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Red Sox Rumors

Red Sox Designate Ryan Brasier For Assignment

By Mark Polishuk | May 14, 2023 at 11:58pm CDT

11:58PM: Rodriguez will be activated from the 15-day IL to take Brasier’s roster spot on Monday, The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey reports.

10:12PM: The Red Sox have designated Ryan Brasier for assignment, as the right-hander himself told reporters (including Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe) tonight in the aftermath of a tough outing against the Cardinals.  Brasier allowed three runs over 2 1/3 innings of relief in a 9-1 Red Sox loss.

No corresponding move is yet known, though manager Alex Cora told reporters over the weekend that Joely Rodriguez was going to be activated from the 15-day injured list on Monday, so the Sox could be clearing room for Rodriguez’s return.  Rodriguez suffered a Grade 2 oblique strain in mid-March during Spring Training, and has yet to pitch this season.

Tonight’s performance inflated Brasier’s season ERA to 7.29 over 21 innings of work out of the Boston bullpen.  There is some level of misfortune in that ERA since Brasier’s strand rate (52.8%) and BABIP (.344) are both skewed, and his FIP is a more moderate 4.38.  That said, he has also posted below-average strikeout and walk rates, and Brasier is near the bottom of the league in hard contact.

The advanced metrics were much more favorable to Brasier last year, but the bottom-line results still weren’t there, as the righty had a 5.78 ERA over 62 1/3 innings in 2022.  With the lack of results stretching into a second season, the Sox have opted to part ways with a reliever who has had his share of ups and downs over six years in Boston, but for the most part was a solid hurler prior to the start of the 2022 season.

After pitching with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in 2017, Brasier returned from Japan to sign a minor league deal with the Red Sox, and ended up unexpectedly emerging as an ace reliever for the eventual World Series champions.  Brasier posted a 1.60 ERA over 33 2/3 regular-season innings and then a 1.04 ERA in 8 1/3 postseason innings to help the Sox win the title.

Brasier’s 2019 season was a lot shakier, but he posted better results in 2020-21, with a 3.16 ERA albeit over only 37 innings.  Brasier’s workload was limited by the shortened 2020 regular season, and then a 2021 campaign that saw him miss most of the year due to a calf strain and then a concussion after he was struck in the head by a line drive during a simulated game.

The 35-year-old is in his final year of arbitration eligibility, and is still owed roughly $1.5MM of his $2MM salary for the 2023 season.  It doesn’t seem all that likely that another team will claim Brasier off DFA waivers, so the Red Sox will likely end up eating the salary if they end up releasing the righty, or they could simply outright him down to Triple-A.  If Brasier is signed by a new team after being released, the new club will only owe the prorated portion of the Major League minimum salary, with Boston covering the remainder of the $1.5MM.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Joely Rodriguez Ryan Brasier

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Red Sox To Select Pablo Reyes

By Anthony Franco | May 12, 2023 at 11:15pm CDT

The Red Sox plan to select the contract of infielder Pablo Reyes, reports Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). Corner infielder Bobby Dalbec will be optioned to Triple-A Worcester in a corresponding active roster move, reports Christopher Smith of MassLive. Boston already had an opening on the 40-man roster after losing Zack Littell on waivers.

Reyes has played the 2023 campaign in the A’s system. The utilityman signed a minor league contract with Oakland and started the year with their top affiliate in Las Vegas. The Red Sox acquired him for cash this morning. It’s unclear whether Reyes’ deal with the A’s contained an upward mobility clause that required them to make him available if another team offered an immediate roster spot or whether Oakland made the deal out of courtesy. In either case, the 29-year-old returns to the majors for what’ll be a fifth season in six years.

A native of the Dominican Republic, Reyes began his career in the Pirates’ system. He reached the majors with Pittsburgh in 2018 and tallied a personal-high 157 plate appearances the following season. He was suspended for the entire 2020 campaign after failing a performance-enhancing drug test and Pittsburgh cut him loose at the end of that year. Reyes signed a minor league deal with the Brewers and cracked the MLB roster early in 2021. He’d appear in 59 games over the next two seasons.

Between Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, the right-handed hitting Reyes has a .238/.307/.361 batting line over 323 big league plate appearances. He owns a solid .273/.342/.440 slash in just under 1300 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level. That includes a .257/.385/.351 start over 21 games for the Aviators in 2023. He’s long shown solid plate discipline and contact skills without much power.

