Red Sox Punished For Latest Trade As Mets Snag 5-Year Veteran On Waivers

Managing the fringes of the 40-man roster can impact a team's season more than one might think.

In today's day and age, pitching depth is incredibly valuable, which is why the Boston Red Sox have roughly 15 viable starters in the upper levels of the organization. Boston added two new names to the depth chart on Thursday, when it traded for starter Johan Oviedo and reliever Tyler Samaniego from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

However, bringing in two 40-man roster players meant one more had to go, and the Red Sox designated righty Cooper Criswell for assignment on Thursday night. They were almost certainly hoping they could keep Criswell around, but the waiver system had other plans.

Cooper Criswell claimed by Mets

On Friday, ESPN's Jorge Castillo reported that Criswell had been claimed by the New York Mets off waivers. He will be added to the club's 40-man roster, and because he is out of options, he must make the major league club out of spring training, or he'll go back on waivers.

The Red Sox had given Criswell a guaranteed $800,000 contract for the upcoming season in November specifically to minimize the chances of this exact scenario playing out. By paying him more than a player would otherwise make on a league-minimum or minor-league contract, Boston gambled on teams passing him over on waivers.

New York clearly had other ideas, as Criswell has proven to be a valuable depth arm in his five partial major league seasons. He gave Boston 18 starts and 99 1/3 innings last year, then played more of a Triple-A role this year, with one amazing big-league start in August against the Houston Astros.

On the plus side (if you're really stretching to see a silver lining here), the Red Sox saved that $800,000 against the collective bargaining tax threshold, which probably has zero effect on Boston's offseason plans, and will simply save the ownership group some money when it goes to pay the luxury tax.

One could argue that Boston should have let someone else go, perhaps a position player with no clear path to playing time like Vaughn Grissom, but they were starting to be overloaded with pitchers, and at the end of the day, they expect the haul they brought in on Thursday to outweigh the losses.

Tough decisions have to be made when you stockpile as much talent as the Red Sox have, and Criswell almost certainly won't be the best pitcher Boston lets go this winter.

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