Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Bryan Mata

Red Sox Re-Sign Bryan Mata, Isaiah Campbell To Minor League Deals

By | at

The Red Sox brought back right-handers Isaiah Campbell and Bryan Mata on minor league contracts, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Both players were designated for assignment on Tuesday when the Sox added a pair of prospects to their 40-man roster.

Boston waited until tonight’s non-tender deadline to cut them loose, thereby sending them to free agency without needing to run them through waivers. They evidently had a handshake agreement with both pitchers to circle back to the organization without occupying a 40-man spot. Both pitchers will be in big league camp as non-roster invitees, per Cotillo.

Mata, 25, was once among the most highly-touted pitchers in the Boston system. The Venezuela native posted excellent numbers in the low minors and earned a 40-man roster spot after the 2020 season. He unfortunately hasn’t made it to the big leagues four years later, largely because of injury. Mata underwent Tommy John surgery early in the ’21 campaign. He hasn’t topped 83 innings in a minor league season since then.

A hamstring strain limited him to 22 2/3 innings between four minor league levels this year. Mata turned in a 4.37 ERA as he tried to work to the majors. He has allowed 4.87 earned runs per nine through 87 career Triple-A frames. Mata has struggled to throw strikes consistently, but he routinely posts huge ground-ball numbers.

Campbell, 27, also lost most of the season to injury. Acquired from the Mariners last offseason for infielder Luis Urías, he only pitched 6 2/3 innings in a Sox uniform. Campbell was blitzed for 13 runs in that small sample, a far cry from the 2.83 ERA he posted in 27 appearances for the Mariners as a rookie. The Arkansas product missed time with both a shoulder impingement and elbow inflammation amidst a difficult year. He fared much better in a limited sample in Triple-A, where he struck out 19 batters while allowing only four runs over 16 1/3 innings.

American League Non-Tenders: 11/22/24

By | at

The deadline to tender a contract to arbitration-eligible players is tonight at 7pm CT. Here’s a rundown of the players on American League teams that have been non-tendered today. This post will be updated as more decisions are revealed. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected salaries for all players eligible for arbitration last month. All players who are non-tendered before this evening’s deadline go directly into free agency, where they’re eligible to sign with any of MLB’s 30 clubs.

Onto the transactions…

  • The Angels announced that they have non-tendered left-hander Patrick Sandoval, infielder Eric Wagaman, as well as outfielders Jordyn Adams and Bryce Teodosio. You can read more about those moves here.
  • The Astros tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Athletics announced that they did not tender a contract to right-hander Dany Jiménez, who was projected for a $1MM salary. He posted a 4.91 in 25 appearances for the A’s in 2024. He struck out 21.4% of opponents but gave out walks at a 16.2% clip.
  • The Blue Jays are planning to non-tender righty Dillon Tate, per Ben Nicholson Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (X link). Tate was just claimed off waivers at the start of September and had a projected salary of $1.9MM. He’s a former fourth overall pick with some good numbers in his career but he missed most of 2023 due to injury and then posted a 4.66 ERA in 2024. The Jays are also non-tendering righty Jordan Romano, which you can read more about here.
  • The Guardians have non-tendered outfielder George Valera and right-hander Connor Gillispie, per Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com (X link). Both players were designated for assignment earlier this week.
  • The Mariners are going to non-tender outfielder Sam Haggerty, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). He was limited to just eight games in 2024 due to a torn achilles. He was only projected for a salary of $900K but the M’s have decided to move on. They also non-tendered infielder Josh Rojas and righties Austin Voth and JT Chargois, moves that are covered with more depth here.
  • The Orioles plan to non-tender right-hander Jacob Webb, per Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner (X link). Webb was projected for a salary of $1.7MM next year. The righty tossed 56 2/3 innings for the O’s in 2024 with a 3.02 ERA and 24.5% strikeout rate, but an 11.4% walk rate.
  • The Rays announced they have non-tendered outfielder Dylan Carlson as well as left-handers Tyler Alexander, Colin Poche and Richard Lovelady. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relayed the news (X link) prior to the official announcement. Carlson once seemed like a building block in St. Louis but his offense has declined for three straight years now and he was projected for a $2.7MM salary. Alexander was projected for $2.8MM and had a 5.10 ERA this year. Poche had a solid 3.86 ERA but was projected for $3.4MM. Lovelady was designated for assignment a few days ago.
  • The Rangers tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Red Sox announced that right-handers Bryan Mata and Isaiah Campbell were both non-tendered. Those two had been designated for assignment earlier this week.
  • The Royals tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Tigers announced that they have non-tendered infielder Eddys Leonard as well as right-handers Ricky Vanasco, Brendan White and Wilmer Flores. Three of those four were designated for assignment earlier this week. Flores, the lone exception, is the younger brother of the same-named Wilmer Flores of the Giants. The younger Flores was once a notable pitching prospect but was injured for most of 2024.
  • The Twins tendered contracts to their entire arbitration class.
  • The Yankees have non-tendered infielder Jon Berti, per Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). He was projected for a salary of $3.8MM. He was injured for much of the year and only got into 25 games. The Yankees also announced that they have non-tendered left-hander Tim Mayza, who was projected for a $4MM salary but had a 6.33 ERA in 2024.
  • The White Sox will non-tender first baseman/outfielder Gavin Sheets, which MLBTR covered earlier today. The Sox later announced Sheets and also that they non-tendered right-hander Enyel De Los Santos as well. De Los Santos was projected for a salary of $1.7MM but posted a 5.20 ERA this year.

