Red Sox Release Joe La Sorsa

The Red Sox announced that left-hander Joe La Sorsa has been released. There was no previous indication he had been removed from the 40-man roster, so the club’s count drops from 39 to 38. La Sorsa will be a free agent once he clears release waivers, if he hasn’t already.

La Sorsa, 28, began the season with the Pirates on a minor league deal. Towards the end of camp, he exercised an upward mobility clause in his deal. The way such clauses work is that a player is offered up to all 29 other teams. If anyone wants to give him a roster spot, the signing club has to either trade him or give him a spot themselves. No one jumped at La Sorsa at that time, so he stayed with the Bucs.

He triggered another such clause at the end of May and the Red Sox scooped him up in a cash deal. He made one appearance against the Yankees on June 7. He came in with two outs, allowed a home run to Jazz Chisholm Jr. and then struck out José Caballero to end the frame. He was optioned to the minors after that. He made six Triple-A appearances before landing on the minor league injured list at the end of June. That was due to a concussion, per Tommy Cassell of Worcester T&G Sports.

His current status is unclear but he hasn’t pitched since. Maybe the Red Sox don’t expect him back this year or perhaps they just wanted the roster spot. La Sorsa was in his final option year, so he would be out of options next year. He may have been squeezed off the roster in a few months even if he were healthy.

La Sorsa’s big league track record consists of 57 1/3 innings with a 5.34 earned run average. He has been much better at Triple-A, with a 2.79 ERA in 170 2/3 innings, including a 2.78 ERA in 32 1/3 innings this year. Those numbers are surely enough to get him another minor league deal at some point in the future.