Reyes is out of minor league option years. Boston will have to keep him on the MLB roster or make him available to other teams via waivers. He brings a fair bit of flexibility to Alex Cora’s bench. He’s logged ample minor league work at both middle infield positions, third base and in left and center field. The bulk of his time — just over 3000 innings — has been spent at the keystone. He’ll add some middle infield depth behind the current starting duo of Enmanuel Valdez and Enrique Hernández.

As for Dalbec, he heads back to Triple-A after a brief recall from the minors. He’s appeared in just seven MLB games this year after topping 100 contests in each of the preceding two seasons. The right-handed hitter owns a solid .238/.374/.475 line over 23 games with Worcester but he’s striking out almost 40% of the time at the Triple-A level.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Bobby Dalbec Pablo Reyes

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Rays Claim Zack Littell

By Nick Deeds | May 12, 2023 at 1:32pm CDT

The Rays have claimed right-hander Zack Littell off of waivers from the Red Sox, according to Julian McWilliams of the Boston Globe. The Rays have transferred Garrett Cleavinger to the 60-day IL to clear space on the 40-man roster for Littell, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Littell, 27, was acquired by the Red Sox from the Rangers last week in exchange for cash considerations. In three innings of work with the Red Sox, Littell struggled, allowing 3 runs on four walks (one intentional) and three hits while striking out just two. An eleventh round pick by the Mariners in the 2013 draft, Littell made his debut for the Twins in 2018, pitching to a 4.52 ERA with the club in 63 2/3 innings over the course of the next three seasons.

The best season of Littell’s career to this point came in 2021, as a member of the Giants. In 61 2/3 innings of work that season, Littell posted a phenomenal 2.92 ERA (142 ERA+) with a 3.87 FIP. That season, Littell struck out a career-high 25% of batters faced while walking 9.5%. The then 25-year-old also posted a career high 46.9% groundball rate during the 2021 campaign. Unfortunately, Littell’s previous struggles returned in 2022, as he posted a 5.08 ERA in 44 1/3 innings with San Francisco.

Without options remaining, Littell figures to factor into the Rays’ bullpen that has posted the third best ERA in the majors as a group thanks to stellar performances from the likes of Jason Adam, Colin Poche, and Ryan Thompson in addition to Cleavinger, who is likely out for the season after suffering an ACL injury.

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Boston Red Sox Tampa Bay Rays Transactions Garrett Cleavinger Zack Littell

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Red Sox Acquire Pablo Reyes

By Nick Deeds | May 12, 2023 at 12:09pm CDT

The Red Sox have acquired infielder Pablo Reyes from Oakland in exchange for cash considerations, the A’s have announced. Reyes had signed with Oakland on a minor league deal this past offseason.

The 29-year-old Reyes has appeared in parts of four seasons since making his MLB debut with the Pirates in 2018. That year, he hit well in 18 games for the Pirates, slashing .293/.349/.483 with a wRC+ of 126. That showing earned him an expanded role with the club in 2019, though he ultimately struggled over 157 plate appearances with the club to a slash line of just .203/.274/.322 that led the club to designate him for assignment in January of 2020. The following month, Reyes was served an 80-game suspension for PEDs, causing him to miss the entire pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Reyes latched on with the Brewers on a minor league deal ahead of the 2021 season, ultimately sticking with the club for two seasons. During that time, he slashed .258/.330/.344 with a wRC+ of 85 in 103 plate appearances before electing free agency after the 2022 season and signing with the A’s, for whom he did not appear in a major league game.

In addition to his time in the majors, Reyes has spent parts of 11 seasons in the minor leagues, including 1,265 plate appearances at Triple-A, which have resulted in a slash line of .274/.350/.419 at the highest minor league level. Much of Reyes’s value comes from his versatility, as the journeyman has appeared at every position on the diamond except for catcher.

Reyes figures to serve as infield depth in the upper minors for a Red Sox club that has struggled to keep players healthy in the middle infield this season. Infielders Trevor Story, Adalberto Mondesi, Yu Chang, Christian Arroyo, and center fielder Adam Duvall are all currently on the injured list after being penciled in for regular playing time up the middle for the Red Sox at one point or another.

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Boston Red Sox Oakland Athletics Transactions Pablo Reyes

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Red Sox Designate Zack Littell For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | May 10, 2023 at 2:55pm CDT

The Red Sox have informed reporters, including Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe, that they have designated right-hander Zack Littell for assignment. His roster spot will go to left-hander James Paxton, who has been reinstated and is set to start Friday’s game.

