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COVID IL Notes: Wheeler, Arauz, Sosa, Wainwright

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Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, who’d been on the COVID IL since Sunday, has been cleared to rejoin the team and will start tonight’s game against the Dodgers, reports Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Enquirer. To make room for Wheeler on the active roster, the Phillies optioned left-hander Bailey Falter to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. It’s a timely return for the Phillies, who’ll avoid a crunch in rotation following a pair of rainouts and a Sunday doubleheader against the Mets last weekend. Even with Wheeler’s return, the rotation is still down a man with Zach Eflin still on the COVID list. However, the club has an off-day on Monday, meaning they can survive with four starters for a couple of turns through the rotation. After five starts this year, Wheeler’s ERA is sitting at 4.10, with a 22.5% strikeout rate and 8.1% walk rate.

Rounding up the latest virus-related transactions…

  • The Red Sox announced that they have reinstated Jonathan Arauz from the COVID-related IL. To make room on the 40-man roster, left-hander Josh Taylor has been transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. Taylor has somewhat quietly become an important part of the Red Sox bullpen. Over the previous three seasons, he’s thrown 102 1/3 innings with a 3.69 ERA, 29.4% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate. He’s gradually earned himself some higher-leverage outings, notching 15 holds and a save last year. However, he began this year on the injured list due to back soreness. He began a rehab assignment last month, though that was paused after the issue lingered. The Red Sox evidently don’t think he’s close to a return, based on today’s transaction. Taylor will be eligible to return 60 days from his original placement on the IL, meaning he could be back in early June, though the club hasn’t provided any timetable for his next steps.
  • The Cardinals announced that Edmundo Sosa was activated from the COVID IL today. Kramer Robertson was optioned in a corresponding move. With the recent demotion of Paul DeJong, there’s an opening for Sosa to take over as the everyday shortstop in St. Louis. Last year, he broke out with a .271/.346/.389 showing for a 104 wRC+. However, he got off to a slow start this year, hitting just .160/.250/.160 in a small ten-game sample before landing on the injured list. He’ll be jockeying with Brendan Donovan, who is off to a hot start to his MLB career. Over his first 12 games in the big leagues, Donovan is hitting .278/.381/.556, 169 wRC+. Another path the team could eventually take would be to slide Tommy Edman over to shortstop and call up second base prospect Nolan Gorman, who is hitting .287/.350/.658 in Triple-A this year for a wRC+ of 157.
  • There’s one Cardinal that is still on the COVID IL, right-hander Adam Wainwright. It seems that he is back with the club and could be taking the ball for Sunday’s game, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Packy Naughton recently made a spot start to cover for Wainwright and would likely be bumped to the bullpen or optioned to the minors if Waino can indeed return this weekend. The 40-man roster currently has a vacancy, meaning a corresponding move won’t be necessary in that regard. Through six starts this year, Wainwright has a 3.18 ERA, 20% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate and 57.6% ground ball rate.

Red Sox Bullpen Changing Shape

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The Red Sox bullpen – ranked 12th in the Majors with a collective 3.97 ERA – will have to make room for a couple of extra bodies today. With the season coming down to two final games against the Nationals, manager Alex Cora is all-hands-on-deck, telling starters Nathan Eovaldi and Nick Pivetta to be ready out the bullpen, if necessary, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (via Twitter). Both Pivetta and Eovaldi have spent the entire season pitching out of Boston’s rotation.

Eovaldi and Pivetta are a necessary safeguard in part because Garrett Whitlock still isn’t ready to return. Whitlock has a chance to return for Sunday’s game, which is more than can get said for Josh Taylor. The 28-year-old southpaw is out for the foreseeable future, per The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey (via Twitter). Taylor has been a major contributor, pitching in 61 games and serving as the primary southpaw among Boston’s relief corps. A back injury has ended his season. He has a 3.40 ERA/2.83 FIP, holding same-handed hitters to a measly .146/.222/.159 line in 90 plate appearances.

