The Crimson Sox introduced Monday that they’ve reinstated infielder Christian Arroyo from the injured checklist and, in a corresponding transfer, designated outfielder Raimel Tapia for task.
The veteran Tapia, 29, was non-tendered by the Blue Jays final winter and signed a minor league cope with the Crimson Sox, who chosen his contract previous to Opening Day. He’s appeared in 39 video games so far and tallied 97 plate appearances in Boston, batting .264/.333/.368 with a homer, 4 doubles, a triple and 6 stolen bases (in seven makes an attempt). He’s drawn 9 walks and fanned 19 occasions alongside the way in which, giving him barely better-than-average charges in each departments.
Tapia has performed all three outfield spots in Boston however has primarily been a left fielder in his large league profession — most of which has been spent with the Rockies. He’s drawn stable, if unspectacular grades in left area and in heart area, although defensive metrics aren’t significantly eager on his proper area prowess. He’s been common or a tick worse throughout the board within the outfield this season per every of Defensive Runs Saved, Final Zone Score and Outs Above Common.
With some outfield versatility, above-average contact and above-average velocity, Tapia has been a stable sufficient fourth outfielder in Boston, even with a evident lack of energy. That’s typically par for the course for the speedster, who has by no means topped 9 residence runs in an enormous league season and hasn’t been deemed a powerful sufficient defender by any of the Rockies, Jays or Crimson Sox to expire in heart area on an everyday and even semi-regular foundation.
Tapia can actually present worth, however as a primarily left-field choice with out a lot energy and with notable platoon splits (.105/.190/.105 versus lefties in 2023; .275/.305/.361 profession), he’s maybe a bit extra restricted than one would possibly anticipate with a cursory look at his batting line and 89th percentile dash velocity (per Statcast). It’s nonetheless no less than considerably shocking to see the Crimson Sox transfer on on this vogue, though with an all-left-handed-hitting outfield mixture of Masataka Yoshida, Jarren Duran and Alex Verdugo, Tapia’s lefty bat would possibly properly have been deemed a suboptimal match. The appropriate-handed-hitting Rob Refsnyder provides a extra pure complement in that regard.
The minor league deal Tapia signed over the winter contained a $2MM base wage, so any crew that claims him or acquires him would must be snug selecting up the rest of that prorated invoice. Boston might all the time embrace some money to assist facilitate a commerce, and a commerce is unquestionably the crew’s most popular choice, as Tapia has greater than 5 years of MLB service and might thus reject an outright task whereas retaining the whole thing of the wage nonetheless owed to him. The Crimson Sox can have per week to commerce Tapia, try to cross him via outright waivers, or launch him.
