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Michael Feliz

Twins Sign Michael Feliz To Minor League Deal

By Steve Adams | July 25, 2022 at 11:22am CDT

The Twins have signed right-hander Michael Feliz to a minor league contract and assigned him to their Triple-A affiliate, the St. Paul Saints (as announced by the Saints themselves). Feliz, a client of Octagon, was designated for assignment by the Red Sox earlier this month and rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Feliz, 29, has seen action in parts of eight big league seasons, mostly coming with the Astros and Pirates, The right-hander was one of four players (alongside Joe Musgrove, Colin Moran and Jason Martin) traded from Houston to Pittsburgh in the trade that brought Gerrit Cole to the Astros. He spent parts of four seasons in the Pittsburgh bullpen, at times looking like a viable late-inning reliever but also lacking the consistency to remain in a leverage role.

Feliz’s best season in the Majors came with the Pirates in 2019, when he pitched 56 1/3 innings of 3.99 ERA ball and punched out 30.5% of his opponents. Feliz’s 11.3% walk rate and 1.76 HR/9 mark that season were obvious areas that could be improved upon, but it was a generally encouraging season for a then-26-year-old hurler who had ranked among the best pitching prospects in the Astros’ system prior to his inclusion in the Cole trade.

Since that season, however, Feliz has been beset by shoulder, forearm and elbow injuries. Between those injuries and subpar performance on the mound (which, of course, could well have been impacted by those health troubles), he’s pitched just 25 Major League innings with an ugly 8.28 ERA dating back to Opening Day 2020.

Feliz’s average fastball, however, which sat at 96.3 mph back in 2017, is down to just 93.8 mph through this year’s small sample. That said, he’s found success this season for the most part in spite of that diminished heater. In 3 1/3 big league frames, he’s allowed one earned run on a hit and two walks with four strikeouts. And, with the Red Sox’ Triple-A affiliate in Worcester, Feliz carried a 3.28 ERA with a 27.7% strikeout rate against an 8.9% walk rate through 24 2/3 innings.

Bullpen help is a glaring need for the Twins. Breakout rookie Jhoan Duran and starter-turned-reliever Griffin Jax have served as the only consistent arms in an otherwise woeful relief corps, which figures to be an area the front office will address over the next week-plus. Bringing Feliz into the fold gives them another depth option for the final few months of the season, but it’d be a surprise if Minnesota didn’t acquire at least one veteran arm (if not two or more) prior to Aug. 2.

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Minnesota Twins Transactions Michael Feliz

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Michael Feliz Elects Free Agency

By Anthony Franco | July 13, 2022 at 6:58pm CDT

Reliever Michael Feliz has passed through outright waivers unclaimed and elected minor league free agency, tweets Chris Cotillo of MassLive. Boston designated him for assignment last weekend.

Feliz is no stranger to the waiver wire, having bounced between four different organizations over the past two seasons. The right-hander had spent the 2018-20 campaigns with the Pirates, racking up high strikeout totals but typically showing erratic control. He shuttled around the league last year, suiting up with the Reds, Red Sox and A’s after being let go by the Bucs in May. Last offseason, Feliz returned to Boston on a minor league pact.

The 29-year-old has spent much of the season with Triple-A Worcester. He worked to a 3.28 ERA across 24 2/3 innings with the WooSox, striking out a solid 27.7% of batters faced while walking a league average 8.9% of opponents. That generally solid work earned Feliz a big league call last week, but his stay on the roster proved brief. He made just one appearance, soaking up 3 1/3 frames of mop-up work in a loss to the Yankees, before being taken off the roster.

Now that he’s back on the open market, the hard-throwing Feliz should be able to find another minor league opportunity elsewhere. He’s appeared in each of the past eight big league seasons, combining for a 5.28 ERA through 250 career innings. Feliz has fanned nearly 30% of opponents at the major league level, and some clubs will surely look into him as a non-roster bullpen option based on that track record of inducing whiffs.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Michael Feliz

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Red Sox Designate Michael Feliz For Assignment

By TC Zencka | July 9, 2022 at 8:54am CDT

The Red Sox have designated Michael Feliz for assignment, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com (via Twitter). Reliever Kaleb Ort will be added to the roster today to take Feliz’s roster spot, adds Cotillo.

