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Abraham Toro

Royals To Sign Abraham Toro To Minor League Deal

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The Royals and infielder Abraham Toro have agreed to a minor league deal, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. The Republik Sports client also receives an invite to big league camp in spring training.

It’s an early birthday present for Toro, who turns 29 tomorrow. The trilingual Québécois infielder has appeared in the past seven big league seasons as a part-time, multi-positional player. He was with the Red Sox in 2025 but he was outrighted off the roster in August. He became a free agent at season’s end, which allowed the Royals to sign him to this deal.

He has 1,582 plate appearances over those seven campaigns. His 17.1% strikeout rate is a few ticks better than average but his 6.4% walk rate is on the low side. He has a combined .223/.285/.356 line over that time, which translates to an 81 wRC+, indicating he’s been 19% worse than league average.

It’s possible there’s a bit more in the bat, as he’s put up more intriguing numbers in the minors. Dating back to the start of 2021, he has 799 minor league plate appearances with a 12.6% walk rate, 19.1% strikeout rate, .286/.380/.474 line and 120 wRC+.

Defensively, he has logged hundreds of big league innings at the non-shortstop infield positions, with brief looks in the outfield corners as well. The Royals are set on the left side of the infield with Bobby Witt Jr. at shortstop and Maikel Garcia at third. On the other side of the dirt, Vinnie Pasquantino has first base locked down. Second base is a bit less settled since Jonathan India and Michael Massey both struggled in 2025.

Kansas City currently has Nick Loftin and Tyler Tolbert on the roster as potential bench infielders but both are still optionable. If the Royals would prefer those guys to get regular playing time, they could be sent to Triple-A. The Royals have added Kevin Newman and now Toro as veteran infielders on non-roster pacts who could potentially take over a bench role. If Toro cracks the roster, he is out of options. If he’s holding a roster spot at the end of the year, he can be retained beyond 2026 via arbitration.

Photo courtesy of Brian Fluharty, Imagn Images

Seven Players Elect Free Agency

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Now that the season is over, we’ll start seeing several players choose to become minor league free agents. Major League free agents (i.e. players with six-plus years of big league service time) will hit the open market five days after the end of the World Series, but eligible minor leaguers can already start electing free agency.

To qualify, these players must have been all outrighted off their team’s 40-man rosters during the 2025 season without being added back. These players also must have multiple career outrights on their resume, and/or at least three years of Major League service time.

We’ll offer periodic updates over the coming weeks about many other players hitting the market in this fashion. These free agent decisions are all listed on the official MLB.com or MILB.com transactions pages, for further reference.

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Red Sox Outright Abraham Toro

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TODAY: Toro cleared waivers and was outrighted off Boston’s 40-man roster, according to multiple members of the Red Sox beat.  Toro has accepted the assignment, as per MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam.

AUGUST 21, 2:44pm: The Sox have now officially announced Toro’s DFA and Hamilton’s recall.

10:10am: The Red Sox are going to designate infielder Abraham Toro for assignment, reports Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic. Fellow infielder David Hamilton will be recalled as the corresponding move. The Sox have not yet announced the moves.

Toro, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster in early May after first baseman Triston Casas suffered a season-ending knee injury. For a long time, the Sox replaced Casas with a platoon of Romy González and Toro. González, who swings right-handed, has more than held up his end of the bargain. He has a .340/.389/.641 line against lefties this year, which translates to a massive 176 wRC+.

For a while, the switch-hitting Toro was playing his part as well, but he couldn’t keep it going. He was able to put up a strong .296/.296/.537 line in May but that dropped to .279/.354/.407 in June, .221/.295/.279 in July and .137/.151/.255 in August. His wRC+ was 123 in May but then slid to 110, 56 and -1 in the subsequent months.

The Sox recently added the lefty-swinging Nathaniel Lowe to the roster after he was released by the Nationals, effectively replacing Toro in that first base platoon. They could have kept Toro around as a multi-positional bench bat but it seems they prefer to have Hamilton take that role, with González and Nate Eaton also able to bounce around a bit.

