I was just looking at an article which was talking about German as part of the 40-man roster churn. Figure this is as good of a place as any to look into how that looked this past off season & what we gave up:
Regardless of how he pans out with the White Sox, German becomes the latest member of the 2022 Red Sox be lopped off the 40-man roster and join a new organization this winter. He joins the likes of Barnes, Darwinzon Hernandez, Connor Seabold, Eduard Bazardo, Tyler Danish, Eric Hosmer, Franchy Cordero, and Jeter Downs, among others.
https://bloggingtheredsox.com/2023/02/03/red-sox-trade-franklin-german-to-white-sox-for-right-hander-theo-denlinger/
Matt Barnes - traded with cash for Richard Bleier. Barnes: 5.48 ERA in 21.1 innings. Bleier: 5.28 ERA in 30.2 innings. Not sure if one is preferable over the other? Bleier sucked as a lefty at least? Bleier has been DFA'd & was picked up on a Minor League deal by the Cubs, & Barnes is out for the year with a hip injury.
Darwinzon Hernandez - Hernandez was DFA'd to make room for Justin Turner. He had a 2.96 ERA in 27.1 innings in AAA this season, but was released by the Orioles on July 27th & signed with the Fukuoko Softbank Hawks of the NPL. He has played in 6 games in Japan thus far.
Connor Seabold - Seabold was DFA'd to make room for Corey Kluber. Pick your poison. Seabold has thrown 82.1 MLB innings with a 7.65 ERA. Kluber has thrown 55 MLB innings with a 7.04 ERA. Kluber was certainly the more expensive poison.
I guess this is a fine place for the news that Kluber will start a rehab assignment with Portland this Friday...
RotoWire News: Kluber (shoulder) has been cleared to begin a rehab assignment with Double-A Portland on Friday, MLB.com reports. (9/6/2023)
Eduard Bazardo - Bazardo was DFA'd last October to make room for the immortal Jake Reed & opted for free agency 4 days later. He signed a MiLB contract with the Orioles in December. He has a 3.21 ERA in AAA this season between the Orioles & Mariners orgs, but a 10.38 ERA in 4.1 MLB innings.
Jake Reed - He wasn't on the list, but that's ok. Reed was a member of the Red Sox org from October 13th to November 15th, when he was DFA'd & claimed by the Dodgers. Reed was cut to make room to add new guys to the 40 -- Ceddanne, Walter, Murphy, Abreu & Blizzard. Reed pitched 0.2 innings for the Dodgers this year & allowed 6 runs (81 ERA). He also has a 7.81 ERA in 27.2 AAA innings.
Tyler Danish - Danish was waived on October 31st & elected Minor League Free Agency. In December, Danish signed a MiLB deal with the Yankees, but was cut March 31st. On May 1st, Danish signed a MiLB deal with the Nationals, where he pitched 29 innings with a 3.72 ERA before opting for free agency on July 16th. As far as I know, he is still available.
Eric Hosmer - Hosmer was DFA'd on December 16th when the Red Sox acquired Wyatt Mills. In January, he signed with the Cubs. In 31 games he had a 66 wRC+ & -0.4 fWAR before being released on May 25th. As far as I know, he is also still available.
Franchy Cordero - Franchy was non-tendered by the Red Sox & became a free agent on November 18th. He signed with the Orioles where he raked in Spring Training, but was let go & signed a split contract with the Yankees. Despite a torrid start, Franchy was sent to the minors with an 81 wRC+ & -0.1 fWAR in 24 games. He has a 130 wRC+ in AAA.
Jeter Downs - Downs was DFA'd on December 15th to make room for Masataka Yoshida. Dumb side note - I think I always just assumed Downs was American based on his name, but turns out he is from Colombia. The Nats claimed Downs on waivers & optioned him to their AAA affiliate. He has a 74 wRC+ in AAA this season (albeit a 224 wRC+ in 9 PA during a brief stint in MLB).
Easton McGee - McGee is another guy like Reed who was in & out without ever doing anything. They picked McGee up on waivers from the Rays on 10/5 & then sold him to the Mariners for cash on 11/9. Hopefully they made a nice profit! McGee has a 3.14 ERA in AAA this season in 28.2 innings (albeit with a 4.56 xFIP), & has pitched 6.2 scoreless MLB innings (albeit with a 4.86 xFIP). He's been on the IL since early June with an elbow injury.
Hoy Park - As an Inmer Lobo stan, it annoyed me pretty heavily when they traded him for Hoy Park on November 23rd, & it felt even sillier on December 13th when they DFA'd hime to make room for Kenley Jansen. On December 16th, they traded him to the Braves for a PTBNL or cash. I haven't heard anything about a PTBNL, so I assume they took the cash. Park has a 105 wRC+ entirely in AAA this season. I believe Inmer had some injury issues this season, but he ended up pitching 16.2 innings in the DSL with a 1.62 ERA (nearly doubling his 0.82 ERA in 22 innings with the Red Sox DSL team last season).
So yeah...turns out all the guys at the end of their 40-man were not great at baseball. I think they have much harder decisions on the horizon this off season.