Boston originally signed Feliz last August, but the Athletics claimed him off waivers just a month later. The Red Sox signed Feliz again this offseason. The 29-year-old has just one appearance on the year. In Triple-A, Felix logged 24 2/3 innings across 18 outings (three starts) with a 3.28 ERA.

The bullpen is one area where Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom may look to upgrade the roster before the August 2nd trade deadline, writes Cotillo. Garrett Whitlock is working his way back through a rehab assignment, so there’s at least one internal improvement on the way. The Red Sox also expect Josh Taylor to come back and be a weapon from the left side.

As for Feliz, the 29-year-old will again be exposed to waivers. Feliz has spent time with the Astros, Pirates, Reds, and Athletics, in addition to the Red Sox. He has now appeared in the Majors for eight straight seasons, compiling an overall 5.29 ERA/4.17 FIP in 228 appearances totaling 250 innings.

Ort, 30, made his Major League debut last season for the Red Sox, facing just three batters. He has a 3.12 ERA across 33 appearances in Triple-A this season, however.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Michael Feliz

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Red Sox Select Michael Feliz; Likely To Activate Chris Sale On Tuesday

By Darragh McDonald | July 7, 2022 at 5:29pm CDT

The Red Sox announced that reliever Tyler Danish has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right forearm strain. To take his place on the active roster, they have selected the contract of righty Michael Feliz. They already had a vacancy on the 40-man roster due to Hansel Robles being designated for assignment recently. However, the news from today that’s most likely to intrigue fans of the club relates to the starting rotation.

The Red Sox are dealing with a rash of injuries to their starting staff, with Nathan Eovaldi, Garrett Whitlock and Rich Hill all currently on the injured list. Michael Wacha also missed his last start due to a “heavy arm,” creating another hole in the rotation. Manager Alex Cora tells reporters, including Steve Hewitt of the Boston Herald, that the extra rest hasn’t led to Wacha’s arm recuperating as hoped, meaning it’s possible he joins the others on the IL.

This will have a few ripple effects for the team, one of which seems to be Chris Sale being activated to make his season debut on Tuesday. “He’ll pitch Tuesday,” Cora said, per Ian Browne of MLB.com. “Somewhere, he’ll pitch Tuesday, but there’s a good chance he’ll pitch with us.” Sale threw 72 pitches in his most recent rehab start, and the club is apparently pleased enough with the results that he could be back in the big leagues in a few days.

The return of Sale is tremendous news for Red Sox fans, as he has missed the entirety of the season thus far due to a stress fracture in his rib cage. It’s been a few years since the club has seen Sale at his best, as he missed the entirety of 2020 due to Tommy John surgery. Though he was able to return and throw 42 2/3 innings last year, the results were diminished, at least when compared to his elite levels of previous years. A 3.16 ERA and 28.4% strikeout rate are still very good numbers, but Sale’s ERA was under 3.00 in 2017 and 2018, along with strikeout rates above 36%. Since those 42 2/3 innings are all he’s tallied since the end of the 2019 campaign, it’s fair to wonder what level the 33-year-old will be at in his return. Still, even if there’s a bit of rust, he’ll surely be a welcome addition to the banged-up pitching staff.

Another side effect of the mounting injuries is that Brayan Bello seems to be getting another turn in the rotation. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom spoke about the matter on The Greg Hill Show (hat tip to Ken Laird of WEEI) and said that Bello will not be moved to the bullpen. Cora then told Browne today that Bello is likely getting another start this week. The injury situation created the opportunity for the prospect to get called up, though he had an uninspiring debut against the Rays, allowing four earned runs in four innings, with six hits, three walks and just two strikeouts.

