adds. San Francisco designated Sabol for assignment last week.

Sabol, 27, was the Giants’ Rule 5 pick out of the Pirates system prior to the 2023 season. He stuck on San Francisco’s roster all year, posting a .235/.301/.394 batting line (91 wRC+) with 13 home runs but an ugly 34% strikeout rate. Sabol’s Rule 5 selection came on the heels of a stout .284/.363/.497 slash between Double-A and Triple-A in 2022. With that big performance and a respectable rookie showing in the big leagues, he looked as though he could have a role on the Giants for several years to come.

That, however, was not to be. Sabol spent nearly the entire 2024 season in Triple-A and struggled considerably. He slashed .246/.340/.388 there — about 15% worse than league-average production. He went 10-for-32 in a tiny cup of big league coffee, bringing his career rate stats to .243/.313/.392 in 382 plate appearances. That wasn’t enough to save his spot on the roster following a regime change in the Giants’ baseball operations staff that has seen former NL MVP Buster Posey take over as the department’s president.

Sabol has caught 458 innings in the majors and played 271 innings of left field. He didn’t grade as a plus defender in either spot, though both positions come with a pretty small sample of playing time. The Giants added a bit of first base to Sabol’s defensive repertoire in 2024. He’s now caught 1843 innings, played 943 innings across all three outfield spots and played 172 innings at first base since being selected by Pittsburgh in the seventh round of the 2019 draft. Sabol has a pair of minor league option years and five seasons of club control remaining.

With the Red Sox, Sabol will compete with Carlos Narvaez — and any additional catching depth brought in by the Sox — to see who’ll serve as the backup to starting catcher Connor Wong in 2025.

For the Giants, adding some extra pool space is notable. San Francisco punted on a combined $1MM of pool space last offseason when they signed Matt Chapman and Blake Snell after they rejected qualifying offers. That left them tied with the archrival Dodgers for the smallest international bonus pool in the game, at $5.146MM. Between this swap and the trade of righty Will Kempner to the Marlins, they’ve added to that pool by at least $500K, as international allotments must be traded in increments of $250K. The Giants spent $3MM — more than 58% of their initial pool — on top international signing Josuar de Jesus Gonzalez earlier today, so the extra dollars will help to offset some of that weighty bonus.

Turning to the 28-year-old Shugart, he made his big league debut with the Sox this past season, yielding four runs on eight hits and three walks with eight strikeouts in 8 1/3 innings of relief. He spent the bulk of the 2024 season in Triple-A Worcester, where he logged a 4.46 earned run average, 25.6% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate in 70 2/3 innings, mostly out of the bullpen.

Shugart was originally selected by the Red Sox in the 12th round of the 2018 draft. He generally posted solid numbers up through the Double-A level before struggling mightily in his first two seasons of Triple-A ball in 2022-23. This past year was the first in which he’s posted solid numbers at the top minor league level. During his brief big league look, he showed a five-pitch mix — four-seamer, cutter, sinker, slider, changeup — and sat 96.1 mph with his heater. He didn’t induce many swings and misses in the big leagues but turned in a solid 11.7% swinging-strike rate in Worcester.

The Red Sox will have five days to trade Shugart. If not traded by then, he’ll need to be placed on waivers, which is a 48-hour process itself. If he goes unclaimed on waivers, the Red Sox can retain him as non-roster depth in Triple-A and invite him to big league camp this spring. Within the next week, he’ll have some form of resolution on his current DFA status.

Red Sox, Robert Stock Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox and right-hander Robert Stock have agreed to a minor league deal with an invite to major league spring training, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Naranjeros de Hermosillo, the Mexican winter ball team Stock had been playing for, had previously announced that Stock was leaving to conduct physical exams with the Sox.

