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Red Sox Sign Dan Altavilla To Two-Year Minors Deal

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The Red Sox have signed right-hander Dan Altavilla to a two-year minor league contract, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).  The length of the deal reflects Altavilla’s health status, as he underwent Tommy John surgery last June and will miss at least half of the 2022 season.

Between a season-opening calf injury and then his elbow problems, Altavilla only pitched 1 1/3 innings over two games with the Padres in 2021.  The righty has appeared in each of the last six MLB seasons, though in a somewhat limited capacity (116 total innings) that reflects his inconsistency.  Altavilla has a solid 26.1% strikeout rate over his career, but a 12.1% walk rate and 12.4% home run rate have limited his effectiveness out of the Seattle and San Diego bullpens.

With a fastball that averages 96.7 mph, Altavilla brings plenty of heat, and the Red Sox are betting that they can harness that potential once the right-hander is healthy.  Given the usual 12-15 month rehab period time for Tommy John patients, Altavilla could potentially return for a good portion of the coming season, if his recovery process goes smoothly.  The additional year on the minors contract gives both Altavilla and the Sox some extra security in giving him all the time he needs to get back into form.

Chris Sale Has Stress Fracture In Rib Cage, Won’t Be Ready For Opening Day

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Red Sox ace Chris Sale has a stress fracture in his right rib cage and will not be ready for Opening Day, chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom announced to reporters today (Twitter links via Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). It will be “weeks, not days” before Sale is even cleared to pick up a ball and begin any form of throwing, Bloom adds.  Sale didn’t suggest a timeline other than stating that bones typically take six to eight weeks to heal.  Sale suffered the injury during the lockout during a live batting practice he was streaming on Instagram, but was prohibited from communicating it to the Red Sox until the new collective bargaining agreement was reached March 10.

Sale joined the Red Sox in a December 2016 trade and is in the third year of a five-year, $145MM extension.  He underwent Tommy John surgery in March 2020, ultimately leading to a gap of almost exactly two years between MLB mound appearances.  In his nine starts in late 2021, Sale averaged 82 pitches per outing.  Sale’s work fell short of his Cy Young-caliber peak, which is to be expected at age 32 and after a long layoff, but he still managed a healthy 28.4 K% and 6.6 BB% in his 42 1/3 innings.  Two of Sale’s three postseason starts were particularly brief, but he was able to make a strong 87-pitch effort in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Astros.

The prospect of Sale missing potentially a couple months of the 2022 season is a blow to the Red Sox.  Still, the club did sign free agents Michael Wacha and Rich Hill before the lockout, and has already been stretching out Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock this spring.  Nathan Eovaldi and Nick Pivetta are also set for the team’s rotation.

Red Sox Notes: Free Agency, Bogaerts, Payroll

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The Red Sox have signed five free agent pitchers — Michael Wacha, James Paxton, Rich Hill, Matt Strahm and Jake Diekman — so far this winter. Their only meaningful change on the position player front, though, was arguably a downgrade in 2022. An hour before the lockout, Boston traded Hunter Renfroe to the Brewers in a deal that brought Jackie Bradley Jr. back to Fenway Park.

While the Sox have yet to pull off a meaningful upgrade to their position player mix, they’ve been at least loosely tied to a few of free agency’s top names. Jon Heyman of the MLB Network suggested this morning they could be in the mix for Freddie Freeman. They’re reportedly among the teams in the running for star NPB outfielder Seiya Suzuki. Before the lockout, reports tied them to each of Carlos Correa and Trevor Story.

There are myriad possibilities the Boston front office could pursue, a fact chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom acknowledged when speaking with reporters yesterday (via Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic). “We talked about this before the lockout … that we do still want to add position players to the group,” Bloom said. “The (Renfroe) trade we made on December 1 kind of flipped our lineup balance a little bit to where we have an opening for a right-handed bat. That said, in this period, especially with so much going on and so many conversations, we want to be nimble enough to take advantage of all opportunities.”

Bloom declined to specify an area of positional target, pointing to the flexibility Enrique Hernández affords the club with his ability to capably man both center field and second base. That’s been reinforced by the wide array of players they’ve reportedly inquired about, but their ties to the top two free agent shortstops are made more difficult by the presence of their All-Star in-house option there.

Speaking with reporters (including Christopher Smith of MassLive) this afternoon, Xander Bogaerts didn’t sound enamored with the possibility of changing positions to accommodate an external addition. “I’m a shortstop, man. That’s where I’ve played my whole career and obviously a position I take a lot of pride in,” the 29-year-old said. “I love being there.” Bogaerts said he and the team haven’t broached the possibility of a position change.

