COVID Notes: 9/12/21
The latest updates on coronavirus situations around baseball…
Latest Moves
- The Red Sox placed yet another player on the COVID list, as right-hander Phillips Valdez tested positive for the virus (MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo was among those to report the news.) Right-hander Brad Peacock will join the active roster in Valdez’s place after Peacock’s contract was selected from Triple-A Worcester. Between Pivetta’s activation and Valdez joining, Boston’s COVID list remains at 10 players.
Earlier Today
- The Red Sox reinstated right-hander Nick Pivetta from the COVID-related injury list today, and optioned righty Connor Seabold to Triple-A. Pivetta will get the start today against the White Sox after recovering from a case of COVID-19 that sidelined him on September 5. (As per league regulations, Pivetta was cleared to return after seven days because he was fully vaccinated earlier this season.) It has been something of an up-and-down season for Pivetta, and the righty is looking to bounce back after posting a 10.13 ERA over 10 2/3 innings pitched in his last three starts.
Red Sox Place Danny Santana On COVID List, Select Jack Lopez
Just four days after Danny Santana was reinstated from the COVID-related injury list, the Red Sox have sent the utilityman back to the COVID-IL. Infielder Jack Lopez has had his contract selected from Triple-A, and Lopez will take Santana’s spot on the active roster.
Santana has tested positive for COVID-19, MLB.com’s Ian Browne reports (via Twitter), so he will miss at least 10 days while quarantined. Santana previously spent only two days on the COVID-IL due to symptoms, rather than any positive tests. He now becomes the latest Red Sox player to test positive in what has been a long-lasting outbreak within the Boston clubhouse. While some players have started to return to action, Santana is the tenth Sox player currently on the team’s COVID list.
After an elbow injury limited Santana to 15 games with the Rangers in 2020, health issues have again plagued the utilityman in his first season in Boston. Between a foot infection, a left quad strain, a left groin strain, and his two COVID-IL stints, Santana has appeared in just 38 games for the Red Sox, and batted only .181/.252/.345 in 127 plate appearances. Santana’s minor league contract became a guaranteed deal worth $1.75MM when he made the big league roster, though a reunion between Santana and the Sox doesn’t seem very likely in 2022.
This is the second time Lopez has been selected to Boston’s roster in the midst of this coronavirus outbreak, resulting in the 28-year-old getting to make his Major League debut after nine seasons in the minors. A 16th-round pick for the Royals in the 2011 draft, Lopez has spent much of his career in Kansas City’s farm system before moving to the Braves’ organization in 2019 and then signing with the Sox this past offseason. Lopez hit .167/.231/.333 in his first 15 PA as a big leaguer.
Red Sox’ Connor Seabold To Make Major League Debut
2:50 pm: Brad Peacock has been returned to Triple-A as the corresponding roster move, per Cotillo (via Twitter). Peacock made two appearances, allowing nine runs in 5 1/3 innings.
11:09 am: Right-hander Connor Seabold will be added to the Red Sox active roster to make his first career start tonight against the White Sox, per Chris Cotillo of Masslive.com (via Twitter).
Seabold will start in place of Nick Pivetta, who is on the COVID-related injured list. Seabold and Pivetta came to Boston together in a trade with the Phillies last August. The deal sent relievers Heath Hembree and Brandon Workman to Philadelphia – neither of whom remain with the team.
The 25-year-old Seabold was Boston’s 8th-ranked prospect by Fangraphs at the start of this season. He is their 12th-ranked prospect by Baseball America, who wrote in their scouting report, “Seabold’s three-pitch mix includes a 90-93 mph fastball that sometimes ticks up slightly higher, an excellent changeup with sink and fade and a below-average slider that plays up because of command and deception.”
The Red Sox currently hold the top wild card spot, but their grip is loose. The Yankees trail by just a half game, while the Blue Jays, Athletics, and Mariners are all within a game of New York. Seabold will be thrown right into the fire as the Red Sox continue to deal with a long list of positive COVID-19 tests.
Red Sox Select Kaleb Ort
The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves before this evening’s game against the White Sox. As expected, shortstop Xander Bogaerts has been reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list. Hard-throwing reliever Darwinzon Hernández has been activated from the 10-day IL, while the club selected fellow bullpen arm Kaleb Ort. In corresponding moves, starter Chris Sale was placed on the COVID-19 IL after testing positive for the virus and reliever Austin Davis was placed on the paternity list. Additionally, infielder Jonathan Araúz has been placed on the COVID IL. He’s experiencing virus-like symptoms but has continued to test negative, relays Chris Cotillo of MassLive (Twitter link).