Stock, 35, has a bit of major league experience. From 2018 to 2021, he tossed 72 2/3 innings over four seasons, suiting up for the Padres, Red Sox, Cubs and Mets. He allowed 4.71 earned runs per nine. His 23.1% strikeout rate was around average and his 49.8% ground ball rate was strong, but he also gave out walks at a high rate of 12.2%. His fastball averaged 96-98 miles per hour in that time.

He hasn’t been in the majors for a few years now but has performed well in other places. He spent 2022 in Korea, posting a 3.60 ERA over 29 starts for the Doosan Bears of the KBO League. That was enough to get him another shot in affiliated ball, as he signed a minor league deal with the Brewers for 2023. But he had an 8.22 ERA in 23 innings and was in Indy Ball by June.

For 2024, he signed with the Tecos de los Dos Laredos of the Mexican League. He made 19 starts and tossed 98 2/3 innings with a 3.38 ERA. As mentioned, he has been playing winter ball with the Naranjeros, posting great numbers there. He tossed 84 1/3 innings over 14 starts for them with a 1.60 ERA.

For the Sox, there’s no harm in bringing him aboard via a minor league deal to see how he looks in camp. He was a reliever for most of his career but has been starting in more recent years, so he should be able to provide the club with non-roster depth in both areas.

Boston projects to have a rotation of Garrett Crochet, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford and Walker Buehler, with Lucas Giolito returning from his elbow surgery at some point this year as well. There’s lots of talent in there but also plenty of question marks. In the bullpen, they lost Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin to free agency, though they have signed free agents Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson. They are also set to get Liam Hendriks and Garrett Whitlock back from extended absences due to elbow surgeries.

Red Sox Interested In Exploring Long-Term Extensions With Top Prospects

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At yesterday’s Fenway Fest fan event, Red Sox top prospects Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell indicated that they have not heard from the club’s brass regarding the possibility of signing long-term extensions in Boston to this point. Today, a report from Alex Speier of the Boston Globe relays that while the Red Sox have not yet reached out to begin extension discussions, the team is nonetheless interested in exploring the possibility with its top prospects.

Namely, Speier lists Anthony, Campbell, and top infield prospect Marcelo Mayer all as youngsters the club is hoping to talk extension with. Campbell, in particular, has made clear that he would be interested in negotiating if the Red Sox approach him. Speier notes that the club’s 2023 fourth-rounder told reporters last season that he would be “100 percent” open to a long-term deal with Boston and also reports that Anthony is seen as being willing to “at least listen” if the Red Sox were to approach him about signing a long-term extension.

All three youngsters come with significant prospect pedigree. According to Baseball America, Anthony is the top prospect in all of baseball, while Mayer sits just behind him at #10 and Campbell clocks in at #24. MLB Pipeline, meanwhile, has all three youngsters within the top ten: Anthony is ranked #3 overall behind Dylan Crews of the Nationals and Walker Jenkins of the Twins, while Mayer comes in at #7 and Campbell rounds out the trio at #10. The trio’s performance on the field has generally backed up those rankings, as well. Campbell flew through three levels of the minors in 2024, slashing .330/.439/.558 along the way, while Anthony hit .291/.396/.498 at the Double- and Triple-A levels last year. Mayer was limited to just 77 games at Double-A due to injuries last year but nonetheless hit a solid .307/.370/.480 at the level in his age-21 season.

Pre-debut extensions for players with that level of prospect pedigree are somewhat rare but one did occur last winter between the Brewers and outfielder Jackson Chourio, who had been ranked as the #2 prospect in baseball by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline at the time of the deal. Chourio wound up signing an eight-year extension last offseason that guaranteed him $82MM with club options and incentives that could allow the deal to max out at $142.5MM over ten years. Chourio’s extension seems like it would be a sensible benchmark for Anthony should he wind up signing a deal before making his big league debut, given their similar prospect rankings and Anthony’s status as a similar five-tool outfielder who projects to land in a corner at the big league level.

