Among the notable transactions would be top prospect Michael Chavis being optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket.
Chavis, 23, had a hot start to the spring with three home runs in his first four games, but has since cooled off a bit, slashing just .167/.167/.417 with one homer over his last 12 at-bats.
Right-hander Travis Lakins, Right-hander Chandler Shepherd, and left-hander Josh Taylor have also been optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket, while right-hander Denyi Reyes was optioned to Double-A Portland.
Lakins, ranked as Boston’s 15th-best prospect, posted a 2.57 ERA and 1.57 WHIP in five relief appearances and seven innings pitched this spring.
Taylor, who was the player to be named later in the Deven Marrero trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks last year, allowed four runs in seven innings of work across four appearances. He also recorded seven strikeouts.
The Red Sox also announced that Rusney Castillo, Josh Ockimey, Austin Rei, Tony Renda, Mike Shawaryn, and Carson Smith, all of whom were non-roster invitees, have been reassigned to minor league camp.
Castillo, 31, has two years and $24.5 million remaining on the seven-year, $72.5 million deal he signed as an international free agent back in 2014.
If I were to guess, I would say that all three of Lakins, Taylor, and even Shawaryn will contribute out of the Red Sox bullpen in 2019.
Speaking of the Red Sox bullpen, top pitching prospect Darwinzon Hernandez survived the first round of roster cuts, which may indeed speak to the amount of faith the club has in him at the moment.
The 22-year-old left-hander has yet to surrender a run while fanning 10 in seven innings pitched over three outings so far this spring.
For the first time since Game 5 of the 2018 World Series last October, Red Sox ace Chris Sale was back on a mound and pitching in a game on Monday afternoon.
Granted, with the club having the day off, the left-hander’s 2019 spring debut came against a group of Red Sox minor leaguers at one of Fenway South’s backfields, but it was still exciting to see nonetheless.
Working three innings, Sale’s fastball velocity consistently hovered from 91 to 93 MPH on Monday, per the Boston Herald’s Jason Mastrodonato.
When speaking with media after his outing, the 29-year-old hurler said that he felt fine and will be ready to go again in five days.
On the topic of his fastball velocity, Sale stated that he held things back but felt that it was there if he wanted to go it, according to The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham.
Abraham also noted that Alex Cora, Dana LeVangie, and Dave Dombrowski were among others in attendance to watch Sale work.
If the Florida native is set to pitch again in five days, his next start and 2019 Grapefruit League debut should come against the Atlanta Braves this Saturday at JetBlue Park.
As for when Sale will more than likely be named Boston’s Opening Day starter for the second consecutive year, Cora said on Sunday, “We can’t do that one yet. Maybe by the end of the week.”
Entering his final season before hitting free agency, Sale posted a 2.11 ERA and 13.5 K/9 in 27 games started and 158 innings pitched in 2018.
The Red Sox fell to 6-10 in Grapefruit League on Sunday afternoon following a 8-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Port Charlotte, marking their fifth consecutive defeat.
Making his 2019 debut in this one for Boston was Rick Porcello. The right-hander, who is entering the final season of his original four-year contract extension he signed in 2015, surrendered two runs on four hits, two of which were home runs, and no walks to go along with one strikeout in three innings of work.
As that line indicates, the only runs given up by Porcello came on a pair of Tampa Bay solo homers in the second and third innings off the bats of Joey Wendle and Mike Zunino.
In total, the 30-year-old hurler faced 15 hitters in his first action of the spring.
From the middle of the fourth inning on, Hector Velazquez, Brandon Workman, Colten Brewer, and Brian Ellington combined to allow six runs to cross the plate on 11 hits, four of which were homers, two walks, and six strikeouts over the final five frames of this one.
Like Porcello, Velazquez and Workman each gave up a pair of long balls, as Guillermo Heredia and Avisail Garcia went yard in the fourth and fifth innings, while Heredia and Nate Lowe did the same for the Rays in their half of the sixth.
If anything, both Brewer and Ellington held Tampa Bay scoreless in their individual innings of relief, but the Red Sox bullpen has been a rough spot thus far through 16 Grapefruit League games.