Toro is out of options, so removing him from the active roster meant having to remove him from the 40-man. Now that he’s been designated for assignment after the trade deadline, he’ll have to be placed on waivers.

He is making a $1MM salary this year, a bit above the $760K league minimum. His declining offense this year will likely scare off other teams from claiming him and taking on that contract, though he does at least provide some versatility. He has big league experience at all the non-shortstop infield positions as well as the outfield corners. His career .223/.285/.356 batting line translates to a wRC+ of 81, so his true offensive talent level likely lies somewhere between this year’s hot start and more recent cold stretch.

If he clears waivers, he will have the right to elect free agency but probably won’t exercise it. Players with at least three years of service can reject an outright assignment in favor of the open market but need at least five years of service to both head to free agency and keep their salary commitments intact. Toro is in that three-to-five window and is still owed about $200K of his $1MM salary. Assuming he wants that money, he would report to Worcester and give the Sox some non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Brian Fluharty, Imagn Images

Red Sox Expected To Show Interest In Nathaniel Lowe

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Nathaniel Lowe’s tenure with the Nationals has come to an end. Washington placed him on unconditional release waivers this afternoon, the anticipated outcome after they designated him for assignment on Thursday. Waivers are a 48-hour process; those will be resolved no later than Monday.

Another team could claim him and assume the remaining $2.33MM of his $10.3MM salary, but that’s difficult to envision. In the likelier event that he goes unclaimed, the Nationals would remain on the hook for virtually all that money. At that point, Lowe would be free to sign anywhere. A new team would pay him the prorated $760K league minimum for the final few weeks of the season.

Chris Cotillo of MassLive writes that the Red Sox are likely to show interest once the veteran first baseman officially reaches free agency.  (To be clear, Cotillo is not reporting that Boston has any plans to claim Lowe off waivers and take on the remaining salary.) Money won’t be a factor, as every team would be offering the league minimum — which comes off the Nats’ remaining obligations. Assuming multiple teams are willing to offer Lowe a major league contract, he’ll make his decision based on how many at-bats are available, the potential to contribute to a playoff run, and possibly geographical preferences.

The Sox have used an Abraham Toro/Romy Gonzalez split at first base since Triston Casas’ knee injury. They were expected to pursue first base help before the trade deadline but didn’t come away with any offensive additions. Gonzalez, a right-handed hitter, has more than held up his end. He’s mashing lefty pitching at a .357/.407/.673 clip with six homers in 108 plate appearances.

Gonzalez has a near-.900 OPS against southpaws in his career. He’s a .220/.239/.342 hitter versus right-handers. He’s only reaching base at a .270 clip against righties this season. Gonzalez has started four of the past six games (all of which have been against righties), but he shouldn’t be playing regularly unless he holds the platoon advantage. That leaves a decent amount of playing time for the switch-hitting Toro. An offseason minor league signee, Toro is hitting .238/.293/.387 in 198 plate appearances from the left side of the plate. He’d hit well in the immediate aftermath of the Casas injury but has slashed .194/.252/.287 over 32 games since July 1.

Lowe is a lefty bat with a better big league track record. His stint in Washington was a disappointment, as he hit .216/.292/.373 across 490 trips to the dish. That’s essentially a match for Toro’s season. Between 2021-24, Lowe posted an impressive .265/.352/.435 showing in more than 2000 plate appearances against righty pitching. It’s easy to see why the Sox would look to add him as a platoon partner with Gonzalez.

Toro is out of minor league options. The Sox are carrying three catchers on the active roster after claiming Ali Sánchez off waivers from Toronto this week. If the Red Sox were to sign Lowe, one of Toro or Sánchez would almost certainly be designated for assignment as a corresponding move. While Boston makes the most sense as an on-paper fit, teams like the Reds or Royals could also look for a first baseman or DH. A team that signs Lowe (or claims him off waivers) could theoretically retain him in 2026 via arbitration, but no club is likely to tender him the eight-figure contract that’d require.