Campbell and Mayer, on the other hand, may not be in line for paydays at quite that level. Tigers infielder Colt Keith landed at the other end of the pre-arbitration extension spectrum when he signed a six-year deal last winter. That contract guarantees Keith just $28.6425MM and maxes out at $82MM over nine years if the Tigers pick up a trio of club options they hold on the youngster’s services. Prior to the 2024 season, Keith was ranked as a consensus top-30 prospect in the game but did not crack the top 20 with any major service. That limits Keith’s usefulness as a point of comparison for Campbell and Mayer, given both are rated as top-10 prospects by at least one major prospect outlet.

Keith also falls lower on the defensive spectrum than Campbell and especially Mayer. He was limited to second and third base throughout his time in the minor leagues while both Red Sox infielders have spent much of their time in the minors at shortstop. While Campbell has mixed in work at second base and in the outfield and manager Alex Cora suggested to reporters (including Christopher Smith of MassLive) yesterday that the club plans to have Mayer start playing second and third base in addition to shortstop this year, the ability to play shortstop along with stronger prospect pedigree seems likely to allow both Red Sox infielders to set their asking prices meaningfully higher than Keith’s deal.

Of course, it’s also possible the Red Sox could wait to work out an extension with one or more of the trio until they’ve already debuted in the majors. Speier notes that the club extended utility man Ceddanne Rafaela back in April on an eight-year, $50MM deal just over 100 plate appearances into his big league career. That deal can max out at $62MM over nine years, but it’s on the low end of deals signed at that stage in a player’s career in recent years; only Aaron Ashby’s $20.5MM extension with the Brewers guaranteeing less in the past half decade. A look at MLBTR’s Contract Tracker demonstrates how quickly a player’s asking price can skyrocket once they’ve accrued big league service time. Julio Rodriguez’s $210MM guarantee with the Mariners is the most lucrative deal of the bunch, though Wander Franco, Corbin Carroll, and Ronald Acuña Jr. are among the other extensions signed with less than a year of big league service time that eclipsed the $82MM guarantee Chourio secured from the Brewers last offseason.

Given how quickly the price of an extension can rapidly escalate once a young star begins to establish themselves at the big league level, it’s easy to imagine the Red Sox being particularly motivated to see if a deal between the sides can be reached in the coming months. With that being said, the club has shown a willingness to extend players later into their career as well. Boston brass are already known to have begun discussions with left-hander Garrett Crochet about a possible extension with two years left before free agency, and the club has previously extended Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers on nine-figure deals ahead of their final seasons before free agency.

Red Sox Hope To Use Masataka Yoshida In Outfield For 2025

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Masataka Yoshida had a difficult year in 2024, as he was limited to just 108 games by a thumb injury that wound up causing tension between him and the Red Sox front office. On top of that, Yoshida played just one inning in the outfield last year and was utilized as a platoon player with few opportunities against southpaws. He hit just .280/.349/.415 in 421 trips to the plate during the 2024 campaign before going under the knife to repair the labrum in his right shoulder back in October.

As noted by Chris Cotillo of MassLive, manager Alex Cora told reporters when asked throughout the season about Yoshida’s limited use in the outfield that using him nearly exclusively as a DH was not due to a health issue and instead was a vote of confidence in the defense of the club’s numerous other outfield options. That seems as though it wasn’t entirely the case, however, as Cora acknowledged at yesterday’s Fenway Fest fan event that the shoulder issue Yoshida played through last year limited his ability to play the field by causing problems with his throwing.

“Yeah, our outfield defense was great last year, but in a perfect world, if he was healthy, he was going to play the outfield,” Cora said, as relayed by Cotillo. “The throwing part of it wasn’t there so that’s the reason he actually didn’t play. Hopefully, we can get him there and we can use him in the outfield, too.”