Red Sox Designate Bryan Mata, Isaiah Campbell For Assignment

By | at

The Red Sox announced they’ve designated right-handers Bryan Mata and Isaiah Campbell for assignment. The moves create the necessary 40-man roster spots for the previously reported additions of Hunter Dobbins and Jhostynxon Garcia to the roster.

Mata, 25, was once among the most highly-touted pitchers in the Boston system. The Venezuela native posted excellent numbers in the low minors and earned a 40-man roster spot after the 2020 season. He unfortunately hasn’t made it to the big leagues four years later, largely because of injury. Mata underwent Tommy John surgery early in the ’21 campaign. He hasn’t topped 83 innings in a minor league season since then.

A hamstring strain limited him to 22 2/3 innings between four minor league levels this year. Mata turned in a 4.37 ERA as he tried to work to the majors. He has allowed 4.87 earned runs per nine through 87 career Triple-A frames. The Sox will likely non-tender him on Friday and try to bring him back on a minor league deal, but he could look for other opportunities if he hits free agency.

Campbell, 27, also lost most of the season to injury. Acquired from the Mariners last offseason for infielder Luis Urías, he only pitched 6 2/3 innings in a Sox uniform. Campbell was blitzed for 13 runs in that small sample, a far cry from the 2.83 ERA he posted in 27 appearances for the Mariners as a rookie. The Arkansas product missed time with both a shoulder impingement and elbow inflammation amidst a difficult year.

Dodgers Trade James Paxton To Red Sox

By | at

The Red Sox have added some depth to their rotation, acquiring lefty James Paxton from the Dodgers in exchange for minor league infielder Moises Bolivar, the teams announced Friday. Boston transferred right-hander Bryan Mata to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster. WEEI’s Rob Bradford reported yesterday that the Red Sox, who need some rotation stability and who employed Paxton from 2022-23, were expected to pursue him.

Paxton was something of a surprise DFA by the Dodgers. He’s made all 18 starts asked of him this season and posted a respectable, if unspectacular 4.43 earned run average. Those numbers closely mirror the 4.50 ERA he logged in a similar sample of 96 frames with Boston last season, but the rest of the 35-year-old’s profile doesn’t look nearly as strong.

After averaging 95.2 mph on his fastball with the Sox last season, Paxton is down to 93.2 mph in 2024. He’s seen his strikeout rate plummet from 24.6% to 16.4%, while his walk rate has soared from 8% to 12.3%. Paxton’s average exit velocity has also jumped by a mile and a half per hour, from 89.3 mph with the Sox to 90.8 mph with Los Angeles. His overall hard-hit rate has climbed in similar fashion, from 39.6% to 43.3%. He’s gotten by with a career-low .267 average on balls in play and homer-to-flyball rate that’s also notably lower than his career marks.

Whether Paxton can sustain his passable results with that lackluster array of under-the-hood numbers is far from clear, but the Sox also don’t necessarily need him to perform like an front-of-the-rotation arm. Boston’s depth behind Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, Nick Pivetta, Brayan Bello and Cooper Criswell is thin, and several of those arms (Houck, Crawford, Criswell) are either approaching or have already established new career-high workloads. Adding a stable back-end arm surely holds plenty of appeal for a team in that situation —  particularly given Paxton’s affordable contract.