Ort is up to make his major league debut. The right-hander went undrafted out of Aquinas College in 2016. He signed with the Diamondbacks but was released not long after and then latched on with the Yankees. Ort spent the past few seasons in the New York system, but the Red Sox added him in the minor league phase of last offseason’s Rule 5 draft.
Assigned to Worcester, Ort has pitched well at the minors’ top level to earn the call. The 29-year-old has worked 43 1/3 innings of 3.12 ERA ball with the WooSox, striking out a very strong 30.4% of batters faced. Ort has had issues with his control throughout his pro career, but his 10.3% walk rate this season is only marginally above the league average for relievers.
Hernández is back after missing a little more than five weeks with a right oblique strain. The southpaw has a 3.44 ERA in 34 frames of relief despite an elevated 16.9% walk percentage. That’s largely thanks to his quality 29.9% strikeout rate, a continuation of Hernández’s lofty punch out and walk totals throughout his big league career.
Red Sox To Activate Xander Bogaerts From Injured List
The Red Sox are planning to activate star shortstop Xander Bogaerts from the COVID-19 injured list before this evening’s game against the White Sox, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive (Twitter link). He has been out since testing positive for the virus on August 31.
Boston has held their own in Bogaerts’ absence, going 5-4 over that nine-game stretch. Bogaerts was one of ten Red Sox players to test positive as the virus has spread throughout the clubhouse. While he and Kiké Hernández have now made it back to action, a good portion of the roster remains on the virus-related IL. Indeed, that spread continued to impact the club as recently as this afternoon, when it was announced that ace Chris Sale tested positive.
Bogaerts is arguably the most important player the Red Sox were without during their outbreak. The three-time All-Star has a fantastic .298/.366/.501 line over 519 plate appearances this season, making him one of the more valuable position players in the league. He returns at a time when the Sox hold a one-game advantage over the Yankees for the American League’s top Wild Card spot, with the Blue Jays just half a game behind New York.
Red Sox Outright Taylor Motter
Sept. 10: Motter was not claimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Worcester, the Red Sox announced Friday
Sept. 7: The Red Sox announced a series of roster moves before this evening’s game against the Rays. Utilitymen Kiké Hernández and Danny Santana were both reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list. To open active roster space, outfielder Franchy Cordero was optioned to Triple-A Worcester while infielder Taylor Motter was designated for assignment.
Hernández was the first player on the Red Sox to test positive amidst the recent viral spread that has affected a sizable chunk of the roster. He’s also the first player to return from that group, and he’ll take his customary place atop the lineup this evening. Signed over the offseason to a two-year deal, Hernández has put together one of the better seasons of his career in his first year in Boston. The 30-year-old owns a .258/.346/.465 line over 483 plate appearances.
Motter was claimed off waivers from the Rockies last Thursday to bolster the infield depth with Hernández, Santana, Xander Bogaerts and Yairo Muñoz all on the COVID IL. He’ll lose his roster spot after just three games with a couple of the original options returning. While internal players selected as COVID replacements can be bumped from the active and 40-man rosters without being made available to other teams, those acquired from outside the organization (like Motter) still need to stick on the 40-man or be exposed to waivers.
While Motter hasn’t gotten much of a big league look this season, he posted fantastic numbers with the Rockies’ top affiliate in Albuquerque. Over 265 plate appearances with the Isotopes, Motter hit .335/.460/.759 with 24 home runs and matching strikeout and walk rates (18.5%). That strong showing — coupled with his positional versatility — could pique the interest of another club once he lands on waivers.
While the Red Sox have begun to get some players back from the COVID IL, it wasn’t unanimously positive news on that front. Starting pitcher Nick Pivetta, who landed on the IL last Sunday, has tested positive for the virus, manager Alex Cora revealed to reporters (including Alex Speier of the Boston Globe). The positive test will keep another key player for Boston out of action for at least the next week-plus. The Red Sox enter play tonight holding a three-game advantage over the Blue Jays and Mariners in the American League Wild Card race.
Chris Sale Tests Positive For Covid-19
Red Sox Chris Sale has tested positive for Covid-19 and will not make his scheduled start Sunday, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (via Twitter). He’ll be placed on the Covid-19-related injured list, joining eight other Red Sox players who have either tested positive or are in protocol due to the recent team outbreak in Boston.
