Red Sox: 5 DFA candidates to clear a roster spot for Chris Sale

Players who could lose their spot when Red Sox activate Chis Sale

Decision time is looming for the Boston Red Sox. Chris Sale is expected to make his long-awaited return to the rotation on Saturday but first, the club must clear a spot on the 40-man roster in order to activate him fro the 60-day injured list. That means someone’s spot is in jeopardy.

The easy way out would be to transfer an injured player from the 10-day to the 60-day IL. The move would still require demoting a player from the active roster but at least they could keep them in the system. Unfortunately, there are no clear options for that route.

Darwinzon Hernandez’s oblique injury appears more serious than initially expected but unless he requires surgery, placing him on the 60-day IL seems unlikely since it essentially rules him out for the remainder of the regular season. Bryan Mata won’t be available anytime soon after undergoing Tommy John surgery last spring but moving him to the 60-day IL would start his service time clock.

The Red Sox will almost certainly be forced to designate someone for assignment to clear a spot for Sale, exposing that player to waivers and potentially losing them to another team.

Fans can rattle off the names of several players who have frustrated them to the point that they are ready to punt them to the moon but the decision of who to remove from the roster isn’t as simple as it seems. Depth is important so you can’t DFA everyone who falls into a slump. No, the Red Sox are not giving up on Bobby Dalbec during a disappointing rookie campaign even if he seemingly strikes out one million times.

Something has to give though. Someone will be giving up their roster spot by the end of the week. Here are five candidates the Red Sox could consider cutting ties with in order to pave the way for the return of their ace.

Red Sox minor league players on the 40-man roster

The Red Sox have eight minor league players on their 40-man roster, according to the team site. That includes Tanner Houck, who is expected to be a key part of the rotation down the stretch and obviously isn’t in danger of losing his spot.

Connor Wong has provided some value as a third catcher with the versatility to provide depth at other infield positions. Connor Seabold has impressed lately in Triple-A Worcester and could provide rotation depth or late-season bullpen reinforcement. Both seem safe due to their potential to help the big league team this season.

As previously explained, the Red Sox won’t put the injured Mata on the 60-day IL but they won’t designate the injured pitcher for assignment either considering he’s ranked as their No. 4 prospect by MLB Pipeline. He’s a long way from contributing in the big leagues but far too value to give up on. Jay Groome (No. 7) and Ronaldo Hernandez (No. 11) should also be safe.

That leaves Jeisson Rosario (No. 21) and Hudson Potts (No. 23), a pair of prospects acquired from San Diego in the Mitch Moreland trade at the 2020 deadline. Both players have struggled in Double-A this season. Potts is hitting .182/.191/.250 and has been limited to 48 games by an oblique injury. Rosario hasn’t been much better with a .233/.332/.300 slash line in 69 games.

Chaim Bloom isn’t the type of front office leader who tends to give away top-25 prospects but he might not have much choice with the impending roster crunch. The Red Sox will need to add a few more prospects to their 40-man roster this winter in order to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. If Rosario and Potts aren’t cut from the roster now, they could find themselves back on the chopping block at the end of the year when a more valuable prospect comes to take their spot.

Red Sox reliever Matt Andriese

Matt Andriese was a valuable weapon out of the Red Sox bullpen in April when he produced a 1.42 ERA in 12 2/3 innings. He imploded over the next couple of months, surrendering multiple earned runs in seven of his last 17 appearances. His ERA ballooned to 6.03 before he landed on the injured list with hamstring tendinitis in early July.

Andriese recently made his first rehab appearance for Triple-A Worcester. Barring a setback, a transfer to the 60-day IL isn’t in the cards so the Red Sox will need to make a decision on whether to activate or release him once the clock runs out on his rehab assignment.

He can be a useful asset in the bullpen if he regains his early-season form but Garrett Whitlock has convincingly claimed the role of the team’s top multi-inning reliever. The recently demoted Martin Perez can also log multiple innings in relief and Seabold is on the radar as a September call-up. The need for Andriese has diminished so he needs to prove he’s capable of more than mop-up duty in order to warrant bringing him back.

The Red Sox will almost certainly decline his $3.5 million team option for 2022. If they designate him for assignment, Boston is only on the hook for the remainder of his modest $1.85 million salary this season and his $250,000 buyout. If he isn’t ready to contribute down the stretch this season, cutting bait now wouldn’t alter their future roster plans.

Red Sox utility man Marwin Gonzalez

The Red Sox brought in Marwin Gonzalez in part because he was a favorite of Alex Cora from their time together in Houston but even the manager’s patience must be wearing thin with the lack of production.

Gonzalez is struggling to keep his batting average above the Mendoza Line. He doesn’t walk frequently enough to sustain an acceptable on-base percentage and his .566 OPS would be a career low.

At his peak, Gonzalez could hit doubles in bunches and was capable of topping 20 homers. Now his pathetic .286 SLG is among the worst in the majors.

The switch-hitter has performed acceptably well against left-handed pitching, batting .273 with a .759 OPS in 66 at-bats against southpaws. Is that enough to warrant keeping him on the roster?

Not quite, although his defensive versatility might. Gonzalez has fielded seven different positions this season and handled each of them well. He possesses one of the best gloves on the team at any position and can handle almost all of them.

As a defensive replacement who can pinch-hit against lefties, Gonzalez can still carve out a role on this team despite his highly disappointing overall results. He also provides veteran leadership in the clubhouse and has experience on a championship team. Those traits can’t go overlooked.

Gonzalez might be among the worst performers on the team from an overall statistical standpoint but he isn’t useless and therefore not the most likely to get booted.

Red Sox starter Garrett Richards

Garrett Richards is the most disappointing of the new additions to the Red Sox roster this season, or at least the one that has created the greatest source of frustration. The once-promising pitcher signed a short-term deal looking to restore his market value in the wake of several injury plagued seasons. Richards has proven he can remain healthy but that’s about the only positive he has going for him.

Richards is 6-7 with a 5.22 ERA, 1.65 WHIP and 7.1 K/9, putting him on pace for his worst season of any in which he’s made at least 10 starts.

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It can be argued that no pitcher in baseball has been impacted more by MLB’s crackdown on sticky stuff. His spin rate was once among the elite but Richards has been forced to reinvent himself on the fly. It’s somewhat unfair to expect the transformation to happen overnight so his revised approach adding new pitches to his arsenal is understandably a work in progress. However, a Red Sox team in the thick of a tight division race can’t afford to have a starter who struggles to get through five innings every time he takes the mound.

Richards is the obvious choice to get booted from the rotation when Sale returns. He could go to the bullpen, a role he served for the Padres near the end of last season. He thrived in his short time as a reliever, posting a 1.80 ERA and striking out five batters with only one walk in five innings. That’s a very small sample though and Richards also had the benefit of whatever type of sticky stuff he’d been using up until this year.

It’s essentially a guarantee that Richards will have his $10 million team option for next season declined but no tears will be shed in Boston if the Red Sox part ways with him sooner.

On the other hand, Bloom might not be willing to sacrifice the depth. Perez could always rejoin the rotation if necessary and Whitlock could open the first few innings of a bullpen game. Seabold might contribute at some point this season. Boston has some options if any of their starters were to go down but if the rotation is hit with a rash of injuries then they could be in trouble. Remember the junk they were sending out to the mound to start games last year? Richards is at least better then some of those pitchers who never warranted a spot in the big leagues.

The Red Sox might be on the verge of washing their hands of the underwhelming Richards but considering a viable major league starter isn’t as easily replaced as other options on the roster, they might not be willing to deplete their depth at the position.