If Bogaerts remains steadfastly against moving off shortstop, that’d complicate any efforts by the Red Sox to make a legitimate push for Correa or Story. Correa is one of the game’s preeminent defenders at the position, coming off a Gold Glove winning campaign. Story is reportedly intent on signing with a team that’ll keep him at shortstop. It seems unlikely at this point that either will sign with a team that’s unwilling to make space for them at the infield’s most demanding position.

Unlike Correa or Story, Bogaerts doesn’t have the freedom to choose a team for 2022. Yet he will have the option of testing the open market next offseason, as he can opt out of the final three years and $60MM on his deal at the end of this season. Given how well he’s played in recent seasons, he’s certainly on a path towards triggering the opt-out, leaving Bloom and his staff to determine whether they want earmark some future funds away for a potential extension. (Star third baseman Rafael Devers is down to his final two years of arbitration control as well).

The Red Sox should have plenty of long-term flexibility, however. Jason Martinez of Roster Resource projects their luxury tax payroll for the 2022 season at $213MM, a fair bit shy of the $230MM base tax threshold. Looking ahead to 2023, a wide swath of post-2022 free agents and a potential Bogaerts opt-out could see that number plummet to just $60MM, leaving plenty of spots to be filled on the team’s active roster and a huge amount of funds with which to fill them. Bloom acknowledged as much, teasing that future financial flexibility “opens more options for us, maybe (more) than we’ve been working with the last couple years.”

Red Sox To Sign Jake Diekman

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March 15: Diekman’s deal with the Sox is a two-year, $8MM arrangement, according to Cotillo (Twitter thread). He’ll earn $3.5MM in both 2022 and 2023. The Sox hold a $4MM club option for the 2024 season, which comes with a $1MM buyout.

March 13: For the second time today, the Red Sox are adding a lefty to the bullpen. Boston and Jake Diekman are close to agreeing to terms, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (via Twitter). The deal is “believed to be a multi-year deal” though the exact terms are not yet clear.

Diekman is one of the top bullpen arms available on the market. The now-35-year-old was lights out for the A’s during the pandemic-shortened 2020. He appeared in 21 games, posting a microscopic 0.42 ERA/2.72 FIP spanning 21 1/3 innings, numbers-driven at least in part by an uncharacteristically high 61.6 percent groundball rate. For comparison, he posted a 34.8 percent groundball rate last year and owns a 47.9 percent rate in that department for his career.

The 10-year veteran initially came to Oakland mid-season in 2019 in a deal with the Royals that netted KC a pair of minor leaguers. He continued to be effective for the A’s last season, though not quite at the surreal level of 2020. He tossed 60 2/3 innings over 67 outings with a 3.86 ERA/4.46 FIP while notching seven saves and 14 holds. He also blew seven saves.

With a 31.7 percent strikeout rate, he differentiates himself from the other lefties in Boston’s pen with his ability to miss bats. In so doing, Diekman becomes the top southpaw in a Boston pen that added Matt Strahm earlier today.

Beyond their new pair, the BoSox can call on Josh Taylor, Darwinzon Hernandez, and Austin Davis as potential southpaws out of the bullpen. Diekman is by far the most established of the bunch, however. He’s sure to team with Garrett Whitlock in the late game mix for manager Alex Cora.

Red Sox Reportedly Showing Interest In Freddie Freeman

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The Freddie Freeman bidding has a new entrant, as MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Red Sox have joined the fray. They’ll join a field that has already included the Yankees, Blue Jays, Dodgers and, somewhat surprisingly, the Rays. Tampa Bay reportedly made an offer to Freeman prior to the lockout, and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported last night that the Rays remain interested. However, he suggests their interest is limited to a shorter-term deal — presumably at what would be a massive annual rate. That doesn’t appear too likely, of course, given the interest from larger-market clubs with deep pockets. As of yesterday afternoon, reports indicated that the Yankees were “pessimistic” about their chances of signing Freeman, while other clubs viewed the Blue Jays as a serious threat.

A Freeman signing would give the BoSox an elite heart-of-the-order grouping, as he’d join Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers and J.D. Martinez in composing the team’s two-through-five hitters. Adding Freeman to the fold would likely mean supplanting 26-year-old Bobby Dalbec at first base, though even with his big finish to the 2021 season, Dalbec isn’t going to serve as a roadblock to a superstar of Freeman’s caliber. Dalbec struggled through a dismal first half before slashing .269/.344/.611 in his final 195 plate appearances, although he did so in spite of a 31.3% strikeout rate and still finished the year with an overall batting line of .240/.298/.494.

