Red Sox release Jhonny Peralta

The Red Sox, as you know, have been desperate for third base help all season. The assumption — or, at least my assumption — is still that they will swing a trade for help at the hot corner, but it’s not a given. To try and avoid that need they took a long shot at signing Jhonny Peralta with the hope that a change of scenery would kickstart his career. That did not work out, and now they’ve released him from the organization.

Peralta, of course, spent the entirety of his brief Red Sox career at Triple-A, and it did not go well. Over his 61 plate appearances with the PawSox the veteran hit just .237/.246/.373. Given the lack of commitment made to a minor-league signing, there was never much risk with bringing Peralta in. With that being said, it was time to make a decision on him and releasing him made the most sense by a large margin.

The biggest reason it was time to make a move with Peralta is that a certain top prospect is ready to make his way up to another level. Rafael Devers’ promotion has been a topic of discussion pretty much since the season started, but the organization opted to wait until after the Double-A All-Star Game to make that move. That game was played earlier this week, so the assumption is that Devers will be up sooner rather than later. In fact, the move could be made today.

The other part of this to look at is what happens with Peralta’s former PawSox teammate Pablo Sandoval. I already made my feelings on this fairly clear earlier in the week, but it seems like the team is still undecided. They have the weekend to come up with their solution, but it seems like Sandoval could very well be joining Peralta on the open market soon enough.