- Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez is recovering well from Tommy John surgery and could rejoin the team by the end of the month, Tim Britton of the Providence Journal reports. “Everything points to [the 20-day rehab timeline] being more than enough time for him right now,” manager John Farrell said Sunday. Vazquez’s rehab assignment with Triple-A Pawtucket lasts until April 28, at which point the big league club will either have to call up the 25-year-old or option him to the minors. The Red Sox currently employ two capable catchers in Blake Swihart and Ryan Hanigan, though the latter has been mentioned as a trade candidate in the past.
Red Sox Rumors
Tigers Offered Rusney Castillo $40MM
- Dave Dombrowski’s Tigers offered outfielder Rusney Castillo a $40MM deal when Castillo was a free agent, Jon Heyman tweets. That figure didn’t approach the $72.5MM offer Castillo eventually got from the Red Sox, but it suggests that Dombrowski liked Castillo even before taking over as the Red Sox’ president of baseball operations. Castillo’s deal with the Red Sox, of course, hasn’t worked out well so far, and he has yet to receive a plate appearance this season.
David Ortiz Wants Edwin Encarnacion To Replace Him
- Red Sox legend David Ortiz thinks Edwin Encarnacion should replace him as the Sox’ DH after he retires, WEEI’s Rob Bradford writes. “Hell, yeah. He’s a perfect replacement,” Ortiz says. “Because of everything, but mostly because he can hit.” Encarnacion says he still wants to play first base as well as DH, but he’s already talked to Ortiz about the possibility of playing DH full-time in the future (although not for the Red Sox specifically). Encarnacion batted .277/.372/.557 last season in Toronto. It now appears extension talks with the Blue Jays are dead. He’s set to become a free agent after the season.
East Notes: Smith, Castillo, Howard, Gomez, Chacin
Red Sox righty Carson Smith will return to the mound for work on Sunday, MLB.com’s Ian Browne reports. Smith, who is on the DL with a strained flexor mass muscle, seems to be on track to avoid a lengthy absence. Manager John Farrell said that Smith has had an “encouraging” week and is “progressing at a good rate right now.” The club plans to handle Smith’s build-up with care, as you’d expect with a young pitcher who is both an important future and near-term asset, but his return will be important for the Red Sox relief corps.
Here’s more from the eastern divisions:
- Though he’s not in line for much playing time at present, Red Sox outfielder Rusney Castillo will remain with the major league club for the time being, Farrell tells Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. “I won’t rule out that it might come up in conversation as we go forward,” said Farrell, “but we’re not there yet.” The Boston manager acknowledged that it’s “a tough spot” for the 28-year-old, who lost a chance to seize upon a significant role this spring. At some point, if he’s stuck to the bench, the Sox will presumably need to consider a minor league assignment to give Castillo some consistent plate appearances.
- Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard is staying positive despite his own part-time role, Ryan Lawrence of the Philly Voice writes. The veteran slugger says that he understands the team’s position, explaining that “the only thing you can do is stay positive and take advantage of your opportunities when you get them.” Manager Pete Mackanin says that the club will open the year with a traditional platoon of the left-handed-hitting Howard and righty Darin Ruf, but plans to remain flexible in allowing performance to dictate things as the season progresses.
- Though it’s early, the Phillies are already moving through the line of possible closers, with Jeanmar Gomez likely next up for a chance, MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki reports. Dalier Hinojosa and David Hernandez have both failed to hold late-inning leads in the early action, leaving Gomez as the next man up — at least for now. “We’re auditioning,” Mackanin said. “We’ve got to find out. It’s a daily question. Why not Gomez? Let’s see what he can do.”
- The Braves plan to add righty Jhoulys Chacin to the active and 40-man roster in time to make a start on Tuesday, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. As expected, Atlanta had been carrying an extra reliever while waiting for the fifth starter’s spot to come due.
Betts, Schoop, Ray, Others Move To The Legacy Agency
Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts has changed agencies, staying with his representative — Steve Veltman — as he moved to The Legacy Agency, as Robert Murray of Baseball Essential was first to report (via Twitter). He’s not alone, as players including Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles and Robbie Ray of the Diamondbacks are also making the move, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports, with player rep Ed Cerulo accompanying Veltman to a new home.
Betts, still just 23, has emerged as one of the game’s most exciting young talents. He followed up a highly promising partial season in 2014 with an outstanding campaign last year in which he put up a .291/.341/.479 slash over 654 plate appearances with 18 home runs and 21 steals. Of course, Betts is also a high-quality and versatile fielder and excellent baserunner.
Boston has plenty of cheap control remaining, as Betts won’t even reach arbitration eligibility until 2018 and doesn’t stand to hit the open market until 2021. He certainly profiles as an extension candidate, though, and his new agency will quite possibly field interest from the Sox.
Other quality 1+ outfielders have signed lengthy deals — including, recently, Gregory Polanco ($35MM) and Christian Yelich ($49.57MM) — but it seems fair to expect that Betts would command a good bit more given the floor and ceiling he’s shown to this point. And the price will likely only rise, as his service clock continues to run and he pads the stat sheet.
Schoop and Ray also rate as promising young players, but have more to prove at this stage than Betts. Other big leaguers joining The Legacy Agency, per Rosenthal, include Cody Anderson and Rajai Davis (Indians), Trevor May (Twins), Kevin Siegrist (Cardinals), Carter Capps (Marlins), Jerad Eickhoff (Phillies), and Tony Wolters (Rockies). Several unnamed prospects are also changing agencies.
As always, you can find reported player representation in MLBTR’s Agency Database.
