The Red Sox have lost Domingo Tapia to waivers, as the flame-throwing right-hander was claimed by the Mariners on Friday, per Major League Baseball’s transaction wire.
Tapia, 29, had spent the previous two seasons with the Sox after inking a minor-league deal with the club in November 2018.
After spending the 2019 campaign with Triple-A Pawtucket, Tapia made his major-league debut with Boston this past September and went on to allow just one earned run on four hits, two walks, and four strikeouts over five appearances and 4 1/3 innings of work.
Per Statcast, the Dominican Republic native relied on his four-seam fastball more than 41% of the time he was on the mound in 2020 and averaged a velocity of 99.2 mph with the pitch while topping out at 101 mph with it.
Now that Tapia has been taken off the Sox’ 40-man roster, Boston has 45 players on said roster with the 2020 Rule 5 Draft just weeks away.
In order to protect eligible prospects like Jay Groome, Bryan Mata, Hudson Potts, Jeisson Rosario, Connor Seabold, and Connor Wong from this year’s Rule 5 Draft, the Red Sox will need to add these players to their 40-man roster.
That, of course, means more names will have to be removed from Boston’s 40-man, and as MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo notes, “a series of roster moves” will need to be made between now and November 20.
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