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Red Sox Place Mookie Betts On 10-Day DL

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The Red Sox have placed star outfielder Mookie Betts on the 10-day DL, the team announced. He has been diagnosed with a left abdominal strain.

Boston had been hoping to avoid this outcome. Betts last played on May 26th, but the move can only be made retroactive to the 29th. That same consideration explains why the team made the placement today: the club will be shorthanded tonight anyway — by two players, in fact, with Dustin Pedroia also in a holding pattern — but this way Betts can return one day sooner.

Clearly, then, there’s going to be another hitter on the way tomorrow. Alex Speier of the Boston Globe tweets that Sam Travis has been pulled from the lineup at Triple-A, which certainly suggests that he will be tabbed to function as a bench bat.

Needless to say, there won’t be any replacing Betts, who has been on an otherworldly tear all season long. He’s sporting a monster .359/.437/.750 slash with 17 home runs, 13 steals, and 24 walks against just 25 strikeouts through 213 trips to the plate thus far in 2018.

While the Sox need everything they can get from their star outfielder, as the division race is shaping up to be a season-long epic, they are surely also mindful of avoiding any complications from what seemed initially to be a fairly minor injury. Hopefully, that’s still the case, but Betts will now be given as much time as he needs to rest and heal up without any concerns as to whether the team will be down a man in a given game.

Red Sox Release Hanley Ramirez

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June 1: The Red Sox formally announced that Ramirez cleared waivers and has been released. He is now a free agent.

May 30: The Red Sox have requested release waivers on first baseman/designated hitter Hanley Ramirez, whom they designated for assignment late last week, reports Rob Bradford of WEEI.com (via Twitter). He’ll likely clear those waivers in 48 hours and become a free agent who can sign with a new club for the pro-rated portion of the league minimum.

The move to release Ramirez comes as no surprise. While Boston surely explored trade possibilities for Ramirez, the slugger had more than $15MM remaining on his 2018 salary at the time of his DFA, and his contract also contains a $22MM vesting option that would trigger if he received another 302 plate appearances. Any team acquiring him via either trade or waivers would also be on the hook for that salary and the potential vesting option, both of which are highly unappealing for potential suitors.

However, once Ramirez is released by the Red Sox, those provisions will fade away. He’ll still be owed the balance of this season’s $22MM salary, but the Red Sox will be on the hook for that sum (minus the pro-rated league minimum he’d be paid by another club). The vesting option, meanwhile, is tied to the contract from which he is about to be released and will not apply when he signs a new contract with a new club.

Ramirez, 34, looked resurgent early in the season, raking at a .330/.400/.474 clip in the month of April as he distanced himself from last year’s shoulder troubles. However, Ramirez’s bat has gone ice cold in recent weeks; his Red Sox tenure ended in an 0-for-21 freefall, and he’s posted a putrid .163/.200/.300 batting line since May 1, which has more than offset his strong April showing. By measure of OPS+ (88) and wRC+ (90), his overall offensive output on the season rates worse than that of a league-average hitter.

All that said, a player with Ramirez’s raw ability and track record will surely attract interest from teams in need of help at first base/DH or a corner bat off the bench. He’ll soon have the chance to listen to offers from interested parties before ultimately selecting a new team. Speculatively speaking, it seems likely that a 34-year-old with postseason experience will prefer the opportunity to latch on with a contending club.

AL East Notes: Hanley, Kelly, Vlad Jr., Happ

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As Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reported last night, Hanley Ramirez is going through release waivers at the moment, which makes it likely that he’ll clear and become a free agent tomorrow afternoon. Red Sox skipper Alex Cora appeared on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM this week to discuss the team’s decision to cut ties with Ramirez in one of the highest-profile DFAs in recent memory (Twitter link, with audio). Per Cora, the decision came down to one of roster flexibility and a desire to get Mitch Moreland’s left-handed bat and superior glove into the lineup with more regularity.

“We’ve been talking about when Pedroia comes back since February,” said the Red Sox’ skipper. “We had different scenarios, different options, and at the end, I talked about being flexible as far as versatility — being able to maneuver the last part of the game with pinch-hitters, pinch-runners, defensive replacements and being able to match up with the opposition. It’s nothing against the player, because Hanley is a good player. He was going through a slump. That’s part of it. Everybody goes through it. … I did feel as an organization, our roster was going to be a little bit tight with him not playing every day.”

