Red Sox acquire Tyler Heineman
- Thread starter DeadlySplitter
- Start date
Mets had designated him for assignment. MLB career is just 104 games spread out over 5 years. Looks like organizational filler.
Why would they want this guy on the 40, especially since they’ve already got Perez on a minor league deal? Not sure I get this. Is one of their catchers about to get traded?
Heineman and Gonzalez combined have a career OPS+ of 129. That's an impact player right there!
If they've got Perez on a minor league deal, why would they need to add a catcher just so they can trade either Wong or McGuire?
I expect it's as simple as Heineman has options and they want an optionable third catcher on the 40-man. I also doubt Heineman's presence will hold Breslow back if he needed the roster spot for something else though. Unless we think Max Castillo is a big loss, this just seems like some roster shuffling to add a bit of flexibility and little else.
I think so. I bet Perez is here to compete for a backup job in spring training. He may even have opt outs. If Perez can’t easily be stashed in Worcester for the year, Heineman fits because he can spend time in Worcester and ride the shuttle. And as you say, they can also always jettison him if they need the room.
This is what I thought too. Perez is here to compete with McGuire for the backup job; unless an injury allows the FO to defer a decision, one of those two won’t be on the team by May 1. Heineman is just added depth they can stash in the minors all season.
I think the idea is to try to build depth by claiming and then waiving guys. Then if no one else picks them up, you keep them without clogging a 40 man spot.
I’m not sure I’m able to connect those dots, would you mind spelling out?
edit - seems adding a catcher would be opposite, or somehow option related?
I don't think so. I think this is Breslow's effect on things. All of those catchers are good to very good defensively.
With what we have out there it makes sense to stash some MLB filler at AAA. It all depends on if they consider this guy MLB filler
I'm not as deeply into baseball as I used to be, but it's not all that often that the Red Sox make a deal and I have never heard of fucking anyone.
I like the idea of having competent catchers at AAA though. Can't say I've really heard of that being an issue before, but it makes sense.
Whatever, let's get this show going.
I like the idea of having competent catchers at AAA though. Can't say I've really heard of that being an issue before, but it makes sense.
Whatever, let's get this show going.
At the end of the day, Breslow has found a new trade partner. Stearns of the Mets was at Milwaukee and knew Bres from Chicago. There's a familiarity. I think this is the second trade with the Mets this off-season, although in the very tepid nature with waiver people. It will take some time for Breslow to develop relationships around the league, as he was not the OPS or GM with the Cubs.
Who are all these pitchers that stalled or regressed, Mata? They haven’t had pipeline top 100 pitching prospects since Espinoza, Groome, or Kopech, who they moved on from before they played aaa. Middling prospects and surprises like Bello, Crawford, Wink, ect.. pitched fine at aaa. Seems like the bigger issue here is not having the talent more so anything else.
Don’t think it is that binary a situation. Even if you don’t have prime pitching prospects, AAA/AA is where development continues and finishing can occur for a player now that they know what they need to work on to be useful to the ML club.
The Red Sox seem to be setting up a system that emphasizes pitching development internally. They weren’t providing much support in upper minors catching, and are shifting that focus, now that they have a decent younger defensive catcher in the majors in Wong, and look to go into spring Training sorting the 2nd catcher between McGuire and Roberto Perez.
The majority of last years AAA/AA catching innings ( like 1750 of 2300 by rough count) was Jorge Alfaro, Stephen Scott, Ronaldo Hernandez, and Nathan Hickey, four guys who are poor receivers/framers and don’t appear part of the pitcher development solution. Looking at their SoxProspects scouting reports, all mention poor defense and specifically struggling with receiving and framing.
I don’t know if having more defensive catching support helps develop what may be fringier guys like Drohan, Walter, Houck, Murphy or whoever, but it seems likely the prior crew wasn’t helping, so it’s a thing to note that they’ve moved in the other direction.