There is some help on the way, however, as Browne relays that both Whitlock and Eovaldi are starting rehab stints in the coming days. Though Eovaldi will return to the rotation once healthy, Whitlock seems ticketed for bullpen work. Cora told reporters a few days ago that Whitlock was “pretty much likely” going to be coming on in relief in his return.

All things considered, it seems the outlook for the staff should improve in the weeks to come. However, the one bit of bad news in all this relates to Danish. He has been quietly solid in his first MLB action since 2018, throwing 31 1/3 innings for the Red Sox this year with a 4.02 ERA, 19.2% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate and 43% ground ball rate. The Sox haven’t provided any estimates on his expected absence, though the fact that his injury is being described as a forearm strain is potentially ominous. A forearm strains is often a precursor to Tommy John surgery, though that’s not true in all cases.

As for Feliz, 29, he was signed to a minor league deal in the offseason and has spent the year in Triple-A thus far. He’s made 18 appearances, which includes three starts, though they were of the opener variety, never logging more than two innings in any of them. Through 24 2/3 innings on the season, he has a 3.28 ERA, 27.7% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 54.8% ground ball rate.

With a record of 45-37, the Sox are 14 games behind the Yankees in the AL East but are still in possession of one of the three Wild Card slots. With less than four weeks to the August 2 deadline, they will surely be on the lookout for available arms to help them bolster this snakebitten group.

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Boston Red Sox Brayan Bello Chris Sale Michael Feliz Michael Wacha Tyler Danish

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Bloom: Red Sox Still Seeking Bullpen Help; Team Re-Signs Michael Feliz

By Anthony Franco | December 2, 2021 at 4:53pm CDT

Teams are prohibited from contacting players or making any transactions until the lockout is lifted, but every front office still has a plan for areas to target once they’re allowed to again add to the roster. Last night, Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom met with media (including Alex Speier of the Boston Globe) to address the team’s priorities whenever activity resumes.

“We still would like to add more pitching,” Bloom said. “Short relievers, that’s something we have yet to address in meaningful fashion.” Bloom went on to add that the Sox would continue to be involved in the market for position players, pointing to a right-handed bat as a particular bonus in the wake of the trade that sent Hunter Renfroe to Milwaukee for Jackie Bradley Jr. and two prospects.

As Bloom suggested, Boston has yet to upgrade the late-innings mix, at least directly. The Sox’s signings of James Paxton, Michael Wacha and Rich Hill figure to have trickle-down effects on the bullpen. Wacha may be better suited as a multi-inning reliever than as a traditional starter. Even if all three pitchers assume rotation roles (Paxton is expected to miss the first few months of the season recovering from Tommy John surgery), their additions could afford the flexibility for Boston to use Garrett Whitlock and/or Tanner Houck in relief.

Whitlock spent the entire 2021 season as a reliever, eventually emerging as Boston’s top late-innings arm. The former Rule 5 draftee worked 73 1/3 innings of 1.96 ERA ball with plus strikeout, walk and ground-ball numbers. Boston has expressed openness to stretching him back out as a starting pitcher — as he’d been in the minor leagues — but their rotation additions could give them comfort in keeping Whitlock in the late-game role in which he thrived.

Houck, meanwhile, is coming off an excellent season working primarily as a starter. He pitched to a 3.68 ERA with elite strikeout and walk numbers (30% and 6.2%, respectively) across 13 rotation outings. That showing would seemingly earn him another look on the starting staff. That’s still a brief sample, though, and prior scouting reports have questioned whether the righty’s low arm angle and seldom-used third pitch might give him difficulty handling left-handed batters and/or working through a lineup multiple times.

