Red Sox Lose 7-Year Veteran Flamethrower To Cardinals After Waiver Claim

As reported by Chris Cotillo of MassLive and reflected by the official Major League Baseball transaction log, the St. Louis Cardinals have claimed Alcala off waivers. That necessitates his addition to the 40-man roster, and because he's out of minor league options, he'll need to be added to the active major league roster as well.

Alcala wound up making 19 appearances for the Red Sox, totaling 16 1/3 innings. His ERA of 3.31 in those outings doesn't look bad, but after a strong start, he'd started failing to do the job he was asked to do, which essentially amounted to mop-up duty, and forcing the Red Sox to use their top bullpen arms in games that should have been easy victories.

Allowing two home runs and a double to the Kansas City Royals after inheriting an 8-1 lead in the eighth inning of Monday night's game proved to be the final straw. Despite knowing that he was out of options, the Red Sox felt they had no choice but to strip Alcala of one of the eight valuable spots in the bullpen.

The Red Sox initially designated Alcala for assignment on Tuesday, recalling Isaiah Campbell from Triple-A Worcester to take his spot on the active roster.

Alcala now has a 6.64 ERA and -1.0 bWAR on the season, but the Cardinals see a pitcher who can touch 100 miles per hour with his fastball, and who has some pretty nasty breaking pitches at times, and think they can be the ones to finally unlock him. Plus, he's only one year removed from a 3.24 ERA and 1.4 bWAR with the Twins.

If Alcala had cleared waivers, the Red Sox would likely have relished the chance to outright him to Worcester and work with him in the offseason, setting him up to be a legitimate option for the bullpen moving forward. But that opportunity never arrived.