Competition in Red Sox pen:
Barnes: 1 IP, 4 ER Thornburg: 4 IP, 7 ER Workman: 5 IP, 4 ER Velazquez: 6.2 IP, 8 ER Johnson: 3.1 IP, 4 ER Brewer: 5 IP, 4 ER Poyner: 6 IP, 2 ER Walden: 7 IP, 1 ER Mejia: 3 IP, 2 ER 41 IP, 36 ER
Brasier & Hembree have yet to pitch Wright suspended
On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup could not muster more than two runs for the FIFTH straight day. And guess what? They haven’t won any of their last five games!
The lone Boston managed to tally in this one came in the seventh inning, when with one out and Diego Castillo on the hill for Tampa Bay, Steve Pearce grounded into a run-scoring out at first while Aneury Tavarez came around to score from third to make it a 8-1 game at the time. That would go on to be the final score in this Sunday afternoon contest.
Some notes from this loss:
Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts, Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, Steve Pearce, and Eduardo Nunez went a combined 2/12 at the plate with one walk and one RBI.
Brock Holt was slated to start at second, but was scratched at the last-minute due to back spasms. He is considered day-to-day.
I get that it’s just spring training, I really do, but can I at least say the last week has been frustrating to watch? Because it has.
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Next up for the Red Sox, it’s an off day on Monday before hosting the Detroit Tigers for at JetBlue Park the first time this spring
Monday will not be a typical day off though, as Chris Sale is set to pitch in a minor league game beginning at approximately 11:40 AM on one of the Fenway South backfields.
On Tuesday, we’ll see a starting pitching matchup featuring two left-handers who were once part of the same trade.
For Detroit, it will be Daniel Norris getting the starting nod, while 2018 postseason hero David Price will make his 2019 debut and do the same.
Go back to July of 2015, and these two southpaws were part of the same deal that sent Price from Detroit to the Toronto Blue Jays and Norris from Toronto to Detroit.
First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 1:05 PM EDT at JetBlue. Unfortunately, it does not look like this game will be televised. Monday should be fun, though.
The Red Sox fell to a not so nice 6-9 in Grapefruit League play on Saturday afternoon following a blowout 10-2 loss at the hands of the New York Mets at JetBlue Park, marking their fourth straight defeat.
Eduardo Rodriguez got the start in this one and was impressive yet again, as the left-hander worked the first four frames and held New York to just one run on three hits and one walk to go along with a trio of strikeouts. He faced 15 hitters.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora said that he would like to see Rodriguez be more aggressive following his previous start this past Monday.
When asked about the Venezuela native’s outing on Saturday, Cora seemed encouraged with what he saw.
Cora was pleased with progress shown by Rodriguez and evident response to Cora’s challenge that he be more aggressive in strike zone: ‘He’s a great pitcher. He’s got great stuff. I want him to be great.’
In relief of Rodriguez, Matt Barnes, Tyler Thornburg, Josh Taylor, and Domingo Tapia surrendered nine runs on 12 hits, one walk, and four strikeouts over the final five innings.
For Barnes, Saturday’s outing marked the right-hander’s 2019 spring debut. He allowed hits to four of the first five hitters he faced , which in turn resulted in three New York runs coming around to score in the fifth.
Thornburg, meanwhile, served up a monster solo home run to Mets first baseman Pete Alonso to lead off the sixth before allowing an additional two runs as well.
Through four appearances and four innings pitched this spring, the former Brewer owns a gargantuan 15.75 ERA and 3.00 WHIP.
When asked about Thronburg’s underwhelming performances so far in 2019, Cora implied that it’s now “go-time,” for the right-hander.
On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was held in check by Mets starter Zack Wheeler, as the 28-year-old hurler allowed just one hit and no walks while fanning three over four shutout innings of work.
As a matter of fact, the only inning Boston could put across any runs came in the first inning without Wheeler on the mound for New York in the bottom half of the fifth.
Blake Swihart got the scoring started with a two out RBI single off Kyle Dowdy to plate Sam Travis from second, and Andrew Benintendi drove in Swihart on another RBI single that also happened to end the inning with Christian Vazquez getting thrown out at home.
That made it a 4-2 game at the time, but the Mets would go on to score six unanswered, as the final score in this one was 10-2 in favor of New York.
Some notes from this loss:
Blake Swihart went 1/2 on Saturday with that RBI single. He started at catcher and played the first five innings.