It’s a very quick turnaround for Littell, 27, who was with the Rangers on a minor league deal until the Red Sox traded for him last week, sending cash considerations the other way and adding Littell to their roster. He made two appearances for the Sox since then, allowing three earned runs in three innings with three hits, three walks and a couple of strikeouts. He now loses his roster spot just a few days after getting it. Since he’s out of options, this was the only way to quickly get his spot open for Paxton.

Prior to that shaky showing with Boston, he had been getting solid results in the minors. In 12 innings with the Round Rock Express, he had a 2.25 ERA with a 33.3% strikeout rate, 4.2% walk rate and 41.4% ground ball rate. He has 172 2/3 innings of major league experience dating back to 2018 with a 4.17 ERA in that time, striking out 20.8% of opponents while walking 8.6% and getting grounders at a 42.6% clip.

The Sox will now have one week to trade Littell or pass him through waivers. He has a previous career outright and could therefore reject another such assignment in favor of free agency in the event that he clears waivers.

As for Paxton, he will be appearing in a major league game for the first time in over two years. He underwent Tommy John surgery in April of 2021 while with the Mariners, then signed a complicated deal with the Red Sox while rehabbing. He was working his way back to health last year when a lat tear scuttled those plans. The Sox then declined a two-year, $26MM option but the lefty triggered his $4MM player option. The injury parade continued in the spring, when he suffered a hamstring strain that’s kept him out of action until now.

His return will have repercussions for the club’s other pitchers since manager Alex Cora recently told reporters, including Rob Bradford of WEEI, that he doesn’t plan on using a six-man rotation going forward. For the moment, Paxton will slot into the mix alongside Chris Sale, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello, Corey Kluber and Nick Pivetta, with Garrett Whitlock also expected to return from the IL in the near future. With seven options for five jobs, the Sox will have to pick a couple of them to either be moved to the bullpen or optioned to the minors, with those decisions seemingly still up in the air.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions James Paxton Zack Littell

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The Upcoming Shortstop Class Looks Increasingly Bleak

By Anthony Franco | May 9, 2023 at 11:59pm CDT

The top free agent storyline of each of the past two offseasons was the respective star-studded shortstop classes. In 2021-22, it was Carlos Correa, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Trevor Story and Javier Báez. Last winter, Correa was back on the market again, joined by Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson.

Next winter’s group was never going to rival that previous collection. The class in general is very light on star position player talent beyond Shohei Ohtani. It’s particularly barren up the middle of the diamond. It’s hard to imagine a more complete 180° turn than how things appear to be trending with the shortstop class, though. Virtually everyone involved is off to a very slow start.

The early-season performances from the impending free agents at the position:

Amed Rosario (28)*

While Rosario is not the superstar some evaluators had anticipated during his time in the Mets’ farm system, he’d been a solid regular for two seasons since landing in Cleveland in the Francisco Lindor blockbuster. Rosario’s solid batting averages helped offset his very low walk tallies. He hit 25+ doubles with double-digit homers in both 2021-22, playing on a near everyday basis. His cumulative .282/.316/.406 batting line was almost exactly league average. Public metrics were mixed on Rosario’s defense but the Guardians have been content to keep him at shortstop despite plenty of upper minors infield talent. Only 27 and without a ton of market competition, he entered the year in position for a strong three or four-year contract.

That could still be the case but Rosario is doing himself no favors with his early performance. He’s sitting on a .217/.262/.300 showing through his first 130 plate appearances. He has just one homer and is striking out at a 29.2% clip that’d easily be the worst full-season mark of his career if it holds. After making contact on 81.3% of his swings last season, he’s putting the bat on the ball only 71.5% of the time this year. He’s also committed six errors in 255 1/3 innings after being charged with just 12 in more than 1200 frames last year. Rosario is still the top impending free agent shortstop by default but he’s struggling in all areas right now.

Javier Báez (31), can opt out of final four years and $98MM on his contract

Báez is hitting .256/.318/.376 through his first 130 plate appearances. That’s an improvement over the lackluster .238/.278/.393 line he managed during his first season in Detroit. His 16.2% strikeout rate is the lowest of his career, pushing his overall offense near league average in spite of just three home runs in 32 games. Báez’s 2023 campaign has been fine but hardly overwhelming. It’s nowhere near what it’d take for him to beat the $98MM remaining on his existing contract. He’d need a torrid summer to put himself in position to test free agency.