How The Red Sox Landed Their Offseason Targets
- Dave Dombrowski had a clear idea of the players he wanted to acquire in his first winter in charge of the Red Sox baseball ops department, as Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe writes in a detailed recap of how the Sox landed David Price, Craig Kimbrel and Chris Young. The three players were, in fact, Boston’s top three targets heading into the offseason and all three will be wearing Red Sox jerseys on Opening Day.
Padres Have Limited Interest In Pablo Sandoval
- The idea that the Padres could try to land Pablo Sandoval from the Red Sox has been “overblown,” sources suggest to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter links). Lin suggests that Sandoval wouldn’t be a good fit on the San Diego roster, which currently features Yangervis Solarte as the top option at third. Of course, if the Pads place any value on Sandoval’s upside in a bounceback scenario, they could presumably make it work — either by including Solarte in the deal or by moving him into a different role (possibly including some kind of timeshare with Sandoval). At this stage, though, Boston would without doubt have to eat a huge portion of the money left on Sandoval’s deal in any kind of trade.
- While the Padres were widely criticized for failing to strike any deals at last year’s trade deadline, Joel Sherman of the New York Post suggests that the club may have been justified given the offers it was receiving. Ian Kennedy apparently drew extremely limited interest, with the best offer being then-Cubs outfielder Junior Lake — who has bounced around quite a bit and doesn’t appear to be that appealing an asset. Upton might have brought back Michael Fulmer from the Mets, which was at least a substantial return, but the Pads were said to have questions about his ability to stick in the rotation in the long run. Those two veterans ended up netting draft picks, of course, and that was inarguably the better outcome in Kennedy’s case, at least. And though San Diego could’ve had exciting infield prospect Jorge Mateo from the Yankees for closer Craig Kimbrel, per Sherman, the Friars were ultimately able to land a deeper package from the Red Sox at the outset of the offseason. It’s an interesting look back from Sherman, who also looks at the organization’s questionable future.
Red Sox Sign Justin Maxwell To Minor-League Deal
- The Red Sox have announced that they’ve signed outfielder Justin Maxwell to a minor-league deal, and he’ll report to Triple-A Pawtucket. The Marlins released Maxwell earlier this week. The 32-year-old hit .209/.275/.341 in 274 plate appearances with the Giants in 2015. Previously, he had played for the Nationals, Astros and Royals.
- The Orioles have released 1B/OF Mike Carp and 3B/1B/OF Alex Liddi from minor-league camp, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun writes. Carp, who’s played six seasons in the big leagues with the Mariners, Red Sox (with whom he won a World Series in 2013) and Rangers, played only briefly at the Triple-A level in the Dodgers organization in 2015. He’s a lifetime .254/.330/.414 hitter in the big leagues. Liddi played parts of three seasons for the Mariners from 2011 through 2013 and spent last season split between the Royals’ Double-A Northwest Arkansas affiliate and Jalisco in the Mexican Pacific Winter League.
Padres Have Had Internal Talks About Trading For Pablo Sandoval
The Padres have had internal discussions about the possibility of dealing for Red Sox third baseman Pablo Sandoval, Jon Heyman tweets. (Via WEEI’s Rob Bradford, the Padres deny that there have been any substantive talks.) The Padres are not among the three teams to whom Sandoval can block a trade, Heyman adds. Sandoval is still owed $75MM through 2019, including a $5MM buyout on his 2020 option, so as Heyman notes, a deal to send Sandoval from the Padres to the Red Sox would likely include money to offset his contract.
The Red Sox recently named rookie Travis Shaw their starter at third base ahead of Sandoval, even though they’re only one year into Sandoval’s contract. The Padres, meanwhile, reportedly had a scout watching Sandoval, although it wasn’t clear how much interest they had in him or whether that scout might be watching someone else. The Padres had interest in Sandoval during their splashy 2014-15 offseason, reportedly offering Sandoval a nine-figure deal that exceeded the Red Sox’ offer in total value.
The Padres might now see Sandoval as presenting an opportunity to buy low, although it’s not clear whether Sandoval is an upgrade over current Padres third baseman Yangervis Solarte. Solarte hit .270/.320/.428 last season and projects to produce 1.6 fWAR, via ZiPS. Sandoval, meanwhile, batted .245/.292/.366 and projects to produce 0.9 fWAR (although another projection system, Steamer, rates him as being likely to produce half a win better than that). Sandoval would seem to be a curious addition for a Padres team that was badly burned by veteran additions two winters ago and now seems more focused on trading high-profile veterans rather than on adding them.
There’s been some speculative conversation about a trade that could send Sandoval to San Diego and James Shields to Boston, and a Sandoval/Shields framework might make some sense, at least on a purely financial level — the Padres still owe Shields $65MM on the deal he signed with them last offseason. While Shields’ home-run-heavy first year with the Padres was merely a relatively small disappointment, though, Sandoval’s first year with Boston was a disaster, so the two players’ current values seem somewhat different.
Red Sox To Have Extremely Expensive Bench
At $17.6MM and $11.3MM, respectively, Pablo Sandoval and Rusney Castillo will give the Red Sox two of the AL’s three most expensive bench players this season, writes Alex Speier of the Boston Globe. (Those salary figures include portions of those players’ signing bonuses.) And in addition to Sandoval and Castillo, the Red Sox will also have Allen Craig, who has a $9MM salary, at Triple-A. The only more expensive reserve than Sandoval or Castillo will be Josh Hamilton, who will make about $26MM, most of it paid by the Angels. The Red Sox’ projected $48MM bench is almost four times more expensive than that of the average AL team. Of course, the Red Sox have enough money to have very expensive players, but the cases of Sandoval, Craig and perhaps Castillo are reminders of some of the organization’s past mistakes. Here’s more from the AL East.
