On Sunday the Boston Red Sox released outfielder Raimel Tapia, after designating him for assignment early last week to make room on the active roster for Christian Arroyo.
Now Tapia is signing a major league deal with the Milwaukee Brewers and is set to join the team Tuesday night in Minnesota, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.
The move to release Tapia certainly surprised a lot of Sox fans. In 39 games with Boston this season he had six extra-base hits, 10 RBI and was hitting .307 as a pinch-hitter -- .264 overall. He was in the 88th percentile in all of Major League Baseball in sprint speed and played all three outfield positions well.
The Sox preferred their other bench options over keeping Tapia, especially Jarren Duran. The decision to keep Duran with the big league club shows me that they believe more in his productive offensive spurts and younger age than the clear ceiling that Tapia has already shown you that he has reached.
Both Tapia and Durran being lefties didn't help Raimel's chances of sticking around either. The Sox just extended outfielder Rob Refsnyder through next season with a club option for 2025. It's clear that these moves were connected. Refsnyder will provide a consistent glove and bat off the bench as a righty, while Duran brings the speed and athleticism off the bench as a lefty.
Yet be ready for the backlash if Tapia becomes a legitimate contributor for Milwaukee. If I know anything about the current state of the Red Sox fan base, it's that they can't wait for more reasons to pile on Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom and this team's ownership group. Another former player performing at a high level elsewhere will only further the narrative that the decision makers with the Sox continue to push the wrong buttons in trying to turn this season and the overall trajectory of this team around.
Either way, Tapia still has $1.2 million left of the $2 million salary he signed with the Red Sox in the offseason. The Sox will pay that, with the Brewers needing to cover the prorated portion of the major league minimum.
The Sox offense as a whole has to get going for this season to have any level of relevance. These bench player moves only matter if your starters can be the ones mainly keeping you in contention into September. At this rate, with a record of 33-34, no minor move will be big enough to make up the needed win pace for the Sox to get back to playing meaningful October baseball.
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