Enrique Hernández (32)

Hernández has been pushed into primary shortstop duty by the Red Sox’ various injuries. The early reviews from public defensive metrics aren’t favorable, with Statcast putting him at seven outs below average in 199 innings. Hernández is off to an equally slow start at the plate. He’s hitting .236/.295/.362 over 139 plate appearances on the heels of a .222/.291/.338 showing last year. He’s been a valuable super-utility option and everyday center fielder at times in his career, including a 20-homer campaign in 2021. The past year-plus hasn’t been especially impressive, though, and Hernández has yet to demonstrate he’s capable of handling shortstop regularly from a defensive standpoint.

Brandon Crawford (37)

The career-long Giant had a tough April on both sides of the ball. He’s hitting .169/.244/.352 with a personal-high 28.2% strikeout rate in 21 games. His defensive marks through 173 2/3 innings are unanimously below-average. A right calf strain sent him to the injured list last week. Even if Crawford is willing to explore all opportunities next winter after 13 seasons in San Francisco, he’ll need much better production once he returns from the IL to find any interest as a starting shortstop.

Elvis Andrus (35)

Much of what applies to Crawford is also true for Andrus. He’s a 15-year MLB veteran with a couple All-Star appearances to his name but his offense has fallen off in recent seasons. Andrus was a well below-average hitter from 2018-21. He rebounded with a solid .249/.303/.404 showing last season but still didn’t generate much free agent attention. After settling for a $3MM deal with the White Sox, he’s hitting only .208/.291/.264 in 142 plate appearances this year. Andrus hit 17 homers last season but has just one through the first six weeks.

Nick Ahmed (34)

Another glove-first veteran, Ahmed is also off to a rough start at the plate. He carries a .227/.239/.318 line over 67 plate appearances. He’s hit only one home run and walked just once. Ahmed has always been a bottom-of-the-lineup defensive specialist, but his career .235/.289/.380 slash is much more tenable than the production he’s managed thus far in 2023. He lost almost all of last season to shoulder surgery.

Gio Urshela (32)

Urshela is hitting plenty of singles to start his time in Orange County. His .303 batting average is impressive but is paired with just a .325 on-base percentage and .345 slugging mark. He’s walking at a career-low 3.3% clip and has only three extra-base hits (two doubles and a homer) in 123 plate appearances.

More concerning for teams looking to the shortstop market is Urshela’s lack of experience at the position. He’s been a third baseman for the majority of his career. Since landing with the Angels, he’s assumed a multi-positional infield role that has given him eight-plus starts at shortstop and both corner infield spots. Even if he starts hitting for more power, he’s better deployed as a versatile infielder who can moonlight at shortstop than an everyday solution there.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa (28)

Kiner-Falefa lost his starting shortstop role with the Yankees towards the end of last season. He’s been kicked into a multi-positional capacity this year and hasn’t logged a single inning at the position in 2023. While Kiner-Falefa presumably could still handle shortstop if asked, he’s contributed nothing offensively in the early going. Through 72 plate appearances, he owns a .191/.225/.206 line.

Adalberto Mondesí (28)

Mondesí is young and has flashed tantalizing tools throughout his major league career. He’s also reached base at a meager .280 clip over 358 MLB games and battled various injuries. An April 2022 ACL tear cut that season short after just 15 games. The Red Sox nevertheless acquired him from the Royals over the offseason, but he’s yet to play a game with Boston. Mondesí opened the season on the 60-day injured list and won’t make his Sox debut until at least the end of this month. There’s a chance for him to play his way into some free agent interest. He’ll need an extended stretch of health and performance.

Players With Club Options

Both Tim Anderson and Paul DeJong can hit free agency if the White Sox and Cardinals decline respective 2024 club options. That seems likely in DeJong’s case but is reflective of the .196/.280/.351 line he managed between 2020-22. If he plays well enough to warrant significant free agent interest — he has been excellent in 11 games this season, to his credit — the Cardinals would exercise their $12.5MM option and keep him off the market anyhow.

The White Sox hold a $14MM option on Anderson’s services. That looks as if it’ll be a no-brainer for Chicago to keep him around (or exercise and make him available in trade). The only way Anderson gets to free agency is if his 2023 season is decimated by injury or an uncharacteristic performance drop-off, in which case he’d be a question mark as well.

