Weekly Notes: Roster moves aplenty

Here are this week's minor league notes:

• The Red Sox made a plethora of roster moves this week, but the biggest came on Friday night when the club sent outfield prospect Brandon Jacobs (pictured) to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for 36-year-old, left-handed reliever Matt Thornton and cash considerations. Jacobs, 22, peaked at number eight in the SoxProspect rankings during his five-year stint in the system. He was promoted to Portland on Thursday, a move which was potentially made to allow Chicago's scouts to get a better look at the left fielder.
• Top prospect Xander Bogaerts, who will also be playing in the Futures Game for the World Team, continues to impress in Pawtucket, as written by SoxProspects.com Managing Editor Matt Huegel for ESPNBoston.com. Bogaerts now has more home runs in Triple-A than he did in twice as many plate appearances in Double-A.
• Last Friday, the team promoted left-hander Drake Britton to Pawtucket -- the first domino of this week's bevy of roster moves. Britton had a 3.51 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP with 80 strikeouts and 36 walks in 97 1/3 innings with Portland prior to the promotion. The 24-year-old made his first Triple-A start on Tuesday, allowing five runs in 5 1/3 innings while striking five and walking one.
• Tuesday saw a change of scenery for three other prospect, as right-hander Brandon Workman and outfielder Jackie Bradley, Jr. were promoted to Boston from Pawtucket and infielder Mookie Betts was promoted to Salem from Greenville. Workman made his major-league debut on Wednesday, pitching two innings of relief while allowing three runs on four hits and striking out four.
• Katie Morrison of WEEI.com wonders if Workman could potentially be the next Justin Masterson since the former is ascending through the system similar to how the latter did during his time in Boston.
• Boston promoted a handful of minor-leaguers on Wednesday, including Charlie Haeger to Pawtucket and Brian Johnson to Gulf Cost League squad to began his rehab assignment (left shoulder). Johnson hadn't played since May 30 with Greenville, where he had a 4.03 ERA with 39 strikeouts and 17 walks in 38 innings prior to his injury, before making his two-inning rehab start on Wednesday.
• Pawtucket added left-hander Eric Nieson to its roster after the Red Sox signed the 27-year-old on Wedesnday. Nieson, a third round pick in 2007, last played with the Long Island Ducks of the Independent League. 
• Roster moves are a long-range chess game, as noted by Providence Journal's Tim Britton -- who couldn't have picked a more appropriate time to release his article as it serves as a good explanation as to why Jacobs was moved to Chicago.
• Also from Britton, Allen Webster took steps in the right direction during his most extended stay in the majors thus far in his career. Webster made four starts after he was promoted on June 22, posting a 1-1 record with a 8.68 ERA.
• After losing out in the fan vote, Garin Cecchini will be joining the U.S. Team's roster for the July 14 Futures Game at Citi Field after all, as he'll be replacing Texas Rangers' prospect Joey Gallo. Cecchini is batting .353/.468/.535 in 348 plate appearances across Double-A Portland and Single-A Salem this season.
• Keury De La Cruz and Rubby De La Rosa earned SoxProspect Player of the Month for June. De La Cruz hit .387/.415/.523 with a system-leading 27 RBI in June, while De La Rosa had a 1.01 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings.
• The Red Sox signed fourth-rounder Myles Smith and 36th-rounder Pat Goetze on Friday. With the signing of Smith, Boston signed all 10 of their picks from the top 10 rounds of this year's draft.

Photo Credit: Brandon Jacobs by Kelly O'Connor

Kevin Pereira and Will Woodward are Staff Writers for SoxProspects. Follow them on Twitter @kevinrpereira and @SPWill. 

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