José Peraza one of three more Red Sox players taken off the 40-man roster

We have spoken a lot over the last few weeks about the amount of turnover we are inevitably going to see on the bottom of this Red Sox roster due to both the lack of talent with the players currently occupying those spots along with the players who must be added over the course of the offseason. They started the process before the offseason even officially started, losing Domingo Tapia to the Mariners on waivers and then taking five more off the roster as well. With the offseason officially beginning today, the process is continuing. On Wednesday, the Red Sox announced they had removed three more players from their 40-man roster, with José Peraza and César Puello electing free agency and Dylan Covey being outrighted to Triple-A.

The biggest name in this trio is Peraza, though he was also the one who has gone the most time since his last major-league appearance. Signed last winter, he quickly became something close to the everyday second baseman, which came as a bit of a surprise to many (myself included) who thought he’d get at most 50 percent of the time with Michael Chavis playing a lot as well. The Red Sox gave Peraza every chance to run away with the job, though. He didn’t do that. The former Red ended up hitting .225/.275/.342 over 120 plate appearances before being demoted to the Alternate Site. The moment he was demoted it was clear he would not be back for 2021. Peraza was arbitration-eligible this winter and was a clear non-tender candidate before being outrighted anyway.

Puello and Covey being removed don’t come as much of a surprise either. Puello was brought in due to the team’s lack of outfield depth at the top of the farm system, and he did play a bit at the end of the year. In all, though, he only got 11 plate appearances in the majors. If he had minor-league options he may have been more attractive, but since he did not there simply wasn’t room for him on this roster.

As for Covey, he was one of the first waiver claims made in-season by Chaim Bloom, but the righty never got it going. He tossed 14 innings and allowed 11 runs. He’ll remain in the organization and potentially serve as emergency depth, but with some of the pitching prospects moving up the ladder it will be an uphill battle for him to make it back to the majors with this team.

Counting players on the injured list who must be placed back on the roster, the Red Sox 40-man currently sits at 37 players.