Jimenez, Rogers and Slater activated, Soto recalled. Kjerstad and Akin optioned, Pache DFA'd, Westburg to IL

[Moose Milligan]

5 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Eloy makes a little sense if the plan is to play Adley more behind the plate against lefties or give him more days off which opens up that DH spot against LHP. If he's taking McCann's PAs away, I'm ok with that. 

 

 

Ok, that does make sense.  But Adley's been mashing as a DH this year, I'd want him taking DH at bats if McCann is behind the plate.  To your point though, if he's taking McCann's PAs away, I'm good with that too.

Did anyone ever uncover what we're paying him?  Or if we're paying him?  I saw the Sox sent cash with him, I don't know if that ever gets reported.

[Bahama O's Fan]

At the beginning of the year, I thought we had a really strong bench. It now looks very, very weak. 

[Tony-OH]

I'd like to marvel at Elias' love for Livan Soto. This the 3rd time he's acquired him this year (twice claimed on waivers and twice lost on waivers) and now he finally gets to use him at the major league level. He's got a real chance to stick here the rest of the year with Mateo going on the 60-day IL. 

[interloper]

7 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Did anyone ever uncover what we're paying him?  Or if we're paying him?  I saw the Sox sent cash with him, I don't know if that ever gets reported.

Curious about this, too. I know he has a $3 million buy out for next season. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sox are paying the remainder of his 2024 salary and we'll be on the hook for the buyout, but not sure. 

[Moose Milligan]

Just now, interloper said:

Curious about this, too. I know he has a $3 million buy out for next season. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sox are paying the remainder of his 2024 salary and we'll be on the hook for the buyout, but not sure. 

That's right.  I can't imagine we're paying him much at all.  And not that it really matters, I guess.  I'm more just curious than anything.

[CaptainRedbeard]

Akin hadn’t been optioned yet this year so this uses his last option and means he will be out of options next year, like Vespi. 

I was initially very surprised, but I had assumed Smith had been optioned this year, using his last option as well. I double checked and he actually hasn’t - so if they keep him on the roster the rest of the season without optioning him, he can be optionable depth next year. Seems they preferred that to retaining Akin’s final option.

Will be super interesting to see the off-season decisions on tendering Soto (at probably $6-7M?) and the cheap-ish options of Coulombe and Perez, versus Akin and Vespi as cheaper alternatives that will need to be DFA’d if not making the roster. 

[sportsfan8703]

57 minutes ago, interloper said:

No big surprises there IMO. Was between Akin option or Smith DFA, and I'm glad we utilized the option, although Akin has been fine lately. 

With Smith being out of options, we chose to keep him.  Akin will be back on 9/1 or before.  It'll be up to Mayo vs. Kjerstad for the 9/1 position player call up.  Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if we went with a 3rd catcher for September.  

[SteveA]

41 minutes ago, OsFanInOhio said:

Is slater as good a defensive replacement? Or at least an above average cf? Prior career ops vs lefties is somewhat encouraging but hasn’t been good this year. 

I don't know, but I imagine when he "replaces Mullins" in the lineup vs a lefty, it will be Cowser moving to CF and Slater in LF

[Just Regular]

1 minute ago, CaptainRedbeard said:

Akin hadn’t been optioned yet this year so this uses his last option and means he will be out of options next year, like Vespi. 

I was initially very surprised, but I had assumed Smith had been optioned this year, using his last option as well. I double checked and he actually hasn’t - so if they keep him on the roster the rest of the season without optioning him, he can be optionable depth next year. Seems they preferred that to retaining Akin’s final option.

Will be super interesting to see the off-season decisions on tendering Soto (at probably $6-7M?) and the cheap-ish options of Coulombe and Perez, versus Akin and Vespi as cheaper alternatives that will need to be DFA’d if not making the roster. 

It is a good day for Burch Smith, but you'd figure he goes when (if?) Danny Coulombe gets back.

We'll see if Chayce McDermott gets an immediate reliever lifestyle crash course - absent injuries, it looks like those are the biggest remaining possible tweaks for a playoff roster.

