Tag: tzu-wei lin

Former Red Sox utilityman Tzu-Wei Lin is now a minor-league free agent

Last week, the Red Sox outrighted utilityman Tzu-Wei Lin and four other players from their 40-man roster.

At the time, I thought that because he was outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket, or Worcester, Lin was going to remain within the organization for the time being as opposed to becoming a free agent like Mike Kickham, Zack Godley, or Andrew Triggs.

It turns out that one week following his being outrighted, the 26-year-old was declared a minor-league free agent earlier Monday, according to Baseball America.

Lin was among 21 Red Sox minor-leaguers who became free agents to kick off the week. That list includes the likes of Jett Bandy, Juan Centeno, Ryder Jones, Tommy Joseph, Robinson Leyer, Nick Longhi, and Dan McGrath, among others.

The Taiwanese native had been with Boston for more than eight years after signing for just over $2 million as an international free agent in 2012.

Most recently, Lin had a tough go of things with the Sox this past season, as he posted an uninspiring .154/.182/.173 slash line to go along with two runs scored and three runs driven in while playing in 26 of a possible 60 games.

As was the case with infielder Marco Hernandez last year, it would not surprise me in the slightest if the Red Sox at least entertain the idea of a reunion with Lin at some point this winter if another club does not acquire his services first.

That is not to say Lin will have a bevy of suitors, but considering the fact he is a defense-first utilityman who can play all around the infield and outfield, one would think at least a handful of teams could be interested in signing him to a minor-league deal with an invite to major-league spring training. We will have to wait and see on that.

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Tzu-Wei Lin, Zack Godley Among Five Players Outrighted From Red Sox’ 40-Man Roster

The Red Sox are full steam ahead in terms of trimming down their 40-man roster. After losing righty Domingo Tapia on waivers over the weekend, the club announced Monday that five players have been outrighted.

Both utilityman Tzu-Wei Lin and right-hander Robinson Leyer were outrighted to Triple-A Pawtucket, or Worcester, while right-handers Zack Godley and Andrew Triggs, and left-hander Mike Kickham were outrighted and elected free agency.

Among these five players who have now been dropped from Boston’s 40-man roster, Lin was the longest tenured Red Sox.

The 26-year-old originally signed as an international free agent out of Taiwan in 2012 and made his major-league debut with the Sox five years later.

Lin got his big-league career off to a hot start thanks to a solid rookie campaign in 2017, but he has since cooled down considerably. Most recently, he collected just eight hits in 57 plate appearances (.154) this past season while only playing in 26 of a possible 60 games.

Because he was outrighted to Triple-A, it is safe to assume that Lin went unclaimed on waivers, which is understandable seeing how he is out of minor-league options. That being said, the Red Sox should find themselves fortunate to retain Lin’s services, as he could provide quality depth at multiple positions and be an interesting name to monitor come the spring.

As for the pitchers involved here, all four made their Red Sox debuts in 2020, while Leyer also made his major-league debut on August 31. Both he and Kickham had been with the Sox since 2019, though Kickham signed a minor-league pact with the club in December.

Godley and Triggs, meanwhile, were in-season acquisitions, as the former inked a minor-league deal with the Sox in July and the latter was claimed off waivers from the Giants in August.

The two veteran hurlers combined to allow 30 earned runs over 12 outings (nine starts) and 36 2/3 innings pitched with Boston this year. That’s good for an ERA of 7.36.

With these moves made, the Red Sox currently have 35 players on their 40-man roster. More roster shuffling will have to be done by chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and Co. in order to protect the likes of prospects Jay Groome, Bryan Mata, Hudson Potts, Jeisson Rosario, Connor Seabold, and Connor Wong from the Rule 5 Draft in December.

Additionally, as noted by MassLive.com’s Christopher Smith, outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. electing free agency the day after the World Series ends will free up another roster spot, though Andrew Benintendi, Chris Sale, Colten Brewer, Dustin Pedroia, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Kyle Hart — who are all on the 60-man injured list — will have to be returned to the Sox’ 40-man roster within the next seven days.

Red Sox Lineup: J.D. Martinez Out, Xander Bogaerts Gets Start at DH in Series Finale Against Phillies

After being removed in the fifth inning of Tuesday’s loss to the Phillies, J.D. Martinez is out of the Red Sox’ starting lineup in their series finale against Philadelphia Wednesday afternoon.

The Boston slugger had gone 1-for-2 with an RBI double before getting lifted from Tuesday’s contest on account of feeling dizzy and later being deemed dehydrated.

Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke sounded optimistic that Martinez would be back in the fold on Wednesday, but that is obviously not the case now, as Xander Bogaerts will get the start at DH and bat cleanup while Tzu-Wei LIn will get the start at shortstop and bat eighth.

In his seven-year major-league career, Bogaerts as only served as designated hitter one time, which actually came against the Giants last September.

The 27-year-old went 2-for-4 with three RBI in that contest, and he will look to do something similar against Philles right-hander Jake Arrieta, someone he has only reached base twice off of in nine career plate appearances.

Here is how the rest of the Red Sox will be lining up against Arrieta and behind rookie left-hander Kyle Hart on Wednesday afternoon:

First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. eastern time on NESN, MLB Network, and WEEI.

Red Sox Falter in Sixth Inning, Fall To Phillies 13-6 as Losing Streak Grows To Nine Consecutive Games

Another night, another venue, another opponent, and another loss for the Red Sox on Tuesday. This one came in 13-6 fashion at the hands of the Phillies at Fenway Park, marking the Sox’ ninth consecutive defeat to drop them to 6-18 on the year.

Zack Godley made his fourth start and fifth overall appearance of the season for Boston in this one, and he looked significantly better than he did in his last time out against the Rays on Wednesday.

That being the case because over four innings of work, the right-hander held the Phillies to just one run on four hits, one walk, and one hit batsman to go along with four strikeouts on the night.

Philadelphia’s lone run off Godley came in a laborious top half of the fourth, when with one out in the frame the Sox starter allowed three straight base runners to reach, with the last of those three, Jay Bruce, plating Didi Gregorius on an RBI single to right field.

Fortunately, Godley was able to dance his way around any more trouble, as he retired the final two hitters he faced to end his outing on a somewhat more positive note.

Finishing with a final pitch count of 84, 49 of which were strikes, the 30-year-old hurler turned to his cutter and curveball 83% of the time he was on the mound Tuesday, inducing six swings-and-misses with the combination of pitches. He also topped out at 91.1 mph with his four-seam fastball, a pitch he went to just three times.

Hit with the no-decision on account while lowering his ERA on the season to 6.87, Godley likely did enough here to earn himself another start, which would presumably come against the Orioles on Sunday.

In relief of Godley, Phillips Valdez got the first call out of the Red Sox bullpen to begin things in the fifth, and he served up a solo homer to Phillies slugger Rhys Hoskins in an otherwise clean frame of work.

From there, left-hander Josh Taylor made his second appearance in as many days after getting activated from the COVID-19 related injured list on Monday, and he was only able to record the first two outs of the inning while allowing the Phillies to come back and knot this contest up at four runs apiece.

With that, Heath Hembree was dispatched to get out of the mess Taylor had created, but the right-hander was only able to dig a bigger hole for his side by serving up a 409-foot three-run blast to Bryce Harper and a run-scoring base hit to Gregorius before getting the hook in favor of Colten Brewer.

Brewer did manage to end things in the sixth without yielding anything else, but he did give up a leadoff home run to Phil Gosselin in the seventh, which put the Phillies up 10-4 an inning after they had been trailing 4-2.

Marcus Walden did not fare much better in the eighth, as he could not sneak a two-out, 1-1, 91 mph cutter past Jay Bruce, who deposited that pitch just over the wall in center field for another three-run home run. 13-5.

Ryan Brasier, meanwhile, faced five hitters in the ninth but did not give anything up to keep the deficit for his side at eight runs. It did not make all that much of a difference in the end, but still.

All in all, the Boston bullpen combined to allow 12 earned runs on 12 hits (four home runs), and two walks over five innings pitched on Tuesday. Not exactly what you want.

On the other side of things, a Red Sox lineup absent of Christian Vazquez and Jackie Bradley Jr. was matched up against someone making his first ever start at Fenway Park in the form of Phillies right-hander Zach Eflin.

Getting the scoring right away on Tuesday, Rafael Devers got a nice day at the plate started with a one-out single off Eflin in the first and was almost immediately driven in by Xander Bogaerts moments later. 1-0 Boston.

Fast forward to the third, and the top portion of the Sox lineup struck once more, as Alex Verdugo led things off with a wall-ball double to left, and Devers plated him on an RBI double of his own.

J.D. Martinez proceeded with yet another run-scoring two-base hit, and just like that, the Red Sox had themselves a 3-0 lead.

