The Boston Red Sox just added another player to the roster in Alejandro De Aza, a deal that went down and from an unlikely source – their division rival the Baltimore Orioles.
In exchange, the deal involved sending minor league pitcher Joe Gunkel along with some cash considerations. De Aza is expected to make his debut with the Red Sox on Thursday when the team goes up against the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park.
To make room for the arrival of the lefty-hitting outfielder, Brandon Workman was relegated to the 60-day Disabled List. The deal was first reported by Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports through Twitter.
With the acquisition, De Aza is expected to take the spot of Carlos Peguero who was acquired last week from the Texas Rangers. Despite his coming, Peguero was not really expected to be a long-term solution for the Red Sox.
To his credit, the 31-year-old De Aza boasts of a .265 hit with 41 home runs, 196 RBI and 81 stolen bases in his career. In the current season, De Aza is batting .214 with a .636 OPS and three home runs with seven RBI.
De Aza’s arrival somehow eases the burden the team finds itself in right now.
The Red Sox have a couple of outfielders current in sick bay. Daniel Nava is on the disabled list due to a thumb injury and has not yet got his hands at bat. He has been on the DL since May 28.
Manager John Farrell bared that an MRI confirmed that Nava has a bruised muscle on his left hand, up from the thumb to the palm area. There is reportedly inflammation on Nava’s hand and the Red Sox are keeping a close eye with the hopes of the swelling to go down soon. Aside from Nava, Shane Victorino is also on the disabled list who is out with a calf injury.
Hence, acquiring De Aza makes sense especially in terms of depth. But the question now is on whether his coming would be enough at least until Nava and Victorino get back to full health.
Farrell says that looking for another outfielder could be an option but it would depend on how fast Nava and Victorino would heal.
"Our goal is to get every player healthy. And that's not just singling out Daniel in this case. We've got to get Vic healthy. We've got to get him back. So the sooner we can do that, maybe we've got the chance for more decisions or options available to us…” says Farrell in a report from Mass Live.
De Aza is in his final season of contract before becoming a free agent in 2016. He is owed $5 million this year.