The Red Sox announced that right-hander Luis Guerrero has been designated for assignment. The Sox had several players who needed to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list and needed to open a 40-man spot.
Many teams in the league face roster crunches at this time of year. The 60-day IL goes away five days after the World Series and doesn’t come back until spring training. When players are reinstated from the 60-day IL, they need to retake spots on the 40-man roster. Some players will reach free agency, which opens some space, but teams often end up needing to open spots. This move gets the Sox to 40 for now, but they will probably want to open more spots later. They will likely want to add players ahead of this month’s Rule 5 deadline, in addition to signing free agents throughout the winter.
Guerrero, 25, was a 17th-round pick in the 2021 draft. Exclusively a reliever, he worked his way up the minor league ladder. He was added to the club’s 40-man roster in September of last year. He has mostly been kept in the minors.
Between last year and this year, he has thrown 27 1/3 big league innings with a 2.63 earned run average. His 44.4% ground ball rate is decent but his 17.6% strikeout rate and 14.8% walk rate are poor figures. His ERA is being held down by a tiny .205 batting average on balls in play. His 3.51 FIP and 5.28 SIERA suggest he’s been quite fortunate in this small sample. His fastball averages in the upper 90s while he also throws a slider and a changeup.
In the minors, he has occasionally shown good strikeout stuff but also with poor control. From 2022 to 2024, he tossed 147 2/3 innings on the farm with a 2.93 ERA. He walked 13.4% of batters faced but also punched them out at a 32.1% clip. In 2025, his minor league results backed up. He tossed 26 2/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.39 ERA, 19.8% strikeout rate and 14.7% walk rate.
He was placed on the major league injured list in late June due to a right elbow sprain. He was transferred to the 60-day IL. He finished the season there, though he did pitch in the minors on a rehab assignment before the season was done.
Presumably, his tough year contributed to him getting nudged off the roster. The Sox will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so any trade talks will have to take place in the next five days. Guerrero is coming off a tough year but still has options and has shown flashes of potential in the minors.
Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images