After looking up a few things in response to a question about Tzu-Wei Lin in another thread, I started looking into the 40-man roster in an effort to make this very slow offseason go a little faster. And that’s when it struck me — the Red Sox 40-man roster is severely unbalanced right now.
There are 23 pitchers, 10 of whom are RH relievers. That leaves room for only 17 hitters, 3 of whom are essentially redundant LHH backup infielders.
But of greatest concern, the Sox 40-man only has 2 position players with options (one of whom is limited to playing a fairly poor 1B). Seriously, that's all -- Lin and Travis get the Pawtucket shuttle all to themselves.
The following list has easily-optioned (not a starting/everyday player, no player permission needed, and no waiver process or roster move necessary) players listed in bold; meanwhile, those guys likely to be transferred to the disabled list before Opening Day are placed in parentheses.
9 - STARTING PITCHERS
LHP (5): Sale, Price, Pomeranz, (Rodriguez), Beeks
RHP (4): Porcello, Wright, Velazquez, Shepherd
14 - BULLPEN PITCHERS
LHP (4): Johnson, Elias, Scott, Jerez
RHP (10): Kimbrel, Kelly, (Thornburg), Hembree, Smith, Workman, Barnes, Maddox, Taylor, Buttrey
17 - POSITION PLAYERS
CATCHERS (2): Vazquez, Leon
INFIELDERS (8): Ramirez, (Pedroia), Moreland, Bogaerts, Devers, Marrero, Hernandez, Travis
OUTFIELDERS (4): Betts, Bradley, Benintendi, Brentz
UTILITY (3): Holt, Swihart, Lin
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So yeah, this is as thin as I can ever remember the Sox positional depth ever getting at AAA.
And honestly, it looks like it's only going to get worse when Martinez is signed. Sure, Taylor is the easy choice for DFA. But afterwards, I don't see how any more than three from among Hanley, Holt, Swihart, Brentz, and Marrero could possibly all fit onto the 25-man when March rolls into April, and choosing which three remain isn't as easy as it appears at first.
The worst bat, Marrero, is precisely the guy they need around to provide late-inning defense for Devers. Hanley is a vastly better hitter than Brentz but they might be able to get enough salary relief in trade to make it worth it to trade him (at least clearing the $10.5MM needed to re-consider Rusney Castillo as an actual "break glass in emergency" option), plus he might cause Cora headaches if assigned a part-time role. And while the Sox may be grooming Swihart into a sort-of Inge/Doumit clone, jettisoning Brock Holt would take quite a leap of faith when Pedroia's expected to be on the shelf (and needing extra rest even when he returns).
Do the Sox need to acquire yet another reliever -- except this time a lefty with more experience and better stuff than Robby Scott or Roenis Elias? Is it necessary to keep so many RH relievers on hand that the positional depth becomes this threadbare? Who would you trade off or DFA to correct the imbalanced and unwieldy roster (Brentz and Holt are probably first to go, for me). Or am I over-reacting, and today's "swiss-army knife" super-utility players make this an overblown concern? I'm not saying the Red Sox need to find the next Chase d'Arnaud, but....maybe they do.
There are 23 pitchers, 10 of whom are RH relievers. That leaves room for only 17 hitters, 3 of whom are essentially redundant LHH backup infielders.
But of greatest concern, the Sox 40-man only has 2 position players with options (one of whom is limited to playing a fairly poor 1B). Seriously, that's all -- Lin and Travis get the Pawtucket shuttle all to themselves.
The following list has easily-optioned (not a starting/everyday player, no player permission needed, and no waiver process or roster move necessary) players listed in bold; meanwhile, those guys likely to be transferred to the disabled list before Opening Day are placed in parentheses.
9 - STARTING PITCHERS
LHP (5): Sale, Price, Pomeranz, (Rodriguez), Beeks
RHP (4): Porcello, Wright, Velazquez, Shepherd
14 - BULLPEN PITCHERS
LHP (4): Johnson, Elias, Scott, Jerez
RHP (10): Kimbrel, Kelly, (Thornburg), Hembree, Smith, Workman, Barnes, Maddox, Taylor, Buttrey
17 - POSITION PLAYERS
CATCHERS (2): Vazquez, Leon
INFIELDERS (8): Ramirez, (Pedroia), Moreland, Bogaerts, Devers, Marrero, Hernandez, Travis
OUTFIELDERS (4): Betts, Bradley, Benintendi, Brentz
UTILITY (3): Holt, Swihart, Lin
------------------
So yeah, this is as thin as I can ever remember the Sox positional depth ever getting at AAA.
And honestly, it looks like it's only going to get worse when Martinez is signed. Sure, Taylor is the easy choice for DFA. But afterwards, I don't see how any more than three from among Hanley, Holt, Swihart, Brentz, and Marrero could possibly all fit onto the 25-man when March rolls into April, and choosing which three remain isn't as easy as it appears at first.
The worst bat, Marrero, is precisely the guy they need around to provide late-inning defense for Devers. Hanley is a vastly better hitter than Brentz but they might be able to get enough salary relief in trade to make it worth it to trade him (at least clearing the $10.5MM needed to re-consider Rusney Castillo as an actual "break glass in emergency" option), plus he might cause Cora headaches if assigned a part-time role. And while the Sox may be grooming Swihart into a sort-of Inge/Doumit clone, jettisoning Brock Holt would take quite a leap of faith when Pedroia's expected to be on the shelf (and needing extra rest even when he returns).
Do the Sox need to acquire yet another reliever -- except this time a lefty with more experience and better stuff than Robby Scott or Roenis Elias? Is it necessary to keep so many RH relievers on hand that the positional depth becomes this threadbare? Who would you trade off or DFA to correct the imbalanced and unwieldy roster (Brentz and Holt are probably first to go, for me). Or am I over-reacting, and today's "swiss-army knife" super-utility players make this an overblown concern? I'm not saying the Red Sox need to find the next Chase d'Arnaud, but....maybe they do.
