The Rays and Red Sox are moving towards a trade that will send recently designated throwers for works Chris Mazza and Jeffrey springs from Boston to Tampa Bay in exchange for minor league catcher Ronaldo Hernandez and another Rays farm hand, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter thread). MLB.com’s Adam Berry tweets that 23-year-old Nick Sogard, the Rays’ twelfth round in 2019, is the other player to go to Boston in the deal.
Hernandez has been among the top 100 prospects of the game as recently as the 2018-19 season, so it’s a surprise to see the Rays swap him and another minor player in exchange for some recent DFA’s. ed arms. However, Hernandez’s prospects have tumbled in recent seasons, and the Rays are likely aiming to store as much optical depth as possible to get them through a 2021 season, when most pitchers have limited workload.
More to come.