Paxton inked a one-year deal with $7MM guaranteed and another $6MM in attainable bonuses. However, $3MM of that guarantee came in the form of an up-front signing bonus that’s already been paid out. He’s also already unlocked all $6MM of incentives ($2MM for making the Opening Day roster and another $4MM based on his number of games started). As such, the Red Sox will only owe him the prorated portion of that $4MM base between now and season’s end (approximately $1.42MM).

That modest sum bumps Boston’s payroll to an approximate $180MM. Their luxury-tax ledger is a good bit higher, checking in at an estimated $218.1MM prior to this swap (via RosterResource). Paxton will push the Sox just shy of $220MM, leaving chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and his staff about $17MM of breathing room between their current number and the first luxury tax threshold. Breslow & Co. should have ample room to make further additions, even if ownership is reluctant to cross that first tax threshold. Boston, in addition to seeking rotation depth, has been in the market for bullpen upgrades and a right-handed bat.

For the Dodgers, the trade of Paxton, who ranks third on their team in innings pitched, clearly isn’t a sign of selling. Los Angeles is in first place in the NL West and stands as a veritable lock to make the postseason. But the Dodgers also welcomed Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw back from the injured list this week.

That pair of high-quality veterans joins a youthful trio of Gavin Stone, Justin Wrobleski and River Ryan in the rotation at the moment, but the Dodgers are also expecting Yoshinobu Yamamoto to return in August and Walker Buehler to return sometime before season’s end. Between that depth and their outspoken pursuit of an “impact” starting pitcher on the trade market (in the words of general manager Brandon Gomes), Paxton was pushed out of the mix.

In exchange for the final two-plus months of Paxton’s services, the Dodgers will receive the 17-year-old Bolivar. He signed with the Red Sox as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela just this past January, receiving a bonus of $25K. He’s not considered a high-end prospect in Boston’s system, but that sort of lottery-ticket return is to be expected for a veteran pitcher who was designated for assignment.

Bolivar, already six feet tall and listed at 175 pounds, has gotten out to a strong start in his professional debut. He’s appeared in 31 games with the Red Sox’ Rookie-level Dominican Summer League affiliate and slashed .270/.364/.423 with three homers and nearly as many walks (17) as strikeouts (21). He’s a right-handed hitter who’s played primarily third base but has also logged 26 innings across the diamond at first base.

FanSided’s Robert Murray first reported that the two sides were engaged in trade talks. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported a deal had been finalized. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic and Alex Speier of the Boston Globe added details on the Dodgers’ return.

Red Sox Notes: Casas, Story, Mata, Hernandez

By | at

“It will be a while” before Triston Casas is ready for a minor league rehab assignment, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told the Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams and other reporters on Friday.  Casas hasn’t played since April 20 due to a rib fracture and torn rib cartilage, and he is already well beyond even the broad 3-to-9 week timeframe Casas initially floated three months ago, though the first baseman noted that the nature of the injury led to a lot of fluidity.

In yesterday’s update, Cora said Casas was taking soft toss swings and is hitting off a tee, but is still dealing with some nagging discomfort in his side.  Until that discomfort entirely subsides, Casas and the Sox can’t really move forward with any kind of concrete plan for even a steadier ramp-up, let alone any minor league rehab work.  Cora did say that Casas would play again in 2024, but “we don’t know yet” when a return was feasible.

Casas finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2023, and was off to a hot start (.244/.344/.513 with six home runs) in his first 90 plate appearances this season.  Dominic Smith and several other players have gotten time at first base in Casas’ absence, but since nobody has been producing, it stands to reason that the Red Sox could target a first base-capable player at the deadline if Casas is still several weeks away from factoring into the club’s plans.

Some more unexpected later-season reinforcements could come from Trevor Story, who told reporters (including MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam) on Friday that he and the Red Sox were “having conversations about” Story getting back onto the field before the 2024 campaign is over.  Both Story and Cora stopped short of saying that a return was in the cards, yet it is notable that Story has made such quality progress rehabbing what was thought to be a season-ending shoulder surgery in April.

“Just getting the strength back and getting the motion back…I’ve made a lot of really good strides there,” Story said.  “It’s close, man.  It’s close.  Especially from how it was early on.  It was not in good shape.  It’s been a crazy turnaround the last month and a half and we’re riding that momentum.”

