Red Sox Add Pitcher Zack Kelly, Catcher Ali Sánchez To Active Roster

[Nick John]

With September officially here, MLB rosters can officially be expanded to 28 players (14 pitchers max). The Red Sox have done just that, as they have added pitcher Zack Kelly and catcher Ali Sánchez to the active roster according to MassLive's Christopher Smith.

Kelly has been shuttled this season between Boston and Worcester with a stint on the injured list as well. His last appearance with Boston was on June 29 against the Toronto Blue Jays, where he would end up leaving with an injury.

Overall on the season, Kelly has appeared in 17 games for Boston going 1-3 with a 5.56 ERA in 22 2/3 innings pitched. He’s been a victim of poor luck, as shown by his expected ERA being 3.70 and his FIP being 3.65. With Worcester, he’s appeared in 21 games and produced a 6.15 ERA in 26 1/3 innings pitched.

Sánchez was previously acquired by Boston on August 8 when Carlos Narváez was banged up. Serving as the third catcher, Sánchez appeared in just one game as a defensive replacement before getting designated for assignment. After refusing an assignment to Worcester, Sánchez became a free agent and signed with the New York Mets. On August 31, he was traded back to Boston by the Mets and was assigned to the Worcester Red Sox this morning before being activated to the major league roster.

To make room for Sánchez on the 40-Man roster, Marcelo Mayer was transferred to the 60-Day injured list.

Both players will be active starting today as the Red Sox open the final month of the season against the Cleveland Guardians.

View full rumor

[Jasonbay44]

A s***** third catcher and a useless reliever? Awesome! 

[SPLENDIDSPLINTER]

54 minutes ago, Jasonbay44 said:

A s***** third catcher and a useless reliever? Awesome! 

Definitely disappointing.

[Bellhorn04]

The third catcher is just emergency insurance, it enables Cora to do something like use Narvaez as a pinch-hitter - like he did yesterday, very successfully I might add.

Kelly is a mystery.  Andrew Bailey must think there's something there he can fix.

[moonslav59]

It was Kelly vs Harrison. It's not like we have a Chapman on the farm.

It was a 3rd catcher or a 7th OF'er.

[notin]

9 hours ago, Jasonbay44 said:

A s***** third catcher and a useless reliever? Awesome! 

Having a third catcher makes sense.  I’m not wild about Kelly.  But what were the other options?

Pitchers Criswell, Guerrero, Winckowski, Crawford, and Fitts are all injured.  Harrison has reportedly been learning a new pitch plus a new grip for a second pitch, so he’s not available.  I think Moran’s demotion was too recent to call him back up. 
 

That leaves Kelly, Murphy, and Isaiah Campbell.

If they didn’t want another left-handed pitcher, then the choices were Kelly and Campbell…
 

 

[Duran Is The Man]

2 minutes ago, notin said:

Having a third catcher makes sense.  I’m not wild about Kelly.  But what were the other options?

Pitchers Criswell, Guerrero, Winckowski, Crawford, and Fitts are all injured.  Harrison has reportedly been learning a new pitch plus a new grip for a second pitch, so he’s not available.  I think Moran’s demotion was too recent to call him back up. 
 

That leaves Kelly, Murphy, and Isaiah Campbell.

If they didn’t want another left-handed pitcher, then the choices were Kelly and Campbell…
 

 

the cream of the crap.

[moonslav59]

45 minutes ago, Duran Is The Man said:

the cream of the crap.

This what happens when you have 8 pitchers on the IL:

Houck, Crawford, Sandoval, Dobbins, Fitts, Criswell, Hendriks & Guerrero.

It's hard to plan 9-10 deep and have something useful.

Also, between Kelly, Campbell, Murphy and Moran, I kinda expected in March, that one might be decent.

[mvp 78]

2 hours ago, notin said:

Having a third catcher makes sense.  I’m not wild about Kelly.  But what were the other options?

Pitchers Criswell, Guerrero, Winckowski, Crawford, and Fitts are all injured.  Harrison has reportedly been learning a new pitch plus a new grip for a second pitch, so he’s not available.  I think Moran’s demotion was too recent to call him back up. 
 

That leaves Kelly, Murphy, and Isaiah Campbell.

If they didn’t want another left-handed pitcher, then the choices were Kelly and Campbell…

Wonder why they've hoarded so many lefties in the pen? 

 

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

This what happens when you have 8 pitchers on the IL:

Houck, Crawford, Sandoval, Dobbins, Fitts, Criswell, Hendriks & Guerrero.

It's hard to plan 9-10 deep and have something useful.

Also, between Kelly, Campbell, Murphy and Moran, I kinda expected in March, that one might be decent.

Crawford, Sandoval and Hendriks were known injury risks going into the season. Sox are also building up a Dodgers-esque resumé of sending arms to the IL both in MLB and MiLB with the new pitching philosophy. 

[moonslav59]

34 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Wonder why they've hoarded so many lefties in the pen? 

 

Not sure they foresaw this, but...

Our LHPs vs RHBs OPS Against:

.282 Matz

.360 Chapman

.589 Bernardino

.592 Murphy

(Wilson .843 is the outlier.)

 

[mvp 78]

12 minutes ago, moonslav59 said:

Not sure they foresaw this, but...

Our LHPs vs RHBs OPS Against:

.282 Matz

.360 Chapman

.589 Bernardino

.592 Murphy

(Wilson .843 is the outlier.)

 

Matz's OPS was a lot higher vs RHB before he was traded. I think there is some SSS luck involved. 

Chapman's career splits aren't horrible. Murphy didn't show a split back in '23 so it may not be a concern for him. 

[moonslav59]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Matz's OPS was a lot higher vs RHB before he was traded. I think there is some SSS luck involved. 

Chapman's career splits aren't horrible. Murphy didn't show a split back in '23 so it may not be a concern for him. 

Good point.

We haven't really been burned by RHB vs our lefty pen guys.

[mvp 78]

1 minute ago, moonslav59 said:

Good point.

We haven't really been burned by RHB vs our lefty pen guys.

Breslow's career split as a LHP: