Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Red Sox Rumors

Red Sox Acquire McKenry, Send Turpen To Rockies

By | at

The Red Sox acquired catcher Mike McKenry from the Rockies for righty reliever Daniel Turpen, the teams announced.  The Red Sox will have to make a 40-man roster move for McKenry, tweets Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe.

McKenry, 26, hit .265/.328/.424 in 384 plate appearances at Triple-A Colorado Springs last year, catching 94 games.  He's thrown out 37% of attempted thieves in his minor league career and is said to have good intangibles as a catcher.  A year ago Baseball America ranked him 13th among Rockies prospects, saying, "his best role may be as a high-energy backup."    

Turpen, 24, spent the spring in Yankees camp as a Rule 5 pick but was returned to the Red Sox.  The Sox had acquired him from the Giants in August for reliever Ramon Ramirez.  Turpen posted a 4.30 ERA, 7.8 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, and 0.5 HR/9 in 69 Double-A relief innings last year.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post first reported the trade, which the Red Sox initially denied.

Rays Return Cesar Cabral To Red Sox

By | at

The Rays returned Rule 5 pick Cesar Cabral to the Red Sox, tweets WEEI's Rob Bradford.  The lefty will report to minor league camp tomorrow.  The Rays claimed Cabral in the December draft, but he also had a brief stop with the Blue Jays this spring.

Cabral, 22, posted strong peripheral stats in 48 relief innings at High-A ball last year, but 60 hits allowed led to a 5.81 ERA.

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Showalter, Sabathia

By | at

Among AL East clubs, only the Yankees will play on the season's first day Thursday.  Here's the latest from the division…

Quick Hits: Rangers, Angels, Indians, CBA, Slowey

By | at

Some links to browse through during your Sunday evening…

  • Add the Rangers to the list of clubs that are not interested in recently released Carlos Silva, reports MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan (on Twitter). The Yankees and Cardinals are also out.
  • The Angels can opt out of their stadium lease in 2016, but owner Arte Moreno told Mike DiGiovanna of The Los Angeles Times that the team has not begun exploring the possibility of building a new stadium. That process would have to start at least four years before the planned opening date.
  • Indians manager Manny Acta told MLB.com's Jordan Bastian that there are likely to be roster moves made on Monday when the 25-man roster is finalized (Twitter link).
  • Tom Krasovic spoke to several scouts about teams and players from all around the game.
  • In regard to CBA talks, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe writes that the "general consensus is that a hangup or even the slightest threat of a work stoppage would be shocking."
  • Within the same piece, Cafardo says the Twins aren't as willing to deal Kevin Slowey as it may seem. One scout opined that the right-hander is "throwing too well for them to deal him."
  • The Rockies continue to receive calls about their middle-infield depth, but the club isn't looking to move either Eric Young Jr. or Alfredo Amezaga, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post.
  • Dave Bush earned a spot in the Rangers' bullpen as a long man, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Bush would have opted out of his contract today if he didn't make the team.
  • The Red Sox' bullpen depth has drawn interest from other teams, a source tells Alex Speier of WEEI.com.

MLBTR's Luke Adams & Mike Axisa contributed to this post.

Quick Hits: Rangers, Astros, Reyes, Burrell, Belt

By | at

Links for Saturday, after the Yankees announced that Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia will be their fourth and fifth starters while Bartolo Colon serves as the long reliever…

  • The Rangers aren't looking for a centerfielder as they believe that Julio Borbon will be okay after suffering an elbow injury, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.  It's not realistic to expect the club to land a starting pitcher either as there isn't much out there.
  • Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. denied a report saying that he's close to selling the team, writes Stephen Goff of Examiner.com.
  • Left-hander Dennys Reyes told Alex Speier of WEEI.com that he is healthy after dealing with a forearm strain at the end of last year.  Earlier today the Red Sox purchased the veteran's big league contract.
  • More teams are structuring deals to guard against major injuries to their star players, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
  • As Danny Knobler of CBS Sports reminds us, chances are that back-of-the-rotation won't be the one the Yankees finish the season with.
  • Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee told MLB.com's Todd Zolecki that the team's bullpen isn't finalized (Twitter links). "We've still got a few things in the works," said Dubee, which Zolecki says could mean a trade, waiver claim, or an internal option.
  • Henry Schulman of The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Bruce Bochy confirmed that Pat Burrell will be the Giants' Opening Day left fielder, meaning Brandon Belt is likely headed back to the minors. Check out Tim Dierkes' recent look at Belt's service time situation.
  • Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reminds us that 40-man roster space (or the lack thereof) can often serve as the tie-breaker when teams make roster decisions with non-roster invitees near the end of Spring Training (Twitter link).

