Per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic on Twitter, the Milwaukee Brewers have signed outfielder Raimel Tapia to a major league contract. As of right now, the corresponding move has not been revealed. Rosenthal notes that the left-handed swinging Tapia will be active for tonight’s game against the Twins.
Outfielder Raimel Tapia has signed with the Brewers, a source tells @TheAthletic. Released by the Red Sox on Sunday. Has joined team in Minnesota for tonight’s game.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 13, 2023
Tapia, 29, was only just recently designated for assignment by the Boston Red Sox last week. He was not claimed on waivers and the Red Sox were unable to find a trade partner for him, so the club instead released him on Sunday.
Brewers sign outfielder Raimel Tapia
A veteran of eight seasons in the big leagues, Tapia spent the six years of his career as a member of the Colorado Rockies organization, earning a ton of playing time but never capitalizing on any opportunities. In 439 games for the Rockies, he posted a .280 average but had an OPS+ of just 80.
He spent last season patrolling the outfield for the Toronto Blue Jays, and while there was a slight uptick in his offensive production, he still was nothing more than a decent-but-not-great fourth outfielder. Despite this, he was forced into 128 games for the Blue Jays thanks to a slew of injuries to players above him on the depth chart. All told, he had a .672 OPS and 93 OPS+ for the boys in blue.

To kick off 2023, Tapia made it into 39 games for the Red Sox and the results were not pretty. In 87 at-bats, he managed to hit just .264 and was not enough of a contributor to be kept around on a faltering Boston’s active roster, which may be telling about how his talent is viewed around the league nowadays.
To make matters even more interesting, Tapia has always been considering a poor defensive outfielder. While he has “played” all three positions on the grass, defensive metrics generally have him rated as a below-average fielder regardless of where he lines up. His career Outs Above Average sits at -1, his dWAR sits at -2.4 and his DRS sits at -7. Not good.
On the Brewers, Tapia will be joining a team that has been decimated by injuries to the outfield corps. With each of Garrett Mitchell, Tyrone Taylor and Jesse Winker on the injured list, the club has turned to a resurgent Christian Yelich, a slipping Brian Anderson and an up-and-coming Joey Wiemer as the everyday options out there.
As of right now, Blake Perkins is still on hand, but he has not looked the part of a big league-caliber talent outside of his big game against the Reds earlier this month when he hit a grand slam for his first career home run. The 26-year-old is 6-for-30 to begin his big league career with an OPS of .583 and OPS+ of just 60.
With no corresponding move announced as of yet, all signs point to Tapia essentially replacing Perkins as the backup outfielder.
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