Speaking of catchers, Christian Vazquez, who DH’d, went 2/3 on Saturday with a double and a strikeout.
Rafael Devers went 1/3 with a triple. He has yet to hit a three-bagger in a regular season game.
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Next up for the Red Sox, they’ll look to put a stop to their four-game skid on the road against the Tampa Bay Ray in Port Charlotte on Sunday.
Right-hander Rick Porcello is set to make his first start of 2019 in this one, while fellow righty Casey Sadler will make the start for Tampa Bay.
First pitch at Charlotte Sports Park on Sunday is scheduled for 1:05 PM EDT. NESN will have it covered.
The Red Sox fell to 6-8 in Grapefruit League play on Friday afternoon following a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles marking their third consecutive defeat.
Top pitching prospect Darwinzon Hernandez got the start for Boston in this one and was impressive yet again.
Working the first three innings, the left-hander held Baltimore scoreless while yielding just one hit, one walk, and two HBPs to go along with four strikeouts. He faced 11 Orioles hitters.
Through three outings (two starts) this spring, Hernandez has yet to allow a run to score while striking out 10 in seven total innings of work.
In relief of Hernandez, Bobby Poyner, Travis Lakins, Mike Shawaryn, and Jenryy Mejia combined to surrender four runs on seven hits, two walks, one HBP, and three strikeouts.
Poyner, who served up a fourth inning solo home run up to Renato Nunez, was charged with the loss.
Mejia, meanwhile, bounced back from a rough outing Tuesday with a pair of punch outs in a 1-2-3 ninth on Friday.
On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was matched up against veteran right-hander Andrew Cashner for the Orioles and were limited to two runs or less for the third straight day.
Tzu-Wei Lin accounted for Boston’s lone RBI in this one with an RBI ground-rule double in the second inning of Cashner to score Sandy Leon from second.
Fast forward all the way to the top half of the ninth, and Austin Rei plated the Red Sox’ second and final run of the afternoon after Sam Travis reached first on a Baltimore fielding error.
Some notes from this 4-2 loss:
In 24 at bats so far this spring, Tzu-Wei Lin is slashing .375/.423/.667 with one home run and six RBI.
I know it’s just spring training, but the Red Sox have scored four runs in their last three games. Not ideal.
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Next up for the Red Sox, they’ll host the New York Mets Saturday at JetBlue Park.
Right-hander Zack Wheeler, who posted a 3.31 ERA in 2018, will make the start for New York, while left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will do the same for Boston.
Following Rodriguez’s latest start this past Monday, which also happened to come against the Mets, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, “He needs to get better. His stuff is really good. . . we have to be more efficient.” So, we’ll see how that goes.
First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 1:05 ET down at JetBlue. NESN has it covered.
The Red Sox fell to 6-7 in Grapefruit League play on Thursday following a blowout 12-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins at JetBlue Park. The race for the 2019 Chairman’s Cup is now tied at two games a piece.
Brian Johnson, who was scratched from his start last Saturday, was back at it for Boston this afternoon.
The left-hander may have still been dealing with some lingering symptoms though, as he surrendered three earned runs, all of which came in the second, on five hits without a walk or strikeout in 1.1 innings of work.
Before getting pulled though, we saw our first glimpse of Dustin Pedroia back at second base, as he fielded a ground ball off the bat of Jake Cave for the 4-3 put out to retire the side in the first.
Anyway, not taking any extreme measures, Red Sox manager Alex Cora quickly made the call for Trevor Kelley out of the bullpen with one out and a runner on third in the top of the second.
The right-handed Kelley retired the only hitter he faced in Willians Astudillo, who lined out to Rafael Devers to start an inning-ending double play with a force out at third.
From there, Brandon Workman, Erasmo Ramirez, Marcus Walden, Matthew Gorst, Jake Thompson, and Daniel Schlereth combined to give up nine runs (seven earned) on 13 hits, four walks, one HBP, and seven punch outs.
Thompson, a 2017 fourth round draft selection out of Oregon State, got hit the hardest out of any Red Sox reliever on Thursday, as all three runs off the right-hander came on back-to-back Twins home runs in the eighth.
Schlereth, meanwhile, faced the minimum three hitters while working around a leadoff walk in a scoreless ninth inning.
