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Red Sox, Zach Putnam Agree To Minor League Deal

By Steve Adams | December 18, 2018 at 6:28pm CDT

The Red Sox have agreed to a minor league contract with reliever Zach Putnam, tweets MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. The right-hander missed the 2018 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Putnam, 31, was a regular in the White Sox’ bullpen from 2014-17 before going down with an arm injury that ultimately led to Tommy John surgery. Prior to that procedure, though, Putnam turned in 139 1/3 innings with a 2.71 ERA, 9.6 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 47.6 percent ground-ball rate. Putnam never lit up the radar gun, sitting at 90.4 mph with his fastball over that four-year stretch on the South Side, but he nonetheless posted a gaudy 16.1 percent swinging-strike rate in that time as well. Beyond that, Putnam excelled in terms of limiting hard contact, as evidenced by a 27.2 percent opponents’ hard-hit rate that ranked well below the league average.

Putnam joins the Red Sox organization with four-plus years of service time and will surpass the five-year mark if he logs any meaningful big league time in 2019. That means that if he’s able to return to the Majors and find success, the Red Sox will be able to control him through the 2020 season via the arbitration process.

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Boston Red Sox Transactions Zach Putnam

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/18/18
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20 Comments

  1. YankeesWarriorsPatriots

    7 years ago

    Good find. This coming from a yankees fan

    8
    Reply
    • pasha2k

      7 years ago

      Yes but you have good taste being a Pats fan.

      3
      Reply
      • acarneglia

        7 years ago

        Or just likes winning

        7
        Reply
        • c1234

          7 years ago

          Hello, this is coming from a cardinals fan.

          Reply
    • khopper10

      7 years ago

      Front-runner much?

      2
      Reply
  2. Nick4747

    7 years ago

    Good move no risk possible reward.

    2
    Reply
  3. User 4245925809

    7 years ago

    He’s better than a lot of that collection of relievers currently slated to be at Pawtucket.. Weems, Gorst, Taylor. Now if they could find some reputable bodies to replace that so called rotation it looks like Pawtucket could have.. Only Shawaryn and Stephen Wright, other than long reliever Marcus Walden are half way respectable. The others are worse than cast offs and 1 (shephard) has been on the 40 man roster 2y now.

    1
    Reply
    • Horace Fury

      7 years ago

      Have to disagree on Gorst. He just got to AAA at the end of 2018 which he didn’t take to immediately, but his numbers from lower levels during the season were a lot like Lakins’s. Give him a chance. And there seems to be juice behind Taylor, too. Strange that you mention Walden–I see him off the 40-man pretty soon.

      Reply
  4. TooToughToScuffle

    7 years ago

    Basically, guy had one good season (2014), otherwise saw limited action or was just okay (2015). Hard to imagine he’s going to be a central figure in the bullpen next year.

    1
    Reply
    • franksouze

      7 years ago

      Article doesn’t mention how close he is to a full throwing schedule OR has he even begun a serious throwing program- ready for ST?

      Reply
    • deweybelongsinthehall

      7 years ago

      Who cares? It’s a minor league deal with zero risk until he’s placed on the 40 man roster.

      Reply
    • Randy Red Sox

      7 years ago

      Given the junk we have in the pen right now he will fill right in

      Reply
  5. AWANAFUQYA

    7 years ago

    Last. For now….

    Reply
    • Guest617

      7 years ago

      what if his fastball increases in velocity?

      Reply
  6. dlevin11

    7 years ago

    Worth a chance. Might be better after TJ surgery.

    Reply
  7. msqboxer

    7 years ago

    Just someone with experience for depth if you need it during the season.

    Reply
  8. evenhand

    7 years ago

    Another example of the Sox scouring the bushes in an effort to build up some depth on the farm. The strategy seems to be to work on the farm now and hope there are some quality relievers left that can be picked up at bargain prices for the big league bullpen before spring training.

    Reply
    • Randy Red Sox

      7 years ago

      That is the route DD is taking. He has never had any success at building a BP

      Reply
  9. Randy Red Sox

    7 years ago

    Latest BBB signing

    Reply
  10. Yort

    7 years ago

    He’s gonna be putnam down in AAA

    Reply

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