Julian Tavarez DFA
May 12, 2008 by redsoxtalk
Julian Tavarez has just been designated for assignment by the Red Sox. They wouldn’t have done this unless they are close to dealing him away; the Rockies have been said to be talking to Epstein about acquiring the 35-year old sinkerballer. I wouldn’t be surprised if the trade was for simply for a marginal prospect or a PTBNL if Colorado takes on his salary; if the Sox pay some of it, they could get a slightly better prospect in return.
The removal of Tavarez from the 25-man roster allows first baseman Sean Casey to be activated. It was thought that the roster casualty would be reliever Craig Hansen, but it seems like the Sox are committed to keeping him around.
The absence of a long reliever most likely means that Kyle Snyder will find his way up again, unless the Sox think that Justin Masterson is ready to take on that role. Masterson’s got all of his options, so they could try him out without much risk; however, that would impede his development, so I’m not sure they’d take this step just yet.
Troy Renck of the Rocky Mountain Times believes that the Red Sox are after 23-year old right-handed pitching prospect Brandon Hynick. Hynick, an 8th rounder from 2006, has excelled at every level up to high-A, posting good K numbers with his low-90s heater, but mainly showing superior control of his secondary pitches: a splitter, curve and changeup. I’d be very pleased of we could get a guy like him for Tavarez.
Links:
http://firstinning.com/players/Brandon-Hynick-a/
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/mlb/article/0,2777,DRMN_23924_5519033,00.html