{"id":291929,"date":"2025-11-18T22:31:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T22:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291929\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T22:31:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T22:31:07","slug":"red-sox-roster-cuts-include-veteran-1b-who-started-in-playoffs-righty-who-pitched-121-games-over-4-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/291929\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Sox roster cuts include veteran 1B who started in playoffs, righty who pitched 121 games over 4 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday marked the deadline for MLB teams to clean up their 40-man rosters and add prospects in order to protect them from next month\u2019s Rule 5 draft. As part of a series of roster moves, the Red Sox<\/a> cut bait with two notable names who have contributed in the past.<\/p>\n

Boston announced that veteran first baseman Nathaniel Lowe has been designated for assignment and a source confirmed that right-hander Josh Winckowski will also be DFA\u2019d. Both players are expected to be non-tendered (effectively released) before Friday\u2019s deadline to make such decisions on arbitration-eligible players. The Red Sox just made decisions on Lowe and Winckowski a little bit early.<\/p>\n

Infielder Tristan Gray, acquired from the Rays for reliever Luis Guerrero earlier in the day, will take one 40-man roster spot<\/a>. Right-handed pitching prospect David Sandlin is expected to be added to the roster, too, necessitating the Winckowski cut. It\u2019s unclear if the Red Sox plan to add any other minor leaguers to the 40-man.<\/p>\n

Lowe and Winckowski were both arbitration-eligible and will be free to sign with any club when they\u2019re non-tendered Friday. Neither move comes as a surprise.<\/p>\n

Lowe, who started all three of Boston\u2019s postseason games at first base, is a second-year arbitration-eligible player, meaning he\u2019d be due a raise from the $10.3 million salary he earned in 2025 when the Nationals acquired him from the Rangers, then signed him to a one-year deal. His projection, per MLBTradeRumors\u2019 widely respected model<\/a>, is $13.5 million in 2026. A down year in 2025 (Lowe hit .228 with 18 homers, 84 RBIs and a .689 OPS in 153 games split between Washington and Boston) means Lowe would not earn close to that mark on the open market. Therefore, he was cut loose in order to be freed of the arbitration model. <\/p>\n

Lowe can still with re-sign the Red Sox at a newly negotiated rate if the club is interested in bringing him back as insurance for Triston Casas. He\u2019d be controllable for two seasons (2026 and 2027) even if he signs a one-year deal. The 30-year-old had some nice moments in Boston and hit .280 with two homers, six doubles, 15 RBIs and a .790 OPS in 34 regular season games after being signed in mid-August.<\/p>\n

Winckowski, 27, will move on after falling down Boston\u2019s depth chart in 2025<\/a>. The righty, who was originally acquired in the 2021 trade that sent Andrew Benintendi to Kansas City, has logged 121 appearances (21 starts) with Boston over the past four seasons and owns a 4.20 ERA. Winckowski had a breakout season as a reliever in 2023, logging a 2.88 ERA in 60 appearances (84 \u2153 innings). He wasn\u2019t a perfect match for new pitching coach Andrew Bailey when he took over in 2024 and Winckowski posted an uneven season (4.14 ERA, 4.48 FIP in 76 innings). <\/p>\n

In 2025, Winckowski didn\u2019t make the Opening Day roster<\/a> and totaled just 11 \u2154 innings over six April games before being sent down to Triple-A Worcester. There, he pitched just three more times before suffering an elbow injury that ended his season on May 11. Winckowski spent much of the rest of the year rehabbing in Fort Myers and was said to be improving by the end of the season. He was projected to earn $800,000 while still occupying a 40-man roster spot, a price the Red Sox weren\u2019t willing to pay.<\/p>\n

The deadline for all roster moves to be made Tuesday is 6 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tuesday marked the deadline for MLB teams to clean up their 40-man rosters and add prospects in order…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[9012,3307,49,48,462,468,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-291929","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-american-league","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-national-league","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}