Story injured his shoulder while diving for a grounder in just his eighth game of the season, continuing what has been an injury-plagued tenure in Boston for the former All-Star.  Since inking a six-year, $140MM free agent deal in March 2022, Story has played in only 145 games — UCL surgery cost him all but 43 games of the 2023 season, and wrist and heel injuries limited him to 94 appearances in 2022.  Unsurprisingly, these health woes have led to subpar performance when Story has been able to play, as he has a modest .227/.288/.394 slash line in 598 PA in a Red Sox uniform.

Bryan Mata is also no stranger to injuries, as Tommy John surgery and a teres major strain sidelined him for most of the 2021-23 seasons.  This year, hamstring and lat problems emerged to keep Mata again spending most of the year rehabbing, and now his latest rehab assignment has been halted due to right elbow inflammation.  Mata was right at the end of the 30-day window for that assignment, though his latest injury now resets the clock and Mata will be able to start another 30-day rehab assignment when he is able to get back onto the mound.

Though he has yet to make his MLB debut, Mata is out of minor league options, leaving Boston in a bit of a quandary when it comes to his future.  The Red Sox can’t assign him to the minors without first designating the right-hander for assignment and exposing him to waivers, so when Mata is finally ready to play, the Red Sox will have to put him on the active roster or go the DFA route.

While getting healthy has obviously been more important than the on-field results during Mata’s rehab work, he has a 4.50 ERA over 22 total innings for four different Red Sox minor league affiliates this season, with a 19.15% strikeout rate.  It isn’t nearly the form that Mata showed in his past days as one of Boston’s top pitching prospects, and with another setback again stopping his progress, it is still a question about when or even if Mata might eventually surface as part of the team’s big league staff.

In other Red Sox news, the team was known to have been interested in Teoscar Hernandez last offseason, and the slugger said this week in an appearance on the Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast (hat tip to WEEI’s Rob Bradford) that the Sox and Dodgers were the two finalists for his services.  Hernandez said the Red Sox offered a two-year, $28MM contract, but he instead opted for a one-year, $23.5MM deal with Los Angeles.

“At the end, I thought [the Red Sox] were going to make it, but unfortunately they had to wait because they had to make some moves and other stuff,” Hernandez said.  “I couldn’t wait any longer, so that’s why I decide at the moment to go to the Dodgers.”

Hernandez went into the winter seeking a three-year contract, but when neither Boston or any other suitor was willing to guarantee a third year, he instead opted for the one-year contract with the Dodgers, to allow for a chance at a rebound season and a quick return to free agency next winter.  The strategy has worked out quite well, as Hernandez has hit 19 homers with a .261/.326/.476 slash in 406 PA for Los Angeles, and now has a much stronger case for a three-year pact as he enters his age-32 season.

Beyond the contractual logistics, Hernandez also admitted that the Dodgers’ win-now approach and track record of success further attracted him to the organization, though he was quick to note that “the Red Sox are really good right now and they have amazing players.”  The Sox and newly-hired chief baseball officer Craig Breslow were often criticized for their relatively low-key offseason that didn’t see a lot of high-dollar splurges, yet Boston has a 53-43 record and is in possession of an AL wild card berth.

Red Sox Notes: Casas, Hendriks, Mata

By | at

In an odd moment of miscommunication earlier this month, Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas told reporters earlier this month that he had begun to take dry swings while rehabbing torn cartilage in his midsection. That was exciting news regarding the 24-year-old’s progress, but MassLive’s Sean McAdam noted earlier this week that Casas’s previous comments do not appear to have been entirely accurate.

“Oh, no, just in my mind,” Casas said (as relayed by McAdam) when asked to elaborate on his previous comments about taking swings. “Without a bat, just in my head. I’ve taken thousands of at-bats like that. I feel great.”

Despite Casas’s previously reported step towards swinging a bat apparently having been entirely imaginary, McAdam noted that the slugger had truly resumed swinging on Wednesday, when he swung a bat 20 times after an MRI the previous day revealed that his ribcage had healed properly. As noted by MassLive’s Christopher Smith earlier today, manager Alex Cora told reporters that Casas has subsequently ramped up to 30 swings and is feeling some “general soreness” as he kicks back into gear and prepares for his return to the majors. Cora went on to suggest that the soreness may not impact Casas’s timeline much, adding that he might resume swinging as soon as tomorrow and could continue to do some baseball activity today. Despite the soreness not being much of an issue, however, Cora suggested that it’s unlikely that the first baseman will return to action in the majors before the All Star break.

