The Red Sox swung a trade on Thursday to add roster depth, acquiring first baseman/outfielder Ryan Noda from the Angels for cash considerations. Noda, who has mostly played first base in his big league career but who spent the majority of his time in the outfield this season in the minors this season, was optioned to Triple A Worcester.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Noda, the Sox transferred Masataka Yoshida to the 60-day injured list. Yoshida has just restarted a throwing program, and so is likely weeks away from a rehab assignment, making his move to the 60-day a procedural formality rather than something that alters his timeline.
Noda, 29, has a career .212/.344/.369 line with 17 home runs in 164 games with the erstwhile Oakland Athletics in 2023-24. In 38 minor league games with Triple A Salt Lake City (the Angels’ top affiliate) this year, he was hitting .148/.364/.270 with four homers.
He’s struggled to make contact, with more than half his plate appearances ending without a ball in play — he has a 34 percent strikeout rate and 20 percent walk rate.
That said, he has good command of the strike zone and hits the ball reasonably hard when he does make contact, with his quality of contact suggesting his batting average might be a misleading performance indicator.
The Red Sox’ first base depth has been tested since Triston Casas suffered a season-ending rupture of his patellar tendon in early May. Initial replacement Romy Gonzalez suffered a quad contusion and remains on the injured list, having been unable to start running, resulting in Nick Sogard getting most of the playing time there. Sogard is hitting .258/.303/.323.
Double down
With Thursday’s game rained out, the Red Sox will play a day-night doubleheader on Friday, with righthander Brayan Bello slated to start the 1:35 p.m. game against lefthander Cade Povich, and Lucas Giolito scheduled to start the 7:10 p.m. game. The Orioles have yet to announce a starter for that contest. Tickets for Thursday’s game will be honored at the 1:35 p.m. game on Friday.
Why did the rainout get rescheduled to Friday afternoon rather than a weekend game or a later point in the season, with the Orioles scheduled to return to Boston for a two-game series followed by a mutual offday in August?
MLB typically tries to reschedule games within the original series rather than future series, though exceptions are granted to avoid doubleheaders on getaway days. Mutual offdays are treated as a last resort, and in the case of the August mutual offday, would have required approval from the Players Association given that it would wipe out the only Red Sox offday in a 20-day stretch.
Finally, the teams were uncomfortable scheduling a day-night doubleheader for Saturday given that there’s potential rain on Friday evening. While that seems unlikely to produce a postponement, the teams wanted to keep Saturday available as a contingency. As a result, the teams likely will play in front of a thin crowd on Friday afternoon.
Fitts and starts
Righthander Richard Fitts, out since April 12 because of a pectoral strain, made a rehab start for Double A Portland on Thursday, tossing three scoreless innings while allowing four hits (all singles), striking out two, and walking none.
Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.
