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Dominic Smith

Reds To Sign Dominic Smith

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The Reds are signing first baseman Dominic Smith to a major league deal, per Jeff Passan of ESPN on X. He was released by the Red Sox earlier this week. Whenever the deal becomes official, the Reds will need to make a corresponding move or moves to get Smith onto their active and 40-man rosters.

Smith, 29, was signed by the Red Sox to replace an injured Triston Casas at first base. He was a solid but not outstanding fill-in for Boston. He got into 84 games and hit .237/.317/.390 for a wRC+ of 95. That indicates he was 5% worse than league average at the plate, hardly disastrous but also not great for a position that generally has high offensive expectations.

When Casas returned from the IL, the Sox designated him for assignment. As a veteran player, he had more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment, so the Sox skipped that formality and released him. He became a free agent, allowing him to now sign with the Reds.

The club in Cincinnati has been hovering around contention and clearly still considers themselves to be in it. Though they traded Frankie Montas to the Brewers at the deadline, among other moves, they also added first baseman Ty France from the Mariners. Since the deadline, they claimed infielder Amed Rosario off waivers from the Dodgers and have now brought Smith into the mix as well.

Adding France and now Smith is due to the first base spot taking a few hits this year. Jeimer Candelario recently landed on the injured list due to a toe fracture while Christian Encarnacion-Strand has been out for months due to wrist surgery. Spencer Steer can also play some first but he’s been in the outfield mix lately.

With France and Smith both on the roster, perhaps one will be at first base and the other in the designated hitter slot, but a platoon is also possible. Smith is a lefty and has a career .245/.311/.417 line and 98 wRC+ with the platoon advantage, along with a .254/.324/.367 line and 92 wRC+ without it. France is a righty with fairly neutral platoon splits in his career, though there’s a wider gap this year. He has slashed .244/.358/.389 against lefties in 2024 for a 122 wRC+, .221/.293/.362 against righties for a 90 wRC+.

The Reds are 5.5 games back of a Wild Card spot in the National League right now, but would have to leapfrog five different clubs to snag a spot. If they manage to succeed, Smith will be eligible for their postseason roster since he’s being signed prior to September 1.

Red Sox Release Dominic Smith

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The Red Sox announced Tuesday that they’ve released first baseman Dominic Smith, whom they designated for assignment earlier in the week when reinstating fellow first baseman Triston Casas from the injured list.

Smith, 29, joined the Sox back in May after Casas went down with a rib fracture. He wound up appearing in 83 games and tallying 278 plate appearances with a .237/.317/.390 batting line. Smith smacked six homers and 20 doubles along the way while walking at a solid 9% clip and fanning at a 23.4% rate that’s a bit higher than the league average. By measure of wRC+, Smith was about 5% worse than a league-average bat at the plate during his time with the BoSox.

From a defensive standpoint, Smith is something of a mixed bag. Defensive Runs Saved had him as a positive last year but pegs him at -2 in 2024. Statcast’s Outs Above Average has had him slightly above-average in each of the past three seasons but below-average in his career overall. It’s fair to suggest Smith has improved his glovework over the years, but he’s still not a standout defensive player at his position.

Drafted 11th overall by the 2013 Mets, Smith was a longtime top prospect and looked to be making good on that billing in 2019-20, when he slashed .299/.366/.571 with 21 homers in a combined 139 games and 396 plate appearances.

After that strong showing, however, Smith’s offense has cratered. He admitted after the fact that he tried to play through a small tear in the labrum of his right shoulder during the 2021 season, which surely impacted his performance at the dish. An ankle injury in 2022 also hampered him. Overall, Smith carries a feeble .242/.312/.361 batting line in 1509 plate appearances since that 2019-20 showing, with this year’s stint in Boston standing as his most productive stretch in the four years since.

Red Sox Designate Dominic Smith For Assignment

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3:00pm: The Sox have formally announced Smith’s DFA and the reinstatement of Casas from the 60-day IL. Boston also reinstated Cooper Criswell from the injured list and optioned righty Chase Shugart to Triple-A Worcester.

2:10pm: The Red Sox will designate first baseman Dominic Smith for assignment today, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. Smith’s DFA will presumably clear the way for Triston Casas to be reinstated from the 60-day IL — as has been previously reported — and reclaim the everyday first base job in Boston.

