The Boston Red Sox’s offseason overhaul is underway.
The Red Sox on Monday announced they have traded catcher Sandy Leon to the Cleveland Indians for minor league pitcher Adenys Bautista. Boston now has three open spots on its 40-man roster.
Leon spent the last four seasons with the Red Sox as a glove-first catcher who had a sparkling reputation among the team’s pitching staff. Aside from an impressive 2016 season in which he hit .310 in 78 games, Leon’s offense left plenty to be desired. He hit just .199 over his other three seasons in Boston with just 17 home runs and 80 RBIs in 239 games.
Bautista, 21, has been in the Indians organization for two seasons and has yet to advance beyond rookie ball. He’s appeared in 27 career games, all but one out of the bullpen, allowing 29 earned runs in 43 2/3 innings. Walks have been a major issue for Bautista, who has issued more than six free passes per nine innings in his brief professional career.
Here’s a brief scouting report from Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen:
I have new Red Sox righty Adenys Bautista 89-93, touching 94, was 21 and repeated the DSL to start 2019, came stateside in a bullpen role. It's possible I'm missing something, but I just have him as an NP.
— Eric Longenhagen (@longenhagen) December 2, 2019
It will be interesting to see whether there are any more roster announcements for the Red Sox. The deadline for teams to tender contracts to arbitration-eligible players is Monday night.
The Red Sox also have a long-term decision to make about the backup catcher position, as there’s not really anyone on the big league roster who looks like a suitable understudy for Christian Vazquez.
