Red Sox Lose 100 mph Reliever to Rival Club For Nothing

The Red Sox bullpen has been one of the best in baseball, with a collective 3.38 ERA ranking Boston relievers fifth overall and third in the American League. Their 1.25 WHIP ranks eighth in MLB, and opposing hitters have managed just a .226 batting average against the Red Sox ‘pen, good for third overall.

But in June, chief of baseball operations Craig Breslow thought the bullpen needed help, so he swung what at the time seemed like a low-risk, high-upside deal, swapping low-minor league infielder Andy Lugo to the Minnesota Twins for seven-year veteran bullpen power arm Jorge Alcala.

Less than two months later, Alcala is gone to the St. Louis Cardinals and in return the Red Sox received — nothing.

The 30-year-old Alcala started off his brief Red Sox career in promising fashion. In his Red Sox debut June 18, he pitched a scoreless inning against the Seattle Mariners, topping out at 99.7 mph with his four-seam fastball.

He would later go on to reach 100.3 mph in Red Sox uniform, as he held opponents to just one earned run over his first 11 outings for an 0.87 ERA. It looked like the Red Sox had made a real find, while surrendering only a long-shot prospect who was not ranked in the organization’s top 30.

And then, for reasons that remain unclear, Alcala began to falter. After a disastrous outing against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday in which Alcala allowed three hits including two home runs for three runs while recording only one out, Breslow and the Red Sox had seen enough.

They designated Alcala for assignment.

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When a player is DFA’d, he goes on the waiver wire where any other team can simply claim him outright. Prior to 2019, waivers were revocable, meaning that if a team claimed a player, his original team could “revoke” his waivers and try to arrange a trade.

But that rule was changed. Waiver claims since then have been “outright,” meaning any team that places a player on waivers risks losing that player for nothing.

That is exactly what happened with Alcala, who now joins one of the Red Sox’ longest-standing interleague rivals. In regular season play, the two teams have each won 14 games.

But more importantly, of the 13 World Series in which the Red Sox have appeared since 1903 — when, under the name Boston Americans, they defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series ever played — four have been against the Cardinals, more than against any other team.

The Red Sox lost in seven games to the Cardinals in 1946 and again in 1967. But in 2004, the Cardinals were the opponent when the Red Sox won their first World Series championship since 1918, in a four-game sweep.

The two franchises met again in 2013, when the underdog Red Sox sent the Cardinals home in six games.

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