Thats not necessarily shocking, given the fact that Casas hasn’t seen game action since late April and will surely need a rehab assignment to get back up to speed. While that post-All Star break target is a far cry from the July 2nd date Casas floated for his return earlier this month, its not necessarily surprising that he would be about two weeks behind that schedule given the fact that he didn’t start swinging a bat until about two weeks after he first indicated he was resuming doing so.

Regardless of the unusual situation, Casas’s return is sure to provide a shot in the arm for a Red Sox club that has enjoyed a 10-4 record over their last 14 games. Despite that strong recent performance vaulting them firmly into the AL Wild Card mix alongside teams like the Royals and Twins, Boston’s offense has posted a relatively pedestrian wRC+ of just 102 since Casas went down with injury, and Dominic Smith has slashed a paltry .209/.308/.317 (78 wRC+) in 47 games filling in for Casas at first base. That’s a far cry from the production the young slugger offered when healthy in the first month of the season, as Casas will boast a .244/.344/.513 slash line on the season when he returns to the lineup, although that came in a sample size of just 90 trips to the plate.

Casas isn’t the only potentially impactful piece who’s on the road to recovery from injury. Veteran closer Liam Hendriks, who the Red Sox signed to a two-year, $10MM guarantee over the winter, underwent Tommy John surgery back in August of last year when he was still a member of the White Sox but has long been targeting a return to the big league mound around or shortly after this year’s trade deadline, which has been set for July 30. Hendriks has been making solid progress in that pursuit, as Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reported that after throwing a 15-pitch bullpen session earlier this week he followed it up with a 20-pitch bullpen yesterday. McCaffrey added that Hendriks said that he was “feeling good” following yesterday’s and that the plan is for him to move up from two bullpen sessions to three next week before determining next steps beyond that.

Seeing as Hendriks has already resumed throwing, it seems likely that he would be on pace to return sometime in August as previously expected. While the 35-year-old was limited to just five innings of work last year between his aforementioned Tommy John surgery and a battle with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that caused him to miss the first half of the season, the veteran hurler has long been regarded as one of the league’s top bullpen arms. From 2019 to 2022, Hendriks pitched to a sensational 2.26 ERA (188 ERA+) and 2.13 FIP while striking out an eye-popping 38.8% of batters faced in a combined 239 innings of work. Adding a player with that sort of resume to a bullpen that’s already employs Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin in the late innings could make for a lethal three-headed monster at the back of the Red Sox bullpen down the stretch if Hendriks is able to stay on track and return healthy.

Joining Hendriks in working his way back from a largely lost 2023 season is right-hander Bryan Mata, who pitched just 27 innings last year due to a strained teres major muscle. The right-hander and former top prospect for the Red Sox has yet to make his big league debut, but is a particularly interesting case given the fact that he is out of options and will need to either be added to the club’s active roster or subjected to waivers once healthy enough to return to action. It’s long been considered unlikely that Mata would clear waivers without being claimed by another club, meaning that 30 days after Mata begins a rehab assignment, the Red Sox will need to make a decision regarding his future in the organization.

As noted by Smith earlier this afternoon, Mata began a rehab assignment for the club earlier this month and reached the Triple-A level on Thursday. The right-hander impressed in 2 2/3 innings of work as his fastball reached 97.8 mph, though he surrendered two runs on two hits and a walk during the appearance. He’ll follow that performance up with another rehab start with Worcester this coming Tuesday. That pattern figures to continue for the remainder of his rehab assignment, as Cora told reporters (including Smith) that the club plans to keep Mata on a starter’s schedule but limit him two or three innings per appearance.

While Mata hasn’t enjoyed much success amid injury-marred campaigns in 2023 and 2024, it’s not hard to see why the Red Sox would want to keep the righty in the fold. After all, it was just two seasons ago when the youngster dazzled with 83 innings of work spread across four levels of the minors that saw him post a 2.49 ERA while striking out 30.3% of batters faced. If he can post anything close to those numbers in the majors, even in a bullpen role, he would surely be a valuable asset to the Red Sox as they attempt to chase their first playoff appearance since 2021.

