Red Sox Rumors

AL East Notes: Thornburg, Donaldson, Travis, Boxberger

By charliewilmoth | March 20, 2017 at 9:29am CDT

Reliever Tyler Thornburg tops the Red Sox’ list of concerns as the 2017 season approaches, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes. Thornburg has dealt with dead arm for most of Spring Training so far. The Red Sox gave up a fairly hefty package of talent that included infielder Travis Shaw and prospect Mauricio Dubon to get Thornburg, but so far Thornburg’s Red Sox tenure is off to a rough start — he misinterpreted the Red Sox’ prescribed offseason training regimen, according to Cafardo, and now will probably have to start the season on the disabled list. The Red Sox might end up missing longtime late-inning reliever Koji Uehara, who they allowed to depart for the Cubs. Cafardo notes that Thornburg could join a list of Red Sox relief trade acquisitions who disappointed due to injury, including Carson Smith, Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey — although, of course, Hanrahan and Bailey weren’t acquired under the Red Sox’ current front office, and it’s way, way too early to write Thornburg off. Thornburg pitched an apparently successful bullpen session on Saturday. Here’s more from the AL East.

Blue Jays slugger Josh Donaldson makes his Spring Training debut today playing DH against Minnesota, John Lott of the Athletic tweets. Donaldson suffered a calf injury near the start of Spring Training and has been out the past month. Donaldson’s return isn’t the only bit of good news for the Jays. Second baseman Devon Travis, who has missed time after having offseason knee surgery, also appears to be returning to health — Lott tweets that Travis expects to make his official spring debut later this week.
One player whose injury prognosis isn’t so sunny is Rays reliever Brad Boxberger, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times notes (all Twitter links). Manager Kevin Cash says Boxberger’s lat injury isn’t improving as quickly as the team had anticipated, and that he’s unlikely to be ready for Opening Day. Boxberger struggled with an oblique injury during a poor 2016 season in which he posted a 4.81 ERA, 8.1 K/9 and 7.0 BB/9 in just 24 1/3 innings. His absence could create an opportunity for recent waiver claim Jumbo Diaz, who’s about to return to the Rays after pitching in the World Baseball Classic, according to Topkin.

AL Notes: Hernandez, Anderson, Mariners

By charliewilmoth | March 20, 2017 at 7:53am CDT

Red Sox infielder Marco Hernandez has hit very well this spring but has no obvious role with the team, so he could be traded, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald writes. The 24-year-old Hernandez has batted .405/.488/.730 in Spring Training, but he has little chance of breaking camp with the team because he’s a lefty hitter, like utilityman Brock Holt, and the team prefers a righty. Hernandez, who the Red Sox acquired prior to the 2015 season as a PTBNL in the Felix Doubront deal, batted .309/.343/.444 in Triple-A and .294/.357/.373 in 56 plate appearances while shuttling back and forth between the minors and Majors last year. “[T]his is an everyday player if you really start to break him down and look at what he’s capable of doing,” says manager John Farrell. “Yet he’s in a group that’s talented, that’s deep, so finding his place is ongoing.” Here’s more from the American League.

Former slugger and current vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson is a source of tension within the Orioles organization, writes FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal in a detailed feature that’s revealing about the ways players and coaches think about the roles of team front office members. Anderson’s duties with the club include coaching, working on the team’s strength and conditioning program and helping determine player transactions, meaning he has influence in a number of seemingly disparate areas. He’s also close with owner Peter Angelos. Former pitching coach Dave Wallace cites Anderson’s “total autonomy and really no accountability” as a problem for the Orioles, and both Wallace and former bullpen coach Dom Chiti (who are both now with the Braves) cite Anderson’s presence as reasons they left the organization. Former catcher Matt Wieters also describes Anderson’s blurring of the boundaries between executive and coach as an issue for the club. “Brady was a great player for a long time. He was a member of that clubhouse,” says Wieters. “At the same time, when you get into the season, the 25 guys in that clubhouse are who you want in that clubhouse.”
The Mariners are no strangers to analytics, but they also value old-school approaches to player evaluation, MLB.com’s Doug Miller writes. Manager Scott Servais, for example, highlights veteran catcher Carlos Ruiz’s work this spring with pitchers, including 23-year-old Max Povse, who spent the 2016 season at the Class A+ and Double-A levels but has thrived so far in camp. “Max Povse comes out after four innings [thinking], ’Jeez, I never had to shake off a pitch tonight. Never had to think about it,'” says Servais. “You can’t measure it, but it’s there and it’s really important to a winning team.”