More from Boston and from the division…

  • Bradford spoke with setup man Joe Kelly about the manner in which the right-hander has now fully embraced his role as a reliever. Kelly wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of moving to the bullpen earlier in his career and had preferred to remain in the rotation, but he’s thriving in and enjoying his role as a late-inning weapon for the Red Sox. Kelly, a free agent at season’s end, said he wouldn’t reject the idea if a club approached him about returning to the rotation this offseason, but it doesn’t sound as if that’ll be a priority for him, either. “I like the job I’m in right now,” he said. “I kind of like the thrill, the adrenaline rush.” Kelly and Bradford also discuss the different mindsets that come with pitching in different roles, his move from the outfield to the mound during his amateur days, and his stress-free approach to his impending free agency in a candid interview that’s well worth a full read.
  • Buster Olney and Keith Law of ESPN discussed the timeline for Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s promotion in the latest Baseball Tonight podcast (audio link, with Guerrero talk beginning around the 7:30 mark). The pair agrees that Guerrero Jr. should be in Triple-A already and should be called up this summer, despite the fact that some execs with other teams have opined to Olney that the Blue Jays would be ill-advised to lose the year of service time they could gain by delaying his promotion until early 2019. Olney and Law discuss Guerrero Jr.’s defensive and offensive development as well as the marketing opportunities the Jays would have in both 2018 and 2019 by promoting him to the big leagues.
  • For all the speculation surrounding the Yankees and Cole Hamels, Joel Sherman of the New York Post argues that J.A. Happ should be every bit as much on New York’s radar this summer — if not more. Happ, unlike Hamels, doesn’t have a no-trade clause that includes the Yankees, and he’s also earning a more reasonable $12MM this season that aligns with the team’s luxury tax goals. Moreover, though, Sherman notes that Happ simply isn’t separated by Hamels in terms of talent as much as the pair’s reputation would suggest. The 36-year-old reinvented himself following a 2015 trade to the Pirates, and he’s posted better numbers in recent years (and again in 2018) than Hamels. The general thinking extends well beyond the Yankees, of course. If the Blue Jays decide to make Happ available to other teams this July, the southpaw would be one of their most attractive rental chips and would fit on virtually any contender looking to bolster its rotation.

Red Sox Sign Adam Lind To Minor League Deal

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The Red Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran first baseman Adam Lind, reports Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston (Twitter links). The ISE Baseball client was recently released by the Yankees. Drellich notes that president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has confirmed the agreement to him, though the club has not yet issued a more formal announcement of the signing.

Lind is coming off a strong season with the Nationals, having raked at a.303/.362/.512 clip and clubbed 14 homers in 301 plate appearances. The 34-year-old has posted an OPS+ of 123 or better in four of the past five seasons — an ugly 2016 in Seattle being the lone exception — and batted a combined .282/.348/.473 through 2142 plate appearances in that time. He’s totaled 94 plate appearances between the Yankees’ Class-A and Triple-A affiliates this season, slashing a combined .302/.362/.477 with three homers in that time.

The addition of Lind will give the Red Sox some additional depth at first base and designated hitter following the surprising DFA and seemingly likely release of Hanley Ramirez. He’s a bit redundant with Mitch Moreland — a hitter who comes with similar platoon issues and a much better glove at first base, though. Lind, after all, has a disastrous .217/.263/.329 slash against left-handed pitchers over the course of 12-year MLB career. He’s been mostly limited to first base, though the Nats did trot him out to left field for 197 innings last season. That marked his first work on the outfield grass since 2010, and he unsurprisingly did not rate well there in the estimation of defensive metrics.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Braves, Machado, Red Sox, Colome, Rays

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Here’s the latest from Ken Rosenthal’s weekend news updates FOX Sports (all video links)…

  • Given the Braves’ third base vacancy, Rosenthal believes the team “will at least check in on Manny Machado” prior to the trade deadline.  Machado would seem like a perfect fit for an Atlanta team that is looking to stay in the postseason race, plus his impending free agency wouldn’t make him a long-term block at the hot corner for top prospect Austin Riley.  Acquiring Machado from the Orioles would require a heavy prospect cost, however, and Rosenthal wonders if the Braves might instead use their minor leaguers to acquire a frontline starting pitcher, since they’ll be pursuing such an arm anyway in the offseason.  The Braves’ prospect capital could also be used to try and pry J.T. Realmuto away from the Marlins, as Realmuto would provide a longer-term answer behind the plate than the Braves’ veteran tandem of Kurt Suzuki and Tyler Flowers (who are both free agents this winter).
  • Even after designating Hanley Ramirez for assignment and sidestepping his potential $22MM salary for 2019, Rosenthal notes that next year’s Red Sox could still be approaching the maximum penalty limit for surpassing the luxury tax threshold.  If the Sox were more than $40MM over next year’s $206MM tax threshold, they would face up to a 90 percent tax on the overages and their top pick in the 2019 draft would drop by ten positions.  Boston already has over $137MM committed next season towards seven players, plus Pablo Sandoval and Rusney Castillo.  Beyond that $137MM already on the books, Chris Sale’s $13.5MM club option is a no-brainer to be exercised, Mookie Betts and Xander Bogaerts are on pace for huge arbitration raises, and key players like Craig Kimbrel and Drew Pomeranz are free agents.
  • “The Rays keep playing for tomorrow and tomorrow never seems to come,” Rosenthal says about Tampa Bay’s constant need to trade high-priced players due to the team’s salary limitations.  This payroll need may be impacting the team’s ability to get the best possible return for their veteran players.  For instance, in the Rays’ recent swap that sent Alex Colome and Denard Span to the Mariners, Rosenthal wonders if the Rays could’ve gotten more for Colome if they hadn’t attached Span’s heftier remaining salary to the deal.  Tampa might have been able to get a bigger return for Colome last offseason given all of the interest he drew from other teams, and the same could potentially be said for Chris Archer, given how the right-hander’s slow start may have dimmed his trade value.