The Red Sox would surely like to keep the rotation possibility open regarding both players, particularly Houck. And both pitchers were already options for a 2021 relief corps that was fine but unspectacular. Red Sox relievers ranked 13th this past season in ERA (3.99) and 14th in both strikeout/walk rate differential (14.8 percentage points) and SIERA (3.94). After a strong start, it became a particularly problematic unit after the All-Star Break. Not coincidentally, that came alongside a second half collapse from former closer Matt Barnes, who struggled so badly after an outstanding first few months that Boston originally left him off their postseason roster.

While the free agent market moved quickly in anticipation of the transaction freeze, there are still various options available. Kenley Jansen, Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin and old friends Joe Kelly and Collin McHugh each appeared on either MLBTR’s top 50 free agents or honorable mentions and remain unsigned. Craig Kimbrel is the highest-profile bullpen option available on the trade block, while David Bednar and Cole Sulser stand out among the affordable, under-the-radar options who look like speculative trade candidates.

Boston did make one depth addition in that regard. Speier reported yesterday (on Twitter) that the Sox were in agreement with Michael Feliz on a minor league deal that includes an invitation to big league Spring Training. It’s not clear whether that was made official before the freeze — Feliz’s transactions page at MLB.com hasn’t reflected the move — but it seems likely he’ll be in camp at some point.

Feliz appeared with four different clubs, Boston included, in 2021. He totaled just a 7.20 ERA across 20 cumulative innings, struggling with the home run ball. The 28-year-old has been an inconsistent relief arm over the past few seasons, offsetting big swing-and-miss stuff with elevated walk totals. Adding Feliz as non-roster depth won’t have much of an impact on the front office’s search for more stable bullpen help.

As for the desired right-handed batter, Bloom and his staff have the opportunity to explore multiple avenues. Acquiring Bradley could allow Boston to bump utilityman Enrique Hernández from center field — where he spent the bulk of his time in 2021 — to second base more frequently. In that case, a right-handed hitting outfielder to pair with the lefty-swinging Bradley, Alex Verdugo and Jarren Duran could fit. Alternatively, Hernández could assume that role on the grass while a more natural infielder steps in at the keystone.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Michael Feliz

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Players Recently Electing Free Agency

By Anthony Franco | October 7, 2021 at 11:00pm CDT

With the regular season over, a series of players are closing in on free agency. The highest-profile will be available as major league free agents, those with six-plus years of MLB service time not under contract with a team. But there will be dozens of players in the coming weeks who qualify for minor league free agency and more quietly reach the open market as well.

Players can qualify for minor league free agency in a few ways. The most notable of these include: players with 3+ years of MLB service time who have been outrighted off their teams’ 40-man rosters this season, players who have been outrighted off a 40-man roster multiple times in their careers, and unsigned players not on a 40-man roster who have spent parts of at least seven seasons on a minor league roster or injured list.

Many of these players won’t officially reach free agency until the start of the offseason, but some were let go by their teams a few weeks early once the regular season concluded. Each of the following players has elected minor league free agency within the past week, according to the MLB.com and Triple-A transactions trackers:

  • R.J. Alaniz (Reds)
  • Albert Almora Jr. (Mets)
  • Travis Bergen (Blue Jays)
  • Jesse Biddle (Braves)
  • A.J. Cole (Blue Jays)
  • Jairo Díaz (Rockies)
  • Jerad Eickhoff (Mets)
  • Michael Feliz (A’s)
  • Trevor Gott (Giants)
  • Dany Jiménez (Blue Jays)
  • JaCoby Jones (Tigers)
  • Ryan Lavarnway (Indians)
  • Derek Law (Twins)
  • Kyle Lobstein (Brewers)
  • Luis Madero (Marlins)
  • José Marmolejos (Mariners)
  • Shawn Morimando (Marlins)
  • Taylor Motter (Red Sox)
  • Joe Panik (Marlins)
  • Adam Plutko (Orioles)
  • Austin Pruitt (Marlins)
  • Nick Ramirez (Padres)
  • Roel Ramírez (Mets)
  • Austin Romine (Cubs)
  • Adrián Sánchez (Nationals)
  • Scott Schebler (Angels)
  • Chance Sisco (Mets)
  • Wilfredo Tovar (Mets)
  • César Valdez (Orioles)
  • Hyeon-jong Yang (Rangers)
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Transactions A.J. Cole Adam Plutko Adrian Sanchez Albert Almora Austin Pruitt Austin Romine Cesar Valdez Chance Sisco Dany Jimenez Derek Law Hyeon-Jong Yang JaCoby Jones Jairo Diaz Jerad Eickhoff Jesse Biddle Joe Panik Jose Marmolejos Kyle Lobstein Luis Madero Michael Feliz Nick Ramirez R.J. Alaniz Roel Ramirez Ryan Lavarnway Scott Schebler Shawn Morimando Taylor Motter Travis Bergen Trevor Gott Wilfredo Tovar

