{"id":77006,"date":"2025-08-18T08:41:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T08:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/77006\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T08:41:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T08:41:12","slug":"red-sox-notes-abreu-eaton-giolito","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/77006\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox Notes: Abreu, Eaton, Giolito"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Red Sox held a 3-1 lead through seven innings against the Marlins today, but a bullpen meltdown resulted in a 5-3 loss.\u00a0 Beyond the setback in the standings, the Sox also had an injury scare when Wilyer Abreu<\/a> had to leave the game prior to the top of the eighth inning due to what the club described as right calf tightness.<\/p>\n

Speaking with MassLive.com\u2019s Christopher Smith<\/a> and other reporters postgame, Abreu called his injury \u201ca little cramp\u201d that he picked up while running the bases in the bottom of the seventh.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t feel a trip to the injured list was necessary, though Abreu speculated that he might miss Boston\u2019s upcoming two-game series with the Orioles before returning Wednesday for the start of a series with the Yankees.<\/p>\n

In a related move, the Red Sox are calling Nate Eaton<\/a> up from Triple-A, as initially reported by Nate Parker of Beyond The Monster<\/a>.\u00a0 Eaton is a third baseman\/outfielder who has appeared in 14 games for the Red Sox this season, and he can fill in as a depth option in the outfield either in the short term for the Baltimore series or perhaps for a longer stint if Abreu ends up on the IL.<\/p>\n

To include Eaton on the active roster immediately, the Sox are playing with three catchers on the active roster, so Ali Sanchez<\/a> could be designated for assignment.\u00a0 Boston\u2019s seemingly impending contract<\/a> with Nathaniel Lowe<\/a> is another factor in roster decisions, as the Red Sox would then have to make space for both Lowe and Eaton if the signing is completed by Monday.\u00a0 It is possible Eaton could just stick around on the taxi squad rather than being actually added to the 26-man roster, until the team knows more about Abreu\u2019s status.<\/p>\n

Abreu hit his 22nd homer today, and is batting .253\/.325\/.486 over 395 plate appearances this season.\u00a0 The large majority of Abreu\u2019s playing time has come against right-handed pitching, though his .721 OPS in 64 PA against southpaws this season is a big improvement over his numbers against lefties in his previous two big league seasons.\u00a0 Boston\u2019s outfield picture has been crowded enough that Abreu has almost been forced to the bench when a left-handed pitcher is on the mound, yet it bodes well for his future as an everyday player if he can hit well against all pitchers and continue his elite glovework in right field.<\/p>\n

In other Red Sox news, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow<\/a> spoke with MassLive.com\u2019s Chris Cotillo<\/a> and other media on Saturday, and implied that after the season, \u201cwe\u2019ll have those conversations\u201d with Lucas Giolito<\/a> about a potential contract extension.\u00a0 Giolito has a 3.63 ERA over 106 2\/3 innings in 2025, overcoming a hamstring injury and some early-season struggles to post a 2.34 ERA over his last 73 innings.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the key stat is the 106 2\/3 innings, as reaching the 140-inning threshold would give Giolito control over his status for 2026.\u00a0 The righty signed a two-year, $38.5MM deal during the 2023-24 offseason that consisted of an $18MM salary in 2024, a $19MM player option for 2025 that Giolito exercised, and then a $14MM club option for 2026 that came into play when Giolito didn\u2019t opt out last winter.\u00a0 If Giolito pitches at least 140 innings this season, the club option becomes a $19MM mutual option with a $1.5MM buyout attached, and mutual options are virtually never exercised by both sides.<\/p>\n

In theory, the Sox could maintain their club option by purposefully keeping Giolito under that 140-inning mark, whether by skipping a start or limiting his in-game workload.\u00a0 However, Breslow stated that \u201call of the decisions that we\u2019re going to make are going to be driven by what gives us the best chance of winning games, getting into the postseason and making a deep postseason run,\u201d rather than worrying about contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hope that these situations are clear.\u00a0 When you\u2019re pushing for a playoff spot, they are,\u201d Breslow said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re all incentivized to do whatever we can to win games.\u00a0 The most important thing after that is actually just making sure he\u2019s healthy and recovering and that we\u2019re monitoring the workload so that he\u2019s in a position to help us every five days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naturally, no executive would ever publicly admit to limiting a player\u2019s playing time for contractual reasons, yet Breslow\u2019s stance carries a lot of common sense.\u00a0 Giolito has been one of the better pitchers in all of baseball over the last 10 weeks, so it only helps the Red Sox to have him on the mound as often as possible.\u00a0 If Giolito did hit the 140-inning mark and take the obvious route to free agency, he has pitched well enough that a qualifying offer could be a possibility, which would allow the Sox to recoup a compensatory draft pick if Giolito signed elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Red Sox held a 3-1 lead through seven innings against the Marlins today, but a bullpen meltdown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,5153,591,59087,85,21936],"class_list":{"0":"post-77006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-lucas-giolito","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-nate-eaton","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-wilyer-abreu"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}