Red Sox Notes: Jansen, O’Neill, Mata

By | at

Red Sox closer Kenley Jansen frequently found his name in the rumor mill all throughout the winter as the club reportedly fielded offers on the veteran in the run-up to Spring Training. No deal ultimately materialized, but that doesn’t mean the team has shifted gears. As relayed by Bob Nightengale of USA Today this morning, the Red Sox still “plan” to trade Jansen before the trade deadline with Nightengale adding that the club isn’t interested in bringing him back for the 2025 campaign.

It’s not necessarily a surprise that the Red Sox would still have interest in dealing Jansen given their efforts to shop him this winter. Boston is currently at .500 with a 26-26 record that places them ten games out in the AL East, making the club passing the Yankees and Orioles for a division title appear unlikely at best. The club’s odds at a Wild Card spot are somewhat better, as they sit just 2.5 games back of the Twins for the third spot, but Boston has shown a willingness to deal rental pieces even while on the fringes of playoff contention in recent years such as when they traded away catcher Christian Vazquez at the 2022 trade deadline despite a 52-52 record.

As for Jansen, the 36-year-old has posted a solid season for the Red Sox to this point with a 3.24 ERA and a 2.59 FIP with eight saves in nine chances across 17 appearances. On the other hand, Jansen’s 13.9% walk rate is surely concerning to potential buyers even in spite of the righty offsetting it with a strong 29.2% strikeout rate. Those control issues combined with Jansen’s hefty $16MM salary this season could make the veteran righty a less attractive piece to clubs in need of relief help than other alternatives who would be unlikely to boast Jansen’s track record but could come with better peripherals and less of a financial burden.

Speculatively speaking, outfielder Tyler O’Neill could be another piece the Red Sox make available in the event they sell this summer given his status as a pending free agent. O’Neill got off to a scorching start in April with nine home runs in 21 games but has crashed back to Earth in the month of May, hitting just .151/.244/.301 over his last 82 trips to the plate. O’Neill added some context to his recent struggles following an incident during yesterday’s game where his knee collided with the Green Monster in left field, causing him to leave the game due to soreness.

O’Neill told reporters (including The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey) after the game that his knee had already been bothering him prior to last night’s incident and that it has “probably” affected his swing, although he remains day-to-day and it’s unclear if he’ll require a trip to the injured list. Rob Refsnyder and Garrett Cooper could be among the players to take over O’Neill’s spot in the lineup should he miss time due to the issue.

Also dealing with injury issues is right-hander Bryan Mata, who is out of options but has yet to make his big league debut due to a hamstring string that’s kept him from playing this season. The righty recently began a rehab assignment in the minor leagues, but that assignment hit a snag on Thursday when he began to experience some soreness in his lat. As noted by MassLive’s Christopher Smith, the Red Sox initially believed the soreness to be in his shoulder and his lat but Mata has since clarified that he’s only feeling an issue in his lat.

Smith notes that manager Alex Cora indicated to reporters on Friday that Mata is “likely” to be pulled from his rehab assignment, a move that kick the club’s decision on Mata’s future further down the road. Mata can only be on a rehab assignment for 30 days before the Red Sox must either recall the righty to the big league roster or designate him for assignment, but that clock will reset if he’s pulled from his rehab assignment and begins another one at a later date. Mata has made just twelve appearances across all levels of the minors since the end of the 2022 season but looked excellent across three levels of the minors that year, pitching to a 2.49 ERA in 83 innings of work.

AL East Notes: Mata, Mayo, Gausman

By | at

The Red Sox are approaching a crossroads with regards to right-hander Bryan Mata. As noted by Chris Cotillo of MassLive, Mata has begun a rehab assignment as he works his way back from a hamstring strain that he suffered back in February. The 25-year-old was once one of the club’s top pitching prospects but has struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness over the past two seasons, pitching to a combined 6.39 ERA in 31 innings of work across all levels of he minors since the start of the 2023 campaign.

While the rehab assignment for a struggling pitcher who has yet to make his big league debut wouldn’t typically be especially notable, Mata’s rehab assignment is particularly worth noting because the righty is out of options. Given that, the Red Sox will have to make a decision regarding his future in the organization once his rehab clock runs out on June 12. If the club isn’t willing to offer Mata a spot on the active roster, they’ll need to designate him for assignment and risk losing him on waivers to get the chance to outright the young righty to the minor leagues. MassLive’s Sean McAdam reported back in February that the Red Sox expect Mata to be claimed if he’s exposed to waivers, though it’s possible that could change depending on how he looks throughout his rehab assignment.