Outlook

This was never going to be a great group. It’s comprised largely of glove-first veterans in their mid-30s. Players like Andrus, Ahmed, Crawford and José Iglesias — who’ll also hit free agency and has bounced around on minor league deals thus far in 2023 — don’t tend to be priority targets. That opened the door for the likes of Rosario, Báez and a potentially healthy Mondesí — younger players who have shown some offensive upside — to separate themselves from the pack in a way they wouldn’t have the last couple winters. No one has seized the mantle to this point. While there are still more than four months for someone to emerge, the early returns on the shortstop class aren’t promising.

*age for the 2024 season

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Arizona Diamondbacks Boston Red Sox Chicago White Sox Cleveland Guardians Detroit Tigers Los Angeles Angels MLBTR Originals New York Yankees San Francisco Giants St. Louis Cardinals Adalberto Mondesi Amed Rosario Brandon Crawford Elvis Andrus Enrique Hernandez Giovanny Urshela Isiah Kiner-Falefa Javier Baez Nick Ahmed Paul DeJong Tim Anderson

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Red Sox Place Christian Arroyo On IL With Hamstring Strain

By Nick Deeds | May 7, 2023 at 9:12am CDT

The Red Sox placed second baseman Christian Arroyo on the 10-day IL with a right hamstring strain this morning, as noted by Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe. Boston recalled infielder Bobby Dalbec to take Arroyo’s spot on the active roster. No timetable has been announced for Arroyo’s return.

The move continues a series of injury woes in Boston’s infield that dates back to the offseason, when it was announced that shortstop Trevor Story would undergo elbow surgery and miss much of the 2023 campaign. Since then, the Red Sox have traded for Adalberto Mondesi, who has yet to make his club debut, and signed Yu Chang, who was placed on the IL with a fractured hamate two weeks ago after posting a slash line of just .136/.174/.341 in 17 games prior to the injury.

Arroyo, who will celebrate his 28th birthday at the end of the month, has endured struggles of his own in the early going this season, posting a .257/.295/.365 slash line that’s 23% below league average by measure of wRC+ in 79 trips to the plate this season. Recently, he had begun to cede his regular playing time at second base to Enmanuel Valdez, who has slashed a solid .343/.361/.514 (137 wRC+) in 10 games since taking over for Chang on the roster. With Arroyo on the shelf, Valdez should have plenty of runway to make the case for himself at second base going forward in Boston.

Dalbec, 28 in June, figures to serve as the backup infielder behind Valdez and shortstop Enrique Hernandez. Dalbec has primarily played first base throughout his career, though he has experience at all four infield spots. A fourth round pick by the Red Sox in the 2016 draft, Dalbec made his MLB debut in 2020 and got off to a torrid start, with a 151 wRC+ in 23 games during the pandemic-shortened season. Since then, however, Dalbec has slashed just .229/.293/.437 (95 wRC+) with a worrisome 34.1% strikeout rate in 254 games at the big league level.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Bobby Dalbec Christian Arroyo Enmanuel Valdez

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Red Sox Aiming To Activate James Paxton Next Week

By Mark Polishuk | May 6, 2023 at 4:36pm CDT

James Paxton is on the verge of his first Major League game in over two years, as Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne) that Paxton will join the team this week.  Paxton won’t start during Boston’s upcoming two-game series with the Braves, which indicates that he’ll pitch at some point during the three-game series between the Cardinals and Red Sox from May 12-14.

Paxton underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2021 as a member of the Mariners, but the Red Sox made something of a speculative move by signing the left-hander to a free agent deal during the 2021-22 offseason.  That contract contained a pair of club options (each worth $13MM) for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, but also a $4MM player option Paxton could exercise if the Sox declined those club options.  With Paxton missing the entire 2022 campaign due to both his TJ rehab and then a lat tear, Boston indeed declined its club options, and Paxton triggered his $4MM option to ultimately make his deal a two-year, $10MM pact overall.

If those past injuries weren’t enough, Paxton also had a Game 1 hamstring strain during Spring Training that delayed his ramp-up period to the point that another 15-day IL stint was required to begin the 2023 season.  Pitching in six games at Triple-A Worcester during his rehab, Paxton has a 6.23 ERA over 21 2/3 innings, largely due to one disastrous outing (the only relief appearance of his six games) that saw him tagged for seven runs in two-thirds of an inning on April 19.  In his last two rehab starts, Paxton allowed only two runs over 10 1/3 total innings, and he topped the 90-pitch threshold in both games.