Dombrowski, Cora On Decision To Remove Hanley Ramirez From Roster

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Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and manager Alex Cora each addressed the media today following the team’s decision to designate first baseman Hanley Ramirez for assignment. All links below are to the Twitter accounts of Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe, and Rob Bradford of WEEI.com, who were among the reporters covering the respective discussions.

As interesting as anything was simply the fact that the leadership duo divulged an unusual amount of information about how the move went down. And the story behind the decisionmaking process was certainly notable in its own right.

Both men stated that Cora reached out unprompted to suggest that Ramirez ought to be the player removed to make way for the return of Dustin Pedroia. Though Dombrowski says he was surprised to hear that recommendation from the rookie skipper, and noted that he had been “prepared to go in a different direction,” the veteran baseball ops executive elected to cut ties with the highly paid Ramirez. In his comments, Cora thanked Dombrowski for trusting his judgment.

It seems there was some concern on the part of all involved that Ramirez would not be a good candidate for a part-time role, which he was headed for after a tough recent run at the plate. On the flip side, Dombrowski says Cora assuaged any worry that bumping Ramirez would harm chemistry in the clubhouse.

The fact that Ramirez’s contract includes a vesting option for the 2019 season did not come into play, Dombrowski was careful to note. “The vesting option has nothing to do with it,” he said. “We’re trying to do everything we can to win.” Whether or not it was a driving factor in the decision, the option can no longer vest, as it had been on track to do had Ramirez remained a semi-regular part of the Boston lineup.

At the end of the day, the Sox decided to abandon the alternative roster decision they had originally intended to make. Dombrowski told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe a few days back that he knew how he’d proceed, though he wouldn’t say. And Cora confirmed today that the expectation internally had been the same as it was outside the organization: namely, that little-used, out-of-options reserve Blake Swihart would be the player moved off of the roster.

Swihart, of course, is a catcher that the team really has not trusted behind the dish. He requested a trade; we even examined possible landing spots. Evidently, so did the Red Sox. Dombrowski says they weren’t just interested in sending him out for a return that did not hold any appeal, though he also says the team wasn’t placing a particularly high price.

Now that it’s clear Swihart will remain in Boston, at least in the near-term, it seems there’s a renewed sense that he’ll be given some action. (Of course, the return of Pedroia also means that other players will be left looking for additional opportunities.) Cora indicated he may start Swihart at the catching position. Swihart will also evidently be considered for some time at first base, if he can show enough aptitude at a position where he has little experience.

Red Sox Designate Hanley Ramirez For Assignment

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10:34am: The Red Sox have formally announced the move via press release. Pedroia has been officially activated from the DL.

10:13am: In a surprising move, the Red Sox will designate first baseman/designated hitter Hanley Ramirez for assignment today in order to clear a spot on the roster for Dustin Pedroia’s activation from the disabled list, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reports.

Hanley Ramirez | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Though the move is jarring considering the fact that Ramirez opened the season as Boston’s No. 3 hitter and showed quite well early on, he’s gone cold as of late and places some complicated financial constraints on the team. Ramirez’s contract contains a $22MM mutual option that would vest if he accumulated even 497 plate appearances this season, as MLBTR’s Mark Polishuk recently examined at greater length, and the organization surely doesn’t want that lofty salary to lock in. Keeping Ramirez on the roster but attempting to organically suppress his playing time would’ve been awkward and could have potentially even led to a grievance on his behalf if he felt the team’s motivation for keeping him out of the lineup were purely financial in nature. By cutting ties with him, albeit in surprising and abrupt fashion, the Sox spare themselves that difficult situation.

