The Rays and Red Sox are moving towards a negotiation that would send newly appointed pitchers for tasks Chris Mazza and Jeffrey Springs Boston to Tampa Bay in exchange for secondary league catcher Ronaldo Hernandez and another Rays farmer, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter topic) Adam Berry of MLB.com tweets that 23 year old Nick Sogard, the choice of Rays in the 12th round in 2019, is the other player who goes to Boston in the business.
Hernandez ranked among the top 100 potential players in the game recently in the 2018-19 off-season, so it’s a surprise to see the Rays negotiate with him and another secondary league player in exchange for a pair of weapons recently acquired by the DFA. Hernandez’s stock of prospects has plummeted in recent seasons, however, and the Rays probably intend to stock up on as much of the optional pitch depth as possible to go through a 2021 season, when most pitchers will have limited workloads.
More to come.