At the time of Yoshida’s surgery, the Red Sox expressed optimism that he’d be ready for Opening Day, and he appears to remain on pace for that goal. Cotillo noted that the 31-year-old is about two weeks away from taking dry swings and could begin a throwing program in March, which might lead him to be ready in a DH-only capacity for the start of the season before later returning to the outfield grass as needed. Having Yoshida limited to DH duties early in the season shouldn’t be a massive obstacle for the Red Sox, who have no established everyday DH at the moment and are deep in outfield options with Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, Rob Refsnyder, and perhaps even top prospect Roman Anthony all in the mix for playing time at the moment.

Of course, this all assumes that Yoshida is still in the organization by the time Opening Day rolls around. The Red Sox have made getting more offense from the right side a clear priority this offseason, but the club’s roster is filled with quality regulars who bat from the left side. Duran, Rafael Devers, and Triston Casas all bat lefty and are ticketed for everyday roles as things stand. They’re joined by Abreu and Yoshida as likely platoon options from the left side, and Anthony also figures to get regular at-bats from the left side once he’s promoted to the majors.

Between previous reports of tension between Yoshida and the Red Sox as well as his questionable fit on the club’s roster, it’s hardly a surprise that Yoshida has found his name at the center of trade rumors this winter. Yoshida himself acknowledged the buzz surrounding him yesterday, telling Cotillo that he has heard the rumors but that a hypothetical trade is “out of [his] control.” To this point, it doesn’t seem as though the Red Sox have gotten much interest in Yoshida from rival clubs and have similarly had little success convincing a club to take on the final three years and $55.8MM remaining on his contract as part of a larger deal.

It’s a hefty price to pay for a player who might profile best as a platoon DH. After all, Joc Pederson is a cut above Yoshida as a hitter in a similar role and settled for a two-year, $37MM guarantee with the Rangers earlier this winter. That contract suggests that the Red Sox may only find a taker on Yoshida if they’re willing to pay his salary down to something below Pederson’s guarantee or take on another inflated contract in return. Given that, it could make sense for the club to hold onto Yoshida for at least the start of the 2025 season in hopes he can build up his value and a more favorable deal can be worked out down the line. That plan would require committing significant playing time to Yoshida for at least the first few months of 2025, potentially blocking Anthony from impacting the big league club early in the year and creating a bit of a logjam in the outfield.

Triston Casas Discusses Trade Rumors

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First baseman Triston Casas’s name has been the subject of plenty of trade rumors this winter, even as chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has roundly insisted that Casas is not being shopped. With the Red Sox apparently involved in the markets for both Alex Bregman and Nolan Arenado, however, it’s not hard to see how adding another bat to the infield could spell the end of Casas’s time in Boston.

For his part, the soon-to-be 25-year-old slugger isn’t letting the noise get to him. As noted by Christopher Smith of MassLive, Casas acknowledged the possibility that he could be dealt if the right offer were to come along, adding that for the right package it could be in the “best interest” of the organization to move him or any player. Casas added that he’s been assured by the organization that there’s no substance behind rumors that he’s on the trading block before making clear that the rumors swirling around him this winter don’t bother him.

“I love Boston,” Casas said, as relayed by Smith. “I love everything about it and they’ve welcomed me with open arms since my first first professional day. So it would be great to play here as long as possible. I love the fans and they welcome me generously all the time. So I would love to play the rest of my career here. But if it’s elsewhere, I just feel like March 28, no matter where it’s at, I’m going to be playing major league games. So just focus on that.”

While he adds that he tries not to let the trade rumors “get to his head,” he reiterated his love for Boston and desire to stay in the organization long-term. That affirmation comes nearly a year after reported extension talks between the two sides, though those discussions ultimately did not lead to a deal. It appears there’s been no recent discussions about an extension, either, as Casas told reporters (including Rob Bradford of WEEI) today while appearing at the club’s Fenway Fest event that the sides have not talked about an extension since last winter.