Losing Mata on waivers would be a frustrating outcome for the Red Sox given the tantalizing talent he flashed prior to injuries sidetracking his career. In his most recent healthy season, the right-hander pitched to a strong 2.49 ERA in 83 innings while advancing through four levels of the minor leagues, including a 1.85 ERA in 10 appearances at the Double-A level and a 3.47 ERA in five starts at Triple-A. That season, Mata struck out a whopping 30.3% of batters faced, albeit with an elevated 13.3% walk rate. If the righty can get anything close to those huge strikeout numbers during his rehab assignment, it could certainly make sense for the club to offer him a role in the bullpen given the number of optionable relief arms they’re currently utilizing.

More from around the AL East…

  • Orioles fans received some tough news from down on the farm on Friday, when the club announced that top third base prospect Coby Mayo suffered a fractured rib and has been placed on the minor league injured list. The Orioles indicated that Mayo will be out for “several weeks” due to the injury. It’s a frustrating setback for the 22-year-old, who is a consensus top-30 prospect in the sport and has impressed with a .291/.359/.605 slash line in 42 games at the Triple-A level this year. It was certainly plausible that the club could turn to Mayo as a starting option at some point in the near future given his fantastic play and the struggles of fellow top prospect Jackson Holliday, though this injury surely represents a setback for Mayo’s timeline to be called up to the majors. Jorge Mateo is currently rounding out the club’s starting infield mix in the majors alongside youngsters Jordan Westburg and Gunnar Henderson.
  • Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman has been off to a rough start this season, with a 4.89 ERA through nine starts despite a decent 3.50 FIP. Gausman’s struggles this season are particularly surprising given his utter dominance in recent years; from 2021 to ’23, the right-hander pitched to a 3.10 ERA (132 ERA+) with an even better 2.79 FIP. Gausman spoke to reporters (including MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson) yesterday about his frustrating results this season and described the campaign as an “uphill battle” to this point before suggesting that he “probably should have gone on the IL” at the start of the season. The righty battled shoulder soreness throughout Spring Training but nonetheless opened the season in the club’s rotation amid injuries sidelining much of the club’s starting pitching depth, including Alek Manoah and Yariel Rodriguez.

Red Sox Select Joely Rodriguez, Naoyuki Uwasawa

By | at

The Red Sox announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contracts of left-hander Joely Rodriguez and right-hander Naoyuki Uwasawa — the latter of whom was just acquired from the Rays yesterday. Rodriguez will head straight to the MLB roster, while Uwasawa has been optioned to extended spring training. Righty Liam Hendriks (recovering from Tommy John surgery) and southpaw Chris Murphy (UCL sprain) have been placed on the 60-day IL to create 40-man roster space. Boston also placed righty Bryan Mata (hamstring strain) on the 15-day IL and placed infielder Vaughn Grissom (hamstring strain) and utilityman Rob Refsnyder (broken toe) on the 10-day IL.

Rodriguez, 32, was with the Sox in 2023 but pitched just 11 innings due to oblique, shoulder and hip injuries that combined to result in three different stints on the injured list. He posted a 6.55 ERA in his short time on the mound, striking out 27.5% of his opponents against an 11.8% walk rate and 45.2% ground-ball rate. He re-signed with the Sox on a minor league deal and turned in a strong showing this spring, holding opponents to a pair of runs on nine hits and three walks with nine strikeouts in seven innings of relief. He also recorded a massive 61.9% ground-ball rate.

Looking beyond last year’s struggles, Rodriguez has a decent track record in recent years. From 2020-22, Rodriguez pitched 109 1/3 frames between the Rangers, Yankees and Mets, working to a 4.28 ERA with even more encouraging secondary marks. Rodriguez fanned 25.5% of his opponents in that time and induced grounders at a huge 55.7% clip. His 10.3% walk rate was still a couple ticks north of the league average, but the lefty offered an enticing blend of missed bats and grounders while excelling at keeping the ball in the park (0.58 HR/9). Metrics like FIP (3.14) and SIERA (3.51) were rather bullish on his work.

