While the MLB offseason technically begins the day after the World Series ends, the first five days afterwards function as a quiet period where option decisions are finalized, opt out decisions are made and free agents are only permitted to re-sign with their own teams.<\/p>\n
That five-day period ended on Monday at 5 p.m., which notably also marked the deadline for clubs to activate players on the 60-day injured list. For the Red Sox, who finished the season with seven players on the 60-day IL, that meant a long anticipated roster crunch finally had to be resolved.<\/p>\n
The Red Sox made a flurry of roster moves on Monday to trim their roster to 40 on Monday afternoon, activating pitchers Justin Slaten, Johan Oviedo and Kutter Crawford, first baseman Triston Casas and outfielder Eli White from the 60-day IL while designating right-hander Zack Kelly and left-hander Eduardo Rivera for assignment.<\/p>\n
Kelly and Rivera were both among the seven Red Sox players who finished the season on the 60-day IL. Rather than activate them and make cuts somewhere else, the Red Sox opted to DFA the pair, which will make them available to other \u00a0clubs.<\/p>\n
Originally a Division 2 college pitcher, Kelly made his big league debut in Boston in 2022 and posted a 4.04 ERA with 127 strikeouts over 131 1\/3 innings and 115 appearances with the club. This past season he posted a 3.31 ERA in 17 MLB outings in April and May before being optioned to Triple-A. He wound up going on the IL with right elbow inflammation in early July and did not pitch again for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
Rivera made four big league appearances after being called straight up from Double-A to the majors for his debut on April 22, bypassing Triple-A entirely. He allowed seven earned runs in 10 innings, the latter three outings coming in mid-July, and he\u00a0was later recalled from the minors and placed on the 60-day IL with a lumbar strain to clear a 40-man spot ahead of the Sept. 1 roster expansion.<\/p>\n
Of the players activated from the 60-day IL, Slaten played the biggest role on last year\u2019s Red Sox club. The right-hander appeared in 36 games and posted a 4.60 ERA as one of the club\u2019s top high-leverage bullpen arms, but missed significant time with right elbow inflammation and was ultimately shut down in mid-September after further imaging revealed \u201cdegenerative changes in his flexor mass.\u201d<\/p>\n
White, who was acquired from the Atlanta Braves at the trade deadline, underwent Lisfranc repair surgery after jamming his right foot up against the wall at Fenway Park on Sept. 8.\u00a0Crawford (right flexor irritation) and Casas (various knee, abdominal and wrist injuries) both missed the entire 2026 season and Oviedo (right flexor strain) was limited to one appearance on March 30.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s moves capped off a busy first week of the offseason for the Red Sox.<\/p>\n
After finishing the season with a combined 47 players on the 40-man and 60-day IL, the club initially needed to free up seven spots by Monday. Two were cleared when Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Patrick Sandoval hit free agency and another opened when Sonny Gray\u2019s mutual option was declined, allowing the veteran right-hander to hit the market as well. That still left the Red Sox with four additional spots.<\/p>\n
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow worked quickly to clear two of them, trading outfielder Nate Eaton to the Athletics for an 18-year-old minor league pitcher and infielder Tsung-Che Cheng to the Detroit Tigers for cash on the day after the World Series ended.<\/p>\n
Even with Monday\u2019s moves the Red Sox could still have some tough decisions to make as the offseason goes along. The club would have to clear additional spots for every new player they eventually bring in, and they may also need to open up space ahead of the Nov. 17 deadline for teams to determine which prospects to protect from the Rule 5 Draft.<\/p>\n
Complicating matters this year will be the uncertainty over whether the Rule 5 Draft will even take place. Typically held in early December at the Winter Meetings, this year\u2019s Rule 5 almost certainly won\u2019t go on as scheduled due to the impending lockout, and whether or not it\u2019s rescheduled will be subject to negotiations between the players and owners as part of the larger labor talks.<\/p>\n
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