Smith opted out of a minor league deal with the Rays back on May 1 when a big league spot with the Red Sox became available in the wake of Casas’ injury. He’s hardly replaced the offensive contributions that Casas can offer, but Smith hasn’t been too far off a league-average bat in Boston, slashing .237/.317/.390 with six homers and 20 doubles in 278 plate appearances. By measure of wRC+, he’s only been about 5% worse than average at the dish.

Still, for an offensively inclined position like first base, that’s not much production — particularly since Smith also grades out as an average defender at best. Defensive Runs Saved had him as a positive last year but pegs him at -2 in 2024. Statcast’s Outs Above Average has had him slightly above-average in each of the past three seasons but below-average in his career overall. It’s fair to suggest Smith has improved his glovework over the years, but he’s still not a standout defensive player at his position.

Now that he’s been designated for assignment, Smith will be either outrighted or released. It’s unlikely he’ll be claimed by another club, but he could latch on elsewhere on a new deal once he clears waivers. The Red Sox would be responsible for the remainder of his contract, minus the prorated minimum for any time spent on his new club’s big league roster/injured list.

Smith hasn’t lived up to his former top prospect billing, but he did have an impressive 2019-20 run that saw him slash .299/.366/.571 with 21 homers in 396 plate appearances. His bat has cratered with a .242/.312/.361 output in the four seasons since that time — numbers that roughly align with his results during his 84-game stint with the Red Sox. Smith reached six years of big league service while with the Sox, so he’ll be a free agent again at season’s end regardless of who signs him for the season’s final few weeks.

Red Sox Designate Vladimir Gutierrez For Assignment

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The Red Sox announced that they have signed first baseman Dominic Smith to a one-year contract. He’ll take the roster spot of outfielder/designated hitter Masataka Yoshida, who has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a left thumb sprain, retroactive to April 29. To open a 40-man spot for Smith, right-hander Vladimir Gutierrez has been designated for assignment. Prior to the official announcement, manager Álex Cora announced that Yoshida was heading to the IL on Jones & Mego. Hat tip to Rob Bradford of WEEI. The Sox adding Smith was reported on earlier today.

Yoshida, 30, has hit .275/.348/.388 so far this year. That’s fairly comparable to last year’s production, when he hit .289/.338/.445 in his first season after coming over from Japan. He departed Sunday’s game after jamming his hand during an at-bat, per Christopher Smith of MassLive. Smith relayed yesterday that Yoshida would be getting an MRI, which seems to have revealed this injury.

Though the Sox won’t be happy to lose Yoshida’s bat, his absence will give them a bit of lineup flexibility. He has primarily been serving as the designated hitter this year, with just one inning in left field. They can now use that DH spot to rotate various players through based on health and matchups.

With Triston Casas on the injured list and unlikely to return any time soon, the Sox have been looking outside the organization for help at first base. They acquired Garrett Cooper from the Cubs but he himself is banged up after getting hit by a pitch last night on his arm last night. Chris Cotillo of MassLive relayed that Cooper is just bruised and is going to be okay but it’s possible he may need a day or two to rest up.

With Smith now on the roster, he can perhaps cover for Cooper as he is on the mend. With Yoshida out, the Sox could have both Smith and Cooper in the lineup via the DH slot, if they so choose. Both players have a bit of outfield experience but neither of them are considered strong defenders on the grass.

To get Smith onto the roster, the Sox have cut Gutierrez. The 28-year-old was acquired from the Brewers in a cash deal a couple of weeks ago. The Red Sox have kept him down in Triple-A on optional assignment since then, where he has pitched six innings over three appearances, allowing four earned runs while striking out seven but walking eight.

The Sox will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He’s been bouncing around the league quite a bit this year. He signed a minor league deal with the Marlins in February and was selected to their roster in the first few days of the season. He was designated for assignment and went to the Brewers on a waiver claim, before being DFA’d again and getting flipped to the Red Sox. That makes today his third DFA in roughly a month.

The Cuban righty joined affiliated ball by signing with the Reds as a 21-year-old, earning a bonus of $4.75MM. He made his major league debut in 2021 with 114 innings over 22 starts, posting a 4.74 earned run average that year while striking out just 17.7% of batters faced. He struggled in 2022 before requiring Tommy John surgery in June of that year, wiping out the remainder of that season and most of his 2023. The Reds outrighted him off their roster at the end of last year, which led to his minor league deal with Miami.

Dominic Smith Opts Out Of Rays Deal, Will Sign With Red Sox

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11:54am: Smith is indeed set to join the Red Sox’ big league roster, per the Globe’s Julian McWilliams. The Sox will need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move to make his signing official.