Still, such a move would’ve been virtually unthinkable not even four weeks ago. Ramirez looked resurgent early in the season, absolutely raking his way through April by hitting at a .330/.400/.474 clip as he distanced himself from last year’s shoulder woes in emphatic fashion. However, Ramirez’s bat has gone ice cold in recent weeks; he’s currently in an 0-for-21 freefall at the plate and, since the calendar flipped to May, has delivered a putrid .163/.200/.300 slash that has largely counteracted his terrific April. By measure of OPS+ (88) and wRC+ (90), his overall offensive output on the season now rates decidedly worse than that of a league-average hitter.

As with any player who has been designated for assignment, the Red Sox will have a week to trade Ramirez, place him on outright waivers or release him. Given the remaining $15.17MM on this year’s $22MM salary and that easily attainable vesting option, it’s all but certain that Ramirez will be released rather than sent elsewhere. At that point, he’d be free to sign a new contract with a new club that would only owe him the pro-rated league minimum and wouldn’t need to worry about the vesting provision in his prior agreement in Boston.

Looking ahead, the stunning decision to move on from Ramirez should lock J.D. Martinez in as Boston’s primary designated hitter and give Mitch Moreland and his superior glove regular reps at first base. The move also prolongs Blake Swihart’s purgatorial stay in Boston, though perhaps by jettisoning Ramirez from the roster, the Sox will open up a few more opportunities to work the scarcely used former top prospect into the lineup.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Red Sox To Activate Dustin Pedroia

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The Red Sox will activate second baseman Dustin Pedroia from the disabled list on Friday, manager Alex Cora told reporters this afternoon (Twitter link via Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe). While the team didn’t announce a corresponding move, Abraham notes that neither Eduardo Nunez nor Brock Holt seems to be in danger of losing his roster spot to clear way for Pedroia, based on Cora’s comments.

Pedroia, 34, has yet to take the field for the Sox this season thanks to offseason surgery to address a cartilage issue in his left knee. In his absence, Nunez has shouldered the bulk of the workload at second base, though he’s posted a disappointing .243/.261/.361 slash through 177 trips to the plate. As a whole, Boston second basemen are slashing just .241/.269/.361, so Pedroia’s return will be a welcome one, should he be able to manage anything even close to his recent levels of production at the big league level.

[Related: Boston Red Sox depth chart]

While Pedroia, of course, isn’t the superstar that he was early in his career when he won American Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player honors in successive seasons (2007-08), he’s remained a productive player throughout his early 30s, slashing .296/.360/.415 in 2195 plate appearances across the past four seasons. Last year, he slashed a roughly league-average .293/.369/.392 in 463 PAs.

It’s certainly possible that there’ll be some rust to be shaken off, as Pedroia went 1-for-14 with three walks in a minor league rehab assignment with the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in Pawtucket. Results aside, however, Pedroia has played consecutive days at second base on two occasions now and has clearly shown enough that the organization feels him capable of stepping back into the big league lineup. Off days may be more frequent for him early on as he eases back into the rigors of an everyday schedule, but provided his knee is indeed healthy, he should provide a notable boost to an already dangerous lineup once he gets back up to speed.

Quick Hits: Hicks, Swihart, Reyes, Nolasco

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Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks became the second pitcher ever (after Aroldis Chapman) to hit the 105mph mark, tossing two fastballs at that epic speed during an appearance against the Phillies on Sunday.  As The Athletic’s Mark Saxon writes in a subscription-only piece, Hicks’ feat may represent the virtual limit of how fast a human arm can throw a baseball.  “The maximum can’t go up, because the ligaments can’t take it,”  said Dr. Glenn Fleisig, research director of the American Sports Medicine Institute.  “We’re at the limit, based upon what ligaments and tendons can take….What’s happening is more teams have more guys near the top of the limit, but the limit is just going up nominally.  It really can’t go up.  Maybe at the top it will go up one mph or so, but never will it be 10 mph faster.  It’s just more crowded near the top now.”