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Pomeranz, McCann, Rays, Odorizzi, Blue Jays

By Mark Polishuk | March 19, 2017 at 10:52pm CDT

With Rick Porcello and Chris Sale suddenly looking like the only healthy and reliable members of the Red Sox starting five, Boston’s rotation is “a house of cards,” in the words of CSNNE.com’s Evan Drellich (video link). Lou Merloni, Jared Carrabis, and Drellich discuss Boston’s lack of pitching depth in the wake of David Price’s season-opening DL stint and Drew Pomeranz having to leave an outing today due to left triceps tightness. The controversial circumstances of the Red Sox/Padres deal that brought Pomeranz to Boston last season are also revisited, with Carrabis noting that “the trade looks like it keeps getting worse every single day” from the Sox perspective given Pomeranz’s ongoing injury problems.

Here’s more from around the AL East…

Brian McCann has nothing but fond memories of his time with the Yankees, though he told Randy Miller of NJ Advance Media that being traded to the Astros represents “a best-case scenario for both sides.” McCann was willing to waive his no-trade protection in order to join “a team filled with talent…young talent that’s going to be together for a while” that would allow him to regularly catch, while the Yankees were clearly going with Gary Sanchez as the catcher of both the future and the present. “You’ve got to see what you have, and what they have is a very talented catcher that is going to be there for a long time,” McCann said, noting that he himself displaced a veteran catcher (Johnny Estrada) when he first broke into the bigs as a rookie with the Braves in 2005.
Players face a big decision when presented with the opportunity to sign an early-career extension, as Evan Longoria and Jake Odorizzi of the Rays tell Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Longoria’s first extension with the Rays (a six-year, $17.5MM deal signed just a week into his big league career) drew some criticism at the time, though Longoria saw it as a chance to “have this security for myself and my family and just play and relax.”
Odorizzi, meanwhile, passed on a discussed extension with the Rays two offseasons ago. Topkin reports that the proposed extension would have been a six-year deal worth close to $30MM in guaranteed money, with over $20MM more available via two additional club option years. Such a deal would’ve covered at least two of Odorizzi’s free agent seasons and potentially kept him under team control through his age-33 season. Odorizzi doesn’t regret turning down the extension, saying “sometimes it boils down to, and I hate to say it, but the dollar amount. We all know the money in this game and the value of players and what your value is. And sometimes it just doesn’t match up. That’s just the circumstances.”
The Blue Jays hope to gain a competitive advantage with their high performance department, as Sportsnet.ca’s Arden Zwelling takes a look inside the all-encompassing plan dedicated to keeping players physically and mentally prepared year-round. Club president Mark Shapiro hired sports psychologist Angus Mugford last year to create the high performance department, which has now grown into a 43-person staff consisting of fitness trainers, dieticians, mental coaches, and more. The department’s focus on each player’s individual status helped the Jays decide to keep Aaron Sanchez in the rotation last season, as since Sanchez had so diligently been keeping himself in good condition, there was less fear that he would wear down after throwing so many innings.