The larger question for the Red Sox is likely a matter of payroll — more specifically, the luxury tax. Last week’s newly ratified collective bargaining agreement bumped the tier-one threshold for penalization from $210MM to $230MM, but the Sox are already at about $209MM of luxury obligations (via Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez). Adding Freeman to the mix would send Boston soaring past that mark. The Sox have paid the tax in the past, but more recently ownership has been staunchly against doing so. Freeman is the type of player for whom many clubs might consider an exception, but it’s not yet clear whether Boston would feel that way or whether any Freeman interest is contingent on moving other salary.

If the Sox are indeed willing to pay the tax, it’d likely only be a one-year dip into those waters. Boston’s luxury obligations will plummet following the season, dropping from the current $209MM level all the way to $75MM. That doesn’t even include the possibility of Bogaerts opting out of his six-year, $120MM contract — which seems quite likely and would further shave another $20MM from that luxury ledger. The Red Sox have Martinez, Nathan Eovaldi, Jackie Bradley Jr., Christian Vazquez, Enrique Hernandez, Michael Wacha, Rich Hill, Matt Strahm and Kevin Plawecki all coming off the books following the 2022 season.

Again, that doesn’t make it any kind of lock that they’ll be comfortable putting forth a multi-year deal of six years in the $30MM annual value range, which is generally believed to be where Freeman’s asking price currently lies. But there’s a clear on-paper fit and the long-term payroll flexibility to make it work, as MLBTR’s Anthony Franco noted when picking the Sox to sign Freeman back in November.

Wherever  Freeman lands, it’s become quite clear that he’s set to move on from the only organization he’s ever known. The Braves acquired Matt Olson in a trade with the Athletics yesterday — a move that president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos called the toughest transaction of his lengthy executive career while fighting back tears (video link via Bally Sports). Anthopoulos noted multiple times that he couldn’t “get into specifics” as to why the deal was so difficult to make, though the implication was clear.

Seiya Suzuki Weighing Interest From Several Teams

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6:41pm: Suzuki and his reps are expected to meet with Cubs brass tonight, reports Sahadev Sharma of the Athletic (Twitter link).

4:45pm: Suzuki himself shot down rumors of a decision having been made, via Instagram story. “There are several reports that I’ve made my decision, but none of that is true,” writes Suzuki.

2:28pm: Suzuki has not chosen a team yet, according to Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times, who says six to seven teams remain under consideration.  Jon Heyman of MLB Network names the Padres, Dodgers, Red Sox, Giants, Mariners, and Cubs as some of the teams still involved.

TODAY, 1:43pm: “It appears Seiya Suzuki’s decision is not far away,” tweets Acee.

YESTERDAY, 11:53pm: The Padres are known to be making a push for Seiya Suzuki, and the outfielder worked out in front of Padres executives at Petco Park this weekend, The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports (Twitter link).  Suzuki’s time in San Diego also included a visit with Padres righty Yu Darvish and Darvish’s family.

Now that the lockout is over, Suzuki is finally free to partake in normal free-agent recruitment tours, which are particularly key for players coming to Major League Baseball for the first time.  Lin notes that it isn’t known if Suzuki visited any other teams this weekend or what his other travel plans may entail, though given the number of teams interested in Suzuki, he could have quite a few stops to make before his posting period is up.  Suzuki now has 17 of his 30 posting days remaining, as the lockout interrupted this process and kept Suzuki from any contract with big league clubs.

Suzuki has seemingly become an increasingly important figure in the Padres’ roster-building efforts, as Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune said earlier today that obtaining Suzuki was part of a “Plan A” scenario for the team.  That outline included signing Suzuki and Nelson Cruz, and then trading one of Eric Hosmer or Wil Myers to open up payroll space, though one element of that plan has now been scuttled since Cruz signed with the Nationals.

With Cruz now off the board, it could only intensify the Padres’ pursuit of Suzuki.  Since Cruz is limited to DH duty, adding Suzuki would arguably be a better fit for San Diego anyway given the team’s needs in the outfield.  Suzuki could be easily slotted right into the Padres’ right field spot, as Myers (if he isn’t traded) could be moved across the grass to fill San Diego’s left field vacancy.

Red Sox To Sign Matt Strahm

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The Boston Red Sox are in agreement with reliever Matt Strahm on a one-year deal, per Robert Murray of FanSided (via Twitter).  The deal is pending a physical. The contract is worth $3MM, per Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (via Twitter).

Strahm spent the past four seasons with the Padres after two years with the Royals, the team that drafted him out of Neosho County Community College in Kansas. The 30-year-old southpaw has mostly pitched out of the bullpen, but he does boast swingman potential, having made 25 starts over his six-year career.