I have no earthly clue who gets the last 3 outs, but I hope I get to worry about it an entire 3 months.

Benefit of hindsight, can we get a do over on Felix Bautista's TJ timing?

[eddie83]

3 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

With Smith being out of options, we chose to keep him.  Akin will be back on 9/1 or before.  It'll be up to Mayo vs. Kjerstad for the 9/1 position player call up.  Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if we went with a 3rd catcher for September.  

Roster resource says Smith has one option left 

[CaptainRedbeard]

Really hope Pache gets through waivers. He’s got the same problem as Eloy this year in that he’s hitting the ball hard, but all on the ground. (At least he’s fast, whereas Eloy is the opposite.) There’s more offensive upside there than the horrific numbers indicate.

It’s a similar problem Westburg had in his first taste of MLB action as a rookie before they unlocked him getting the ball in the air more, and he took off and hasn’t looked back since. 

Slater’s bad numbers this year I think are mostly small sample size so I think he’s a better bet down the stretch. But Pache’s elite CF defense would make for a good bench option next year if they can get make some adjustments offensively in AAA, to get him back to being at least competent vs. LHP.

[CaptainRedbeard]

3 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

It is a good day for Burch Smith, but you'd figure he goes when (if?) Danny Coulombe gets back.

We'll see if Chayce McDermott gets an immediate reliever lifestyle crash course - absent injuries, it looks like those are the biggest remaining possible tweaks for a playoff roster.

I have no earthly clue who gets the last 3 outs, but I hope I get to worry about it an entire 3 months.

Benefit of hindsight, can we get a do over on Felix Bautista's TJ timing?

Coulombe isn’t expected back until September so he’ll have the extra roster spot when they expand. But I do think McDermott could squeeze in for a start or two to give the rotation an extra day, maybe at the start of September if Coulombe is not back September 1. After that, I think they shut McDermott down. 

The bullpen is deep enough they don’t need to mess around with McDermott. McDermott could certainly be an effective RP right now, but I don’t think he profiles to immediately be better than the many other options. With Povich’s struggles, McDermott’s probably the leading internal candidate for a rotation spot next year if they don’t re-sign Burnes or bring in somebody else.

McDermott’s still building up to a full season SP workload. They don’t need to risk injury with him putting him in the pen after surpassing his career high single season IP and having him throw max effort. 

[sportsfan8703]

27 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Ok, that does make sense.  But Adley's been mashing as a DH this year, I'd want him taking DH at bats if McCann is behind the plate.  To your point though, if he's taking McCann's PAs away, I'm good with that too.

Did anyone ever uncover what we're paying him?  Or if we're paying him?  I saw the Sox sent cash with him, I don't know if that ever gets reported.

Eloy for DH against LHP for the playoffs with Adley Catching.  Actually, I hope the plan is to start giving Adley some whole days off and let him freshen up a bit for the playoffs.  

[interloper]

13 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Benefit of hindsight, can we get a do over on Felix Bautista's TJ timing?

I am already dreaming about a bullpen next year that consists of Felix, Cano, Soto, and Dominguez in the backend. 4 dudes with mega stuff. Before you even get to the Coulombe/Webb/Perez types. 

[scbalt52]

I like to look at Baseball Savant pages but I am far from an expert on anything on them. However, I thought Eloy's page was interesting.

I was looking and this year he’s averaging 92.4 mph exit velocity which is great - 91st percentile and 50.8% hard hit percent - 93rd percentile. And his squared-up and barreled ball numbers are solid and above average.

But...his launch angle numbers are unbelievably bad. You want to hit your well-struck balls between 8 and 32 degrees. His average, AVERAGE! launch angle is 2.7 degrees. In contrast, Santander is a beautiful 27.9 degrees.

So, he just needs to stop hitting the ball on the damn ground. He's smoking the ball to SS and 3B. For a hitting coach, this seems like something you'd be able to correct (not that I have any clue), if he's willing to make adjustments.