Even setting aside the trade rumors, it’s not necessarily a shock that Casas and the Red Sox haven’t talked extension in the aftermath of the 2024 campaign. After all, last year was a difficult one for Casas. He spent much of the season on the injured list due to torn cartilage in his ribcage and when healthy enough to take the field slashed just .241/.337/.462 while striking out at a concerning 31.7% clip.

That production was still good for a 119 wRC+ overall, but that’s a step back from the 130 he posted in 2023. After an injury-marred down season that exposed a potential red flag in the form of an increased strikeout rate, the Red Sox are surely hoping to gather more information about both Casas and their outlook around the diamond before committing to him long-term. Meanwhile, Casas surely is hoping to quell any doubts caused by 2024 with a full, healthy season before he signs a long-term deal.

Turning back to the possibility of the Red Sox pursuing Bregman or Arenado, the connection between those pursuits and the possibility of a Casas trade hinges on the possibility of installing either of those additions at third base, causing incumbent third baseman Rafael Devers to move to first base. Manager Alex Cora discussed the possibility of moving Devers off the hot corner at Fenway Fest today, as noted by Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. According to Cora, the club has not yet discussed a change of positions with Devers and that they would discuss the possibility with him before they get to the point of adding a new third baseman to the lineup. That generally tracks with the comments made by Breslow last month, which indicated the club has no current plans to move Devers off third base.

Garrett Crochet Discusses Extension Talks With Red Sox

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Newly-acquired Red Sox lefty Garrett Crochet was in attendance for today’s Fenway Fest event in Boston, and he spoke to reporters (include Chris Cotillo of MassLive) about the state of extension talks between Red Sox brass and Crochet’s own camp. The comments come on the heels of reporting earlier this week that suggested the sides had begun preliminary discussions about a longer-term deal.

“There have been conversations with my agent and the front office, just kind of getting a feel for one another,” Crochet said, as relayed by Cotillo. “Staying in Boston long-term is something that has a lot of merit in my mind and something I think would be awesome. In the meantime, I’m just focusing on spring and getting ready for the upcoming season, trying to stay focused one day at a time. When something’s presented, then we’ll attack it.”

Crochet, 25, enjoyed a breakout season with the White Sox last year as he moved from a relief role into the rotation. He made the most of the opportunity, pitching to a solid 3.58 ERA in 146 innings of work with a 2.69 FIP and an eye-popping 35.1% strikeout rate. That dominant performance on a team that broke the all-time MLB loss record made a trade nearly inevitable, and Boston pounced on the opportunity during the Winter Meetings last month and shipped a package headlined by catching prospect Kyle Teel and outfield prospect Braden Montgomery to Chicago in exchange for Crochet’s services.

The southpaw immediately adds a clear #1 starter to the front of the Red Sox rotation, but with a young core of talent reaching the major leagues and knocking on the door at Triple-A, locking up Crochet beyond his remaining two years of control would make plenty of sense for Boston. Crochet is clearly open to such an arrangement, and his comments today only served to confirm the lefty’s interest in locking in a longer-term guarantee. It’s hardly a surprise that Crochet would be open to listening on extension talks. He’s suffered through a number of injury-marred seasons already in his career, and that elevated injury risk surely makes a long-term guarantee more attractive.

To that end, he made clear prior to the trade deadline last summer that if he was going to go over his established innings limit to pitch in the 2024 postseason after a midseason trade, he would want to get an extension worked out prior to a deal coming together. Of course, no deal was ultimately made and now Crochet is in Boston. It’s unclear exactly what sort of deal either Crochet or the Red Sox are angling for at this point, though one noteworthy reference point is a report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan over the summer that suggested Crochet was seeking a nine-figure deal at the time.

Crochet wasn’t the only Red Sox player to discuss the state of extension talks today, as top prospects Roman Anthony and Kristian Campbell both spoke to WEEI today and revealed that neither has been approached by the Red Sox about the possibility of a pre-debut extension. That’s not necessarily a major shock, given that pre-debut extensions are generally quite rare. They’ve become more common in recent years, however, as evidenced by both Jackson Chourio of the Brewers and Colt Keith of the Tigers signing deals of that sort last offseason alone.