The Red Sox don’t play on either Monday or Thursday, and they also have off-days on May 18, 25, and 29th.  This gives the club some flexibility in how they arrange their pitching staff when Paxton returns, and Garrett Whitlock is also expected to be activated from the 15-day injured list this week.  Cora said the Sox are considering the possibility of a six-man rotation to accommodate a full rotation, though the preponderance of upcoming off-days could lead to some extended time between starts if the Red Sox did try a larger rotation.

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Boston Red Sox James Paxton

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Red Sox Acquire Zack Littell, Select Him Onto MLB Roster

By Darragh McDonald | May 6, 2023 at 3:09pm CDT

TODAY: As expected, the Red Sox selected Littell’s contract and he is now part of their active roster. In corresponding moves, Ort was optioned to Triple-A and Adam Duvall was shifted to the 60-day injured list. Duvall was placed on the 10-day IL just under four weeks ago due to a fractured wrist, and since it will still be a couple of weeks before Duvall is even able to start swinging, his move to the 60-day IL opens up a 40-man roster spot for Boston.

MAY 5, 11:38pm: Littell’s contract with the Rangers contained an upward mobility clause requiring the Rangers to trade him or promote him to the majors if another club was willing to add him to the MLB roster, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter link). The Red Sox expressed a willingness to do so, leading to the trade. While Littell was initially assigned to Triple-A Worcester, he’s expected to be formally promoted to the major league roster shortly.

5:30pm: The Red Sox have acquired right-hander Zack Littell from the Rangers, reports Kennedi Landry of MLB.com, with cash considerations going the other way. Littell wasn’t on the club’s 40-man roster, so no corresponding moves will be necessary.

Littell, 27, was with the Giants the past two years but was outrighted off their roster at the end of last season and elected free agency. He signed a minor league deal with the Rangers in the winter and had been pitching well in Triple-A. Through 12 innings for the Round Rock Express, he had a 2.25 ERA, striking out 33.3% of opponents against a tiny walk rate of 4.2%.

That’s a stronger performance than he’s managed in the big leagues recently. With San Francisco in 2021 and 2022, he tossed 106 innings with a 3.82 ERA, 23.1% strikeout rate and 8.4% walk rate. It seems the Red Sox were encouraged enough by the small sample improvements to take a shot on him, while the Rangers were seemingly content to let him go and pocket some cash.

Littell is out of options, meaning that he’d have to stick in the big leagues if he gets back there, or else be designated for assignment. But in the event he does back to the bigs and sticks, he could be retained for future seasons. He came into this season with three years and 67 days of service time, meaning he could get to the four-year mark in 2023 if called up soon. Even in that case, he’d have a couple more arb years before getting to the six-year mark and automatic free agency, though a delayed call-up could push that back.

The Sox have dealt with a handful of injuries to their relief corps this year, as Zack Kelly, Joely Rodríguez and Wyatt Mills are all on the injured list. Right-hander Kutter Crawford joined them today when the Sox put him on the IL with a left hamstring strain, recalling righty Kaleb Ort to take his place. Littell will give the club a bit of extra non-roster depth and try to work his way back to the majors.

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Boston Red Sox Texas Rangers Transactions Adam Duvall Kaleb Ort Kutter Crawford Zack Littell

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MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: White Sox Struggles, Red Sox Options, Managers On The Hot Seat

By Simon Hampton | May 3, 2023 at 11:57pm CDT

Episode 5 of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Simon Hampton is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

  • The state of the White Sox, and why they find themselves in a deep hole in the AL Central after one month of the season (3:20)
  • If they opt to sell at the deadline, who could they look to move and who might be off limits? (8:10)
  • Whether the Cardinals could look to trade Tommy Edman as Masyn Winn nears the big leagues (18:35)
  • Options for the Red Sox to improve their roster over the next few months (21:54)
  • Plus, are there any managers on the hot seat at this early stage of the season? (25:41)

Check out our past episodes!

  • The state of the Twins, Bryan Reynolds’ extension and Madison Bumgarner’s future – listen here
  • Free agent power rankings, Shohei Ohtani’s next contract and Aaron Nola or Julio Urias in free agency? Listen here
  • Rays, top prospect debuts, Angels, trade deadline, Gary Sanchez, Francisco Alvarez – listen here
  • Early trade deadline preview, Jake Cronenworth extension and the Padres, Marlins trade ideas, Cardinals rotation, Dodgers – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

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