Red Sox Notes: First Base, Devers, Yoshida

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The Red Sox lost first baseman Triston Casas to a season-ending knee injury earlier this week and quickly selected Abraham Toro’s contract to the big league roster. The switch-hitting Toro and righty-swinging Romy Gonzalez appear set to share time at the position for the time being, although the Casas injury immediately prompted speculation about a potential move to first base for Rafael Devers. Manager Alex Cora told the Red Sox beat last night that there’s been no discussion of a role change for the third baseman-turned-DH (link via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic).

“We got these two guys (Gonzalez and Toro) here, Toro starting today,” Cora said prior to last night’s loss. “Romy has done an amazing job in the starts over there so we’ll keep going that way.”

Cora followed up today in an appearance on WEEI radio, repeating that Devers is a DH for the time being but taking a slightly softer stance on the possibility of an eventual position change (link via WEEI’s Tom Carroll).

“We asked him to do something in spring training that, as you guys know, he didn’t agree with in the beginning,” said Cora. “And then little by little, he has embraced it because he knows the quality of the player that we have at third base and where we’re at as a team. … I’m not saying we’ll never have that conversation [about moving to first base], but I think for now, where we’re at, I like Raffy as a DH.”

Within that WEEI appearance, Cora again praised the season that Gonzalez has put together thus far. There’s no denying that the 28-year-old has excelled in the early stages of the 2025 season. He’s hitting .327/.382/.449 in 55 trips to the plate, although that small-sample production is buoyed by a .421 average on balls in play. Gonzalez is averaging 94.1 mph off the bat and has seen 58% of his batted balls depart at 95 mph or more.

It’s a strong profile, but one that is preceded by minimal track record. Gonzalez is in his fifth major league season and entered 2025 as a .242/.271/.387 hitter. He’s always hit lefties well (.281/.329/.465), but right-handers have long been a problem. That hasn’t been the case this year, and Cora’s comments seem to suggest he’ll at least get some runway to prove he’s made some real gains.

Toro, also 28, has a similar track record to that of Gonzalez. He’s a career .220/.285/.352 hitter who’s now seeing action in his seventh MLB campaign. He’s bounced around the league more (Astros, Mariners, Brewers, A’s) and has a strong Triple-A track record but limited success in the majors. Cora noted that Toro “put [together] some good at-bats” in his Red Sox debut yesterday, when he went 1-for-4 with a single.

The combination of Gonzalez and Toro, whether in a traditional platoon or a more selective timeshare, doesn’t feel like a feasible long-term option, but it’s understandable to hear a team’s manager voice confidence in the options he presently has on the roster. That said, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow took a more open-minded stance to the team’s first base void, telling NESN’s Tom Caron prior to the game that the Sox “need to be willing to put all idea and options on the table” and “uncover every rock” to make the team as competitive as possible (hat tip to the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham).

The case for moving Devers to first base is one that we discussed on this morning’s MLBTR podcast episode. MLBTR owner Tim Dierkes also touched on it in today’s mailbag. That switch would open DH at-bats for the return of Masataka Yoshida, or it could help facilitate a big league promotion for Roman Anthony, who is widely ranked as the game’s No. 1 overall prospect. Anthony could join Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu in cycling through the outfield and DH spots. He’s hitting .294/.410/.495 with five homers as a 20-year-old in Triple-A. Dating back to last year, Anthony has slashed .321/.440/.508 in 298 Triple-A plate appearances — all before even turning 21.

The 31-year-old Yoshida, meanwhile, has been out all season while recovering from October surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right (throwing) shoulder. Yoshida spoke with the Red Sox beat yesterday and said through an interpreter that hitting is “no problem” but that he’s still feeling discomfort when throwing (video link via NESN). He received a cortisone injection three days ago and will be shut down from throwing for at least another couple days while that takes effect. The Red Sox have no plans to activate Yoshida until he is able to play in the outfield, per Abraham.

Devers’ move from third base to DH was a major storyline in spring training and led to plenty of hand-wringing early in the season when he went through one of the worst stretches of his career at the plate. That panic looks silly in retrospect, as Devers struggled for all of one week and has hit .292/.404/.508 since the calendar flipped to April. His lack of experience at first base is an obvious consideration in any scenario, but the current tandem of Gonzalez and Toro have relatively limited experience there themselves: 319 innings for Gonzalez and 353 for Toro.