Injury Notes: Red Sox, Tigers, A’s, Padres

By Connor Byrne | March 19, 2017 at 4:50pm CDT

The Red Sox’s rotation will already be without left-hander David Price to begin the season, and fellow southpaw Drew Pomeranz could join him on the shelf. Pomeranz left his start Sunday after two innings with tightness in his left triceps, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal was among those to report. Pomeranz doesn’t believe it’s a serious injury, but considering he dealt with forearm stiffness late last season and then had a stem cell injection, Boston “must be wary,” opines Scott Lauber of ESPN.com. Injuries have been the story of Pomeranz’s tenure with the Red Sox, who acquired him from the Padres last July for high-end pitching prospect Anderson Espinoza. The Sox then complained that the Padres withheld medical information on Pomeranz, leading Major League Baseball to suspend Friars general manager A.J. Preller for a month. The league also gave Boston a chance to undo the trade, but the team turned down the offer, in part because the trade deadline had already passed.

For the Red Sox, beginning the season without both Price and Pomeranz would force them to slot Kyle Kendrick into their rotation. The 32-year-old last pitched in the majors in 2015, when he started in all 27 of his appearances with the Rockies and posted a 6.32 ERA in 142 1/3 innings. Kendrick joined Boston in January on a minor league deal, which includes opt-outs on June 15 and Aug. 15.

More injury news:

Tigers right fielder J.D. Martinez went for an MRI on his mid-right foot sprain on Sunday, but the team didn’t release the results. Instead, it sent Martinez to see a foot specialist for a second opinion, according to Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press. The Tigers could find out Martinez’s fate as early as Sunday, said manager Brad Ausmus; although Martinez doesn’t have any broken bones, ligament damage is a possibility, notes Fenech. That could be disastrous for both team and player – Martinez is an integral part of Detroit’s lineup, and he’s entering a contract year. Based on potential earning power, MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes ranks Martinez as the sixth-best player who’s scheduled to hit the open market next winter.
Hoping to make a quicker-than-expected return from a lat strain, Athletics right-hander Sonny Gray will head to Chicago on Monday to visit Dr. Anthony Romeo, a latissimus dorsi expert, reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. Gray’s goal is to receive clearance to begin throwing again. The A’s shut down Gray for three weeks on March 9, but if his visit to Chicago yields good news, he could make his season debut in the middle of April instead of at the end, per Slusser.
Padres lefty Christian Friedrich has been dealing with “overall soreness from the shoulder down through the triceps through the elbow” this spring, manager Andy Green told AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. Consequently, Friedrich could have difficulty making good on his effort to crack the Padres’ rotation. Friedrich led the Padres in starts (23) last year, when he logged a 4.80 ERA, 6.96 K/9, 3.62 BB/9 and a 44.9 percent ground-ball rate over 129 1/3 innings.
Outfielder Jaff Decker’s spring bid to win a roster spot with the Athletics could be in jeopardy on account of an oblique strain, writes Slusser. Decker has been competing with Alejandro De Aza to serve as Oakland’s fifth outfielder (if the team carries one), but the former’s attempt might go for naught if the injury keeps him out for more than a few days. “It’s unfortunate: He was having a good camp, he was impressing,” manager Bob Melvin said of Decker, who has hit .304/.407/.408 in 23 spring at-bats. “There’s still a spot to be won out there whatever potentially the 25th spot is, the 12th or 13th spot as far as the position players go.”

Pitching Notes: Cardinals, Red Sox, Yankees, Rangers

By Connor Byrne | March 19, 2017 at 12:51pm CDT

The Cardinals have tabbed Michael Wacha to begin the season as their fifth starter, tweets Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. That’s not particularly surprising, as St. Louis optioned one of Wacha’s competitors, Luke Weaver, to Triple-A on Saturday after he showed poorly over five spring training innings. The other contender for the Redbirds’ last starting role, former closer Trevor Rosenthal, fell behind the 8-ball when he dealt with right lat muscle soreness earlier this month. Barring an injury, the other four-fifths of the Cardinals’ season-opening rotation will consist of Carlos Martinez, Adam Wainwright, Mike Leake and Lance Lynn.

Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright finally seems to be putting his long bout with right shoulder bursitis behind him, writes Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. Wright, a 2016 All-Star whose season ended in August after he injured his shoulder as a pinch-runner, threw three hitless innings against the Twins on Saturday. The 32-year-old indicated afterward that he’s “in good position to be ready for Opening Day.”
Ernesto Frieri served as a more-than-capable reliever with the Padres and Angels from 2010-13, when he combined for a 2.79 ERA, 12.28 K/9 and 4.36 BB/9 over 229 1/3 innings, before he flamed out over the next two seasons with the Halos, Pirates and Rays. After taking 2016 off to repair his mechanics, the 31-year-old Frieri believes he’s poised for a career renaissance with the Yankees, per Brendan Kuty of NJ.com. “Before, I was a thrower,” Frieri said Saturday. “I’d just throw fastballs and I got away with that, too. But I had that deception. And now I have that deception back.” Frieri, who’s attempting to make the Yankees’ roster after signing a minor league contract Thursday, threw two scoreless innings for Colombia during the World Baseball Classic and touched 95 mph. His average fastball velocity in 2015 was 91.2.
Rangers right-hander Tyson Ross will throw live batting practice for the first time this year on Wednesday, reports Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News (Twitter link). Ross, who’s on the mend from October surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, “has met all checkpoints on time or early so far,” Grant adds. The expectation when the Rangers signed Ross in January was that he’d be ready for major league action by May or June.

AL Notes: JD Martinez, Ackley, Kopech, Red Sox, Pineda

By Mark Polishuk | March 18, 2017 at 10:44pm CDT

Tigers outfielder J.D. Martinez suffered a sprain in his mid-right foot while making a catch on Saturday and left the game after just an inning. (Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press has the details.) X-rays were negative and Martinez will be re-evaluated on Sunday before the club decides that any further tests are necessary. He was seen on crutches and left the ballpark in a walking boot, though Martinez told reporters (including MLB.com’s Jason Beck) that “it’s good that I’m able to move on it.” Needless to say, losing Martinez for any extended length of time would jeopardize both the Tigers’ lineup and Martinez’s chances at a big free agent contract next offseason as one of the top players on the open market.

Here’s more from around the American League…

Dustin Ackley has an opt-out date near the end of Spring Training in his minor league deal with the Angels, the utilityman tells Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, though he hasn’t decided whether he’ll exercise the clause or remain with the Halos’ Triple-A club. Ackley’s choice is complicated by the fact that he has yet to play the field this spring as he continues to recover from shoulder surgery. The veteran tells Fletcher that he can play first base and swing more or less normally, though he isn’t yet able to handle the throwing involved with second base or the outfield. Ackley hopes he can “at least give them [the Angels] some games defensively before camp is over.”
Michael Kopech was one of the major pieces the White Sox acquired in the Chris Sale trade, and Bruce Levine of CBS Chicago opines that Kopech could follow Sale’s career trajectory by breaking into the bigs as a reliever. The White Sox eased Sale into the majors by using him out of the bullpen in his first two seasons before unleashing him into the rotation, where Sale emerged as one of baseball’s best starters. Kopech only turns 21 in April and has yet to pitch above high-A ball, though if he continues to impress in the minors, Chicago may be tempted to get him to the big leagues by 2018 as a reliever.
The Red Sox face a number of pressing questions as they head into the season, Peter Gammons of GammonsDaily.com writes, including some injury concerns for key arms like David Price, Drew Pomeranz and Tyler Thornburg. If these pitchers have to miss time in April, that could be particularly difficult for the club given that Boston faces a tough schedule over the first six weeks, including a lot of division games and tough inter-league matchups against the Cubs, Cardinals and Pirates. As Gammons notes, this could add up to a slow start for the Red Sox, which will only add to the pressure for a team that is expected to challenge for a World Series.
Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda has already experienced a lot of ups and downs in his career, in no small part due to his struggles with the language barrier, as ESPN’s Andrew Marchand details. Pineda came to MLB with little formal education and virtually no knowledge of English or American culture, which led to some inevitable growing pains (such as Pineda’s infamous suspension for using pine tar in April 2014). The piece is well worth a full read, as it chronicles Pineda’s rise to the majors and the problems that he and many other foreign-born players face upon being thrust into the pressurized environment of pro baseball.