Major League Baseball’s health-and-safety protocols for the 2021 season stipulate that Sale will be away from the club for at least 10 days, further straining a rotation that has been heavily impacted by the team’s outbreak. Both Nick Pivetta and Martin Perez are currently on the Covid-related injured list, which has prompted recent starts from Kutter Crawford and Brad Peacock. Perez has been on the IL since Aug. 30 and could be nearing a return, and the Sox also currently have Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi and Tanner Houck in the rotation. The Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham further reports that it’s also possible Pivetta could be activated to make Sale’s start Sunday.
The 32-year-old Sale missed the bulk of the 2021 season as he worked his way back from Tommy John surgery but has been excellent in five starts since rejoining the team. He’s yet to pitch beyond the sixth inning but carries a 2.52 ERA with a 27.5 percent strikeout rate and 5.5 walk percent rate — both quite strong marks — in his first 25 innings since being activated.
The Red Sox have a fairly tenuous hold on the top Wild Card spot in the American League, leading the Yankees by a margin of just one game. Three more teams — Toronto, Seattle and Oakland — are within two games of that second Wild Card spot and within three games of Boston’s top spot. The Sox have managed to remain in competition despite an outbreak that has seen 10 players test positive since late August.
Sale’s positive test comes less than 24 hours after Red Sox right fielder Hunter Renfroe controversially claimed in a WEEI radio appearance with Lou Merloni and Christian Fauria that Major League Baseball had told the Red Sox to “stop testing and just treat the symptoms” (Twitter link with audio). Asked in a follow-up to confirm that MLB had instructed the Red Sox to stop testing, Renfroe replied with a simple, “Yes.”
Both Major League Baseball and the Red Sox moved quickly to refute the claim. Julian McWilliams and Kate McInerny of the Boston Globe cited a league spokesperson who called Renfroe’s claim “completely wrong and inaccurate,” while the team issued a statement indicating it has “been following MLB’s COVID-19 protocols all season long.” The Red Sox added that they have “continued to test and [the league’s] medical staff has been very supportive.”
Renfroe has not further addressed his comments, and there’s been some speculation that he misconstrued the league’s policy of reduced testing frequency for vaccinated, asymptomatic players, which went into place back in June. Under those updated protocols, vaccinated players are not tested for the virus unless they either display symptoms or are deemed a close contact from a person known to have tested positive.
Red Sox Sign Jose Iglesias
11:46am: The Red Sox have announced the signing of Iglesias to a Major League deal and added him to the active roster. Additionally, Boston has reinstated reliever Josh Taylor from the Covid-19 list, selected the contract of right-hander Michael Feliz and returned Covid replacement players Kutter Crawford, Jack Lopez and John Schreiber to Triple-A Worcester. None of the three had to be passed through waivers to be sent down and removed from the 40-man roster because they were specifically appointed as Covid-19 replacements.
11:30am: Shortstop Jose Iglesias, who was released by the Angels over the weekend, is at Fenway Park today, per the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham (Twitter link). The Globe’s Alex Speier tweets that the Red Sox are expected to announce the signing of Iglesias shortly. He’s represented by the MVP Sports Group.
The Red Sox, in the midst of a Covid-19 outbreak in their clubhouse, have a whopping 11 players in Covid protocol at the moment. That group includes infielders Xander Bogaerts, Christian Arroyo, Enrique Hernandez and Yairo Munoz, leaving the Sox in dire need of some infield help. Jonathan Arauz and Jack Lopez have been lining up in the middle infield in recent days, but Iglesias figures to step into that mix and begin logging some regular reps while the team awaits the return of Bogaerts and others.
It was a rough season for Iglesias in Anaheim — his lone year with the Angels. The 31-year-old wasn’t able to replicate last year’s enormous production at the plate — or even to come particularly close. It was just 150 plate appearances, but Iglesias posted a career-best .373/.400/.556 batting line with the Orioles in 2021 before slipping back to a .259/.295/.375 slash that falls more in line with his overall career numbers.
More troubling than a return to the norm at the dish, however, has been the decline in Iglesias’ glovework. He’s made 16 errors in 961 innings this year after making just 18 errors in 2393 innings from 2018-20 combined. Iglesias had never made more than 11 errors in a season but already has 10 throwing errors alone, in addition to six fielding errors. Defensive Runs Saved pegs Iglesias at a stunning minus-21 this season, while his Ultimate Zone Rating is a career-low minus-4.9.
