The Red Sox had a few DFA resolutions this afternoon (relayed on X by Jen McCaffrey of the Athletic). Boston confirmed the perviously reported news that Chase Anderson was headed to free agency. The Sox also outrighted catcher Reese McGuire and reliever Yohan Ramírez while releasing left-hander Brandon Walter.
Boston pushed McGuire off the roster with the Danny Jansen acquisition. The lefty-hitting catcher had backed up Connor Wong all season. McGuire started the season hot but his offense has plummeted over the past few months. He’s hitting .209/.280/.295 through 158 plate appearances overall. Acquired from the White Sox at the 2022 trade deadline, McGuire has a .264/.315/.370 slash in parts of three seasons with Boston.
The 29-year-old McGuire has just under five years of major league service. That’s the cutoff at which a player can decline an outright assignment in favor of free agency while keeping the guaranteed money on his contract. For McGuire to test the market now, he’d need to forfeit the nearly $500K remaining on his $1.5MM arbitration salary. That makes it likely he’ll report to Triple-A Worcester and serve as non-roster catching depth for the rest of the season. He’d be a minor league free agent next winter if the Sox don’t put him back on the MLB team.
Ramírez, also 29, finally goes unclaimed after hitting the waiver wire for the fifth time in his career. The out-of-options righty has played for four teams this year alone. He’s logged 45 innings — most of them with the Dodgers — across 38 appearances. Despite roughly league average strikeout and walk numbers, Ramírez has been tagged for a 6.20 earned run average. He spent less than a week on Boston’s MLB roster. Claimed off waivers from L.A. on July 28, he was designated for assignment three days later so the Sox could call up infielder Nick Sogard.
After crossing the three-year service threshold this summer, Ramírez earned the right to elect free agency in lieu of an outright assignment. The Sox didn’t announce whether he’ll do so. Unlike McGuire, Ramírez was playing on a pre-arbitration deal, so he wouldn’t be leaving any kind of guaranteed money on the table if he wanted to explore other opportunities. If he reports to Worcester, he’d also be eligible for minor league free agency in the offseason unless the Sox reselect his contract.
Walter’s release was an inevitability once Boston designated him for assignment on Tuesday. The left-hander has been on the minor league injured list all season. Teams are not allowed to place injured players on outright waivers and Walter can’t be traded after the deadline since he had been on the 40-man roster. That left a release as the only outcome.
The Sox could try to bring him back on a minor league contract if he clears release waivers, but he’d be free to explore other opportunities. The 27-year-old Walter appeared in nine games for Boston last season in his first MLB action. He allowed a 6.26 ERA through 23 innings in a long relief capacity. The University of Delaware product has a solid 3.61 mark over parts of four minor league seasons, working mostly from the rotation.
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