On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was held in check yet again, putting up one lone run on just five hits.
One bright spot from this one would be the day Dustin Pedroia had in his 2019 debut.
In his first in-game action since last May, the four-time All-Star, batting out of the leadoff spot and manning second base, went 1/1 with a first inning infield single.
For the first time since May 29th of last year, Dustin Pedroia is ready to get into a baseball game, as he’ll bat leadoff and man second for the Red Sox Thursday afternoon against the Minnesota Twins at JetBlue Park.
The 35-year-old infielder had a solid week of workouts, including a “milestone day” on Monday in which he launched a ball over the center field wall while taking batting practice in the backfields at Fenway South.
Here’s Pedroia’s last swing (watched by Yaz) of the third round of BP, in which he cleared the fence in CF. pic.twitter.com/BKbZbzQKtf
When asked about the homer, Pedroia responded, “I was surprised by that. I haven’t hit a home run to center field in batting practice in my life.”
So far this spring, the California native has been preparing like he’s getting ready for just another season.
“I don’t want to get too excited,” Pedroia said. I’m just sticking to the plan and trying to get better every day.”
When it was announced by Pedroia himself that the plan is for him to get into at least one game this week, Red Sox manager Alex Cora didn’t seem too thrilled to start his infielder on Thursday while the national media is covering the club, but here we are.
“It will be cool for him. He’s been in full uniform since, like, 7 o’clock,” Cora said about Pedroia Thursday morning.
The arrangement for Pedroia today specifically is to get one at-bat, play the first two innings at second, and run around a little.
First pitch against the Minnesota Twins on Thursday is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET on ESPN.
On a busy day at JetBlue Park, the Red Sox fell to 6-6 in Grapefruit League play and saw their three-game winning streak come to an end on Wednesday following a 6-1 loss at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Non-roster invitee Josh Smith made the start for the Red Sox in this one.
Going the first two innings, the journeyman right-hander surrendered two earned runs on four hits and one walk to go along with three strikeouts on the afternoon. He was later charged with his first losing decision of the year.
Through three appearances (two starts) this spring, the 31-year-old Smith, who spent parts of 2018 in both the Seattle Mariners and Red Sox organization, owns a 7.94 ERA as well as six strikeouts over 5.2 innings pitched.
From the top of the third inning on, Tyler Thornburg, Colten Brewer, Ryan Weber, Brian Ellington, Dan Runzler, and Adam Lau combined to allow four runs to score on 10 hits, seven walks, and seven punch outs.
Brewer had the cleanest outing of the bunch, as the former Pirates draftee fanned a pair and faced the minimum in a perfect fourth inning.
On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was held to one run on just three hits by starter Nick Kingham and the rest of the Pirates staff.
That one run came in the bottom half of the fifth inning, when Sandy Leon drove in Jackie Bradley Jr. from second on an RBI single.
Some notes from this 6-1 loss:
In his 2019 spring debut and first ever Grapefruit League game in a Red Sox uniform, 2018 World Series MVP Steve Pearce went 0/2 batting sixth and manning first base up until the sixth inning.
Andrew Benintendi and Mookie Betts, meanwhile, batting first and second in Boston’s starting lineup, went a combined 2/5 with a single each. Benintendi also struck out once.
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Next up for the Red Sox, they welcome the Minnesota Twins to JetBlue for the fourth installment of the 2019 Chairman’s Cup.
Right-hander Kohl Stewart will get the start for the Twins, while left-hander Brian Johnson will do the same for Boston.
First pitch Thursday is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET. ESPN is the way to go once again, as Mookie Betts is set to be mic’d up like Jackie Bradley Jr. was on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, the Red Sox announced via a press release that right-hander Steven Wright has been suspended 80 games for violating Major League Baseball’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
The knuckleballer apparently tested positive for Growth Hormone Releasing Peptide 2, which according to the league’s prohibited substances list, is banned from use.
According to The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham, Wright failed the drug test during the offseason, but his appeal was just rejected this Tuesday, hence the sudden announcement.
Abraham also notes that Wright denied taking any PEDs knowingly and did not inform the Red Sox of his then-pending suspension until last week.
This suspension marks Wright’s second suspension in the last two years, with the first stemming from a domestic assault arrest in December of 2017. He was handed down a 15-game suspension for violating the league’s domestic violence policy last March.