In the fifth, after the Phillies had tacked on two runs of their own, Bogaerts provided what looked to be important insurance at the time with a sacrifice fly off new reliever Blake Barker that brought in Verdugo from third.

Bogaerts’ second RBI of the night put the Sox up 4-2, but as it would later turn out, that would be the last lead they held on Tuesday as the Philadelphia offense went off the rest of the way.

Mitch Moreland got a run back on a run-scoring single in the seventh, and another on a run-scoring double in the ninth, but it would not be enough as 13-6 would go on to be Tuesday’s final score.

Some notes and observations from this loss:

J.D. Martinez was removed from this game in the fifth inning due to dehydration.

From The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier:

Michael Chavis struck out five times in his five plate appearances on Tuesday.

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Next up for the Red Sox, they will close out this brief two-game interleague series and homestand against the Phillies on Wednesday afternoon.

Left-hander Kyle Hart will make his second start of the season for Boston, while veteran right-hander Jake Arrieta will get the ball for Philadelphia.

Hart, 27, is coming off a rough major-league debut against the Rays at Fenway last Thursday in which he surrendered five earned runs on seven hits and four walks in just two-plus innings pitched in an eventual loss.

The Red Sox are sticking with the rookie southpaw for at least one more start despite that shaky debut though, so perhaps that will give him a boost ahead of his first career interleague outing.

Arrieta, meanwhile, has posted a 4.02 ERA and 3.37 FIP through his first three starts and 15 2/3 innings of the 2020 season.

In six career appearances (five starts) at Fenway Park, the 34-year-old owns a lifetime 4.45 ERA and .755 OPS against over 30 1/3 total innings pitched.

First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. eastern time on NESN, MLB Network, and WEEI. Red Sox looking to avoid extending their losing streak to double digits.

Red Sox Lineup: Alex Verdugo Leading off in First of Two Against Phillies as Boston Looks To Put End To Eight-Game Losing Streak

After getting swept in two consecutive four-game series for the first time since 1932, the Red Sox open up a quick two-game interleague set against the Phillies at Fenway Park on Tuesday night.

Right-hander Zack Godley will be making his fourth start and fifth overall appearance of the season for Boston, and he will be opposed by Philadelphia right-hander Zach Eflin.

Godley has been somewhat inconsistent in his time with the Sox, as he has allowed zero, five, zero, and eight runs through his first five outings of the year. The 30-year-old hurler does have a solid track record against the Philles though, coming into the week with a lifetime 1.53 ERA and .528 OPS against in four career appearances (two starts) and 17 2/3 innings pitched against his opponent in this one.

Eflin, meanwhile, has made just two starts this season for Philadelphia in which he has given up a total of six runs (four earned) over 10 innings of work. The 26-year-old out of Orlando will be making his first ever start against the Red Sox and first ever start at Fenway Park on Tuesday.

Here is how the Red Sox will be lining up to begin things in the first of two against the Phillies:

Among the notable things to point out here, Christian Vazquez is not in the lineup after departing early from Monday’s game against the Yankees due to a sore right heel, while Jackie Bradley Jr. is on the bench for a third straight night with Tzu-Wei Lin starting in center in place of him.

Also worth noting, Alex Verdugo is leading off against a right-handed pitcher while Kevin Pillar slides down to the six-hole. The two outfielders are the only hitters in this Red Sox lineup who have faced off against Eflin before. They are a combined 4-for-9 with one home run and two RBI, which all belong to Pillar, off the Phillies starter.

First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI. Red Sox going for their first victory in nine days.

Red Sox Lineup: Xander Bogaerts Sits, Tzu-Wei Lin Gets Start at Shortstop in Series Opener Against Mets

As the Red Sox look for their first victory in five days, they will be without arguably their best all-around player in Xander Bogaerts against the Mets at Citi Field on Wednesday night.

According to manager Ron Roenicke, Bogaerts is still sore from the play he made in the first inning of Monday’s loss to New York when he dove to tag out Amed Rosario in between second and third base.

On said play, Bogaerts said postgame that he jammed his back, neck, and hips. Despite getting that roughed up so early on, he still managed to hit a home run in the sixth inning on Monday and also played Tuesday’s game in its entirety.

Fortunately, Bogaerts’ absence is only expected to last one game. Tzu-Wei Lin will start at shortstop in his place and bat out of the nine-hole against Jacob deGrom and the Mets on Wednesday. Here’s how the rest of the Red Sox are lining up behind right-hander Nathan Eovaldi. Andrew Benintendi is back in the leadoff spot and Kevin Pillar is sitting:

In two career starts against the Sox, deGrom, who was won back-to-back National League Cy Young Awards, is 0-1 with a 3.46 ERA and a .188 batting average against over 13 innings pitched.

