11:54am: Smith is indeed set to join the Red Sox big league roster, . The Sox will need to make a corresponding 40-man roster move to make his signing official. 11:32am: The Rays granted first baseman his release after he triggered an opt-out in his minor league deal, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. A big league opportunity with another club arose for Smith, per Topkin. Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe further that Tj Friedl Jersey the Red Sox look like the next destination for Smith after he opted out of that deal with Tampa Bay. Hell be the second addition to the big league roster for the Sox, who acquired infielder from the Mets in exchange for cash . Boston recently lost first baseman to a rib fracture thats expected to sideline him for a considerable period of time. The Sox acquired veteran in the aftermath of that injury, but he took a 95 mph fastball off his wrist/forearm last night and exited the game. Ma sLive.coms Chris Cotillo that Cooper is thankfully only bruised and does not have any fractures following that incident. Smith will give Boston some additional depth and a potential platoon partner for the righty-swinging Cooper. Through 29 games and 81 plate appearances with the Rays Triple-A affiliate in Durham, Smith had posted a .263/.337/.375 batting line with a pair of homers and three doubles. Hes fanned in an uncharacteristic 29.2% of his plate appearances, but strikeouts typically havent been a glaring concern for the veteran, whos fanned in 21.7% of his nearly 2000 MLB plate appearances. Smith, 28, was a first-round pick, longtime top prospect and (more briefly) a quality run producer for the Mets prior to being non-tendered in the 2022-23 offseason. From 2019-20, Smith treated the Mets to a stellar .299/.366/.571 batting line in 396 trips to the plate. He swatted 21 homers and connected on 31 doubles in that time before stumbling to a .643 OPS over his next two seasons and being cut loose. He signed with the Nationals in the 2022-23 offseason but posted a middling .254/.326/.366 batting line with a dozen homers in his lone year in the nations capitol. Alexis Diaz Jersey