Without Taylor, Darwinzon Hernandez, Austin Davis, and deposed starter Martin Perez are the other lefties available to Cora against the Nats, who boast a lineup heavy on lefties or switch-hitters, most notably Juan Soto, but also Josh Bell, Yadiel Hernandez, and Keibert Ruiz, whom the Nats often feature near the middle of the order.

As for Whitlock, he’s been one of Boston’s most valuable players, which is certainly a surprising development for the Rule 5 pick. Regardless, the 25-year-old stabilized the Red Sox bullpen with 72 1/3 innings spread across 45 appearances, good for a 1.99 ERA/2.89 FIP. Whitlock has picked up eight wins, two saves, and 14 holds en route to a 1.5 fWAR season.

Without Whitlock, Cora will leave open the possibility of using Eovaldi or Pivetta out of the pen. Tanner Houck and Chris Sale are set to start the final two ballgames, making everyone else on the roster on call as they try to hold off the Mariners and Blue Jays for the final playoff spot in the American League. Presumably, Eduardo Rodriguez would be available to start a potential one-game playoff.

Red Sox Sign Jose Iglesias

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11:46am: The Red Sox have announced the signing of Iglesias to a Major League deal and added him to the active roster. Additionally, Boston has reinstated reliever Josh Taylor from the Covid-19 list, selected the contract of right-hander Michael Feliz and returned Covid replacement players Kutter Crawford, Jack Lopez and John Schreiber to Triple-A Worcester. None of the three had to be passed through waivers to be sent down and removed from the 40-man roster because they were specifically appointed as Covid-19 replacements.

11:30am: Shortstop Jose Iglesias, who was released by the Angels over the weekend, is at Fenway Park today, per the Boston Globe’s Peter Abraham (Twitter link). The Globe’s Alex Speier tweets that the Red Sox are expected to announce the signing of Iglesias shortly. He’s represented by the MVP Sports Group.

The Red Sox, in the midst of a Covid-19 outbreak in their clubhouse, have a whopping 11 players in Covid protocol at the moment. That group includes infielders Xander Bogaerts, Christian Arroyo, Enrique Hernandez and Yairo Munoz, leaving the Sox in dire need of some infield help. Jonathan Arauz and Jack Lopez have been lining up in the middle infield in recent days, but Iglesias figures to step into that mix and begin logging some regular reps while the team awaits the return of Bogaerts and others.

It was a rough season for Iglesias in Anaheim — his lone year with the Angels. The 31-year-old wasn’t able to replicate last year’s enormous production at the plate — or even to come particularly close. It was just 150 plate appearances, but Iglesias posted a career-best .373/.400/.556 batting line with the Orioles in 2021 before slipping back to a .259/.295/.375 slash that falls more in line with his overall career numbers.

More troubling than a return to the norm at the dish, however, has been the decline in Iglesias’ glovework. He’s made 16 errors in 961 innings this year after making just 18 errors in 2393 innings from 2018-20 combined. Iglesias had never made more than 11 errors in a season but already has 10 throwing errors alone, in addition to six fielding errors. Defensive Runs Saved pegs Iglesias at a stunning minus-21 this season, while his Ultimate Zone Rating is a career-low minus-4.9.

Defensive struggles notwithstanding, Iglesias now returns to his original organization as a veteran reinforcement at a critical juncture. The Sox are quite unlikely to run down the Rays, who lead them by eight games in the standings, but are hoping to maintain a three-game lead over the upstart Mariners for the second AL Wild Card spot. They’re also just a half-game behind the Yankees for the top AL Wild Card spot and would surely like to eek ahead of their archrivals in order to seize home-field advantage in a theoretical Wild Card showdown.

The Red Sox originally signed Iglesias back in Sept. 2009 after he left his native Cuba. He spent the next several seasons rising through their minor league ranks and making a handful of big league appearances before settling in as their shortstop in 2013. Boston, however, sent him to the Tigers that summer in a three-team trade that sent Jake Peavy from the White Sox to the Red Sox and Avisail Garcia from Detroit to Chicago. (The White Sox picked up both Frankie Montas and J.B. Wendelken from the Red Sox in the trade as well.)

