Boston’s Reese McGuire heads back to the dugout after striking out to end the game against the Colorado Rockies at Fenway Park Tuesday night. Charles Krupa/Associated Press
• Two days after being released by the Red Sox, outfielder Raimel Tapia has a new home.
Tapia is signing a major league deal with the Brewers and will join the team Tuesday night in Minnesota, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Tapia was designated for assignment by the Sox in a surprising move last Monday and released Sunday afternoon.
Tapia, who made the Red Sox out of spring training as a reserve outfielder after coming to camp as a nonroster invitee, played pretty well during the first two months of the season. In 39 games (18 starts), the 29-year-old hit .264 with one homer, 10 RBI and a .701 OPS while playing all three outfield positions. Tapia was 4 for 13 with a homer as a pinch hitter.
Facing a roster crunch with Christian Arroyo and Adam Duvall both returning from the injured list, the Red Sox made the somewhat surprising move to cut ties with Tapia last Monday in what was a vote of confidence for Jarren Duran. Boston clearly didn’t want to carry six outfielders with Duvall returning and opted to shift Duran, who had largely performed well as the starting center fielder in Duvall’s absence, to a bench role.
Having Duran and Tapia, who are both left-handed hitting outfielders, on the bench together was a bit redundant. So the Red Sox opted to keep Duran in the majors as part of an outfield mix that includes Duvall, Masataka Yoshida, Alex Verdugo and Rob Refsnyder.
Tapia elicited only tepid trade interest with two teams talking to the Sox about a deal. Ultimately, nothing materialized. A source said the Red Sox let other teams know they’d be willing to pay down a portion of Tapia’s remaining salary to facilitate a deal. But even with that offer, teams apparently preferred for Tapia to be released, allowing them to sign him for the major league minimum – without having to sacrifice anything in return.
Tapia has approximately $1.2 million left of his $2 million major league salary for the season; the Red Sox will pay that while the Brewers will be on the hook for the prorated portion of the major league minimum.
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