There’s no perfect solution. The Red Sox will likely be getting sub-par defense at first base whichever route they take. Playing Devers there could free up DH at-bats for Yoshida or open a clearer path to get Anthony to the majors. For the time being, they’re sticking with Devers at designated hitter and seeing what they have in Toro and Gonzalez.

Run production has been an issue over the past week as the Red Sox have dropped five of six games, and even looking at the past month (i.e. excluding Devers’ early slump) they’ve been a league-average offense on a rate basis and sit 15th in the majors in runs scored. If Boston’s rotation continues to struggle as it has over the past two weeks (24th in MLB with a 4.76 ERA), or if Gonzalez and Toro play closer to their career levels in the weeks ahead, one would imagine the Sox will more seriously consider changes to get more offensive firepower into the lineup.

Triston Casas Likely To Miss Entire 2025 Season Due To Knee Surgery

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The Red Sox announced this morning that they have placed first baseman Triston Casas on the 10-day injured list with a ruptured left patellar tendon. He suffered the injury during last night’s game. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow says that Casas will have surgery and they don’t expect him back this year, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.

To replace Casas on the active roster, the team has selected Abraham Toro’s contract from Triple-A Worcester. Boston had an open spot on the 40-man, so no further corresponding transaction was necessary. In an additional roster move, the Red Sox reinstated Brennan Bernardino from the bereavement list and optioned Luis Guerrero to Triple-A.

The Casas news is awful but unsurprising. He suffered an obvious injury last night when he hit the first base bag awkwardly while trying to beat out a grounder. He was down on the ground in clear pain for a long time and eventually was taken off the field on a stretcher. It seemed likely that he would miss an extended period of time and that is now confirmed. He hasn’t yet been moved to the 60-day IL but that will happen whenever the Sox need a 40-man spot.

The Sox will have to figure out what to do about replacing Casas at first base. Breslow says that all options are on the table and he didn’t rule out Rafael Devers taking over, though outfield prospect Roman Anthony or infield prospect Marcelo Mayer are unlikely to be moved to first.

Devers is currently the full-time designated hitter after getting bumped off third base by Alex Bregman. Moving him into first base and opening the DH spot would help the club with some roster crunches elsewhere.

Anthony and Mayer are two of the best prospects in baseball, but both are currently in Triple-A and somewhat blocked on the big league roster. The Sox currently have an outfield mix consisting of Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Rob Refsnyder. The infield has Bregman, Trevor Story and Kristian Campbell at third base, shortstop and second base respectively. Outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida could get into the mix as well, though he has been battling ongoing shoulder problems and his return timeline is unclear.

With Devers in the DH spot, it’s a bit of a crowded picture. If he were to take over at first base, that would open things up and allow various players to rotate through the DH spot. Devers has no professional experience at first but plenty of subpar third basemen have made the move across the diamond over the years. While Breslow seemed to leave the door open to the idea, manager Alex Cora downplayed the possibility. “From my end, right now, no…. he’s my DH,” Cora said, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe.

For now, it seems like utility infielder Romy González will be the first attempt. Cora tells Speier that this is an opportunity for González “to go out and perform.” He is the only Boston player apart from Casas to have played first base this year. He’s having a decent season so far, with a .279/.340/.419 batting line and 113 wRC+. However, that comes with no home runs and a .364 batting average on balls in play. In his 502 career plate appearances, he has a .246/.277/.390 line and 81 wRC+.

That career production would be less than ideal production from first base, which is generally a bat-first position, but the Sox will give it a try for now. Perhaps they will explore some external options in the coming weeks, looking to make a trade or grab another player off waivers. Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe says that Breslow is indeed looking at the trade market.

González had previously been in a multi-positional role, having also played some second and third base this year. In his career, he has played shortstop and the outfield as well. With him set to become the club’s regular first baseman for now, Toro has been added to add some defensive versatility to the bench.