It’s something of a full-circle moment for Iglesias, who won’t be eligible for the postseason roster due to the fact that he’s joining the organization after Aug. 31. He’ll still have the opportunity to help his original club reach the postseason again, though, and this late change of scenery can also provide him an offseason for the league’s other teams as he preps to head back to free agency this winter.

Red Sox Select Brad Peacock, Stephen Gonsalves

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5:40 pm: The Red Sox announced they’ve selected Peacock and left-hander Stephen Gonsalves. Righty Raynel Espinal has been removed from the 40-man roster and returned to Worcester. Gonsalves, a one time well-regarded prospect during his days in the Twins’ system, signed a minor league deal with the Red Sox over the winter. Over 67 innings with Worcester, he’s worked to a 4.97 ERA with a huge 30.2% strikeout rate but a very high 16.4% walk percentage. Josh Taylor has also landed on the COVID IL as part of contact tracing efforts.

3:30 pm: Boston will lose a fifth player to the COVID IL, as reliever Hirokazu Sawamura has tested positive, Chris Cotillo of MassLive was among those to pass along. Sawamura has a 3.06 ERA over 46 2/3 innings this season, his first in MLB after nine seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

3:03 pm: The Red Sox are planning to select righty Brad Peacock to the big league roster, the team informed reporters (including Sean McAdam of Boston Sports Journal). He’ll get the start for this evening’s game against the Rays. The Red Sox have a couple vacancies on the 40-man roster because of their recent placement of four players on the COVID-19 injured list, so they’ll only need to make a corresponding active roster move.

Boston just added Peacock from the Indians in exchange for cash considerations yesterday. He’ll almost immediately get brought up to the majors for the first time this season, the ninth consecutive (and tenth overall) in which he’s made it to the big league level. Peacock had spent the past eight years with the Astros, bouncing between the rotation and long relief throughout his time in Houston.

Peacock had a few rocky seasons to begin his career but he found quite a bit of success beginning in 2017, when he reeled off 132 innings with an even 3.00 ERA. He hasn’t repeated quite that level of production, but he remained a valuable member of the pitching staff over the next couple seasons. Between 2017-19, Peacock worked to a 3.46 ERA across 288 2/3 frames, striking out a fantastic 29.4% of batters faced against an average 9% walk rate.

The 2019 campaign was the last in which Peacock has picked up extended big league innings. He was limited to three relief appearances by a shoulder injury last year and ultimately underwent arthroscopic surgery last October. That kept him out of action until late June, when he hooked on with Cleveland on a minor league deal.

He has since made eleven appearances (ten starts) with their top affiliate in Columbus, where he’s worked to a 7.68 ERA over 34 innings. That’s obviously an unsightly run prevention number, but Peacock’s peripherals are quite a bit better. The 33-year-old has essentially league average marks in strikeout rate (23.8%) and walk percentage (8.8%). His 34.3% ground-ball rate is rather low — contributing to some home run troubles — but he’s also been plagued by an abnormally high .340 opponents’ batting average on balls in play and should strand runners at a better clip than his current 56.5% mark moving forward.

Red Sox Release Matt Andriese

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Aug. 19: The Red Sox have released Andriese. He’s now free to sign with any club for the prorated league minimum over the remainder of the season.

Aug. 17: The Red Sox have designated reliever Matt Andriese for assignment, per a club announcement. The move clears space on the 40-man roster for fellow bullpen arm Josh Taylor, who has been reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list.

Boston brought Andriese aboard on a free agent deal over the winter. He’d hoped to compete for a spot in the starting rotation during Spring Training but ultimately found himself working exclusively as a multi-inning option out of the bullpen. The 31-year-old didn’t find a lot of success in that role, posting a 6.03 ERA over 37 1/3 frames.