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Athletics Designate Michael Feliz For Assignment

By Anthony Franco | September 27, 2021 at 4:18pm CDT

The A’s announced they’ve designated reliever Michael Feliz for assignment. His spot on the active roster will go to outfielder Luis Barrera, who has been recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas.

Feliz’s time in Oakland looks as if it’ll wind up being extremely brief. The A’s just grabbed him off waivers from the Red Sox last Monday, marking four separate teams this season for the 28-year-old. He made just one appearance in green and gold, recording one out while allowing a hit and a walk last week against the Mariners.

It has been a roller-coaster type season for Feliz, who began the year with the Pirates. Pittsburgh bumped him from the roster in May, and he landed with the division-rival Reds. He performed very poorly with Cincinnati, leading to a late August release after he spent a couple months on the injured list with an elbow sprain. Boston signed Feliz to a minors deal before quickly selecting him back to the majors amidst COVID-19 spread throughout the clubhouse that left the bullpen shorthanded. With most of their key relievers back, the Sox waived Feliz themselves and he landed in Oakland.

Between the four clubs, the right-hander has worked twenty innings of 7.20 ERA ball. He’s posted fine strikeout and walk rates (24.4% and 7.8%, respectively) but the fly-ball specialist has been too prone to the home run ball and hard contact in general.

Prior to this season, Feliz spent a few years as a higher-strikeout, higher-walk relief option with the Astros and Pirates. The average velocity on both his fastball and slider are down a couple ticks from their 2016-17 peak, but he’s still generated swinging strikes on a decent 12.7% of his offerings this season.

Feliz will wind up back on waivers in the next few days. There’s less than a week remaining in the regular season, and he is ineligible for postseason play because he’s been let go after August 31. Feliz wouldn’t have much time to make an impact on a potential new club this year, although he would be controllable via arbitration next season if another team wants to put in a claim and tender him a contract. If he clears waivers, Feliz would have the right to elect free agency and get a slight head start on his hunt for a new opportunity next season.

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Oakland Athletics Transactions Michael Feliz

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A’s Claim Michael Feliz, Designate Aramis Garcia

By Steve Adams | September 20, 2021 at 2:37pm CDT

The Athletics announced Monday that they’ve claimed right-hander Michael Feliz off waivers from the Red Sox and cleared roster space by designating catcher Aramis Garcia for assignment. Boston had designated Feliz for assignment on Friday.

Feliz, 28, has split the season between the Pirates, Red Sox and Reds. He’s pitched fairly well for the former two, but his ERA on the year is an untenable 7.32 thanks to the 12 runs he allowed in 6 2/3 frames with Cincinnati. With the Red Sox, he held opponents to a pair of runs on four hits and a walk with five strikeouts through 5 1/3 innings. He’s also spent more than two months of the 2021 campaign on the injured list due to elbow troubles.

Feliz posted an impressive 30.5 percent strikeout rate and a 3.99 ERA in 56 1/3 innings with Pittsburgh back in 2019, but command problems and arm injuries have hindered him throughout his big league career. He’s missed time with shoulder and forearm injuries prior to this year’s elbow troubles. In 246 1/3 MLB innings between Houston, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Boston the hard-throwing Feliz owns a 5.33 ERA with a 30 percent strikeout rate and a 9.8 percent walk rate. He’s also accrued more than five years of Major League service tie, meaning he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent.