Toro, 28, signed a minor league deal with the Sox in the offseason. He has been performing well in Triple-A so far this year, with a .310/.403/.480 line, though a .392 BABIP is doing him some favors. In his big league career, he has played the three non-shortstop infield positions and the outfield corners. He has always hit well in Triple-A but has a .220/.285/.353 line and 82 wRC+ in 1,298 big league plate appearances.

Photo courtesy of Eric Canha, Imagn Images

Red Sox, Abraham Toro Agree To Minor League Contract

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3:29pm: Toro will make $1MM if in the majors, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.

9:50am: The Red Sox and free agent infielder Abraham Toro have agreed to a minor league contract, reports Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base. The Republik Sports client receives an invitation to major league spring training.

Toro, who turned 28 last month, was a well-regarded prospect with the Astros who has at times flashed some of that potential in the majors. He posted a roughly league-average batting line and popped 11 homers in 95 games between Houston and Seattle in 2021 — the same season that saw the ’Stros deal him to the M’s in exchange for reliever Kendall Graveman. Toro appeared in 60 games with Seattle following that trade, walking at a slightly above-average clip and fanning in only 13% of his plate appearances during that age-24 season.

At the time, Toro looked like a potential regular for the Mariners, or at the very least an oft-used and versatile semi-regular. The switch-hitter saw his output crater in 2022, however. Toro batted only .185/.239/.324 in 352 plate appearances with the Mariners. The following offseason, he was traded to the Brewers in return for Jesse Winker and Kolten Wong — a move that didn’t pay 2023 dividends for either team.

Toro hit well in Triple-A for the Brewers but never got a real look in the majors, tallying just 21 plate appearances as a Brewer. Milwaukee flipped him to the A’s in the 2023-24 offseason, netting righty Chad Patrick in return. Toro hit .240/.293/.350 in 364 plate appearances with Oakland before being passed through waivers and electing free agency at the beginning of the current offseason.

While Toro has yet to produce in the big leagues (.220/.285/.353), he’s spent the majority of his time in pitchers’ parks like T-Mobile and the Coliseum. He’s a switch-hitter with a career .305/.396/.486 batting line in parts of five Triple-A seasons, and he has experience at third base, second base and (to a lesser extent) first base.

Toro gives the Red Sox some more depth in the infield as the team continues to face a glaring question at second base. Top prospect Kristian Campbell may eventually claim that spot as his own, but he’s versatile enough to handle shortstop or an outfield spot as well. He also still has only 19 games of Triple-A experience under his belt (though he showed brilliantly there). Other second base options for the Red Sox include David Hamilton, Vaughn Grissom, Romy Gonzalez, non-roster invitee Nate Eaton and top prospect Marcelo Mayer. It’s also feasible that oft-injured Trevor Story could move over to second base, though for now he’s still ticketed for regular work at shortstop.

Eight Players Elect Free Agency

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As the offseason nears, a number of players elect minor league free agency each week. These players are separate from six-year MLB free agents, who’ll reach the open market five days after the conclusion of the World Series. Eligible minor leaguers can begin electing free agency as soon as the regular season wraps up. These players were all outrighted off a team’s 40-man roster during the year and have the requisite service time and/or multiple career outrights necessary to reach free agency since they weren’t added back to teams’ rosters.

Electing free agency is the anticipated outcome for these players. There’ll surely be more to test the market in the coming weeks. We’ll offer periodic updates at MLBTR. These transactions are all reflected on the MiLB.com or MLB.com logs.

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Athletics Outright Abraham Toro

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Aug. 28: Toro went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Las Vegas, the A’s announced.

Aug. 27: The Athletics announced that they have reinstated infielder Jacob Wilson from the 10-day injured list and recalled infielder Armando Alvarez. They had optioned infielder Darell Hernaiz after last night’s game, opening one roster spot. They opened another by designating infielder Abraham Toro for assignment.

Toro, 27, was acquire from the Brewers in November, just prior to the non-tender deadline. Presumably, the Brewers were considering cutting him loose but the A’s were willing to give him a shot and sent minor league pitcher Chad Patrick the other way.