Andriese has always been a solid strike-thrower and that’s again been the case in 2021. He’s only walked 6.2% of opponents this year, but Andriese has struggled to miss bats. His 21.5% strikeout rate and 8.8% swinging strike rate are each well below-average for a reliever and he’s given up plenty of loud contact. Certainly, Andriese has been a bit unlucky to allow opponents to hit .407 on balls in play against him, but he’s had a hard time avoiding barrels over the course of the campaign.

That production all came in the season’s first half, as Andriese hasn’t pitched since landing on the injured list with hamstring tendinitis on July 10. He’s nearing a return to health, having spent the past few weeks on a minor league rehab assignment with Triple-A Worcester.

Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers, so Andriese figures to be released. That’s little more than a formality, as he had enough big league service time to refuse an outright assignment and hit free agency anyways. Assuming he passes through waivers unclaimed — which would appear likely — the Red Sox will remain on the hook for what remains of his $2.1MM guarantee. Any team that then signs Andriese as a free agent would only owe him the prorated portion of the league minimum salary for any time he spends on the big league roster.

Red Sox Release Marwin Gonzalez

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The Red Sox announced they’ve released utilityman Marwin González. That was the expected outcome after Boston designated the 32-year-old for assignment last week. The Sox also officially added waiver claim Travis Shaw to the active roster and optioned outfielder Franchy Cordero and catcher Connor Wong to Triple-A Worcester.

Signed to a one-year deal over the winter, González’s tenure in Boston was a disappointment. He hit a career-worst .202/.281/.285 with two home runs across 271 plate appearances. That marked his second consecutive very poor season at the plate, as González also struggled last year — his final with the Twins. His monstrous 2017 season looks like an outlier, but González hit at a league average level from 2018-19 before falling off over the past two years.

González inked a $3MM guarantee, around $738K of which is still due to be paid out. Any club that claims González off waivers would assume that obligation, but it seems more likely the switch-hitter will pass through unclaimed and reach free agency, leaving the Red Sox on the hook for the money. At that point, another team could sign González and would owe him the prorated league minimum salary for any time he spends on the big league roster, which would be subtracted from what he’s owed by Boston. If González lands elsewhere before August 31, he’d be eligible for his new team’s postseason roster.

The Red Sox are off tonight but will have a doubleheader against the Yankees tomorrow. Tanner Houck will be recalled as the 27th man to start one half of that twin bill. Boston’s pair of optional assignments leaves another active roster spot open, and Ian Browne of MLB.com notes the hope is reliever Josh Taylor will be activated from the injured list tomorrow. Taylor landed on the COVID-19 IL over the weekend but has apparently not tested positive to this point. If Taylor is indeed ready for reinstatement, Boston will need to create a 40-man roster spot.

Red Sox Claim Travis Shaw Off Waivers From Brewers

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The Red Sox have claimed Travis Shaw off waivers from the Brewers, according to Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. Shaw was placed on waivers by the Brewers yesterday. Rob Bradford of WEEI notes that the Red Sox plan to have Shaw with the team by Tuesday’s game. A spot on the 40-man roster was opened earlier in the day when Josh Taylor was placed on the COVID IL.

This will be a homecoming for Shaw, returning to the organization that drafted him and gave him his first MLB experience. In 2015 and 2016, he played 210 games for the Red Sox, slashing .251/.312/.442, producing a wRC+ of 97. In December 2016, the Sox traded Shaw to Milwaukee, along with Mauricio Dubon and Josh Pennington, for Tyler Thornburg.

Shaw was excellent in his first two season for Milwaukee, slashing .258/.347/.497 for a wRC+ of 120 over that span. Unfortunately, it’s been up-and-down since then. 2019 was a disastrous campaign, producing a meager .157/.281/.270 line, wRC+ of 48, leading to Shaw being non-tendered that offseason. The Blue Jays gave him a shot and saw him rebound slightly to a line of .239/.306/.411, wRC+ of 92. Unfortunately, after re-signing with the Brewers, his numbers tailed off again. His 2021 production so far has been .191/.279/.337, a wRC+ of 68.