Cafardo’s Latest: Norris, Marlins, Kendrick

By Mark Polishuk and Connor Byrne | March 18, 2017 at 5:14pm CDT

In his weekly notes column for the Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo explores the possibility of a Cubs/Red Sox World Series while also sharing some hot stove items…

The Cardinals may have some interest in Derek Norris. St. Louis currently has Eric Fryer penciled into the backup catcher role, with prospect Carson Kelly waiting in the wings at Triple-A. Norris has received interest from multiple teams (including the Rays) since being released by the Nationals earlier this week, so he could prefer to sign somewhere that can offer him a clearer shot at a starting job, rather than settling for a role as Yadier Molina’s understudy.
According to scouts Cafardo has spoken to, Norris would be best served by avoiding the Cardinals and other NL teams in order to stay in the American League. The general consensus among Cafardo’s sources is that Norris isn’t much of a defender, so playing for an AL team would allow him to take the field as a DH. The scouts do praise Norris’ work ethic and leadership abilities, on the plus side.
The Marlins are looking for third base help in the wake of Martin Prado’s hamstring injury, and Cafardo suggests that Brett Lawrie could be a fit. There isn’t any suggestion that Miami is specifically targeting Lawrie, though it makes sense that the team is doing its due diligence on third base options. Prado is undergoing an MRI today to determine the severity of his hamstring issue. Lawrie isn’t healthy himself, as he is looking to fully recover from a lower-body injury before signing a new contract. The Marlins already have the left-handed hitting Derek Dietrich to fill in at third, so if the team did need depth in the event of an extended DL stint for Prado, a righty bat like Lawrie would make sense for platoon purposes (though utilityman Miguel Rojas is also on hand).
Along with his previously reported June 15 opt-out date, Red Sox right-hander Kyle Kendrick will also have a chance to exit his contract Aug. 15. Kendrick signed a minor league deal in January, but he has since become a legitimate contender to serve as the Red Sox’s sixth starter at the outset of the season. The 32-year-old last pitched in the majors in 2015, when he started in all 27 of his appearances with the Rockies and logged an ugly 6.32 ERA in 142 1/3 innings.

AL Notes: A’s, Red Sox, Rangers

By Connor Byrne | March 18, 2017 at 1:22pm CDT

The Athletics optioned highly touted shortstop prospect Franklin Barreto to Triple-A on Friday, though it seems he could enter the picture in Oakland sometime this year. “I think we’d all like to see him up here at some point and that’s our anticipation,” executive vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane said of Barreto, who slashed .481/.500/.667 in 27 spring at-bats (Twitter link via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle). Because Marcus Semien occupies short for the A’s, Barreto’s major league debut is likely to come at second base, per Beane, who noted Friday that the keystone is “probably his quickest path to the big leagues” (via Joe Stiglich of CSN Bay Area). The 21-year-old Barreto, whom Oakland acquired from Toronto in 2014 in the A’s ill-fated Josh Donaldson trade, tops out as Baseball America’s 40th-ranked prospect.

AL East Notes: Sanchez, Kiermaier, Owens, Thornburg

By Jeff Todd | March 16, 2017 at 8:09am CDT

Agent Scott Boras isn’t pleased with the Blue Jays after the organization renewed righty Aaron Sanchez at the league-minimum rate, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports. (Bob Elliott of the Canadian Baseball Network first reported the renewal.) Davidi says the Jays’ formula for pre-arb salaries “is believed to be primarily based on a player’s service time,” and it seems the organization is one of several that offers only modest bumps over the $535K minimum. Even that raise wasn’t given when Sanchez declined to agree, leading Boras to criticize the organization both for its “low standard” in setting pay as well as the “poison pill” of renewing at the minimum when players don’t agree. GM Ross Atkins defended the system, which he says is a decade old and leaves the choice with the player whether to take the offered raise.

