Ahead of Friday night’s league-wide non-tender deadline, the Red Sox cleaned up the back end of their 40-man roster with a trio of moves.
Boston lost lefty reliever Bailey Horn, who was claimed off waivers by the Tigers, and non-tendered relievers Isaiah Campbell and Bryan Mata. Both Campbell and Mata were designated for assignment earlier this week when prospects Hunter Dobbins and Jhostynxon Garcia were added to the roster.
(UPDATE: Both Campbell and Mata have agreed to new minor league deals with the Red Sox and will remain in the organization, sources said late Friday. Neither is on the 40-man roster but both will receive invites to major league spring training.)
The Red Sox tendered contracts to the other 29 unsigned players on their 40-man roster. They have one open roster spot with Horn’s departure.
In the big picture, the non-tender date was uneventful as expected for the Red Sox, whose only three arbitration-eligible players — Kutter Crawford, Jarren Duran and Tanner Houck — are key contributors who were locks to be given contracts. Boston will now have to negotiate a 2025 salary with those players with the date to exchange figures set for January 9. Every pre-arbitration player (zero to three years of service time) was also eligible to be non-tendered but the Red Sox chose to keep depth pieces like Mickey Gasper, Chase Shugart, Nick Sogard and others instead of letting them go. Notable pre-arbitration players on the roster include Justin Slaten, Connor Wong, Triston Casas, Vaughn Grissom and Wilyer Abreu.
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Horn, who turns 27 in January, made his major league debut for Boston in late June after being acquired in a minor trade with the White Sox in April. The left-hander pitched to a 6.50 ERA in 18 innings over 18 games, allowing 22 hits in that span. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has expressed interest in adding some left-handed certainty to his bullpen this winter; Horn was made especially expendable once the Red Sox opened the offseason by adding veteran Justin Wilson on a one-year, $2.25 million contract.
Wilson, Brennan Bernardino, Cam Booser and Zach Penrod represent the four healthy left-handed relief options left on the roster but the Red Sox are expected to continue to pursue upgrades in that area of the roster.
Around the league, notable players like Colorado’s Cal Quantrill and Brendan Rodgers, Washington’s Kyle Finnegan, Toronto’s Jordan Romano, the White Sox’ Gavin Sheets, the Cubs’ Nick Madrigal and Los Angeles’ Brent Honeywell were among those non-tendered as the free agent pool grew.