Defensive struggles notwithstanding, Iglesias now returns to his original organization as a veteran reinforcement at a critical juncture. The Sox are quite unlikely to run down the Rays, who lead them by eight games in the standings, but are hoping to maintain a three-game lead over the upstart Mariners for the second AL Wild Card spot. They’re also just a half-game behind the Yankees for the top AL Wild Card spot and would surely like to eek ahead of their archrivals in order to seize home-field advantage in a theoretical Wild Card showdown.
The Red Sox originally signed Iglesias back in Sept. 2009 after he left his native Cuba. He spent the next several seasons rising through their minor league ranks and making a handful of big league appearances before settling in as their shortstop in 2013. Boston, however, sent him to the Tigers that summer in a three-team trade that sent Jake Peavy from the White Sox to the Red Sox and Avisail Garcia from Detroit to Chicago. (The White Sox picked up both Frankie Montas and J.B. Wendelken from the Red Sox in the trade as well.)
It’s something of a full-circle moment for Iglesias, who won’t be eligible for the postseason roster due to the fact that he’s joining the organization after Aug. 31. He’ll still have the opportunity to help his original club reach the postseason again, though, and this late change of scenery can also provide him an offseason for the league’s other teams as he preps to head back to free agency this winter.
Red Sox Place Nick Pivetta, Danny Santana On COVID IL
11:30AM: Yet another Boston player has been impacted by the ongoing virus situation. The team has announced that utility player Danny Santana has been placed on the COVID IL, with outfielder Franchy Cordero being recalled to take his place on the roster.
8:17AM: The Red Sox have placed starter Nick Pivetta on the COVID IL, per a team announcement. Pivetta was scheduled to start this afternoon’s game against Cleveland. Instead, 25-year-old righty Kutter Crawford will have his contract selected and start in Pivetta’s place.
Pivetta is now the 10th Boston player to land on the COVID IL in the past week as part of an outbreak that has been spreading through the team. The loss of Pivetta could potentially be a significant one for the club, as he has been one of the more reliable members of the rotation this season. As fellow hurlers such as Martin Perez and Garrett Richards have struggled enough to get moved into bullpen duties, Pivetta has held a rotation spot all year with solid, in unspectacular, numbers. Across 135 innings this season, the righty has an ERA of 4.67, with a 25.9% strikeout rate and 10.7% walk rate, both of which are within range of league average.
In more positive news, Enrique Hernandez, the first Red Sox player to hit the IL as part of this outbreak, seems to be nearing a return. According to Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe, he could be activated as soon as Tuesday.
For the club, the outbreak doesn’t seem to be hurting their playoff push much. They’ve gone 7-3 over their past ten games and are sitting on a four-game win streak going into today’s action. They’re currently holding down the second Wild Card spot in the American League, four games ahead of the Athletics and Mariners.
As for Crawford, this will be his major league debut. He’s been in the Red Sox organization since being drafted in the 16th round of the 2017 draft. He climbed up the ranks of the minors, reaching Double-A in 2019. Unfortunately, he had to undergo Tommy John surgery and missed all of the 2020 season. Since returning to the mound this year, he’s thrown 75 2/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with an ERA of 4.16. However, his rate stats are excellent, a huge 34.4% strikeout rate and a measly 4.3% walk rate. As a COVID replacement, he can be removed from the 40-man roster at a later date without being exposed to waivers.
Red Sox Claim Geoff Hartlieb From Mets
The Red Sox announced that right-hander Geoff Hartlieb has been claimed off waivers from the Mets. Hartlieb has been assigned to Boston’s Triple-A affiliate in Worcester.
New York designated Hartlieb for assignment earlier this week, after the righty posted a 14.54 ERA over his 4 1/3 innings in a Mets uniform. This marks the second time Hartlieb has changed teams via waiver claim within the last two months, as the Mets acquired him from the Pirates in early July. For the season as a whole, Hartlieb has an 11.00 ERA over nine combined frames with New York and Pittsburgh.
A lack of control has been the main culprit for Hartlieb’s struggles this season, as he has walked 11 batters over those nine innings. The right-hander also had as many walks (19) as strikeouts (19) over 22 1/3 innings with Pittsburgh in 2020, though Hartlieb managed to evade damage and post a respectable 3.63 ERA.
Hartlieb becomes the latest player acquired by the Red Sox in recent days as the team has sought to rebuild its depth following a widespread COVID-19 outbreak. Beyond just being an extra arm on standby, Hartlieb also offers some interesting potential. Though he has yet to show much over his three MLB seasons, Hartlieb has a 3.18 ERA over 62 1/3 career innings at the Triple-A level, with a 28.73% strikeout rate and very high grounder rates.