We have seen a variety of interesting pre-arb salary situations this winter as teams around the league increasingly diverge in their approaches to the process. See here and here for a few examples that compare interestingly to Sanchez, a 2+ service-class player who turned in a huge 2016 season (7th in the AL Cy Young voting, 3.00 ERA over 192 innings).

Here’s more from the AL East:

Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier hasn’t yet officially wrapped up his extension with the club, but he tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that he’s “grateful” to the organization for its commitment. As Topkin notes, the Rays have managed to lock up quite a few core players despite the organization’s low payroll levels. In this case, he argues, it’s a risk well worth taking.
While there’s still plenty of time for 24-year-old Red Sox prospect Henry Owens to make good on his promise, Alex Speier of the Boston Globe writes that the clock is also ticking on the former top prospect. Owens says he’s staying positive despite struggling this spring, “working hard” but also “staying with an even keel.”
Red Sox righty Tyler Thornburg was able to return to the mound today, as Speier tweets (with video available). The reliever threw 32 pitches and will now seek to advance towards Opening Day readiness. Thornburg hasn’t thrown in game action in over two weeks as he works to build back shoulder strength.

East Notes: Tillman, Bonifacio, Nats, Kendrick

By Steve Adams | March 15, 2017 at 6:55pm CDT

Orioles right-hander Chris Tillman received a cortisone injection in his right shoulder today, as Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun writes. Manager Buck Showalter told reporters that the O’s are “encouraged” with Tillman’s recent progress and are planning to see how he reacts to the cortisone shot a few days from now before determining exactly when Tillman can return to the mound. Showalter again stated that Tillman isn’t expected to be ready for Opening Day, but Encina notes that the cortisone injection will hopefully allow Tillman to debut for the Orioles at some point in April. Certainly the Orioles will hope for a speedy recovery, as Tillman represents one of the top three arms in their rotation. But for Tillman, personally, there’s quite a bit at stake, as he’s slated to become a free agent at season’s end.

More from the game’s Eastern divisions…

Veteran utilityman Emilio Bonifacio is making a “strong push” to break camp with the Braves at the end of Spring Training, according to David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Bonifacio had a pair of poor seasons in 2015-16 and acknowledged to O’Brien that his conditioning in recent seasons has fallen off. Bonifacio reported to camp in better shape than he has in the past couple of years and has performed well while showing the ability to play all second base, third base and all three outfield positions. The Braves don’t currently have a fourth outfield option that has much in the way of center-field experience, so the versatile Bonifacio could fill a need in that regard.
While the Nationals aren’t publicly acknowledging the possibility, Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post writes that the team can very likely only carry one of Adam Lind or Clint Robinson on the bench this season. And, with Lind having inked a Major League contract with an option for the 2018 campaign earlier this year, he’s the likelier candidate to claim that vacant bench spot. The 32-year-old Robinson is out of minor league options, so he’d have to clear waivers or break camp with the team if the Nationals hope to retain him.
Right-hander Kyle Kendrick has improbably gone from a long shot to make the Red Sox’ roster to perhaps their best option to serve as the team’s sixth starter, writes Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald. Drellich notes that Boston’s crowded rotation picture, featuring stars like Chris Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello, made it difficult to lure starting depth on minor league deals. Kendrick, though, was drawn to a winning environment in Boston. Additionally, his agent, John Boggs, also represents Sean O’Sullivan, who spoke highly of his own experience with the Sox in a role similar to the one for which Kendrick is competing. Kendrick explains to Drellich that he was plagued by shoulder troubles in recent years and altered his pitch selection at the Rockies’ request upon moving to Coors Field. His hope is that with his more traditional mix of pitches and a healthy shoulder, he can return to the form that allowed him to log a 4.30 ERA in 862 innings with the Phillies from 2009-14.

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