The Red Sox are selecting the contract of right-hander Brandon Workman, manager Alex Cora announced to reporters this morning. Righty Colten Brewer is being optioned to Triple-A Worcester in a corresponding 26-man roster move. A 40-man roster move will be announced later today as well. Workman, who signed a minor league deal to return to the Sox after being cut loose by the Cubs, had triggered a June 1 opt-out clause in his Red Sox deal earlier this week. That gave the Sox 48 hours to either release him or add him to the big league roster, and they’ve chosen the latter.
Workman, 32, pitched just eight innings for the Cubs earlier this season, allowing nine runs (six earned) on a dozen hits and seven walks with 11 punchouts in that short time. He looked quite effective until being tagged for three runs in each of his two final appearances with Chicago. Workman was on a one-year deal worth $1MM, so the Cubs didn’t have a particularly long leash when he struggled early in the year. That he was even available on such an affordable deal was a reflection of similar struggles he endured following a trade from Boston to Philadelphia last summer.
Of course, Workman is no stranger to the Red Sox organization. Boston selected him out of the University of Texas with their second-round pick in 2010, and he spent his entire professional career in the organization up until last August’s trade. Things didn’t pan out for Workman as a starter early in his big league tenure, but a full-time move to the bullpen proved to be a career-changing decision. From 2017-20, Workman threw 157 1/3 innings out of the Boston bullpen and notched a 2.57 ERA with a hearty 29 percent strikeout rate against an 11.8 percent walk rate.
As evidenced by that elevated walk rate, control has long been an issue for Workman, but he’s managed to overcome his sub-par strike-throwing skills by missing bats at a high rate and keeping the ball on the ground at an above-average 46.8 percent clip. Outside of his rocky stints with the Phillies and the Cubs, he’s been a solid late-inning reliever. He’s unlikely to be thrown right back into the fire as the Red Sox’ closer — especially with Matt Barnes pitching so well — but it wouldn’t be all that surprising if Workman resurfaced as a viable setup option before too long. He has some work to do to right the ship, but his poor performance since last summer’s trade effectively amounts to a two-month slump.
So triggering the out clause worked… man.
There, I took care of the obvious pun, now in with the comments.
Good, it’s about time.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=IhzzAUaOzsk
Terrific. Another bullpen arm. Just be patient, he might be a little rusty. On his game, he can be tremendous.
They’re showing him off and will deal him again at the deadline for a couple of prospects.
Come on Phillies! Second times the charm!
I never want to see him in a Phillies uniform again. That was absolutely agonizing. Hope he bounces back, but not for the Phillies.
Is a second time in Philly ever a charm? For anything?
Is there anything left…..
I have a hard time seeing why this is super helpful… I mean Braiser is supposed to be back pretty soon, and now we just have to make a 40 man roster move, even if it is just putting Potts in the 60 day IL it just doesn’t seem like this can be a good long term solution. Maybe workman can prove me wrong I don’t know though
See 2019 for what he is capable of, he was unhittable. Less than 30 hits in 70 innings is ridiculous.
See 2020 to see how far Workman has fallen. He’s done.
Almost everyone was bad in 2020. A glorified extended spring training is too small of a sample to say Workman can’t still be effective
@Rsox He continued to struggle in 2021 too. He doesn’t have anything left.
Yeah I know he was great then, that’s why I ended it with the last sentence
Workman has been absolutely horrific since being traded by the Sox. I can’t fathom him magically being good again. I know his 2019 was impressive, but he seems so far removed from those days. 2020 Workman was brutal.
Kimbrel.
2018 postseason – Yikes!
2019 – 6.53
2020 – 5.28
2021 – 0.78
Listen, I know Kimbrel is a borderline HOF candidate if he keeps it up for another 5+ years but he seriously fell off the table for two years. If it’s there, it’s there.
@whyhayzee
Workman has had only 1 season of sub 3 era. So I’d argue Workman’s 1.88 2019 was actually the odd season out.
2018 – 3.27
2019 – 1.88
2020 – 5.95
2021 – 6.75
Also the drastic decline continued into this season. He’s toast my friend. It was agonizing watching him pitch in Philly.
2019 shows what he’s capable of, not what he will do. Even if he’s sub 4 and provides innings, that is worth having on your team. I could name a dozen pitchers not as good as Workman who have pitched on Red Sox championship teams. They can use him.
Forgot the Cubs fired him.
He is set to be the workman out of that bullpen
There is a pretty obvious coincidence between him getting designated by the Cubs and the Cubs bullpen becoming good.
It has to do with Kimbrel. When a bullpen has a lockdown closer it makes everyone else better.