11:32am: The Rays granted first baseman Dominic Smith his release after he triggered an opt-out in his minor league deal, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. A big league opportunity with another club arose for Smith, per Topkin. Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe further reports that the Red Sox “look like the next destination” for Smith after he opted out of that deal with Tampa Bay. He’ll be the second addition to the big league roster for the Sox, who acquired infielder Zack Short from the Mets in exchange for cash less than one hour ago.

Boston recently lost first baseman Triston Casas to a rib fracture that’s expected to sideline him for a considerable period of time. The Sox acquired veteran Garrett Cooper in the aftermath of that injury, but he took a 95 mph fastball off his wrist/forearm last night and exited the game. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo tweets that Cooper is thankfully only bruised and does not have any fractures following that incident. Smith will give Boston some additional depth and a potential platoon partner for the righty-swinging Cooper.

Through 29 games and 81 plate appearances with the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate in Durham, Smith had posted a .263/.337/.375 batting line with a pair of homers and three doubles. He’s fanned in an uncharacteristic 29.2% of his plate appearances, but strikeouts typically haven’t been a glaring concern for the veteran, who’s fanned in 21.7% of his nearly 2000 MLB plate appearances.

Smith, 28, was a first-round pick, longtime top prospect and (more briefly) a quality run producer for the Mets prior to being non-tendered in the 2022-23 offseason. From 2019-20, Smith treated the Mets to a stellar .299/.366/.571 batting line in 396 trips to the plate. He swatted 21 homers and connected on 31 doubles in that time before stumbling to a .643 OPS over his next two seasons and being cut loose. He signed with the Nationals in the 2022-23 offseason but posted a middling .254/.326/.366 batting line with a dozen homers in his lone year in the nation’s capitol.

Rays Agree To Minor League Deal With Dominic Smith

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The Rays have signed first baseman Dominic Smith to a minor league contract, FanSided’s Robert Murray reports (X link).  Smith’s latest trip in free agency didn’t last long, as he opted out of his previous minors deal with the Cubs just over a week ago.

With both Josh Lowe and Jonathan Aranda on the injured list, the Rays are thin in left-handed hitters, and also thin at first base since Aranda was expected to get some time at the position.  The lefty-swinging Austin Shenton was called up to be part of Tampa Bay’s Opening Day roster, though Smith provides a more experienced alternative who might represent Shenton’s ticket back to the minors after just a cup of coffee in the big leagues (Shenton has yet to officially make his MLB debut).

Smith has been non-tendered in each of the last two offseasons, with the first coming when the Mets cut him loose following the 2022 campaign.  New York selected Smith 11th overall in the 2013 draft, and seemed to living up to that potential when he hit .299/.366/.571 with 21 homers over 396 plate appearances in 2019-20.  Smith’s performance in the abbreviated 2020 season even earned him some down-ballot MVP support, but injuries contributed to a big dip in production over the next two seasons.  The Nationals signed Smith to a one-year, $2MM guarantee last winter, though he hit only .254/.326/.366 with 12 home runs in 586 PA for Washington.

After the deal with the Cubs didn’t pan out, signing with Tampa Bay represents yet another fresh start for Smith, who is still just 28 years old.  The Rays’ history of successful reclamation projects makes it possible that Smith might yet enjoy a post-hype breakout at this later stage of his career, but for now Smith will be focused just on getting back to the majors and earning regular at-bats.

Dominic Smith To Opt Out Of Minors Deal With Cubs

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First baseman Dominic Smith is opting out of his minor league deal with the Cubs, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN.

Smith, 29 in June, is primarily a first baseman. The Mets moved him to left field for a while since Pete Alonso took hold of the first base job, but Smith graded poorly out there and eventually moved back to first base with the Nationals last year.

The Cubs are likely going to give a lot of run to Michael Busch at first base this year, after acquiring him from the Dodgers in an offseason trade. They also re-signed Cody Bellinger after Smith signed his minor league pact, further crowding the path to playing time. Bellinger will likely be in the outfield but it’s possible that he winds up at first if Busch falters or if Pete Crow-Armstrong forces his way into the center field job.

Given that situation, it makes sense that Smith would look for opportunities elsewhere. He’s been in great form this spring, having hit .346/.370/.538 thus far, which could perhaps help him market himself to other clubs.

He’s coming off an uninspiring season, his first outside of Queens. He hit just .254/.326/.366 for the Nationals, leading to a wRC+ of 90, his third straight subpar campaign. Interested clubs will be hoping that he can get back to his 2019-20 form, when he hit .299/.366/.571 for a wRC+ of 150.