Uwasawa, 30, has a long track record of success in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball but inked a minor league pact with the Rays over the winter. He most recently tossed 170 innings with a 2.96 ERA in NPB, though that strong mark was accompanied by a lackluster 17.8% strikeout rate and sub-par velocity. Last September, MLBTR contributor Dai Takegami Podziewski noted that Uwasawa’s fastball velocity was averaging 90.8 mph during the 2023 NPB season. Uwasawa does boast a strong 7.5% walk rate, which dropped as low as 5.9% in 2023, but he’s generally viewed as a soft-tossing finesse pitcher.

It was a rocky spring for Uwasawa, who was torched for seven runs in two innings during his debut with the Rays. He had one more rough outing and a pair of solid appearances, and the Sox got a first-hand look at him as they were his opponent in two of his four official spring outings. Uwasawa finished up his Grapefruit League campaign with a grisly 13.03, thanks largely to that first meltdown, but his track record in Japan and low cost of acquisition make him a reasonable enough flier for a Red Sox club that is thin on pitching depth after trading Chris Sale and seeing Lucas Giolito and the aforementioned Murphy go down with UCL injuries.

Red Sox Notes: Crawford, Mata, Yoshida

By | at

While the Red Sox indicated early in the offseason that addressing the starting rotation would be a priority for the club this winter, it seems they’ll go into the 2024 season having only swapped out Chris Sale for Lucas Giolito, at least barring a late bid for Jordan Montgomery. Should the club stick with its internal options for the rotation mix, Sean McAdam of MassLive relayed comments from manager Alex Cora regarding the state of the rotation yesterday. Per McAdam, Cora suggested that right-handers Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello, and Nick Pivetta are all locked into the rotation to open the season. Meanwhile, McAdam adds that Cora indicated Kutter Crawford would have a “leg up” over each of Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck, and Josh Winckowski in the battle for the final two rotation spots.

That Giolito and Bello are locked into rotation spots entering the season is hardly a surprise, given the pair are the only two hurlers on the club’s staff to make at least 25 starts last year. Likewise, it’s hardly a surprise to hear that Whitlock, Houck, and Winckowski are under consideration for a role at the back of the club’s rotation. Each righty made at least one start for the club last year and the trio of young hurlers all figure to be key pieces of the club’s pitching plans this season, whether in starting roles or in relief.

That being said, it’s something of a surprise that Cora indicated Pivetta has a more firm grasp on a rotation spot than Crawford. The 31-year-old Pivetta was dominant for the Red Sox in a multi-inning relief last year with a 3.05 ERA in 55 2/3 innings of work, while he pitched to a far more pedestrian 4.66 ERA in sixteen starts in 2023. Crawford, by contrast, Made 23 starts for the Red Sox last year and pitched to a 4.20 ERA with an excellent 3.64 FIP after joining the rotation full time in early June. Cora’s characterization of Crawford’s position in the rotation mix also represent a slight departure from comments chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made last month, where he suggested that Giolito, Bello, Pivetta, and Crawford all were set to enter camp as members of the rotation.

More from around Red Sox camp…

  • Right-hander Bryan Mata has been shut down due to a pulled hamstring, Alex Cora told reporters (including MassLive’s Chris Cotillo) this morning. A timetable for Mata’s return is not yet clear. The 24-year-old right-hander has not yet made his big league debut but figured to enter Spring Training with a strong chance to earn a job in the club’s bullpen this spring. Mata does not have options remaining, meaning that he must be carried on the club’s active roster or else designated for assignment and exposed to waivers, running the risk that a rival club would claim him. If Mata’s absence proves to be a lengthy one, of course, he could open the season on the 15- or 60-day injured list, thereby delaying the need for Boston to make a decision regarding his future.
  • WEEI’s Rob Bradford spoke to outfielder Masataka Yoshida today, and Yoshida revealed that he underwent surgery on his jaw shortly after the 2023 season. According to Yoshida, the issue didn’t “necessarily” impact him from a baseball perspective during the 2023 season, though he noted that the surgery alleviated discomfort that nagged him during everyday use of his jaw. Yoshida appeared in 140 games for Boston during his first MLB season last year, slashing a respectable .289/.338/.445 in the first year of his five-year, $90MM pact with the Red Sox. Yoshida figures to look to improve on his 2023 campaign this season after he slowed down a bit in the second half last year, slashing just .254/.278/.386 over his final 62 games after entering the All Star break with an excellent .316/.382/.492 slash line.
Show all

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

hide arrows scroll to top