Is that really true, though? Seems to me that each pitcher’s performance is fairly independent from one another. The fact that the Cubs bullpen is good is probably a testament to the pitcher’s own abilities, good coaching, good scouting, good front office choices, good team morale. The bullpen is on a roll but it’s not all about Kimbrel.
It has to do with Kimbrel but it’s not about Kimbrel. It makes a difference when you have a true “closer”. The bullpen is a unit, not independent contractors.
It (Workman being gone and the bullpen getting good) has nothing to do with Kimbrel—Kimbrel was really good in April also. When Workman pitched they didn’t get to Kimbrel very often. Kimbrel gave up one hit in ten innings in April.
Sure, I’m probably being unfair to Workman but fact remains he was horrible with the Cubs and things are pretty good since he’s be gone (hence the term coincidence).
@mike127 I’m with you. Workman has been completely lost since mid 2020. He’s struggling to hit his spots. He lost velocity. He just hasn’t been effective. I don’t think Red Sox fans see it because he was so good for them, but he’s been not worthy of an MLB roster spot over the last year or so. His 2019 numbers show you he has the potential to be great, but 2020 and 2021 shows you that it’s a huge gamble that could cost you many games.
According to FG, his velocity is roughly the same as it’s always been. FB is 91.5 v a career 91.7. His HR/FB and BABIP are way higher than his careers numbers.
It is also worth noting that his 2020/21 bad numbers only encompass 11.2 innings. He was fine with Philly until the final 3.2 innings, and then bad with the Cubs for an additional 8 innings. In fact, even with the Cubs, he had a 2.84 in his first 8 games, and then two really bad innings.
Either way, I cannot imagine switching him for Brewer having much downside.
You’re wrong about his final 3.2 innings in Philly. He was bad much earlier than that.
Here’s one of many articles on Workman’s horrific tenure in Philly.
thatballsouttahere.com/2020/11/06/phillies-brandon…
Can’t be any worse than Brewer was. Time to cut ties with Brewer altogether unless they’ve seen enough of Marwin this year. Getting Brasure back soon will help the pen tremendously too.
Maybe Colten can land a job with Sam Adams so he can stay in town.
Brewer was literally “that” 26th guy, plus he had options. Workman has way more upside. If he ends up sucking they will just DFA him when Brasier returns.
Fans can never predict how a pitcher will fare after a few “down” seasons. Reasons for such turns of events could be physical, psychological and/or personal . In short there are a variety of reasons why Workman tailed off with the Red Sox, the Phillies and, later the Cubs. Considering his solid performances in seasons past for the Red Sox he should be given every opportunity to regain his position as a mainstay of the relief corps. God knows we need him, or someone like him, to help the club get through the second half of the season in a winning way.
We could always trade Bagwell for Larry Anderson at the end of the season. Stockpile these guys!!!
So what do you think? Is-E-Rod suffering another Covid-19 related dead arm? If he is the FO should put him on the 60-day IL to see if a long rest will help him regain his strength and coordination. This writer fears that Edwardo’s career might be over because heart related side effects he suffered after contracting the dreaded disease.
I don’t know if the COVID-19 diagnosis is responsible for his lackluster performance. In the starts I’ve seen, he can’t seem to put all his pitches together start to start, coaching staff indicated they had seen something in his delivery and the very next start his velocity was back up to 93-95 so it seems like he’s still trying to figure out how to put it all together.
hawkny11 – It’s hard to find people who realize how significant E-Rod’s issues were last year. Bravo for stating it so clearly!
I predicted based on the recommended rest period that E-Rod would be back about the time Sale came back. The Red Sox rushed him and they will continue to have issues this season with him being available to pitch. I predicted once they rushed him that Sale would throw more innings and I stand by that prediction.
Why a guy who shouldn’t have pitched this year was given a contract and a guy like Benny who had one off season due to injuries and COVID could be cut loose is beyond me. E-Rod money is wasted. Benny money, which was less would have produced results that would have helped the team win.
Just another example of why Bloom should go.
Expect workmanlike performances.
Gave up a run in his first outing today.
It’s amazing how many comments have been made debating which of two bad pitchers is worse!! Wouldn’t it be nice if the GM actually did his job and we had something of substance to talk about?
I like Workman but I see no way he’s a difference maker in 2021 or the future. Same can be said about all but 10 players on the roster thanks to Bloom. Nearly two years without an add of an impact player. The Red Sox year one stunk and this year are off to a good start and yet NOTHING has changed except they gave away their best player for next to nothing and then shipped a long term inexpensive keeper in LF to KC for nothing and PTBNLs that are not likely to ever help the major league club and if they do it will be years from now when Benny would be helping them stay competitive this year and the next several years.
Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes that’s all Bloom does. He makes mistakes.