Red Sox welcome back 3 players after DFAs, waiver claim process

The Boston Red Sox added Garrett Cooper, Dominic Smith, Zack Short, Naoyuki Uwasawa and Vaughn Grissom to the roster in a matter of days. Some Red Sox had to be designated for assignment or optioned to accommodate all the new faces on the roster.

Joely Rodríguez, Vladimir Gutiérrez and Pablo Reyes were all DFA'd and outrighted to the Worcester Red Sox to make room for new players. Rodríguez and Reyes were regulars in the Sox's lineup early in the season, but Gutiérrez never made it up to Boston before he was dropped from the 40-man roster.

The three players went through waivers, which cleared the way for them to remain in Boston's minor league system. This allows for any of them to be called up again and used as depth options in an emergency.

At the rate the Red Sox are going, keeping players around and ready as backup options is necessary — Boston's roster has been rocked by the injury bug like never before. But none of the other 29 teams in the league deemed Rodríguez, Gutiérrez or Reyes viable options for their own rosters. It isn't hard to see why.

Gutiérrez is a former top pitching prospect in the Reds organization. He's pitched to a 6.75 ERA in four innings of major league work and a 9.28 ERA in 10.2 minor league frames.

Rodríguez logged a 6.55 ERA in 11 innings with the Red Sox. He contributed to a few slip-ups by the bullpen that resulted in losses for the Sox.

Pablo Reyes, Vladimir Gutiérrez and Joely Rodríguez all clear waivers, remain in Red Sox organization

Reyes batted just .183/.234 /.217 in 21 games with Boston. The utility infielder accumulated four errors at third base in his time with the Red Sox, but his other three positions — shortstop, second base and first base — are clean.

The Red Sox's roster is certainly in better shape now than it was after the season-ending injury to Trevor Story. Enmanuel Valdez and Bobby Dalbec have been optioned as well and Boston's error-prone infield has a new look.

Hopefully, a stint in the minors will give the Red Sox's optioned players enough time to prepare for their next call-up to the big leagues. A .183 batting average or 6.55 ERA aren't going to cut it when the harder part of Boston's schedule comes around.

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