When asked about the suspension, which broke right as the Red Sox were wrapping up a Grapefruit League contest up against the Pittsburgh Pirates, manager Alex Cora voiced as much displeasure as he was allowed to towards his pitcher.
“Obviously disappointed,” Cora said. “We’ll give the player the support that he needs. He’s still part of the organization. That’s all I can say about it.”
When asked about it himself, Wright said, “It’s unfortunate. There’s no easy way to dance around it. It sucks. It’s gonna suck. But at the end of the day, I’ve got to serve the suspension and just move on.”
Wright, 34, will start the season on the restricted list for the second consecutive year. He will be eligible to return to the Red Sox in late June and will be ineligible for the postseason.
Here’s the full statement from the club I mentioned earlier:
“The Boston Red Sox fully support Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program and its efforts to eliminate performance-enhancing substances from the game. While we are disappointed by the news of this violation, we will look to provide the appropriate support to Steven at this time. Going forward, the club will not comment further on the matter.”
The Red Sox improved to 6-5 in Grapefruit League play on Tuesday following an 8-4 win over the Washington Nationals in West Palm Beach for their third consecutive victory.
Hector Velazquez got the start in this one five days after his last outing, which also came against the Nationals.
This time out, the right-hander had a bit of an easier time of things, limiting Washington to one run on four hits, no walks, and one HBP while striking out three over two-and-two-thirds innings of work.
After allowing two of the first four hitters he faced in the third to reach base and plate the Nationals’ first run of the afternoon, Velazquez’s day came to an end and in came right-hander Trevor Kelley.
Kelley retired the only hitter he faced, Victor Robles, to end Washington’s rally in the third, which ended up being good enough to notch his first winning decision of the spring.
From there, Bobby Poyner, Travis Lakins, Jenrry Mejia, Domingo Tapia, and Josh Taylor combined to surrender three runs on six hits and two walks to go along with four strikeouts.
Mejia, who last pitched five days ago like Velazquez, allowed the first three hitters he faced to reach base in the seventh, which resulted in the Nationals scoring their second and third runs of the day on an Austin Vloth two RBI single.
The ex-Met finished the inning without surrendering another run with the help of a double play, but it was far from the three-strikeout performance he put together in his Red Sox debut.
Taylor, who was responsible for the ninth and final inning, wrapped things up on Tuesday by allowing another Nats run to score on an additional two hits before securing the victory for Boston by getting Chuck Taylor to line out to Cole Sturgeon.
On the other side of things, the Red Sox lineup was once again matched up against ace right-hander Max Scherzer for the Nationals.
After shutting the Boston bats out over three frames of work last Thursday, the three-time Cy Young Award winner did not have that dominating of an outing today.
Instead, Scherzer finally cracked in the fourth inning this time around, as leadoff man Tzu-Wei Lin got the scoring started for the Red Sox by launching a solo home run, his first of the spring.
That homer would turn out to be the catalyst of a seven-run inning from Boston, as Bobby Dalbec, Chad De La Guerra, and Tate Matheny went back-to-back-to-back with RBI base knocks, all while chasing Scherzer from this contest.
And the cherry on top of this offensive onslaught came from Lin as well, who drove in De La Guerra and Matheny on a two RBI single off of journeyman hurler Vidal Nuno.
Fast forward all the way to the top half of the seventh, and a Blake Swihart leadoff single would later result in Boston’s final run of the afternoon coming around to score on an RBI double off the bat of Oscar Hernandez to essentially put this contest away at 8-3.
As the final score indicates, the Nationals would score another run in their half of the ninth. So, in case you are confused, the final score of this one was 8-4.
Some notes from this win:
Through 16 at bats this spring, Tzu-Wei Lin is slashing .438/.500/.813 with one home run and five RBI.
In his first game back since leaving Red Sox camp for a few days to remember his brother, Blake Swihart went 2/4 with a pair of singles and two runs scored batting second and playing first.
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Next up for the Red Sox, they head back to JetBlue Park to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates in a nationally televised game on ESPN.
RHP Nick Kingham will make the start for Pittsburgh, while fellow right-hander will do the same for Boston.
First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET. Again, ESPN is the way to go.
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