There is plenty of roster churn going on around baseball today, with several cuts being made and veterans opting out. A game of musical chairs will play out in the coming days as guys look for new clubs and Smith will see if he can wind up somewhere with a decent path to playing time.

Cubs, Dominic Smith Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs are in agreement with free agent first baseman Dominic Smith on a minor league contract, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the deal contains a $1.75MM base salary if Smith makes the MLB roster (on X). Murray adds that it could max out at $3.5MM if he hits all the available incentives.

Smith hit free agency when he was non-tendered by the Nationals. Washington signed the former top prospect to a $2MM deal last winter, taking a buy-low flier after Smith’s tenure in Queens had fizzled out. The first baseman had flashed significant offensive upside in limited work between 2019-20, hitting .299/.366/.571 in just under 400 plate appearances over that stretch.

Not only has Smith not maintained that form, he has been a below-average hitter in each of the last three seasons. The Mets moved on after the 2022 season. Smith logged a career-high 586 plate appearances a year ago in Washington. He didn’t make a huge impact, running a .254/.326/.366 slash. Smith kept his strikeouts to a personal-low 15.5% clip but didn’t provide the kind of power expected of a first baseman. He hit 12 homers and tied with Ty France for the lowest slugging mark among primary first basemen (minimum 400 plate appearances).

Murray reports that Smith underwent surgery to address a hamate injury in his wrist in early January. It’s unclear precisely when he suffered the injury, although he didn’t require any time on the IL a year ago. Murray indicates that Smith is expected to be at full strength by the end of exhibition play.

As is the case with tonight’s agreement with David Peralta, Chicago adds an experienced left-handed hitter coming off a down year. Both players made contact at better than average rates a year ago, albeit with minimal power. Smith is limited to first base, where he’ll vie for a job behind offseason trade pickup Michael Busch.

White Sox Interested In Dominic Smith

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Free agent first baseman Dominic Smith has interest from five different clubs, per Robert Murray of FanSided, with the White Sox the only one to be specifically identified.

Smith, 29 in June, has had an up-and-down career. He was selected 11th overall by the Mets in 2013 and was often on top 100 prospect lists on his way up through the minors. But he didn’t hit the ground running in the majors. He got 332 plate appearances over 2017 and 2018 and hit 14 home runs, but he paired a 28.9% strikeout rate with a 5.4% walk rate. The result was a combined batting line of .210/.259/.406 and wRC+ of 78 in that time.

He finally clicked in 2019, getting his strikeout rate down to 22.3% and his walk rate up to 9.6%. He hit 11 home runs in 89 games for a .282/.355/.525 batting line and 134 wRC+. But it wasn’t all perfect, as he had to move from first base to left field thanks to the breakout of Pete Alonso. He also missed most of the second half due to a stress reaction in left foot. But he was healthy again in 2020, hitting .316/.377/.616 in that shortened season for a huge wRC+ of 166.

But he hasn’t been able to get anywhere near that output since. He hit just .233/.298/.345 over the next two seasons, wRC+ of 80, while dealing with injury challenges. He played through a partially-torn labrum in 2021 and then suffered a right ankle sprain in 2022.

He was non-tendered by the Mets and landed with the Nats on a one-year deal with a $2MM guarantee and $2MM of bonuses. For the rebuilding Nats club, it was hoped that a move from left field back to his natural first base position would help Smith get back on track and perhaps turn him into a trade candidate. But that didn’t exactly work out.

He stayed healthy enough to take 586 plate appearances over 153 games last year but had limited impact at the plate. His 15.5% strikeout rate was about seven percentage points lower than most of his previous career work, but he hit just 15 home runs for the year. He finished the season with a .254/.326/.366 line and wRC+ of 90. That’s not disastrous output but less than ideal for a first baseman, where a potent bat is generally the expectation.

Defensively, the move back to first was a success, as Smith earned five Defensive Runs Saved, one Out Above Average and a grade of 5.1 from Ultimate Zone Rating. But the Nats decided to move on nonetheless. They could have retained Smith via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a modest salary of $4.3MM, but Smith was non-tendered and sent back to the open market.

Perhaps he traded too much power for contact. As mentioned, his strikeout rate was abnormally low in 2023 compared to his previous work. Striking out less isn’t a bad thing, but his 86.3 mph average exit velocity was at least two miles below every other season of his career. Getting back to focusing on doing damage would perhaps lead to more punchouts but also more homers. So far this offseason, his market has been fairly quiet. He had reported interest from the Pirates, but that was before they signed Rowdy Tellez.