The Red Sox would surely love to lock up either Anthony or Campbell beyond their current windows of control. Anthony is rated by Baseball America as the #1 prospect in all of baseball, while Campbell isn’t ranked too far behind at #24. Both figure to make their big league debuts in 2025, though the exact timing of those debuts remains up in the air. There’s been some speculation that Campbell, in particular, could be in the conversation for an Opening Day roster spot should he manage to win the second base job away from David Hamilton and Vaughn Grissom in Spring Training this spring, but it shouldn’t surprise anyone if both youngsters are in the majors by the time the first half of the 2025 season comes to a close.

While there’s certainly value from a player’s perspective in locking in a major payday before they so much as take their first big league at-bat, they also typically come with much lower price tags relative to extensions signed as soon as during a player’s pre-arb years as a big leaguer. Chourio’s extension with the Brewers guaranteed him a record-setting $82MM last winter, but that pales in comparison to the nine-figure deals secured by players like Julio Rodriguez and Bobby Witt Jr. once they had already established themselves as star-caliber big leaguers. That said, pre-debut extensions aren’t without risk for the team either; even elite prospects can go on to struggle in the majors, with Jon Singleton of the Astros and Scott Kingery of the Phillies standing out as examples of players who signed pre-debut extensions and then went on to provide their clubs with little value over the life of those deals.

Given that, it’s perhaps not surprising for the sides to have not yet engaged in extension talks. Anthony and Campbell may well both prefer to bet on themselves early in their careers as they eye either a more lucrative extension down the line or free agency once their time under team control comes to a close. On the other hand, the Red Sox may prefer to see how Anthony, Campbell, and other top prospects like Marcelo Mayer develop before making extension offers as they have over the years with players like Brayan Bello, Garrett Whitlock, Rafael Devers, and Xander Bogaerts.

Felix Mantilla Passes Away

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Eleven-year MLB veteran Felix Mantilla passed away on Friday at age 90.  Mantilla appeared in 969 games with the Braves, Mets, Red Sox, and Astros from 1956-66, playing primarily as a second baseman, but with a lot of time spent at third base and shortstop plus all three outfield positions.

Though Mantilla never played for the Brewers, the organization paid tribute to Mantilla by recognizing him as “an iconic figure…who was an inspiration to all of us in the Milwaukee baseball community.  We will forever remember Felix for his time with the Milwaukee Braves, but even more for the impact he had on thousands of children through the Felix Mantilla Little League.”

One of the first Puerto Rican players to break through in Major League Baseball, Mantilla was signed by the then-Boston Braves during the 1951-52 offseason and made his MLB debut in 1956 once the franchise had moved to Milwaukee.  He was primarily a middle infielder during his six seasons with the Braves but bounced around to multiple positions in his role as a bench player.

Mantilla won a World Series ring for his role on the 1957 championship team, and while Mantilla contributed only a walk over 11 plate appearances in the Fall Classic, his one run scored was of vital importance.  Entering the 10th inning of Game Four as a pinch-runner, Mantilla scored the game-tying run just before Eddie Matthews’ two-run walkoff home run.

The Mets selected Mantilla away from the Braves as part of the expansion draft, which meant that Mantilla (playing an everyday role for the first time in his career) was part of the infamous 1962 Mets team that went 40-120-1 in the franchise’s inaugural season.  He was traded to the Red Sox after that lone season in New York, which sparked the most successful run of Mantilla’s career — he hit .287/.369/.474 with 54 homers over 1297 plate appearances with Boston from 1963-65.  Thirty of those home runs came in 1964, and the 1965 season saw Mantilla make the All-Star team for the only time in his career.