Among the hitters in Wednesday’s Red Sox lineup, Jose Peraza is the only one who has ever faced the Mets ace before and is 4-for-14 off him lifetime.

As for Eovaldi, the owner of Boston’s lone winning decision thus far has made four career starts at Citi Field and owns a lifetime 3.05 ERA at the venue over 20 2/3 total innings of work.

First pitch Wednesday is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. eastern time on NESN and WEEI. Looking forward to watching J.D. Martinez serve as designated hitter in a National League ballpark.

 

Tzu-Wei Lin, First Baseman? Red Sox Utilityman Gets Taste of New Position in Sunday’s Intrasquad Game

For the first time in his major or minor-league career on Sunday, Tzu-Wei Lin started a game at first base for the Red Sox in the team’s fourth intrasquad contest of Summer Camp at Fenway Park.

Hitting out of the seven-hole for the Home Sox, Lin reached base in one of his three trips to plate and held his own over at first. He even made a nice pick on the back end of a 1-4-3 inning-ending double play started by Marcus Walden.

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After the game, Sox manager Ron Roenicke had high praise for Lin, saying he was “really happy” with the way the 26-year-old played first base for the first time.

“Anytime a utility man can play all positions, it increases his value,” Roenicke added. On top of that increase in value, Roenicke suggested that Lin could also serve as Boston’s extra-inning pinch runner given his speed on the basepaths.

Since making his major-league debut for the Red Sox in June 2017, the Taiwan national has seen time at second base, third base, shortstop, and center field. While with Triple-A Pawtucket last year, Lin played both corner outfield positions at well. In other words, he may just be capable of playing every position on the field besides pitcher and catcher.

The 2020 campaign will be an important one for Lin, as he is one of four players on Boston’s 40-man roster who is out of minor-league options, meaning he would have to be exposed to waivers if the Red Sox intended to send him to Pawtucket.

While dealing with a left knee sprain and concussion last season, Lin appeared in just 13 games for the Red Sox, going 4-for-20 at the plate with one double, two RBI, and three runs scored in 2019.

Given the uncertainties surrounding how the 2020 season will go in terms of COVID-19 testing, Lin could be a valuable asset to the Sox considering he can and is willing to play just about every position on the field.

Red Sox Open Fenway South Complex for Players to Prepare for 2020 Season, If There Is One

The Red Sox have opened the Fenway South complex in Fort Myers back up for players to once again prepare for the 2020 season, according to The Boston Globe’s Pete Abraham.

The important distinction here is that before this week, the complex was only available to players who were working their way back from injuries, such as Alex Verdugo and Chris Sale.

Now though, I would imagine the facility surrounding JetBlue Park is available to Red Sox players and staff in the same capacity it was before pitchers and catchers reported to camp back in February.

Per Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, the complex was open on Wednesday and Thursday to a handful of players that included Jackie Bradley Jr. and Tzu-Wei Lin, and he expects that the exact number of players who show up “may vary day to day.”

This news comes at a time where the club is debating on whether to hold a second version of spring training in Boston or Fort Myers if baseball does indeed return this year. Of course, that all depends on the ongoing negotiations between Major League Baseball and the MLBPA.

As Abraham notes, if the two sides can reach an agreement on starting the season relatively soon, “formal workouts would begin approximately June 10th and last three weeks.”

These preseason workouts would more than likely consist of intrasquad games, so it would seem like it would be in the Sox’ best interest to hold a second version of spring training in Fort Myers rather than Boston given the volume of players who would be on hand in this scenario.

Ryan Weber Hurls Four Scoreless Innings as Red Sox Sneak Past Braves

In their first game under the lights this spring, the Red Sox won their second consecutive one-run contest, as they topped the Atlanta Braves by a final score of 2-1 on Monday to improve to 7-10-2 in Grapefruit League play.

Making his third start of the spring for Boston in this one was Ryan Weber, coming off three one-run (unearned) innings in his last time out against the Tigers last Monday.

Working the first four innings this time around, the right-hander stayed sharp as he kept the Braves off the scoreboard while yielding just one hit and zero walks to go along with four strikeouts on the evening.

That one hit was a two-out single off the bat of Freddie Freeman in the bottom half of the first. Outside of that, Weber retired the other 12 hitters he faced in order.

