Red Sox Roster Moves: John Maine, Justin Thomas & Clayton Mortensen

Clayton Mortensen has been just short of brilliant for the Red Sox during his brief stint in the majors and today the club optioned him down to AAA Pawtucket. Through 9.1 innings of relief work, the former Rockie has struck out 12 batters and produced an ERA of just 0.96 along with an impressive 0.643 WHIP.

The move makes sense only on the fact that Mortenson is the lone reliever who has an option left.  I would be confident in saying that we’ll see Mortenson back up in the near future.

Justin Thomas was removed from the 40-man roster reports Alex Speier of WEEI.com and it wasn’t stated if he was outrighted or optioned. The move allowed the club to recall Daniel Nava who had his contract selected according to Speier.  Nava has an impressive line with Pawtucket .316/.421/.505 with 3 long balls and 17 RBI.  At 29-years old, the time is now for Nava to prove he’s major league dependable.

The promotion of Nava brings the outfield total to five, begging the question if one of the regulars is nursing an injury.  Stay tuned.

In a relatively minor and under the radar move, the Red Sox have released right-hander John Maine. The 31-year old was signed by Boston in January to a minor-league deal with an invite to spring training.  The funny thing is we never heard anything of Maine throughout February or March and really no news on the former Met until now.

His last stint in the majors was in 2010 with the aforementioned Mets but numerous shoulder injuries forced him onto the DL.  He had pitched for the Colorado Rockies AAA affiliate in 2011 working in 46.0 innings while posting a 7.43 ERA.

The signing was another attempt at a rehabbing arm that Cherington was hoping to bring back to life at a low cost.

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