Shaw will now presumably be a candidate for some time at first base for Boston. There had been plans to get Kyle Schwarber some work at first, but he has been at designated hitter in both his games since being activated off the IL, with J.D. Martinez taking some time in the outfield. Bobby Dalbec has been the primary first baseman for Boston this year. Although he has struggled at times this year, he has been red hot lately, slashing .286/.357/.571 over the past month.

Red Sox Select Domingo Tapia

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The Red Sox have selected right-hander Domingo Tapia’s contract, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe tweets. They also placed southpaw Josh Taylor on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to Sept. 8, with left shoulder tendinitis and shifted righty Colten Brewer to the 45-day IL. Brewer’s season is now over.

The 29-year-old Tapia began his professional career as a member of the Mets, with whom he was a decently ranked prospect on multiple occasions (Baseball America placed him in the team’s top 20 three times). But Tapia didn’t get past the Double-A level with the Mets through 2016, his final season with the organization, and topped out in Triple-A ball with the Reds from 2017-18. He spent all of last year with the Red Sox’s Triple-A affiliate, posting a 5.18 ERA/5.31 FIP with 7.09 K/9 and 4.36 BB/9 in 66 innings.

The Red Sox were counting on Taylor to fill  an important role in their bullpen when this season began, but his year has been a nightmare. While Taylor had a very good rookie season last year, his 2020 was a delayed as a result of a positive coronavirus test. Taylor debuted Aug. 17, but he has since surrendered eight earned runs on seven hits and five walks (with seven strikeouts) in 7 1/3 innings.

Red Sox To Reportedly Add Triston Casas To Player Pool

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The Red Sox are set to add first base prospect Triston Casas to their 60-man player pool, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports. He’ll head to their alternate site. As Cotillo notes, Boston’s pool is at capacity, so it’ll have to make a corresponding move once Casas is officially part of it.

Now 20 years old, Casas became a member of the Red Sox when they drafted him 26th overall in 2018. Last season, his first full campaign in the minors, Casas held his own with a .256/.350/.480 line and 20 home runs between Single-A and High-A (all but seven of his 500 plate appearances came at Single-A). Once he joins Boston’s player pool, Casas will be eligible for a trade before the Aug. 31 deadline, but that’s a moot point here, as Cotillo writes that the team’s goal in calling him up is to aid in his development.

In other Red Sox moves Monday, they activated lefty reliever Josh Taylor from the injured list, optioned righty Chris Mazza and placed infielder Christian Arroyo on the IL, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe tweets. Taylor, who was strong as a rookie in 2019 but hasn’t pitched this year because of a positive coronavirus test, should be a welcome addition for a struggling club with a deeply flawed pitching staff. As for Arroyo, whom the Red Sox claimed via waivers from the Indians on Aug. 13, his IL placement (retroactive to the 14th) was done to give him more time to join his new club as he goes through coronavirus protocols.

Latest On Josh Taylor, Darwinzon Hernandez

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The Red Sox have gotten off to a horrid start, but they do have a couple of potentially helpful pitching reinforcements on the way. Manager Ron Roenicke announced Thursday that the Red Sox could activate left-hander Josh Taylor this weekend, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reports. Another southpaw, Darwinzon Hernandez, is on a similar timeline. Neither reliever has pitched this year after testing positive for the coronavirus July 4.

Boston’s pitching staff entered Thursday’s action as one of the worst in the league, and that was before the Rays absolutely teed off on the Red Sox. Any help is welcome, then, and based on what they did last season, Taylor and Hernandez should be able to provide some.

The 27-year-old Taylor had an under-the-radar breakout campaign as a rookie in 2019, in which he logged a 3.04 ERA/3.11 FIP over 47 1/3 innings. Taylor also notched 11.79 K/9 and 3.04 BB/9.

Like Taylor, Hernandez debuted a season ago, tossing 30 1/3 frames. The former standout prospect only mustered a 4.45 ERA with an untenable walk rate of 7.71. At the same time, though, Hernandez averaged 95.5 mph on his fastball and struck out an incredible 16.91 hitters per nine. The 23-year-old ranked first in K/9 among all pitchers who amassed 30-plus innings in 2019.

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