While we wonder if Dr. Fleisig has ever heard of a former Mets phenom named Sidd Finch, let’s check in on some news from around the baseball world…

  • The Red Sox have put a high price tag on Blake Swihart in trade negotiations with other teams, NBCSports.com’s Evan Drellich reports.  “Hard to find a trade partner when you’re asking for some of teams’ best prospects,” one rival talent evaluator tells Drellich.  Swihart has barely played at all this season coming off the Sox bench, and his previous two seasons also saw little MLB action (though injuries were a big factor in the lack of activity).  While these factors have seemingly dimmed Swihart’s former top-prospect status, the Sox are still aiming for a big return for Swihart, with Drellich noting that some familiar with the trade talks have described Boston’s demands as “unreasonable.”  The Sox may end up designating Swihart for assignment when Dustin Pedroia returns to ensure that a Swihart deal will happen, though this may or may not create the “bidding war” the Red Sox hope will then occur.  MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently broke down the potential market for Swihart, and while there are several teams that could use catching help, it hardly seems like Boston will score multiple quality minor leaguers in exchange for Swihart.
  • Jose Reyes had another tough game tonight, making two errors that contributed to a 5-1 Mets loss to the Marlins.  Reyes now has a measly .145/.203/.200 slash line through 59 plate appearances this season, leading the New York Post’s Mike Puma to question whether Reyes’ time on the roster is coming to an end.  Rookie Luis Guillorme may have more to offer in the utility infield role, leaving Reyes as the potential odd man out once Todd Frazier returns from the disabled list.
  • Veteran right-hander Ricky Nolasco is hopeful of continuing his career, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports (via Twitter).  Nolasco was released from a minor league deal with the Royals during Spring Training and has yet to catch on with another team.  A veteran of 12 Major League seasons, Nolasco posted a 4.92 ERA, 7.1 K/9, and 2.47 K/BB rate over 181 innings with the Angels in 2017.  While his performance has generally dimmed in recent years, Nolasco is still an effective innings-eater and managed a 2.6 fWAR season as recently as 2016.

Injury Updates: Hill, Faria, Ramos, Smith, Bumgarner, Candelario, Boyd

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Rich Hill’s latest blister problem was originally estimated by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to require a four-week DL stint, though the southpaw threw a full bullpen session today.  As Roberts explained to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick and other media, Hill was keeping his arm in shape while wearing protective tape over the injured middle finger of his pitching hand.  Hill told reporters yesterday (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) that is hopeful of a quicker return from this injury, though he is still looking for a more long-term answer to the blister problems that have plagued his career in recent years.  Hill even raised the idea of petitioning the league to allow him to wear the tape on his finger during a game — MLB rules prohibit a pitcher from wearing an “attachment to his hand, finger or wrist,” though Hill argues that it wouldn’t be any different than a hitter wearing a batting glove.

Here’s some more on some other injured players from around baseball…

  • The Rays suffered through a tough third inning tonight, as starter Jake Faria left the game with a strained left oblique and catcher Wilson Ramos departed later in the frame with a left hand contusion after an Austin Pruitt pitch deflected off the ground and hit Ramos in the top of the hand.  The Faria injury seems like the more immediately serious injury of the two, as oblique strains usually require at least a few weeks to recuperate; manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin) that Faria will “miss some time” with the injury.  Faria has struggled to a 5.48 ERA over 47 2/3 frames this season, though his absence would further tax a Rays pitching staff that is already putting a heavy load on its relievers due to the team’s unique usage of relievers.  As for Ramos, he tells Topkin that he doesn’t believe he’ll require a DL stint, though his hand is still swollen.
  • Carson Smith will seek out a third opinion on his injured shoulder to see if he can avoid surgery, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe reports (Twitter link).  The Red Sox reliever suffered a subluxation in his right shoulder last week after angrily tossing his glove in frustration over a poor outing.  This would be another brutal injury setback for Smith, who missed most of the 2016 and 2017 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery.
  • Madison Bumgarner threw 30 pitches in a simulated game today, and is on track to make his first rehab start on Saturday.  (MLB.com’s Richard Dean was one of several reporters with the info.)  The Giants ace will likely make three rehab outings before returning to the 25-man roster in June to make his season debut, after fracturing a finger in Spring Training.
  • Tigers third baseman Jeimer Candelario is slated to begin a minor league rehab assignment tomorrow, manager Ron Gardenhire told the Detroit Free Press’ Anthony Fenech (Twitter link) and other reporters.  The young third baseman was posting some big numbers (five homers, .272/.359/.497 in 167 PA) before being sidelined with tendinitis in his left wrist.  Candelario’s was placed on the DL on May 14, so it seems like he won’t miss much or maybe even any time beyond the 10-day minimum absence.
  • In more troubling injury news for the Tigers, southpaw Matthew Boyd was forced to leave his start after four innings tonight due to what the club described as an oblique spasm.  This is a lesser injury than a strain, though obviously Detroit wasn’t taking any chances with the young left-hander.  Boyd has delivered some good results with a 3.12 ERA over 52 innings, though advanced metrics indicate some batted-ball luck (.248 BABIP) and Boyd isn’t generating many grounders (32.9% ground ball rate) or strikeouts (7.1 K/9).
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