Finishing with a final pitch count of  60, the 29-year-old’s next outing should come sometime early next week depending on how many days of rest he gets.

In relief of Weber, Brandon Workman, in his third appearance of the spring, loaded the bases on the first three Braves he faced in the fifth, but he got out of it unscathed thanks to an unassisted double play from Jose Peraza and a strikeout of Shea Langeliers.

From there, Marcus Walden allowed Atlanta to score their first run of the night on one hit, one hit batsman, and one sacrifice fly in the sixth before tossing a clean seventh, and left-hander Jeffrey Springs fanned three while tossing scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth innings to close out the 2-1 win for his side.

On the other side of things, a Red Sox starting lineup that featured Andrew Benintendi, Tzu-Wei Lin, Kevin Plawecki, Michael Chavis, Jonathan Lucroy (DH), Peraza, Marco Hernandez, Rusney Castillo, and Jarren Duran was matched up against a familar foe in ex-Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez for Atlanta.

Kicking off the scoring in the fourth, a leadoff walk drawn by Lucroy followed by a single from Peraza put runners at the corners with no outs for Marco Hernandez.

On the third pitch he saw from the Braves’ Hernandez, the Red Sox’ Hernandez laced a line-drive RBI single to the opposite field to drive in Lucroy from third and give Boston an early one-run edge.

Fast forward to the sixth, and it was the same part of the lineup getting things done once more, with Lucroy leading off with another walk against new Braves reliever Touki Toussaint, Jose Peraza advancing the pinch-running Kole Cottam to second on a single, and Hernandez taking a pitch off his left foot to fill the bases for Castillo.

Castillo nearly grounded into a double play, but because of a bad throw from short to second on the part of the Braves, he was credited with an RBI on a groundout that brought in Cottam from third.

That simple play made it a 2-0 game, and after Atlanta got one of their own in their half of the sixth, 2-1 would go on to be Monday’s final score at CoolToday Park.

Some observations from this win:

Andrew Benintendi went 1-for-3 with a double and two strikeouts out of the leadoff spot on Monday.

Tzu-Wei Lin returned to the Red Sox lineup on Monday and went 1-for-1 with a single and a sacrifice bunt.

Kevin Plawecki on Monday: 1-for-3 with a walk.

Jonathan Lucroy on Monday: 1-for-1 with two walks and a run scored.

Jose Peraza is looking pretty good at second base.

Through his first nine innings of work this spring, Ryan Weber has yet to surrender an earned run.

It was nice to see top prospect Triston Casas get some playing time at first base in this one, although he did strike out in his lone plate appearance.

—

Next up for the Red Sox, it’s another afternoon game against the St. Louis Cardinals back at JetBlue Park on Tuesday.

Left-hander Brian Johnson will get the start for Boston, while right-hander Jack Flaherty will do the same for St. Louis.

Following Sunday’s roster cuts, Johnson remains one of the notable non-roster invites still in major-league camp. He is surely vying for a rotation or bullpen spot with Boston to begin the season.

Matt Barnes, Colten Brewer, and Josh Taylor are among the Red Sox relievers expected to follow Johnson.

First pitch Tuesday is scheduled for 1:05 PM EDT. This game will not be televised.

 

Red Sox’ Tzu-Wei Lin Pulled From Tuesday’s Game Against Yankees Due to Left Hamstring Tightness

Red Sox utilityman Tzu-Wei Lin was pulled after the first inning of Tuesday’s Grapefruit League contest against the New York Yankees due to left hamstring tightness, the team announced.

Lin started in center field for Boston in Tampa Bay on Tuesday, played the entirety of the bottom half of the first inning, which was rather lengthy, and was subsequently replaced by Cole Sturgeon in the top half of the second.

The cause of Lin’s tight hamstring is not yet known, but the 26-year-old had gotten his spring off to an impressive start, slashing .412/.474/.471 with one double, one RBI, and one stolen base through his first 19 plate appearances entering Tuesday.

Entering his seventh full season with the Red Sox organization after signing as an international free agent out of Taiwan back in June 2012, Lin finds himself without any minor-league options remaining on his current contract, meaning he has to make the big-league club out of spring training if he does not want to be exposed to waivers.

With rosters expanding to 26 players this year, Lin has plenty of factors, like his versatility, working in his favor, so hopefully this hamstring injury does not sideline him for too long. I’m sure interim manager Ron Roenicke will provide an update at the conclusion of Tuesday’s contest.