For a while, it looked like a shrewd pickup for Oakland. Toro and the A’s agreed to a salary of $1.275MM for this year, not far above the $740K league minimum, and he came with two extra years of potential club control as well. Through the end of May, he was hitting .288/.332/.429 for a wRC+ of 118 while bouncing around to all the non-shortstop infield positions as well as the outfield corners.

But things have fallen off dramatically since then, as Toro is hitting .160/.228/.216 since the start of June. Perhaps the A’s had some hope of flipping him in a deadline trade, but that was complicated by the fact that he was on the injured list from June 22 to July 21 due to a strained left hamstring and wasn’t hitting much around that IL stint.

The A’s will give Toro’s playing time to younger players who are looking to get acclimated to the major leagues. Since Toro is out of options, the club couldn’t easily send him down to the minors, which has led to this DFA.

With the deadline now passed, the A’s will have to place Toro on waivers. Perhaps some club will be interested based on his early season results. The numbers have fallen off but the injury perhaps explains some of that. He also has a tiny .188 batting average on balls in play in that rough patch starting at the beginning of June, compared to a .333 BABIP he carried through the end of May. If any club likes him enough to put in a claim, he can be controlled through 2026.

If he passes through waivers unclaimed, he will likely stick with the A’s as non-roster depth. Since he has more than three years of service time, he has the right to elect free agency. But since he has fewer than five years of service, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary to do so. If he ends up sticking with the A’s in a non-roster capacity, he would become a free agent at season’s end, like all outrighted players with at least three years of service.

A’s Place Abraham Toro On 10-Day IL, Select Armando Alvarez

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11:17AM: The Athletics officially announced Toro’s IL placement and Alvarez’s selection.

7:54AM: Abraham Toro made an early exit from the Athletics’ 6-5 win over the Twins Friday, and manager Mark Kotsay told MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos (links to X) and other reporters that Toro will be placed on the 10-day injured list due to a hamstring strain.  Gallegos reports that infielder Armando Alvarez will have his contract selected from Triple-A Las Vegas to take Toro’s spot on the active roster, with no other corresponding move required since Oakland has space on its 40-man roster.

The A’s acquired Toro in a trade with the Brewers last November, as while Toro was a non-tender candidate for Milwaukee, he has become basically an everyday player in Oakland.  Toro has played mostly third base, while also getting a good dose of DH time, regular second base duty when Zack Gelof was on the IL, and a couple of games as a first baseman and left fielder.  In addition to this versatile fielding, Toro has hit .260/.303/.386 with six home runs over 295 plate appearances, translating to an exactly league-average 100 wRC+.

It’s a solid return for a player on a modest $1.275MM salary, and Toro is also under arbitration control through the 2026 season.  This cost-effective control could make Toro an interesting trade chip for the Athletics at the deadline, or make him likelier to stick around in Oakland as an inexpensive and useful part of the roster.  First things first, of course, Toro will have to return healthy before any consideration can be give to his trade potential, and the severity of his hamstring strain isn’t yet known.  Toro also missed a couple of other games earlier this week due to a sore shoulder.

Tyler Nevin and Aledmys Diaz will likely get the bulk of third base duty while Toro is sidelined, though the A’s might take the opportunity to give Alvarez some playing time.  Alvarez (who turns 30 next month) is getting his first look in the majors after eight pro seasons.

A 17th-round pick for the Yankees in the 2016 draft, Alvarez spent much of his career in New York’s farm system before joining the Giants on a minors deal in 2023, and then another minor league contract with the Athletics this past winter.  Alvarez has played almost all of the last four seasons at Triple-A and has been posting some quality numbers since 2022, including a .311/.401/.528 slash line across 187 PA for Las Vegas this season.

Since Darell Hernaiz and Brett Harris are both recovering from injury themselves, Alvarez became the next man up at third base with Toro hitting the IL.  Alvarez has spent the large majority of his career as a third baseman, though he has seen increasingly more time as a second baseman and first baseman over the last two seasons, as this boost in versatility could help him find a niche on a big league roster.

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