Despite this success, Mantilla was traded to the Astros after the 1965 campaign, and his numbers drastically dropped off in the move from Fenway Park to the pitcher-friendly Astrodome.  He never played another professional game after the 1966 season, as an Achilles injury that required surgery seemed to curtail his playing career at age 31.

Mantilla finished his career with a .261/.329/.403 slash line and 89 home runs over 3029 plate appearances.  He is a member of the Puerto Rico Professional Baseball Hall of Fame, and as noted in the Brewers’ memorial, Mantilla has had a lasting legacy in Milwaukee as the namesake of a Little League program since 1973.

We at MLB Trade Rumors express our condolences to Mantilla’s family, friends, and loved ones.

Red Sox To Use Garrett Whitlock As Reliever

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11:44AM: Whitlock is hoping to pitch normally during Spring Training, he told MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo and other media.  His offseason work has thus far extended to bullpen sessions of up to 15 pitches.

11:31AM: Garrett Whitlock will miss the first month or two of the 2025 season as he recovers from an internal brace surgery performed last May, but when the right-hander does return to action, it will be in a bullpen role.  Whitlock told reporters (including Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe) today that the Red Sox intend to use him as a reliever in the coming season.

The news isn’t a huge surprise, given both Whitlock’s health status and the fact that the Sox have enough of a pitching surplus that the team is considering using a six-man rotation just to get everyone innings.  There is also the fact that Whitlock has been markedly better as a reliever (2.65 ERA in 132 2/3 innings) than as a starter (4.29 ERA in 109 innings) during his big league career.

After being selected away from the Yankees in the 2020 Rule 5 draft, Whitlock burst onto the Major League scene as a reliever when he posted a spectacular 1.96 ERA over 73 1/3 innings during the 2021 season.  It was a tremendous breakout for a pitcher who had never even worked at Triple-A before making his MLB debut, and the Red Sox jumped to capitalize on that potential by signing Whitlock to a contract extension that will net him at least $18.75MM over the 2023-26 seasons, and might max out as a six-year, $44MM pact based on club options and escalators.

The Red Sox experimented with Whitlock as a starter in 2022, but moved him back to the pen after he missed about a month due to hip inflammation, and Whitlock continued to pitch well in a multi-inning relief role before a season-ending hip surgery in September.  Whitlock was again deployed as a starter to begin the 2023 season, but struggled to a 5.23 ERA in 51 2/3 innings over 10 starts before again returned to the relief corps.  This time, Whitlock had a 4.95 ERA in 20 innings as a reliever over the remainder of that season, as some elbow problems were the larger story of Whitlock’s 2023 campaign.

Injuries again surfaced in 2024, as Whitlock didn’t pitch again after suffering an oblique strain in mid-April.  A month after his IL placement, Whitlock came away from a Triple-A rehab outing with elbow soreness, and ultimately the UCL damage that necessitated his surgery.  Ironically, Whitlock had looked very sharp in his first four starts of the 2024 season, as an 1.96 ERA in 18 1/3 innings hinted that he was finally ready to step up as a regular member of Boston’s rotation.

It still seems possible that the Sox might again use Whitlock as a starter in 2026 or beyond, depending on his health, their rotation needs, or if the Red Sox exercise their club options on his services for the 2027 or 2028 seasons.  However, it could be that simply keeping Whitlock in a relief role might be the ideal path to keep him off the injured list.  As much as Boston might’ve hoped it had found a quality starter at a relative bargain price, having Whitlock as “only” a bullpen weapon for high-leverage innings is a pretty nice silver lining, assuming Whitlock can regain his 2021-22 form.

Aroldis Chapman and Justin Wilson are the highest-profile new additions to the Boston bullpen this offseason, and the exact nature of the relief mix might not be known for some time.  The Red Sox will still need to figure out which five or six arms will comprise their rotation, which excess starters might also be used in the pen, and simply who will be healthy.  Aside from Whitlock, Lucas Giolito, Patrick Sandoval, and Michael Fulmer are all returning from long-term injuries.

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