Last season, however, was a bit of a lost year for Strahm. He logged just 6 1/3 innings over six appearances for the Padres, with another three appearances in Triple-A. Strahm missed most of the year after surgery to repair the patellar tendon in his knee. He returned in August, only to land back on the injured list later in the month with knee inflammation.

The contract total, while not at all exorbitant, does reflect an expectation for Strahm to hold down a place in Boston’s bullpen. Before the knee injury cut short his 2020 season, Strahm had posted a 3.66 ERA/4.14 FIP in 196 2/3 innings from 2018 to 2020, so there’s certainly reason to assume the lefty can make an impact in Boston. Strahm joins Josh Taylor, Darwinzon Hernandez, and Austin Davis as potential southpaws available to manager Alex Cora out of the bullpen.

Latest On Seiya Suzuki’s Market

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Star NPB outfielder Seiya Suzuki waited out the lockout in search of a deal with an MLB team this offseason. The league and Players Association agreed to freeze his posting window during the work stoppage. The official lifting of the lockout restarted the clock, giving teams twenty days to finalize an agreement.

Suzuki has reportedly drawn interest from upwards of a dozen teams this winter, and Jon Heyman of the MLB Network lists five (via Twitter) that have been prominent players: the Mariners, Giants, Dodgers, Cubs and Red Sox. That’s not necessarily a group of finalists, to be clear, but it seems those teams are among Suzuki’s top suitors.

Four of those clubs — Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston — have been known entrants in the bidding for some time. A report from Japan’s Nikkan Sports in January named the four clubs as among those likely to remain factors until he chooses a destination. The Dodgers, though, hadn’t been strongly linked to Suzuki until this point.

Los Angeles doesn’t necessarily have a need in the outfield. Mookie Betts, Cody Bellinger and AJ Pollock make for a strong starting trio, and Chris Taylor and Gavin Lux could see some action on the grass as well. The Dodgers haven’t been shy about acquiring talent even in the absence of an obvious weakness on the roster, however. And Los Angeles is clearly open to further bolstering an already strong offense, as they’re reportedly making a run at Freddie Freeman. Manager Dave Roberts isn’t afraid to move even his best players around the diamond, and the implementation of the universal designated hitter could allow NL teams to cast a wider net in search of talent.

With a little under three weeks before Suzuki has to make a decision, there still seems to be a decent array of possible landing spots. Only 27 years old, Suzuki should appeal both to win-now clubs like the Dodgers and teams (the Cubs perhaps among them) that are eyeing 2023 and beyond as more realistic windows of contention. He’s coming off a monstrous .317/.433/.639 showing with the Hiroshima Carp, for whom he’s been a strong middle-of-the-order bat in recent years. Evaluators with whom MLBTR spoke earlier in the offseason generally suggested Suzuki could immediately be a solid everyday right fielder in MLB.

Whoever signs Suzuki will owe the Carp a posting fee on top of the guarantee that goes to the player himself. The fee is calculated as 20% of the contract’s first $25MM, 17.5% of the next $25MM and 15% of any dollars thereafter.

Red Sox Among Teams Interested In Collin McHugh

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Collin McHugh is drawing “robust” interest from several teams, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo reports (Twitter link), and the Red Sox are one of the clubs looking at the 34-year-old right-hander.

Signing with Boston would technically represent a reunion for McHugh, though he didn’t actually end up pitching for the team after signing an incentive-laden one-year contract (worth $600K in guaranteed money) prior to the 2020 season.  McHugh was battling elbow problems through 2019 and underwent a non-surgical procedure that offseason, and his arm still wasn’t entirely ready to go even with the delayed start to the 2020 campaign.  McHugh ultimately decided to opt out of the 2020 season entirely, and then signed a one-year, $1.2MM deal with the Rays last winter.

Injuries were still a factor for McHugh in 2021, as he missed about a month during two separate IL stints for a back strain and arm fatigue.  But, McHugh was outstanding in his comeback season, posting a 1.55 ERA over 64 innings with Tampa, working as both a traditional reliever and as an opener.  McHugh’s Statcast page was a veritable sea of red numbers, as he finished among the league’s best in walk rate (4.9%) and limiting hard contact, among virtually every other major category.

A solid starter with the Astros earlier in his career, McHugh now seems to have carved out a new niche for himself as a dominant bullpen arm who can be deployed in multiple ways.  This skillset has natural appeal for many teams, and the Red Sox in particular seems like a fit given how chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom (formerly of Tampa Bay’s front office) has been looking to take a Rays-esque versatile approach to Boston’s pitching mix.  Bloom likely had this exact plan in mind for McHugh at the time of the original signing two years ago, before McHugh’s injury recovery and the complications of the pandemic provided too large an obstacle.