For the White Sox, they have Andrew Vaughn at first base and Eloy Jiménez likely in the designated hitter spot most of the time. Jimenez can play the outfield, as can Smith, but neither is strong out there on the grass. Jiménez has received some trade interest this offseason and could perhaps find himself on the move, or maybe the club is just eyeing Smith as a backup in the event of injury. Jiménez has dealt with various ailments throughout his career and hasn’t yet topped 122 games in a major league season.

Smith won’t command a huge salary. The Nats presumably called other clubs and tried to gauge trade interest before letting him go for nothing, meaning that no club around the league was willing to pay a few million to get Smith in November. That means the Sox could presumably sign him for a fairly modest fee, even if they only envision him as a bench bat or part-time player.

The club is doing a roster retool of sorts and should have plenty of money for such a move. Roster Resource estimates that their 2024 payroll is set to be $151MM. They had an Opening Day figure of $181MM last year and were at $193MM the year before that, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. If they pull the trigger on deals for rumored trade candidates like Jiménez or Dylan Cease, it would only drop them further from those numbers.

Central Notes: Pirates, Twins, Cardinals

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On the heels of a 76-86 season and a fourth place finish in the NL Central, the Pirates are looking for upgrades in several areas. Starting pitching appears to be a focus for Pittsburgh this offseason, particularly on the heels of yesterday’s news that right-hander Johan Oviedo is set to undergo Tommy John surgery. Beyond their club’s need for multiple starting pitching additions, GM Ben Cherington has indicated that his front office hopes to make a veteran addition at first base this offseason, as the club did by inking Carlos Santana last offseason.

While Santana is a free agent again this offseason, FanSided’s Robert Murray suggests a pair of recently non-tendered sluggers who could be of interest to the Pirates this offseason: Rowdy Tellez and Dominic Smith. Tellez, 29 in March, is coming off an injury-plagued 2023 campaign where he managed just 351 plate appearances but was among Milwaukee’s best hitters in 2022 with a .219/.306/.461 slash line and 35 home runs in 599 trips to the plate. Smith, meanwhile, is a former first-round pick who saw significant success with the Mets in 2019-20, slashing .299/.366/.571 in 139 games across the two seasons. He’s struggled since then with a .243/.311/.355 slash line over the past three seasons, though he did bounce back somewhat with the Nationals in 2023 to post a roughly league average line of .254/.326/.366 in 153 games as the club’s regular first baseman.

More from around MLB’s Central divisions…

  • As the Twins look to reduce payroll this offseason, La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune relays that Minnesota’s efforts to cut costs have not been limited to the major league roster. The club’s scouting department has seen a number of departures thanks to both desire to trim payroll and “streamline” the club’s scouting apparatus with an emphasis on analytics. Among the scouts who have parted ways with the Twins this offseason, per Neal, are Bill Milos, Rafael Yanez, and Mike Larson, all of whom Neal indicates will be replaced internally. Neal adds that the club also parted ways with director of Latin American scouting Fred Guerrero, who has since joined the Royals, but Guerrero’s position will be filled by external hire Ramon Barinas going forward. In addition to these scouting changes, the Twins figure to consider a variety of avenues to trimming salary off the major league roster this offseason, perhaps including a trade of glove-first catcher Christian Vazquez.
  • Cardinals right-hander Andre Pallante was among the club’s most valuable rookies in 2022, when he posted a 3.17 ERA and 3.98 FIP in 108 innings split between the rotation and bullpen. Though Pallante posted a below-average 16% strikeout rate that season, he made up for it with a fantastic 63.9% groundball rate. Things didn’t go so smoothly for Pallante in 2023, however, as the righty’s ERA soared to 4.76, 8% worse than league average by measure of ERA+ despite an even stronger 77.8% groundball rate in 68 innings of work as a full-time reliever. Daniel Guerrero of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes today that Pallante, 25, has already begun working on pitch shapes and mechanics this offseason after spending time at a sports performance facility in North Carolina. If the adjustments help Pallante recover his 2022 form, it would be an excellent turn of events for a St. Louis club hoping to turn things around after a 91-loss season and a last-place finish in the NL Central as the young righty looks to contribute to the club’s late-inning mix alongside Ryan Helsley, Giovanny Gallegos, and JoJo Romero.
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