Fort Report: Red Sox make late addition to bullpen, release former top prospect

The start of the 2024 Major League Baseball season is just days away, which means it is now time for the final Fort Report of the year. The Red Sox closed out the Grapefruit League portion of their spring schedule over the weekend and will wrap up their two-game exhibition series against the Rangers in Texas later Tuesday afternoon before heading to Seattle for Opening Day. With that, here is a rundown of some key events that took place prior to the club leaving Fort Myers on Sunday.

Anderson signed to one-year deal

The Red Sox added to their bullpen mix on Sunday by signing right-hander Chase Anderson to a one-year major-league deal. Anderson, 36, is a veteran of 10 big-league seasons and most recently split the 2023 campaign between the Rays and Rockies, pitching to a 5.42 ERA over 19 appearances (17 starts) spanning 86 1/3 innings of work.

Anderson had been in camp with the Pirates on a minor-league contract this spring, but he opted out of that deal after appearing in four Grapefruit League contests and was granted his release on Saturday. The Red Sox obviously wasted little time in pouncing on Anderson, who will earn a base salary of $1.25 million and up to $500,000 in performance bonuses. With Boston, he figures to serve as a long reliever who can also make spot starts when needed.

Giolito placed on 60-day IL, others could soon follow

In order to clear a spot for Anderson on the 40-man roster, the Red Sox placed fellow righty Lucas Giolito on the 60-day injured list. Giolito, of course, underwent a successful right elbow ulnar collateral ligament repair with internal brace procedure earlier this month and will likely miss the entirety of the 2024 season as a result.

Like Giolito, Liam Hendriks will also begin the season on the 60-day injured list as he continues to work his way back from the Tommy John surgery he underwent last August. Chris Murphy, meanwhile, could also be headed for the  IL with an elbow injury that first popped up after his last outing on March 14. The 25-year-old lefty is scheduled to get a second opinion on his elbow from Rangers team physician Keith Meister early next month and may require surgery, according to The Boston Globe's Alex Speier.

Rodriguez makes team, Cron does not

On Friday, a pair of veterans on minor-league deals with the Red Sox triggered the opt-out clauses in their contracts, giving the club 48 hours to decide if they would be added to the active roster or not. Ultimately, reliever Joely Rodriguez was informed on Sunday that he had made the team while first baseman C.J. Cron was told otherwise. 

Rodriguez will be the lone southpaw available to manager Alex Cora out of the bullpen to begin the season. Brennan Bernardino was in the mix all spring, but was somewhat surprisingly optioned to Triple-A Worcester on Monday night. Cron, on the other hand, is believed to be exploring his options on the open market but could be brought back by the Sox on a minors pact, per MassLive.com's Chris Cotillo.

In the wake of these decisions, it now appears as though Bobby Dalbec will make Boston's Opening Day roster since he can provide positional versatility off the bench. Lucas Luetge, who had been competing with the likes of Bernardino and Rodriguez for a bullpen spot, will report to Worcester since his upward mobility clause is no longer in play.

Other transactions

The Red Sox released six minor-leaguers on Sunday: Cron, infielders Joe Dunand and Lyonell James, outfielder Gilberto Jimenez, and right-handers Maceo Campbell and Garrett Ramsey. Of those six, Jimenez stands out the most since he was once considered one of the top prospects in the organization. Originally signed out of the Dominican Republic for $10,000 in August 2017, the 23-year-old peaked at No. 4 in our rankings during the 2019 offseason. Despite showing signs of promise in the lower minors, he never advanced past High-A.

Key links

Ceddanne Rafaela and Justin Slaten are among the rookies who have already been told that they have made the Red Sox' Opening Day roster. Rafaela and Slaten each reacted to the news in separate conversations with MLB.com's Matthew Ritchie and WEEI.com's Rob Bradford, respectively. 

Several members of the SoxProspects.com staff were in Fort Myers this past week for minor-league spring training at Fenway South. Among the key takeaways, both Ian Cundall and Chris Hatfield liked what they saw from 18-year-old infielder Starlyn Nunez, who is set to make his stateside debut in the Florida Complex League this coming season.

For additional Red Sox prospect coverage, be sure to follow Ian (@IanCundall), Chris (@SPChrisHatfield), Chris Clegg (@RotoClegg), and the SoxProspects account (@SoxProspects) on Twitter/X if you don't already!

Minor-leaguers in major-league games

Each year, we track the players who are not in major-league camp who get pulled over for MLB games. Here is the final tally, with current ranking in parentheses, of the 54 minor-leaguers who were featured in Grapefruit League action this spring:

Pitchers: Jason Alexander, Brendan Cellucci, Felix Cepeda (48), Theo Denlinger, Jordan DiValerio, Juan Encarnacion, Zach Fogell, Gabriel Jackson, Robert Kwiatkowski, C.J. Liu (56), Wyatt Olds, Zach Penrod (39), Garrett Ramsey, Cody Scroggins, Reidis Sena (49), Noah Song, Dylan Spacke, Nate Tellier, Christopher Troye (34), Brian Van Belle, Jacob Webb, Jeremy Wu-Yelland, and Ryan Zeferjahn (54).

Position players: Roman Anthony (1), Alex Binelas, Kristian Campbell (47), Allan Castro (15), Juan Chacon, Cutter Coffey (38), Nick Decker, Kelvin Diaz, Drew Ehrhard, Albert Feliz, Max Ferguson, Jhostynxon Garcia, Mickey Gasper, Gilberto Jimenez, Blaze Jordan (20), Niko Kavadas, Christian Koss, Ahbram Liendo, Eduardo Lopez, Matthew Lugo (55), Elih Marrero, Marcelo Mayer (2), Tyler McDonough (43), Tyler Miller, Eddinson Paulino (18), Angel Pierre, Luis Ravelo (45), Phillip Sikes, Karson Simas, Kyle Teel (3), and Miguel Ugueto.

Photo Credit: Gilberto Jimenez and Kyle Teel by Kelly O'Connor

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