Red Sox Purchase Reyes’ Major League Contract

By | at

2:58pm: Terry Francona announced that the Red Sox have purchased the left-handed reliever's contract,  according to the Boston Herald's Scott Lauber (via Twitter).  To make room on the 40-man roster, the club has moved right-hander Junichi Tazawa to the 60-day DL.

Francona added that Reyes will still be competing with Alfredo Aceves, Hideki Okajima, and Matt Albers for the final two bullpen spots, tweets Speier.

2:08pm: Boston left-hander Dennys Reyes can opt-out of his minor league deal in a matter of hours if he is not added to the club's major league roster.  Reyes has been told that the BoSox have purchased his big league contract, tweets Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald.  The deal is not yet finalized as the club has to find a way to fit him on the 40-man roster.

It should be noted, however, that the soon-to-be 34-year-old told the press that he's still waiting on word from the club, according to Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe (via Twitter).

The veteran's opt-out date was originally set for today but the two sides agreed this week to push the deadline up to Sunday.  Reyes hasn't ruled out extending his opt-out date once more, tweets Alex Speier of WEEI.com.  If Reyes makes the big league roster, he will earn $900K with incentives that boost the deal's value to $1.4MM in total.

Heyman On Emaus, Red Sox, Yankees, Rangers

By | at

In a column for SI.com, Jon Heyman discusses the new-look Rays, examining the team's chances in a competitive AL East. While one Rays person candidly acknowledges "we've got a lot of holes," the general consensus around baseball is that it would be a mistake to discount the defending division champs. Here are a few other highlights from Heyman:

Red Sox Notes: Gonzalez, Atchison, Kalish, Wakefield

By | at

Daisuke Matsuzaka joins a growing list of Japanese players who have made donations to fund disaster relief in their homeland. Dice-K donated $1MM to the Japanese Red Cross Society though the Red Sox Foundation, according to Tim Britton of the Providence Journal. Here are a few other Sox-related notes:

  • ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Insider-only link) expects the Red Sox and Adrian Gonzalez to get an extension done for the slugger in the second week of the season, sometime during the club's first homestand. Olney points out that it might be in Gonzalez's best interest to nudge the Sox toward finalizing a deal sooner rather than later, since his market value could be hurt by an injury.
  • Boston optioned a handful of players to the minors today, including Scott Atchison and Ryan Kalish, as Rob Bradford of WEEI.com writes.
  • While the Sox still have a few pitchers whose Opening Day fates are in limbo, it doesn't sound like Tim Wakefield is among them. WEEI's Alex Speier has quotes from Terry Francona discussing how the skipper hopes to maximize Wakefield's effectiveness this year.

Red Sox Seek Rotation Depth

By | at

The Red Sox have five proven starters and a handful of viable alternatives, but that’s not stopping GM Theo Epstein from looking for more possibilities for the rotation, according to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. The Red Sox are looking for starting pitching depth and would love to add a veteran who’s open to pitching at Triple-A until he’s needed.

“We’ve learned that we can never have enough starting pitching, but we like the depth provided by [Tim] Wakefield, [Alfredo] Aceves, and [Felix] Doubront," Epstein said.

Wakefield, Aceves and Doubront are the team’s primary alternatives to the starting five of Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, John Lackey, Josh Beckett and Daisuke Matsuzaka. It also appears that the Red Sox will start Andrew Miller at Triple-A and stretch him out as a starter in the minors.

Though some starting pitching is available, none of it appears to be a logical fit for the Red Sox. The $16MM remaining on Joe Blanton’s contract makes him an unattractive option; it seems doubtful that the Red Sox would meet the Twins' asking price for Kevin Slowey only to stash him in the minors and the Red Sox don’t appear to have much interest in Jeremy Bonderman.

I listed a number of potentially available starters earlier in the week.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top