Boston Red Sox: Which players are out of minor league options?
The 2017 Boston Red Sox Opening Day roster may be influenced by some of these players that are out of minor league options.
The Boston Red Sox will have some important decisions to make when it comes to constructing a roster for 2017, but they have run out of options for some of their players. Minor league options, that is.
Once a player has been placed on the 40-man roster, a team has three option years on that player. Spending at least 20 days in the minors would constitute using up one of those options for that season, so while the player can shuttle between the big leagues and the minors several times throughout that season while still only counting as one option, the team is limited to doing so in only three seasons.
After those three options have been used, the player can’t be sent back to the minors without passing through waivers, allowing the 29 other teams in the league a chance to claim him. Naturally, if the organization considers the player to still have value, they will do what they can to fit him on the 25-man active roster in order to avoid losing them.
We saw this last spring when Steven Wright was out of options. He initially seemed to be a long shot to earn a rotation spot, with the Red Sox planning to make use of him as a long reliever out of the bullpen in order to warrant giving him a roster spot. When an injury delayed the start of Eduardo Rodriguez‘s season it gave Wright an opportunity to start, which he took advantage of by making his first All-Star team.
We can’t expect that another fringe roster player will suddenly flourish into an All-Star, but we may very well find a player in a similar situation where they make the Opening Day roster simply because they are out of options and the Red Sox don’t want to risk losing them. Here are a few players that fall into that category.
The 28-year old began this season in Pawtucket as he worked his way back from Tommy John surgery. His stint in the minors didn’t last long, with a call-up coming in mid-April, but Vazquez never managed to establish himself as the team’s starting catcher.
Defense has always been his calling card, but no matter how great Vazquez is behind the dish he needs to be able to hit at least a little bit. The Red Sox sent him back to Triple-A in early July when they tired of his meager .226 batting average, by which time Sandy Leon was beginning to emerge.
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Leon, who is also out of options, should be expected to be the primary catcher entering next season. While his bat cooled off down the stretch, his second half production earns him the opportunity to see if he can approach that level over a full season.
That leaves Vazquez as a backup catcher, a defensive specialist that could start a couple times per week. Leon is a quality catcher in his own right, so the Red Sox won’t need to substitute him for a defensive replacement often, but Vazquez should be used frequently enough to avoid Leon wearing down – as he seemed to do at the end of this year.
Bryan Holaday is another catcher out of options, but with the Red Sox seemingly set at the position he’s likely to be viewed as expendable.
Locking Vazquez into the backup catcher role presumes that Blake Swihart is unlikely to shift back to that position, yet his spot in left field was taken while he was sidelined with a season-ending ankle injury. It may take an injury or trade for Swihart to begin the season in Boston.
Opening Day chances: High
The right-hander was one of the team’s more reliable middle relievers this season. Hembree posted a 2.65 ERA and 8.29 K/9, both of which easily represent the best he has produced in a Red Sox uniform.
Hembree struggles against lefties, who lit him up to the tune of a .338 average and .890 OPS, but his ability to get right-handed hitters out makes him a major league caliber pitcher. He held right-handers to a .201 average and .591 OPS, both of which were second on the team among pitchers with more than three appearances. He can provide value to this team, even if it’s only as a situational reliever.
He was left off of the postseason roster, but only because the best-of-five ALDS format allowed the Red Sox to stick a starter or two in the bullpen. There should be a spot available for Hembree to begin the season and his lack of options could be what seals it. Carson Smith probably won’t be ready to begin the season and Koji Uehara‘s future remains uncertain, which increases Hembree’s chances to make the roster.
Opening Day chances: Probable
The 27-year old appeared in only 25 games with the big league club this season, but contributed a solid .279 average and .690 OPS.
Brentz was particularly effective against lefties, owning a .286 average and .738 OPS against them. He has the ability to be a passable fourth outfielder or platoon partner against southpaws, but the Red Sox have a superior option to fill that role in Chris Young.
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The Red Sox are loaded in the outfield, with Mookie Betts and Jackie Bradley locked into starting roles and prized prospect Andrew Benintendi likely to stick in left field after a promising debut. Between Young and the versatile Brock Holt, the team has plenty of depth in the outfield.
Brentz could provide value as an option waiting in the wings down in Pawtucket in case injuries depleted that depth, but that won’t happen given that he’s out of options. Barring the unlikely event that he passes through waivers unclaimed, Brentz’s days in this organization may be numbered.
Perhaps he could be used as a piece in a trade package, which would allow the Red Sox to extract some value out of him rather than let him go for nothing.
Opening Day chances: Low
It would be surprising if the Red Sox tendered a contract to Abad, who is due to make somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million in arbitration.
The Red Sox acquired Abad in a mid-season trade with the Minnesota Twins to fill their need for another lefty reliever, but the move proved to be disastrous. The 30-year old was brutal in 18 appearances, posting a 6.39 ERA and 1.66 WHIP. He walked a staggering eight walks in only 12 2/3 innings and somehow managed to produce a -0.3 WAR in a very limited sample size.
The one redeeming quality Abad showed during his time in Boston was that he was tough on lefties, holding them to a .130 batting average and .461 OPS after joining the Red Sox bullpen. He can still be a useful lefty specialist, but the problem is that manager John Farrell bizarrely refused treat him as one despite his overwhelming splits. Abad actually faced more right-handers than lefties, while being abused by righties for a .357 average and .986 OPS.
Sure, it was a relatively small sample size, but why would you ever use Abad against a right-handed hitter when he had been struggling that much against them? It took Farrell far too long to figure that out and he can’t necessarily be trusted to resist the urge to do it again.
The Red Sox left Abad off the postseason roster and should do the same with their 2017 Opening Day roster. It would be Abad idea to keep him around, so the Red Sox should cut bait – if for no other reason than so I can stop making that joke.
Opening Day chances: Let’s hope not