Garcia, 28, came to the A’s alongside Elvis Andrus in the offseason trade that sent Khris Davis and catcher Jonah Heim to Texas. It was financially motivated swap for both parties, but the Rangers look to have gotten the better of the two backstops involved in the swap. Garcia has struggled to a .205/.239/.318 batting line this season — his first back from surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip back in Feb. 2020.

Garcia has been a bit more productive in Triple-A, although his .268/.323/.393 showing there clocks in at about 23 percent below league-average production in that offensively charged setting, by measure of wRC+. Garcia will be out of minor league options in 2022, but teams around the league are in constant need of catching depth, so it’s possible another club will take a chance on him once he hits waivers in the wake of this DFA. He’s a career .268/.333/.448 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons and did post a .286/.308/.492 batting line in 65 plate appearances as a rookie with the Giants in 2018.

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Boston Red Sox Oakland Athletics Transactions Aramis Garcia Michael Feliz

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Red Sox Activate Chris Sale, Matt Barnes From Injured List

By Anthony Franco | September 17, 2021 at 5:13pm CDT

The Red Sox announced they’ve reinstated ace Chris Sale and closer Matt Barnes from the COVID-19 injured list. Ryan Brasier was optioned to Triple-A Worcester, while Michael Feliz was designated for assignment to clear roster space.

Sale and Barnes become the two latest players to return after testing positive for the coronavirus. The Sox are still without Christian Arroyo, Yairo Muñoz, Jarren Duran, Jonathan Araúz, Danny Santana and Phillips Valdéz for virus-related reasons. Sale and Barnes were perhaps the two most impactful players yet to return from the outbreak before this evening, though.

After missing all of 2020 and a good portion of 2021 recovering from Tommy John surgery, Sale returned to make five starts before testing positive on September 9. He turned in a few vintage performances before contracting the virus, working 25 innings of 2.52 ERA ball with a quality 27.5% strikeout percentage and a tiny 5.5% walk rate. Getting a few more great starts down the stretch would be critical for a Boston team that enters play tonight tied with the Blue Jays and holding a half-game advantage over the archrival Yankees for the American League’s two Wild Card spots.

Barnes missed a bit more time than Sale did, as he tested positive on August 30. That couple weeks on the shelf required him to make a pair of minor league rehab appearances this week before returning to the active roster. One of the league’s best relievers in the first half, Barnes had a disastrous August and will be looking to return to his early-season form down the stretch.

The Red Sox signed Feliz to a minor league deal near the end of August and selected him to the major league club a couple weeks later. He made just four appearances for Boston, tossing 5 1/3 frames of two-run ball before losing his spot. The Red Sox will place the 28-year-old on waivers over the next few days.

Feliz has split the 2021 season between three teams, pitching for the Pirates and Reds in addition to his work with the Sox. He’s posted a 7.32 ERA in 19 2/3 innings between that trio of clubs despite solid strikeout and walk rates (25.3% and 6.9%, respectively). Opposing hitters have popped four home runs off the fly-ball pitcher in that limited body of work.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Chris Sale Matt Barnes Michael Feliz

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Red Sox Sign Jose Iglesias

By Steve Adams | September 6, 2021 at 11:46am CDT

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.

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Boston Red Sox Newsstand Transactions Jack Lopez John Schreiber Jose Iglesias Josh Taylor Kutter Crawford Michael Feliz

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    White Sox Claim A.J. Alexy From Twins

    Phillies Designate Sam Coonrod For Assignment

    Tigers Sign Jonathan Davis To Minor League Deal

    Darren O’Day Announces Retirement

    Royals To Re-Sign Zack Greinke

    Yankees Name Brad Wilkerson Assistant Hitting Coach

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