The Red Sox have designated righty Anthony Varvaro, manager John Farrell announced on WEEI’s Dale & Holley radio show. Boston will call up lefty Tommy Layne and righty Dalier Hinojosa to add arms to the pen.
Varvaro, 30, had thrown 11 innings this year for the Red Sox after being acquired from the Braves over the winter. He struck out eight and walked six batters over that stretch while allowing five earned runs to cross the plate. Across six seasons in the big leagues, Varvaro has worked to a 3.23 ERA while posting 7.4 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9.
Wow, that’s an awful small opportunity given to a quality reliever.
Dime a dozen. 95 relievers who threw at least 40 innings had an ERA of 3.23 or less last season.
True, but how many of them are currently on the Red Sox? Hinojosa doesn’t excite me personally. If this was to bring Barnes up permanently in the pen for this season, than I would understand. But I don’t see this as an upgrade for their current roster.
They can’t bring Barnes back up yet. Hinojosa and Layne are just cannon fodder for the time being. Barnes may be back up in another week. They probably just called Pawtucket and asked who the two freshest arms were in the pen.
They broght up Hinojosa because hes able to go multiple innings…
That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t fit in a lot of teams bullpens. He won’t be out of a job for long.
No it doesn’t. It just means a player like that isn’t hard to come by. He’ll get picked up, and if they Red Sox are lucky they won’t have to pay him.
It should’ve been breslow and mujica, not varvaro
Yup, after one game in which he gave up a homer to one of the best sluggers(Bautista) in the past 5 years. Craig Breslow should be DFA’d. Surely he cost you guys the game.
By the way he has a 1.38ERA so far over the 13 innings he’s pitched. Yes, his FIP is nowhere close to that, but relievers do have a tendency to outperform or underperform their FIP tremendously given they’re only pitching 50-70 innings a year.
Probably residual dislike from Breslow’s 2014.
Any idea where to find his inherited runners strand rate? While his era may be only 1.38…. he sure has made his predecessor’s era higher.
Give Chuckie credit for being spot on regarding mujica. his velocity is down and that splitter is just flat as a floogie this year. Think Varvaro may have been a better choice to rebound.
If the Sox didn’t want to pay the Mujica contract, then Ross even. Still? Am glad Layne’s back, he’s the only lefty of the bunch that can actually get lefty’s out, neither Ross, nor breslow can that well.
Varvaro before Mujica? Ok…
They don’t want to eat Mujica’s contract. Varvaro works for peanuts by MLB standards.
Only by a day or so. They probably invested some time discussing trade scenarios and how much it would cost to be rid of his contract. Varvaro was disposable.
Bring him home Braves!!!
I really despise this move…….. Mujica is terrible and now we just lost a guy that Farrell decided to use incorrectly. I’m super frustrated about this…..
I agree that a decision on Varvaro seems premature. But the Red Sox know things that fans and sportswriters don’t — medical situations, scouting reports, clubhouse personalities, etc. The coaching staff is supposed to know what is going on with a player before the stats catch up.
More often than not, players leaving Boston (via free agency, trade, or DFA) end up justifying the team’s decision to not retain them. Victor Martinez is a notable exception, and the jury is still out on Andrew Miller and Jon Lester. Varvaro is not in that category.
jays