Multiple Teams Showed Pre-Lockout Interest In J.D. Davis

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The Mets were one of the most active teams in the pre-lockout frenzy, adding Max Scherzer, Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar and Mark Canha. Those signings, along with Robinson Cano’s return from serving a season-long PED suspension, have given them a crowded position player mix. This has led to some speculation that the club could end up moving a player like Jeff McNeil, Dominic Smith or J.D. Davis, with all three of those players appearing on MLBTR’s list of the likeliest post-lockout trade candidates. It seems that Davis was garnering his fair share of attention before the lockout, as Mike Puma of the New York Post reports that the Cubs, Red Sox, Twins and Athletics all had interest in his services before the transactions freeze took hold in December.

The fact that various teams are interested in Davis is hardly surprising, given his excellent offensive skills. Since being acquired by the Mets from the Astros prior to the 2019 season, Davis has made 893 plate appearances in 269 games and has a line of .288/.373/.472. That’s good enough for a wRC+ of 130, fifth-best among third basemen with at least 850 plate appearances in that time, ahead of big names like Rafael Devers and Josh Donaldson.

Unfortunately, Davis hasn’t been as good on the other side of the ball, as advanced defensive metrics don’t look kindly upon his work at either third base or left field. For instance, Statcast’s Outs Above Average gave him -8 in 2019, followed by -6 in the shortened 2020 season and -3 in the 2021 campaign, despite playing just 73 games due to injury.

Despite those flaws, Davis should still hold plenty of appeal. The 28-year-old (29 in April) qualified for arbitration in 2021 due to reaching Super Two status and earned a salary of $2.1MM. Due to injuries holding him back last year, he is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a modest raise to $2.7MM in 2022 and can be controlled for two seasons beyond that. Those factors, combined with his bat, could make him a fit on plenty of rosters, especially now that the universal designated hitter is official.

The Cubs have spent most of the past year-plus subtracting from their roster, trading away Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Javier Baez and others. Since then, however, they have shown that they don’t have designs on totally tanking, as evidenced by their pre-lockout pickups of Wade Miley, Yan Gomes and Marcus Stroman. They currently have Patrick Wisdom pencilled in at the hot corner after a nice breakout campaign last year. However, he struck out in a whopping 40.8% of his plate appearances, making it questionable if he can be a long-term solution at the position.

There has been some speculation that Rafael Devers is destined to be moved off of third base in the long run, due to his defensive limitations, though Davis isn’t really an upgrade in that department. However, putting Davis in left field could be an option, if the club feels he would fit in front of the Green Monster. Jarren Duran struggled in his debut last season and could perhaps be sent to Triple-A for more reps there. Or perhaps the lefty Durran and righty Davis could complement each other in a platoon capacity.

The Twins have Josh Donaldson at third but he’s also seen significant time at DH, only taking the field in 92 of his 135 games last year. Given his age, 36, and injury history, it would make sense to acquire another option for the hot corner to help keep him healthy. Luis Arraez could fill that role at the moment, but he hasn’t produced the same level of offense as Davis thus far in his career. There also could be a path to playing time on the grass, as youngsters Alex Kirilloff and Trevor Larnach both had tepid debuts last year, putting up a wRC+ of 93 and 89, respectively.

The Athletics already have an excellent third baseman, technically, in Matt Chapman. However, it’s widely expected that the club is about to embark upon a major selloff, with Chapman being one of those most often mentioned as a trade candidate due to his increasing salary and two remaining years of control. Acquiring Davis could be a relatively affordable way of filling Chapman’s absence after a trade. The club also has big question marks in its outfield right now, after Marte and Canha both went to the Mets. Ramon Laureano will be in center field eventually, but first has to serve 27 more games of his PED suspension. Seth Brown had a decent campaign, but none of Stephen Piscotty, Chad Pinder, Skye Bolt or Luis Barrera did much to inspire confidence last year. Tony Kemp could play the outfield but may be needed at second base.

Though his ultimate destination is unknown, the sense of an impending trade seems to be growing with Davis himself. “It’s kind of 50/50, kind of a flip of the coin,” he said back in October. When asked the same question by Puma today, he said, “Now it could be say 60-40 out of here, but you never know.” Davis then elaborated, referencing the fact that Cano, McNeil, Smith and Luis Guillorme are all lefties. “Baseball is in a situation of bench players, and something like that, three or four lefties and I’m maybe the only righty, so strategically I could see myself back there, but I don’t know. Anything can happen.”

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